Category: BandBits

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Hello club!

Spring foward… into the darkness?

Hopefully everyone has recovered most of the lost sleep and have replaced your smoke detectors batteries!

This is also a great time of year to make sure your weather radios are ready to go, and be sure to check on your loved ones that they are prepared as well.

We apologize for the loss of the web page this week. We hope to have our original domain name back, but now w9uvi.net and w9uvi.com will work.

And now, the darkness! here comes the eclipse! we have been invited to be at the Peoria Riverfront Museum and Planetarium for the local gathering there.
the event starts at noon, the moon and sun will together at 2pm or so. if you cant be there, be sure to set outside and safely look up!

Looking past that, summer field day plans are starting to be laid out, more on that later.

in the mean time, do your part to keep the bands busy.

~73’s
KD9RYH
Ben

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MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – March 6, 2024

In attendance at Red Cross: Adam (KD9NYE), Ben (KD9RYH), Rob (KD9DQB), Scott (K9XJT), Tanya (KD9YPM), Rich (K9RCS), Darren (KD9HZZ), Tom (W8NWG), Jake via Zoom (K9LE)

Ben calls our board meeting to order at 8:19 p.m. after a presentation on 501(c)3 management from club member Todd Ricca (N9CS)

Tom makes a motion to accept last month’s meeting minutes as published in Bandbits, with Rich AND Scott seconding simultaneously. All are in favor and they are accepted.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• $1,976.41 in checking
• $7,645.36 in money market
• $379.72 in Square
• $1,045.92 in PayPal
• Two checks written since last month: $1,050 to Katie’s Kars for Superfest, $253.54 to Darren for miscellaneous Superfest expenses

Rob makes a motion to accept, and Rich seconds. The report is accepted unanimously.

Old business:

• Darren has heard back from our lawyer. The registered agent is still showing up with the state as former treasurer John Zandowski. It should be Tanya. Ben has started a checklist file of these annual obligations.
• Darren and Todd did inventory of the club assets… Tom would like to confirm our list as trustee. Adam will include that in our shared club Google Drive.
• No other old business.

New business:

• Darren says we need to get started on compiling our passwords, etc for accounts. We need to keep these in a few places to make sure we have continuity.
• Scott asks about access codes for buildings – we don’t need anything new from what we had for the old building.
• Darren says that we will need to take down antennas from our tower at the Red Cross.
• We need to update our club info for our ARRL listing.
• Scott would like to add two people to our training endeavors.

Repeater committee update from Tom:

• Still working on the potential for a new repeater site, but some disappointment. We liked what we saw when going on a site visit… but we haven’t been able to set up a meeting with the person in charge of the site in the past few months. Tom will keep trying to get that meeting arranged.
• We still have the 075 site in Groveland and during high winds on Sunday, the site’s power went out. The generator came online as expected, but the transfer switch did not. We have a battery backup there, but it wasn’t hooked up to the Anderson power connector and wasn’t getting a charge. Adding to that, the computer wasn’t set up to come back up after power failure. In addition, our UPS wasn’t being used for the computer. Not sure how this happened. We have three sets of keys, including a hidden set at the site. The good news is that we’ve set up the computer correctly again, along with our battery, charger and UPS.
• Tom would like the board’s authorization to replace the 20-year-old battery. Rob will get a quote for a deep-cycle replacement this week and bring it to the board.
• We’ve found that a single computer can only handle WIRES-X or Echolink, not both. Jake is going to confirm if we need a second computer for each site to allow running both at each repeater site.
• Jake is also talking to a friend in Champaign about what it would take to link our 85 repeater to the 075.

Superfest update from Darren:

• Darren has again emailed all vendors he hasn’t heard from. No one who has replied has committed to this year, but one has for next year.
• Got flags for the ticket gate… not the red we expected, but tall enough to get attention at $56. Darren will need to pick up conduit to make brackets to hold them.
• Todd and Brett are getting started on prizes in addition to what vendors have already pledged
• Superfest meeting for March will be in-person at the Red Cross on the 2nd floor.
• Jill from Tower Electronics says they’ll be back.

Any other business?

• Rich brings up Ham Club Online. Adam will make sure that Tom knows how to update our calendar and will also check into email notifications to members. Adam will also make sure that board members have elevated access.
• Nothing else. Ben calls the meeting closed at 9:09 p.m.

_______________________

Membership Meeting February 16, 2024

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Lincoln conducted our annual weather spotter training event at the Bartonville American Legion.

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Midwest Superfest is six months away, but it’s not too soon to think about tickets. Tickets will be distributed to members at upcoming club meetings. Each club member will receive 10 tickets to sell or purchase. Any unsold tickets may be returned, but we encourage you to sell as many as possible to benefit the club. More tickets are available on request.

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PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

April 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 25, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

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MARCH NET LOGS

3/3
KD9RYH KD9ANU KD9HZZ K9LE W8NWG K9XJT W9JDP K9TNT W9WTF KD9NYE N9NDF N9CS K9RCS KD9JXR KD9PXZ K9QZ WW9DLM W9WGN WD9EB NM0O N9WFT N9GZ KD9YWB KD9STL KB9ATO KD9WLD K9UQF KM9SPL KD9QQU KD9IBC WF9E KD9ZXH KD9WVP KC9ZWR KD9YER K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

3/10
KD9RYH KD9ANU K9XJT KD9WRX KD9ZFC K9HJZ NP2WJ KC9IH KD9YPM W9GLO W9JDP W9WTF WF9E NM0O B9ATO KD9JXR KB9OGS W8NWG KD9QQU KD9WVP KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9YWB WW9DLM KC9ZWR N9NDF KB9ATO KD9ZXH KD9MPI KD9YWB K9QJ KD9WLD KD9DBQ W9DAY K9UQF K9RCS KD9STL K9JQF K9QZ W9WTF Submitted by N9CS 73

3/17
KD9RYH KD9HZZ KD9QQU K9XJT KD9ANU W9WGN KD9WRX KD9YER KB9VRW KB9SF KD9TEG KD9YPM KC9IH K9HJZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ KD9IBC KD9ZKZ N9WFT KD9JXR W8NWG KC9YTT KB0OGS K9STL K9LE KD9YWB KD9NYE WF9E K9RCS KT9Y KD9ZXH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

3/24​
KD9ANU KD9RYH W9WGN KD9WRX K9HJZ KD9YER KD9YPM KD9ZXH KD9WVP NP2WJ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT NM0O N9NDF W8NWG KB9ATO KD9JXR KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9ZKZ KD9IBC KD9STL KC9YTT WF9E KD9NYE KD9WLD KD9MPI KD9QQU KD9YWB K9UQF KD9VRW KB9OGS K9RCS Submitted by KD9DBQ

3/31
KD9RYH K9XJT KD9ANU KD9WRX KD9IBC K9HJZ KD9QQU KC9IH W9WGN KD9PXZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9JXR KD9ZKZ W8NWG KD9YWB KB9SF N9WFT KD9STL K9LE K9UQF KD9WVP Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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April Club Events

April 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting details TBA

April 3 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

April 9 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: TBA – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville. All are welcome.

April 10 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

April 20 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.

April 23 – Midwest Superfest Meeting

April 25 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom

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CHECK IN ON MIDCARS NET DURING THE APRIL 8 ECLIPSE

Although totality of the April 8 solar eclipse will be visible in southern Illinois, the propagation effects will be felt over a much wider area. The altered ionospheric conditions during an eclipse change conditions in an odd way to varying degrees depending on location.

We will have an opportunity to experience these changes during the eclipse when net control operator Mike Patton, AA9MK will extend hours of the MidCars Net on 7.258 MHz to cover this time period, so we can experience the propagation changes first hand. The net will run on both sides of totality (1:58-2:06 pm CDT, April 8). The net is open to all.

Click here for more information.

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CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I hope everyone has had a great leap day! Beyond that, we have the weather spotter training class coming up and I hope to see lots of people there. Bring your friends and family! It’s a free training and even if you dont want to become a spotter, it’s a good class to take. If you cant make our training class, there are several around the state and even online. Check the NWS webpage for a complete list.  Also, check with your friends and family, make sure they have a weather radio! 

• Ben KD9RYH

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MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – February 6, 2023

In attendance via Zoom: Adam Gerik (KD9NYE), Ben Knapp (KD9RYH), Jacob Walters (K9LE), Scott (KB9VRW), Rob (KD9DQB), Scott (K9XJT), Justin (N9WX), Tanya Knapp (KD9YPM), Rich Schmitz (K9RCS), Darren (KD9HZZ), Tom (W8NWG), Casey (KC9IH)

7:09 p.m.: meeting is called to order by Ben

Tom moves to approve last month’s meeting minutes, and Rob seconds. All are in favor and they are accepted.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• $338.95 in checking
• $33.88 in savings
• $9,131.00 in money market
• $863.09 paypal
• $379.72 square
• Paid $226 to USPS last month for our post office box
• 27 members have paid since Superfest

Rob makes a motion to accept, and Rich seconds. The report is accepted.

---

Repeater committee update from Tom:

• Been trying to reach Matt (KD9ERS) for future repeater site discussion
• We want to get WIRES-X digital boxes working at three sites. We have two boxes, but still need a third one.
• We have a small laptop and another desktop to put into use for this effort.
• We’ll be able to reboot/manage from afar after getting everything hooked up. This especially applies to the Glasford site, since we have limited access to the site.
• Tom makes a motion for the board to authorize purchase of a WIRES-X box for about $126 or so, Rich seconds. All are in favor, so we will purchase.
• Tom proposes that we move the 85 repeater to the new proposed repeater site. This would also save us money on buying a set of cans. He still would like to put the 440 repeater equipment to use in the future somewhere.

---

Superfest update from Darren:

• Ordered two of the flags for the ticket gate.. those should arrive in late February.
• Will need two handicapped-only signs, three for vendor parking, two for club parking, three signs directing people to the back room that people seemed to miss last year.
• Darren will start to email all vendors he hasn’t heard from. ABR Industries cannot attend, but will send door prizes.
• Mailed some flyers to Thom Beebe (W9RY) and Dale Shaw in Urbana (owns a linked repeater system there, and is willing to help us with our own linking efforts)
• Next meeting will be on Zoom on February 20.
• Will have placards by next month and the March Superfest meeting will be at the Red Cross.

---

Old business:

• Darren did hear back from our attorney… our 501(c)7 designation has lapsed because the paperwork wasn’t sent. We’ll need to dissolve the (c)7 and draw up new articles for (c)3, then transfer all assets. There will be some banking details to also handle when moving between the designations. We’re still hoping that we’re within our $1500 retainer, as long as we handle some of the details. Forms and instructions are available from the State of Illinois.

New business:

• Ben brings up the idea of making the club a part of the Moss Avenue sale, with demonstrations, etc. Could do a raffle at it if club members can gather donated equipment?
• Ben would like to start doing our in-person meetings back at the Red Cross. We’ll need to figure out access for club members attending.. maybe a call-in frequency?
• Jake brings up our Facebook page, which isn’t the right type to allow public comments. Adam suggests starting a forum on w9uvi.org instead as a potential option. Darren also suggests looking at Ham Club Online and will send details to Adam to explore on behalf of the club. Rob also suggests looking at Slack for club communications. Rich brings up Discord. We have a lot of options!
• Jake says that Woodford’s club uses Ham Club Online… it features a way to send members reminders, like for the weekly net, etc. Rich agrees that it’s nice – he says it could pretty much replace our website. Scott says that he was part of a group who used it because it was more secure than other platforms out there for hams.
• Ben brings up the idea of a communications position once we’re a 501(c)3… the ARRL calls it a public information officer. Currently, the ARRL considers our president this communications position.

Tom makes a motion to wrap up our meeting, Darren seconds… we’re done at 7:57 p.m.

_______________________

Membership Meeting February 16, 2023

PAARC regular meeting at the Bartonville American Legion

7:03 p.m. Ben (KD9RYH) brings meeting to order

Our last board meeting minutes need to be corrected… Rich Holtman’s name and Rich Schmitz’s call were incorrect in the last issue of BandBits.

Justin (N9WX) moves to approve BandBits with these corrections, Tom (W8NWG) seconds. All are in favor.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya (KD9YPM):
– $338.95 in checking
– $33.88 in savings
– $9,131.00 in money market
– $863.09 in paypal
– $372.72 in square
– Recently paid $226 to USPS for our post office box
– 27 members have paid since our last board meeting
– Note that we may be changing banks as part of the 501(c)3 process, but that will come later.

Scott (K9XJT) makes a motion to accept, and Mark (W9WGN) seconds. The report is accepted.

Superfest update from Darren (KD9HZZ):
– Talked to Tazewell EMA and brought up bringing their truck to Superfest
– Dwight brought the rest of the tickets and placards
– This month’s Superfest meeting will be on Zoom, but March will be in person and we will start distributing tickets to sell
– Darren will start sending emails to vendors he hasn’t heard from as of yet
– Sign-up sheets for jobs will be posted to W9UVI.org by this weekend

Repeater committee update from Tom (W8NWG):
– Jake and Tom had a brief conversation about linking repeaters.
– At the board meeting, we approved purchasing another digital interface to enable WIRES-X on all three of our current repeaters. This will also give us better remote control management of our repeaters.

Old business:
– None

New business:
– Ham Club Online is launched for the club to demo, with voluntary donation to them if we decide to stick with it. One big benefit to the club is that it’ll help dues management now that our club bylaws track membership by year’s term.
– Jim (KD9VAN) wants to know if we can run a special event station at Superfest this year… and that’s possible if we have enough people to man it. Rob brings up that we did a special event station at Expo Gardens about 7 years ago and only one person ran it (but made a lot of contacts.) We also tried a talk-in station last year, but only one person used it. Mark brings up that we’d want to get it in QST soon if we want to do the special event station.
– Rich needs a net control operator for the ARES net tomorrow night

Justin (N9WX) makes a motion to adjourn, Scott (K9XJT) seconds… all are in favor. Scott then begins a hands-on demonstration of portable HF gear with attending club members.
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MIDWEST SUPERFEST^TM

The next Midwest Superfest meeting March 19th, 7 pm in person at the Red Cross (west building).

We will have club members tickets, and sign up sheets for gate sales, shuttle drivers and traffic directors.

Mailings for those that have reserved flea market spots will be going out starting March 15th.

We have two 7′ X 2′ flags for the ticket gate, will be getting other signs that was discussed in the last zoom meeting

Golf carts are reserved

We will have a dinner Saturday night September 22 at 7:00 pm at Grecian Gardens in Chillicothe for all that would like to attend

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PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

March 6, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
March 13, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
March 16, IL State ARES Tune-Up Session
March 20, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

The PAARC-hosted Weather Spotter Training Class is coming to the March Club Meeting on the 12th at 6:30 PM. If that timing does not work for you there are multiple other training sessions available around the Central Illinois area – check https://www.weather.gov/ilx/spotter for these sessions.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

____________________________________________________

FEBRUARY NET LOGS

2/4
KD9ANU KD9RYH K9XJT W8NWG W9WGN N9NDF KB9VRW KD9WRX KC9IH KD9YPM KD9WVP N9WFT KD9ERS W9JDP K9TNT KD9JXR KD9QQU KD9PXZ KD9ZKZ WF9E N9CS NP2WJ KD9WVP KD9STL W8NWG NA9LE K9RCS W9DAY KD9NYE K9LE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

2/11
KD9RYH KD9ANU W8NWG K9XJT K9OTG W9WGN WD9EB NP2WJ KD9YPM KC9LCH N9NDF KD9QQU K9HJZ W9JDP K9TNT KD9JXR KD9STL W9DAY N9WFT KD9DBQ Submitted by KD9HZZ 73

2/18
KD9RYH W8NWG KD9ANU W8NWG K9XJT K9HJZ KC9IH KD9YPM KD9YWB KD9YER KD9HZZ KD9ZWR KD9JXR NM0O N0XOH W9JDP KD9PXZ K9LE KD9QQU KD9RJH KD9MPI KD9WVP KD0STL KD9WRX WF9E N9WFT KD9ERS KD9ZKZ K9RCS K9UQF N9CS WW9DLM KD9VHI/AG KB9ATO N9NDF KD9NYE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

2/25
KD9RYH KC9ZWR K9XJT KD9ANU WD9EB W9WGN KD9ZFZ K9HJZ KB9VRW KC9IH NP2WJ KD9YPM KD9WRX KD9ERS W9JDP K9TNT NM0O KC9VEW KD9JXR KD9PXZ K9LE KD9ZKZ W8NWG KD9WVP KD9RJH KD9IBC N9NDF N9SL KB9ATO K9RCS KD9NYE N9WFT KD9STL WF9E WW9DLM N9CS K9UQF K9CEW KD9TEG W9DAY Submitted by KD9DBQ

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MARCH CLUB EVENTS

March 5 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting: In person at the American Red Cross, West Building, 311 W John H Gwynn Jr Ave., Peoria

March 6 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

March 12 – 6:30 p.m. – Membership Meeting: National Weather Service Spotter Training – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville. All are welcome.

March 13 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

March 19 -7:00 p.m. – Midwest Superfest Meeting IN PERSON at The American Red Cross (not the old building where we used to meet).

March 26 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting – details TBA

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CHECK IN ON MIDCARS NET DURING NEXT MONTH’S ECLIPSE

Although totality of the April 8 solar eclipse will be visible in southern Illinois, the propagation effects will be felt over a much wider area. The altered ionospheric conditions during an eclipse change conditions in an odd way to varying degrees depending on location.

We will have an opportunity to experience these changes during the eclipse when net control operator Mike Patton, AA9MK will extend hours of the MidCars net on 7.258 MHz to cover this time period, so we can experience the propagation changes first hand. The net will run on both sides of totality (1:58-2:06 pm CDT, April 8). The net is open to all.

Click here for more information.

____________________________________________________

CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Enjoy these photos from Winter Field Day 2024 at the Hopedale EOC. We had 32 people sign in.

Don’t forget to pay your 2024 Dues. Your membership helps make events like WFD a reality.

Ben Knapp, KD9RYH

Todd Ricca, N9CS is interviewed by Jolie Rodriguez of WEEK25

MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – January 2, 2024

Attending via Zoom:
Rich Schmitz*(K9RCS), Jacob Walters (K9WFT), Ben Knapp (KD9RYH), Rob Herrin (KD9DBQ), Tom Hunt (W8NWG), Casey Kerchner (KC9IH), Thom Beebe (W9RY), Tanya Knapp (KD9YPM), Darren Weir (KD9HZZ) and Adam Gerik (KD9NYE – recording minutes as secretary) *corrected name from Holtman with permission – wd9eb.

7:02p.m.: Ben calls the meeting to order

Tom moves to approve meeting minutes that are posted in Band Bits, Rob seconds… all are in favor and it passes.

SPECIAL GUEST TONIGHT: Thom (W9RY), section manager from ARRL

• Having looked at the new venue and new board, the Illinois convention will be held in conjunction with Superfest in 2024
• Also proposed to division director Carl that they move the Central Division convention to Superfest as well for 2025
• With a little luck, can then have it for the next two years after that
• Wants us to take a look at the Club Grant program… specifically involving STEM-interested high school students
• There’s also a possibility for a convention grant – he’ll let us know more info soon. If we are funded for the first year, we have to make a commitment to have the convention again for the next two years. We will have to re-submit for funding those additional years, but it’s easier. That would help fund guest speakers, etc.
• Tom asks if we have to be a 501(c)3 to qualify for these grants and we do not.
• Ben asks what the ARRL needs from us for the convention… Thom says a couple of cables and two tables for their booth. He’ll also be doing a lot of advertising for the Illinois and sectional convention designation.
• A few months ago, Thom went to the ARRL to say that they need something to help them move into the 21st century – so he asked for a 32” monitor, speakers, new signage, etc. He’s hopeful that we can be a test case for the ARRL.
• Tom asks Thom how many additional people might be possible for the state convention? Not sure exactly, They wanted a central location to help pull from the Chicagoland area, along with those in Southern Illinois as well.
• Brainstorming ideas for where to have dinner for Superfest 2024… Rob brings up Grecian Gardens as a possible option. Darren will check.
• Tom asks if we can take a look at any promo material before being sent by ARRL… Thom says no problem.
• Thom also suggests that we may want to set up an HF station at ham fest or have a boot camp for newbies where they can try building something radio related. Maybe even involve the Scouts.
• Asks if we’ll have flyers printed for Superfest – and yes, we will. (We should update the proposed design to mention the state convention.)

TREASURY REPORT FROM TANYA:

• $323.98 in checking
• $33.86 in savings
• $10,618.45 in money market
• $355.75 in Square account
• Not sure how much in PayPal due to access issues
• Tower rent check of $1200
• Tom introduces a motion to the board that we authorize Tanya and Ben to be issued CEFCU debit cards. Jake and Darren simultaneously second this. All are in favor.
• Rich makes a motion to accept the treasurer’s report, Tom seconds. All are in favor.

REPEATER COMMITTEE REPORT FROM TOM:

• New repeater chair is Jake (K9WFT)
• Tom proposes Steve Groeb, Matt Boenke, Rich Holtman, Ben, Tom, Justin, Todd (N9CS). Rob makes a motion to accept the list in total, Jake seconds. All are in favor.
• Series of goals for 2024:
  • An additional, new repeater site
  • We have 443.875 allocated by Illinois Repeater Council. Right now, it’s set up for the 075 physical site. Looking to move this to the proposed new repeater site, but need cans (not duplexers.) We have a spare DR-1 repeater. Jake says that we may have possible options at the Glasford site, but may not be tuned the way we need them. Otherwise, we could look for some in Dayton. New is $1200, used is half that.
  • 85 site in Glasford can’t be reset remotely, so we need a way via internet (we can do that via 075 repeater)
  • Get WIRES-X on all repeaters, including the new Kickapoo site. We need an HRI200 by Yaesu to do it… we have only one.
  • Link all analog repeaters together for great coverage
  • Longer term… link with other organizations’ repeaters in the Tri-County area.
  • Get a station going at the new Red Cross building (minimum of VHF/UHF/Winlink.) We need a route for a transmission line to the roof. The height of the new building is real close to the height of the existing tower.
• We’ll need to set up a budget for the cans, linking equipment, etc. Looking at a couple of thousand dollars without antennas involved.
• Darren does have a vertical antenna that Fritz bought for the club, in addition to a tri-band dipole.

OLD BUSINESS:

• $250 paid so far for 501(c)3… and we may have also not been an active 501(c)7 due to not having paid the past few years. Looking into this.
• Darren will send out bylaw changes to the board for review.
• Spotter training with the National Weather Service in Lincoln is usually in March… we will contact them to coordinate with the club.

NEW BUSINESS:

• A new Facebook group has been made to help us communicate as a board.
• We need to update our equipment inventory for the club.

Tom makes a motion to adjourn, Rob seconds… all are in favor and we are done at 8:14 p.m.

_______________________

Membership Meeting – January 9, 2024

7:01 p.m. call to order by Ben (KD9RYH)

26 members/board members are in attendance via Zoom

Deb (WD9EB) makes a motion to accept the minutes in BandBits, Jon (NM0O) seconds that motion. All are in favor and they are approved.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya (KD9YPM):

• $33.86 in savings
• $1,823.98 in checking
• $9,118.45 in money market
• Had to move some money to checking to cover tower rent for the year
• Just under $400 for Square
• $586.81 in PayPal

Superfest report from Darren (KD9HZZ):

• He talked with Woodford EMA guys about bringing their trailer to Superfest. Peoria Co ECOM is coming as well. He’ll check with Tazewell to see if they’ll come.
• Reminder that ARRL will be at Superfest for the Illinois Convention
• Woodford’s club will be there as well and will need two tables
• Scott DeSantis wants to work with us on go-kits for Superfest
• Dwight has 600 tickets printed and will bring them to Winter Field Day (should have all 3,000 printed by then.) Just need to print placards for flea market vendors.

Repeaters’ report from Tom (W8NWG):

• Jake has identified two digital interface boxes to enable Wires-X, but we need cables for one of them. We need a third one purchased so we can have all of our repeaters connected. (Kickapoo D-Star repeater, 075 machine that formerly had WiresX, 85 in Glasford for Fusion)
• We need a way to remote control the Glasford repeater)
• Also need some older computers for these sites (Deb has one, Scott has a few more.) We’ll also need monitors. Four sets are needed in total.
• We’re also intending to link up the repeaters together… Jake will check to see if we’ll have what we need via the digital interfaces and computers.
• Some other exciting things in the works that he’ll be able to announce soon!

Winter Field Day in Hopedale:

• We have the site (and Community Room) from Saturday afternoon until we get done on Sunday.
• Event starts at 1 p.m. through 1 p.m., with setup on Saturday at noon
• Hoping to operate overnight… Deb will be there and Justin volunteered to help those early hours as well
• Darren had mentioned bringing Italian beef, Tanya will get some hoagie rolls at Costco. Deb will make some cheesy Calico beans.
• Icom 7300 and the Yaesu 991a of the club’s will be there
• People are welcome to bring their own radios as well (we have limited bandpass filters, though.)

Other old business:

• Deb is still working on the test membership site at w9uvi.org
• Radio room at Red Cross has been emptied out of furniture. Among items salvaged are 2x 200ft+ runs of heliax, 4x runs of 100ft+ LMR-400. All lightning arresters were pulled out of the box, but still need to get antennas and coax down. We’ll also be allowed to take the tower itself down.
• It will likely be June before we get the trailer they’re giving us.
• There are two meeting rooms at the newer Red Cross building we can use. Tom and Darren have badges, Ben will also have a badge.
• In March, we’ll probably have a Superfest meeting there.
• We haven’t been given a time to get the cable and tower dismantled… we just needed to vacate our space more urgently.

New business:

• New PAARC board for 2024 (updated on website)
• Scott asks for suggestions for Superfest training sessions… Tom is asked if he would do an Extra-class session, but says that he’d be more comfortable doing a CW one. Reach out to Scott if you want to help participate (or even group teach!)
• Ben was approached for setting up a STEM radio-related program for students in Washington… he would like to have the club get involved. Jake has kids in the district, so he’s in. We’re looking at doing this maybe in 2025.
• Jim Nelson asks if members can post to the club’s Facebook page… apparently that’s no longer possible, but we’ll look at the settings to see if we can fix it. Tom makes a motion for Jake to be moderator for the club’s page, Rich seconds it. All are in favor – good luck to Jake (who got his new vanity call today… K9LE)

Darren makes a motion to adjourn, Tom seconds. We’re done at 7:53 p.m. Scott then begins a short presentation on ham radio software for old computers.

__________________________________________________

MIDWEST SUPERFEST^TM

We have tickets and flyers. Flyers will be available at the next club meeting February 13.

Dwight is working on placards, I hope to have them soon.
I will email all the vendors that have not responded the by first or second week in February.
I will be taking some tickets and flyers to Bill at Midwest Two way and to Don Bell.

The next Midwest Superfest meeting is February 20th on zoom. The March meeting will probably be in person at the Red Cross.

View and download the Midwest Superfest Flyer.

Darren Weir, “KD9HZZ, Midwest Superfest Chair

____________________________________________________

PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

February 7, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
February 14, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
February 21, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

The PAARC-hosted Weather Spotter Training Class is coming to the March Club Meeting on the 12th at 6:30 PM. If that timing does not work for you there are multiple other training sessions available around the Central Illinois area – check https://www.weather.gov/ilx/spotter for these sessions.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

____________________________________________________

JANUARY NET LOGS

1/7​
KD9RYH K9XJT KD9ANU N9WX W9WGN K9HJZ KC9IH KD9AER KD9WRX KD9YPM KC9VEW KD9VAN KD9ERS W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O K9RCS K9WFT KD9PXZ W9WTF W8NWG KB9ATO N9WFT KD9JXR KD9IVV WF9E WW9DLM K9CEW K9UQF KD9STL KD9RJH K9QZ KD9LHA KD9ZFC NP2WJ N9CS KD9LQL KD9NYE Submitted by KD9DBQ

1/14
KD9HZZ KD9RYH K9LE KD9IVV WD9EB W9WGN K9HJZ KC9IH KD9YPM KD9ZFC KD9WRX KD9QQU W9JDP K9TNT KD9JXR N9NDF NM0O KD9ZKZ KD9PXZ KD9YYD W8NWG W9FYR KD9STL N9WFT KD9RJH KD9NYE NP2WJ K9UQF K9RCS KD9IBC N9GZ N9CS K9QZ KB9ATO KD9ERS WW9DLM Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/21
W9WTF KD9RYH WD9EB KD9ANU KD9HZZ W9WGN K9HJZ KD9ZFC KC9IH N9NDF KD9TEG KD9AER KD9YPM KD9IBC KD9WRX NP2WJ KD9JXR NM0O K9LE K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9ZKZ KB9ATO KD9QQU N9WFT KC9VEW K9RCS W9JDP W8NWG KD9STL WF9E K9QZ N9GZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/28
KD9RYH KD9ANU W9WTF W9WGN KD9IBC N9NDF (from Taiwan via Echolink) KC9IH KD9ZFC KD9WRX KD9YPM K9HJZ KD9VRW KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT NM0O KD9IVV KB9ATO KD9PXZ KD9JXR W8NWG N9WFT N9SL KD9VIN NP2WJ WW9DLM KD9STL K9UQF KD9QQU N9GZ N9CS K9LE K9RCS KC9VEW KD9TZU W9DAY KD9ZKZ Submitted by KD9DBQ

FEBRUARY CLUB EVENTS

February 6 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom. Link on club meetings page

February 7 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

February 13 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: Bartonville American Legion – Setting up a simple mobile station for POTA, eComms or Field Day

February 14 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

February 17 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15

February 27 – 7:00 p.m. – Midwest Superfest Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page

____________________________________________________

CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

A note from the president, oh, the new guy, that’s me! Hi! I’m Ben Knapp KD9RYH the new president of the club. I suppose I should introduce myself.

But first, a huge thank you to our outgoing president, Justin N9WX. He stepped up from vice president and then has served as our president till he ran into a term clause in our constitution.

So, a little about myself. I’m a general class amateur radio operator first licensed in 2021. I’m an Eagle Scout, a Tazewell County EMA volunteer, and a data center troll for OSF. With my wife, Tanya KD9YPM, we have 4 kids, 2 grandkids and one more on the way! While I’ve been with OSF for 25 years now, I’ve had a bunch of sides jobs including ‘pro’ radio, TV and was a roadie working for Jim Rodewald KD9JXR. As far as the club goes, I’m excited for everything that’s going on. Lots of amazing opportunities and then the new home of the Midwest Superfest. Boy is that going to be great!

I welcome talking to all of you on the repeaters, online and in person. You can find me on Facebook and as they say, I’m good on QRZ.

73 and catch you down the log,
Ben Knapp, KD9RYH

__________________________________________________

2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President – Ben Knapp, KD9RYH
Vice President – Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT
Secretary – Adam Gerik, KD9NYE
Treasurer – Tanya Knapp, KD9YPM
2 year Director-At-Large – Rich Schmitz, K9RCS
1 year Director-At-Large – Rob Herrin, KD9DBQ
Club Trustee – Tom Hunt, W8NWG (appointed)
Midwest Superfest™ Chairperson – Darren Weir, KD9HZZ (appointed)
Repeater Chairperson – Jacob Walters, K9WFT (appointed)

__________________________________________________

MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – December 7, 2023 Via Zoom

Present: Darren (KD9HZZ), Ben (KD9RYH), Adam (KD9NYE), Tanya (KD9YPM), Tom (W8NWG), Rob (KD9DBQ), Deb (WD9EB) and Casey (KC9IH) are present. Scott (K9XJT) joins later.

Ben calls the meeting to order in Justin’s absence at 7:02 p.m.

To accept the meeting minutes from last month, Tom makes a motion and Deb seconds. All are in favor.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• She had to travel for a family emergency, so no report this month.

Repeater committee/trustee report from Tom:

• A few board members visited a potential future site for a repeater/club station.
• Glasford repeater site computer work is still needed. A month ago, analog was turned on with the 85 repeater.

Superfest from Darren/Deb:

• Darren has gotten all letters mailed out. He’ll email those he hasn’t heard from after the first of the year.
• Forums for Saturday sessions have been filled thanks to a joint effort with Tom on Parks on the Air.
• Darren’s working on getting the main ARES guy as a session possibility. He’s also checking with Woodford and Tazewell EMAs to see if they’d come out with their vehicles, along with Blake at the Red Cross about their comms trailer.
• Our raffle license is corrected for next year.
• Todd got a few more door prizes… including $600 worth of stuff from MFJ.
• Deb got a response from the attorney working on our trademark application that our PO Box address isn’t good enough… they need a physical address. Deb was willing to put her address and transfer it sometime in the future to someone else.
• Next Superfest meeting is Dec. 21

OLD BUSINESS…

RED CROSS CHANGES:

• Darren got back with Blake at the Red Cross. The club now has a generator! All the storage totes have been moved to the new building. We need to figure out what to do with the desk, since it needs to come out quick. They’re issuing new cards for the new building as well under Ben and Darren’s names.
• Everything is on the third floor of the new building in one cubicle space. We should have some shelving in a storage room as well. There’s a meeting room we also have access to use.
• We might be able to lock our radios in a cubicle storage area. Rob mentions that those locks are poor and that maintenance folks also have master keys. Maybe we just leave a 2m rig and remove our HF rigs?
• There’s no big rush on getting the antennas down. There’s also a possibility that we can take the tower down as well. It does look like we’ll get a decommissioned trailer from the Red Cross.
• We’ll still need to determine if we’re moving the antenna/tower to the new building. We also don’t know if we’d have a path for our coax inside the new building.
• We might consider renting some storage space so we can get out of the old building more quickly. 5x10ft is $45/month, says Darren.

501(c)3 UPDATE FROM DARREN:

• We cannot easily convert from the current 501(c)7 to a 501(c)3. The cheapest and quickest way to do it is to start all over. The name can pretty much stay the same, although take the hyphen out “Peoria-Area Amateur Radio Club Inc”
• A new bank account has to be opened, equipment assets need to be transferred, etc.
• We’ll need even more careful record keeping when we’re a 501(c)3. Darren recommends a binder with printed meeting minutes + treasurer’s report.
• So far, we’ve been charged $100 by the attorney for the advice we’ve been given on this. There’s enough in the retainer to still accomplish this transition. Darren also recommends some (boring, he says) videos that will help us through this process.
• Any changes we’re working on to our bylaws will need to be given to the attorney as well. (This saves us money so we don’t need to have the attorney write language from scratch.)

BYLAWS DISCUSSION WITH DEB:

• Some changes proposed by Dwight… including that members must comply with published club policies and our new sexual harassment policy. He also mentioned a three-month loophole whereby a member could wait those three months to renew, giving them a 15-month membership instead of a year. We will make both changes to our proposed bylaws.
• He also proposed adding an item to the bylaw that the number of current members shall be announced at meetings and included in the minutes. We’re good with that change as well.
• There are concerns among the board about current bylaws making it possible for a member to move for an officer or board member to be removed at the same meeting with no notice given to general membership. Deb will work on language to propose instead.
• For special club meetings, we currently say that we’ll send notification on “local radio nets and packet radio bulletin boards.” We will update with more modern language.

CHRISTMAS PARTY:

• Next week! 6:30 p.m. at Brandywine Pizza Ranch. We have 25 committed so far.

Deb makes a motion to adjourn, Tom seconds. Meeting is over at 8:15 p.m.

_______________________

Membership Meeting December 12, 2023

Annual Holiday gathering at the Pizza Ranch.

__________________________________________________

WINTER FIELD DAY

Mark your calendars for Winter Field Day, Saturday, January 27 at the Hopedale

Community Center, 101 SE Main St. in Downtown Hopedale. Check or web page and listen to the Sunday night net for information and updates.

__________________________________________________

MIDWEST SUPERFEST^TM

We have our raffle license, and tickets should be printed by March so we can start mailings.

Todd Rica has started receiving prizes already.

I will be reaching out to Woodford and Tazewell EMA about bringing Eccom vehicles out to display, I have talked with Blake from the Red Cross and he is all about coming, I also talked with Scott DeSantis from SATERN.

Forums for Saturday:
8:30 – Carl K9LA – Solar Cycle 25 and Propagation
10:00 – Scott DeSantis KB9VRW – SATERN
11:30 – Craig Thompson K9CT
Noon – License Testing
1:00 – ARRL forum
2:30 – POTA forum: W8NWG & KD9HZZ

ARRL, Tom Beebe reached out to me. They will be at Midwest Superfest, Illinois Section Convention.

Darren, KD9HZZ
Midwest Superfest Chairperson

____________________________________________________

PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

January 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January 17, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

____________________________________________________

DECEMBER NET LOGS

12/3
N9WX W8NWG KD9ANU WD9EB W9WTF K9HJZ NM0O KD9YPM KD9WRX NP2WJ W9JDP N9NDF KB9ATO N9WFT KD9JXR KD9IVV KD9AER KD9PXZ KB9YYD K9QJ K9WFT K9RCS N9CS KD9STL K9TNT WF9E KD9VIN KD9ZFC KD9RYH KB0OGS KD9VIN KD9QQU K9CEW KD4UTL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

12/10
KC9IH KD9YPM KD9YCJ W9JDP W8NWG N9NDF KD9JXR N9WFT K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9MPI WW9DLM KD9AER K9RCS W9WTF WD9EB KD9STL W9WGN KD9NYE KB9ATO KD9QQU N9CS K9UQF K9HJZ KD9RYH K9QZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

12/17
WD9EB KD9ANU W9WGN K9XJT KD9ZFC KD9WRX KD9YPM K9RCS NP2WJ KC9IH KD9JXR N9NDF K9TNT NM0O KD9IVV KD9AER KD9PXZ N9WFT K9WFT KD9TEG KD9STL W8NWG W9DAY K9UQF KC0VEW KD9QQU WF9E KD9RYH Submitted by KD9DBQ

12/24 – No Net

12/31
KD9ANU KC9IH NP2WJ KD9YPM W9JDP K9WFT KD9PXZ W8NWG N9WFT K9TNT KD9JXR N9CS KD9RYH K9UQF KD9HZZ NM0O KD9MPI WF9E KD9QQU Submitted by KD9DBQ 73 Happy New Year!

____________________________________________________

JANUARY CLUB EVENTS

Beginning in January, all Board, Membership and Superfest meetings will be held on Tuesdays.

January 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page

January 3 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

January 9 TUESDAY – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting – Bartonville American Legion,  4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville

January 10 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

January 17 – 7:00 p.m. ARES Meeting: Zoom

January 23 TUESDAY – 7:00 p.m. – Midwest Superfest Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page

---

January 27 – Winter Field Day: Hopedale Community Center. Details TBA

____________________________________________________

CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

President’s Report

Hello, December! This month I wanted to welcome our new president to the helm. Ben Knapp – KD9RYH, will be taking my place. I believe that he will continue the forward direction of our club.

I want to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to preside over the club for the past 2.5 years. It’s time for fresh eyes and ideas. I hope everyone will support and welcome Ben in his position. I know he has some good ideas in mind for the club.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas!

– Justin Flick N9WX

Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors: 11/2/23

Rob call meeting to order at 7:21 – Darren KD9HZZ, Deb WD0EB, Tanya KD9YPM, Tom W9NWG, Rob KD9DBQ present.

Darren made motion to accept the minutes from the Oct. meeting as published in BandBits, Tom seconded all approved

Treasurer’s report Tanya – paid $1500 to lawyer for 501 (c) (3), there is $620.98 in checking. $12,088.44 in the money market, $5.04 in savings and $355.75 in Square, Deb mentioned Three Sisters deposit will need to be made when we meet with them. Tom made the motion to approve the treasurer’s report as presented, Darren seconded, all approved.

Repeater committee – Tom reported that he turned the 85 analog on so both analog and digital are working in time for ares repeater test, no WiresX yet, want to link 85 and 075 – Matt hopes to have a computer ready to go. Tom wants to take everyone on the repeater committee to Groveland and show them the setup there.

Midwest Superfest™ – meeting last week, Darren has sent emails to vendors, Todd & Brett getting the prize emails from vendors who tell Darren prizes, four forums for Saturday, mailing copies of the vendor letter to vendors he has not heard from. Meeting with Three Sisters Monday Nov.13th at 3:00pm.

Old business
Red Cross – Darren will reach out to Blake
Christmas Dinner is at Pizza Ranch on Brandywine on Dec. 12th at 6:30pm, email needs to be sent to the club email w9uvi.paarc@gmail.com by Dec. 1st with name and number coming.

Nothing on Red Cross trailer.

Nothing new on the Dunlap tower.

New Business –

Website has been remodeled, changes include: email distribution list using MailPoet, which gives us the ability to send multiple emails and have multiple distribution lists. The charge is based on number of subscribers and for now we are on the free plan. Deb has inquired from their sales team what the price would be for up to 10,000 subscribers, because she wants to build a distribution list from the previous attendees from the old superfest spreadsheet. Once she hears back from them will share the information with the board.
New look and feel of the website, the menu is now on the left of the page and for now the club logo is at the top of the menu; Deb is going to look into some of the new defaults and see if they can be changed to fix font size and color.
Deb has asked Jason Howell to take some pictures to use as the page logo and homepage along with some magic from Tom once the pictures are ready to incorporate Welcome to W9UVI – home of the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club – 100+ years of making waves – with incorporated May 1919 at the bottom.
Deb is also working on a members only section of the website, which would restrict who can see those pages, post pictures, post comments, share like a bulletin board kind of thing possibly, she is still looking at plug-ins and deciding which one we want to use.

Tom made the motion to adjourn at 7:50, Darren seconded, all approved, meeting adjourned.

___________________________

Membership Meeting 11/14

7:01 p.m.: Justin (N9WX) calls the meeting to order.
We go around the room with introductions.

Darren (KD9HZZ) makes a motion to accept BandBits as posted, and Rich (KD9ANU) seconds. All are in favor and it passes.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya (KD9YPM):

• $10,588.04 in money market
• $399.65 in PayPal
• $355.75 in Square
• $2,145.97 in checking
• $5.04 in savings
• 2024 deposit to Three Sisters Park for $1,750
• $1500 for 501c3 lawyer
• $72 check needed for Peoria County Clerk for raffle license
  Deb (WD9EB) makes motion to accept the report, and Tom (W8NWG) seconds. All are in favor.

Repeater committee:

• The 85 is analog and digital, but still not hooked up to internet
• We also need to hook the D-STAR repeater up to internet
• No update yet on the possible Dunlap repeater/tower site
• Lots of discussion among the membership about a desire for a 220MHz repeater, but none are known to be in the area.

Any old biz? None.

Superfest update:

• Darren is going tomorrow to get our raffle license and Adam needs to sign paperwork (done!)
• No Superfest meeting this month due to Thanksgiving
• Met with Three Sisters Park folks on Monday and brought up the desire for a grill.. they’re going to look into grilling pork chops and steak burgers next year, possibly. Also may provide a drink cart out in the flea market area.
• There are a few antennas at the top of the cupola that may be for 2 meters… so we want to test those and see if any are usable if we attach coax for talk-in use.
• We asked how many 30 and 50-amp hookups there are, but that number often changes because people hire electricians to move things around regularly
• We received an email from the Comet antenna company that they won’t be coming in 2024, but they are willing to send door prizes via Todd.
• Nothing more as of yet on trademarking our name.

Club elections:

• Since no one is running unopposed, we need a majority approval slate according to the bylaws.
• Nobody is opposed to that.
• Rich makes a motion that the secretary (Adam, KD9NYE) casts a unanimous ballot according to what is listed in the last Band Bits. Tom seconds the motion and all are in favor.

New business…
Proposal to change club bylaws:

• Deb wants for membership terms to change from being based on the calendar year to when dues are paid. Rich asks for the reason… Deb says that people move into the area late in the year and have to pay again mere months after they last paid. It’s brought up that we’ll need to track this carefully via spreadsheet.
• If members don’t renew within 3 months of their memberships expiring, they are to be dropped from our roster.
• Deb identifies an inaccuracy in our current bylaws… we offer three levels of membership, not just two.
• She’d also like to change bylaws to indicate that Band Bits is posted online instead of being printed as a newsletter.
• All of these proposed bylaw changes will be published in the December and January editions of Band Bits, with a vote by membership in January.
• A question comes up on whether this change in a membership year is retroactive to 2023 Superfest folks who tested for free membership? Yes, it is.
• Another question: Will there still be a non-voting level of membership? Yes, because some aren’t living in the area.

More new business:

• Darren heard back from the lawyer last week and they’re looking at what paperwork is needed to change us from 501(c)(7) to 501(c)(3).

Mark (W9WGN) makes a motion to adjourn the regular meeting for Scott’s (K9XJT) presentation on Gridtracker and we’re done at 7:28 p.m.

Proposed ByLaw Changes

These changes were proposed at the November club meeting. They can be viewed on the PAARC ByLaw Changes page.

Midwest Superfest^TM

Met with Three Sisters on Nov. 13^th and discussed how this year went and ideas for next year. They were open to some of the ideas we presented and hopefully they will be able to incorporate some of them, especially having a grill going on Saturday, and possibly adding more items to the menu. Discussed use of the blacktop for parking and that it will be completely reserved for handicap parking. Signs will be posted and parking restrictions will be enforced.

The next Midwest Superfest™ meeting will be on Thursday Dec. 21^st at 7:00 pm via Zoom on the club meetings page.

Peoria County ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

December 6, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater. As part of the net, there will be a UHF Simplex test on 446.700 (National Simplex Frequency). Make sure your radios are programmed with this frequency.
December13, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
December 20, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

November Net Logs

11/5
KD9ANU WD9EB KD9IBC KD9TEG KC9IH KD9YPM NP2WJ KD9ERS W9JDP N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9JXR W8NWG KD9IVV KD9AER K9WFT W9TTX N9WFT KD9MOA W9WGN KD9RJH WF9E K9RCS KD9STL KD9MPI W9WTF N9GZ KD9WRX WW9DLM KD9RYH K9UQF KB9ATO K9CEW KC9YTT K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73 Thanks to W9WTF for the assist

11/12
KD9QQU KD9ANU WD9EB KD9YTM NM0O W9WGN K9HJZ KC9IH NP2WJ KD9YCJ K9XJT KD9JXR W9JDP KD9PXJ W8NWG N9WFT KD9AER KD9IVV KD9RJH N9CS K9NTT KD9YCJ KD9WRX KD9RYH KD9DBQ KD9STL WW9DLM WF9E KB9ATO K9RCS N9NDF Submitted by KD9QQU and W8NWG

11/19
KD9ANU WD9EB W9WTF W9WGN KD9IBC K9HJZ KC9IH KD9YPM K9RCS N9CS KD9HZZ W8NWG N9NDF KD9IVV KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9AER KD9ZFC W9JDP KD9QQU NM0O K9TNT K9WFT KD9TEG KD9STL KB9ATO K9CEW KD9RYH K9QZ K9UQF K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

11/26
WD9EB KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN K9HJZ KD9IBC KD9RYH KC9IH KD9YPM K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9IVV KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9TEG KD9AER KB9YYD WW9DLM K9RCS KD9WRX KD9QQU K9UQF WF9E K9CEW KD9STL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

December Club Events

December 5 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

December 7 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page

December 12 – 6:30 p.m. – New Meeting Day – TUESDAY – Club Meeting/Holiday Social Event at Pizza Ranch,  4114 N Brandywine Dr, Peoria. Spouses/Significant Others are welcome! RSVP with the number attending by email to w9uvi.paarc@gmail.com by December 1st.

December 13 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

December 16 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15

December 21 – 7:00 p.m. – Midwest Superfest Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page

Club Email List

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President’s Report

November is here and that means a month of Thanksgiving! I’m thankful for being part of a great Club and everyone who’s in it. Without you, my position means nothing. I’m thankful for everyone’s support through my term. Elections are this month. I know that Ben Knapp KD9RYH will make a great president.

Like the leaves, my hopes to have one last camping trip have pretty much fallen… But, there’s next year. Yes, slight pun intended.

I wanted to remind everyone that our club Christmas party will be at Pizza Ranch on Brandywine Dr. in Peoria at 6:30 pm. The date is Tuesday, December 12th 2023. Please RSVP to the club email: w9uvi.paarc@gmail.com by December 1st as to how many are coming with you!

Thank you to each and every one of you for just being you and being a part of this wonderful club!

Justin Flick – N9WX, PAARC President

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Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors 10/5/23

Present: Justin, Tom, Tanya, Deb, Rob, Darren, Scott

Bandbits – Rob & Tom – all approve

Treasurer Report – Money Market #13,580, Checking 1503.58, Savings – 5.04, Paypal – 200.00
Spent for Trademark $600 total Tom & Rob – all approve

Repeaters – Nothing new on repeaters – Tom seeing about access in Dunlap

Superfest – We made $2900 this year, website, vendor letter and most documents have been or are being updated. Reservations will start being taken asap. Deb will reach out to Adam to get Square on the website so we can use it also.

Old Business – Red Cross move – our stuff was moved on 10/05, they have a cubicle for us to use for our radio equipment, this will not work.

New Business – Vote is being taken on Facebook about moving to another night. American Legion would be open to other nights.

Rob – wanting to do a club event for Illinois quoso party – sending information to Justin will create an event on FB

Deb – took a bunch of papers from the radio room, going through them, Dwight will scan them for us and we will save them on the website, important papers will be given to Adam/Tanya.

Darren – Once bylaws are updated, sending to lawyer to take care of 501 (c) (3) for us.

Motion to adjourn – Deb-Rob – 7:30

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Membership Meeting 10/12

7:04pm – Justin N9WX, called the meeting to order.

Darren KD9HZZ, made the motion to approve the minutes from the last club meeting posted in BandBits, Tom W8NWG, seconded, all approved.

Tanya KD9YPM, presented the treasurer’s report:
$13,580.59 – Money Market account
$ 1,255.58 – Checking account
$ 5.04 – Savings account
There was a discussion about PayPal versus Square
Rob KD9DBQ, made the motion to approve the treasurer’s report as presented, Mark W9WGN, seconded, all approved.

Deb presented the Midwest Superfest™ report, we made $2,900 this year, we had some expenses we won’t have next year, the club has used Trademark Engine and have filed for a federal trademark for Midwest Superfest™ so please make sure you use the entire name where referring to it, especially in writing.

Repeater report:
Nov. 11th test turning back on the analog on the .85 repeater in Glasford.
Still waiting on information for possible sight in Dunlap.

The Red Cross gave us a storage room on the 3rd floor, and they may be giving us a 6×12 trailer that we discussed using as a communications trailer.

Tom W8NWG made the motion to accept the revision to Article IV as it had been published and the adoption of the Sexual Harassment Policy, Ben KD9RYH, seconded, all aproved.

Justin N9WX brought up that he had been approached about changing the club meeting night to Tuesday nights, this was okay with the American Legion. Justin put a poll up on our Facebook page and the majority of club members who voted in the poll were in favor of Tuesday nights. Rob KD9DBQ, made the motion to move the club meetings to Tuesday nights at 7pm, Brett KD9PXZ, seconded, all approved. The November club meeting will be on Tuesday Nov. 14th at 7pm at the American Legion Hall in Bartonville. At this time the Board and the Midwest Superfest™ meetings are not moving to Tuesday nights.

The slate of officers for 2024 running unopposed, are as follows:
President – Ben Knapp, KD9RYH
Vice President – Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT
Secretary – Adam Gerik, KD9NYE
Treasurer – Tanya Knapp, KD9YPM
2 year Director-At-Large – Rich Schmitz, K9RCS
These offices are not up for vote:
1 year Director-At-Large – Rob Herrin, KD9DBQ
Club Trustee – Justin Flick, N9WX
Midwest Superfest™ Chairperson – Darren Weir, KD9HZZ
Repeater Chairperson – Jacob Walters, K9WFT

Deb is seeing about a place for the Christmas dinner, hopefully Smokin Notes in East Peoria.

Meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m.

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Midwest Superfest^TM

Thanks again everyone for all the help at this year’s Midwest Superfest^TM it was a successful year considering it was a new home and the problems we have had the last couple of years with our venues.

Please make sure you have the dates on your calendars for 2024. Since September 1st is on a Sunday, Midwest Superfest^TM will be later than normal next year. For those who didn’t realize it, Midwest Superfest^TM is always the third full weekend of September, instead of based around a certain date.

We have begun the process to trademark our name and are using Trademark Engine to get it done. Please make sure when you talk about it or use it in communications that you use Midwest Superfest^TM the way it is spelled here. We are getting a federal trademark, so our name will be ours everywhere and not just in Illinois.

Since the fourth Thursday of November is Thanksgiving, we decided to not have a meeting in November.

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Peoria County ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

November 1, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

November 8, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

November 11, Area Repeater and Simplex Testing 1:00 PM start time

November 15, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

Please submit your Training Documentation form.
ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

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October Net Logs

10/1
WD9EB KD9ANU W9WGN W8NWG K9XJT K9HJZ KD9YPM KC9IH KD9HZZ KD9JXR W9JDP K9TNT NM0O KB9ATO KD9IVV N9WFT KD9NYE KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9AER N9SL KD9RJH K9RCS K9WFT N9CS WF9E KC9YTT KB9OGS KD9RYH KD9STL WW9DLM Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/8
KD9ANU WD9EB W8NWG W9WGN KD9IBC K9HJZ NKD9MPI NP2WJ KD9YPM K9TNT NM0O KD9PXZ K9WFTN KD9AER K9RCS KD9IVV KD9JXR WW9DLM KT9TB N9GZ KD9TEG KD9STL KD9VAN KD9RYH K9CEW K9UQF KC9YTT KD9NYE KC9IH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/15
KD9ANU W8NWG N9WX WD9EB KD9QQU W9WGN NP2WJ KD9Y8PM KD9TEG KC9YTT KC9IH W9JDP NM0O KD9JXR K9TNT N9NDF KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9AER N9SL AB9DL KD9IVV K9XJT KD9WRX KD9NYE KD9ERS WF9E N9CS KD9RJH KD9STL WW9DLM KD9RYH K9UQF K9HJZ K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/22
WD9EB KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN K9XJT KD9VAN KC9IH KD9YPM NM0O K9WFT W9JDP KD9JXR K9RCS K9TNT KB9ATO N9WFT KD9IVV KD9AER KD9IBC KD9MPI N9NDF KC9YTT KD9PXZ N9SL N9CS WF9E K9CEW K9UQF KD9RYH KD9WRX KD9TEG KD9STL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/29
KD9ANU WD9EB KD9WRX W9WGN K9HJZ KD9YPM KC9IH W9JDP K9TNT KB9ATO NM0O KD9PXZ KD9JXR N9WFT KD9IVV W8NWG KD9AER WF9E WW9DLM KC9YTT K9CEW KD9NYE N9GZ K9RCS KB9OGS K9UQF N9NDF W9WTF KD9MPI KD9RJH KD9VIN KD9STL KD9RYH N9CS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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November Club Events

November 1 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

November 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

November 8 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

November 14 – 7:00 p.m. –New Meeting Day – TUESDAY – Club Meeting: Election of Officers; Demonstration of grid tracker software with FT8 – Bartonville American Legion,  4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville

November 15 – ARES Meeting: Zoom

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Club Email List

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club new is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

____________________________________________________

Club For Sale Items

There will soon be a new page on the website for various ham related items for sale, either items that are owned/donated to the club or items club members wish to sell. Any club member with ham related items they wish to sell, please take at least 2 decent pictures of the item and send them to the club email w9uvi.paarc@gmail.com with a description of the item, how much you want for it, and how they can best contact you. Remember these will be posted on the website, so you may want to use your email as the contact to start with.

President’s Report

I want to start out by thanking everyone who helped with and those who attended Midwest Superfest 2023. We were successful at our new home. I’m honored that we even had help from non-members/other clubs. It was a learning experience for sure. The Three Sister’s Park Staff members were amazing to work with. Any request or need we had was taken care of immediately and without hesitation. We hope that next year and the years to come will be bigger and better yet! We have plenty of room to grow so let’s do it!

As a reminder, the October Club Meeting will be in Bartonville at the American Legion Hall. We will be voting on the changes to our Constitution mentioned at the last 2 club meetings, and we will be finalizing the Nominations for Board of Directors, to be voted on at the November club meeting. If you are interested in any position on the BOD, please contact me at n9wx.ares@gmail.com or any current board member.

I’m hoping to organize another POTA and Foxhunt event or 2 before Winter. There even thoughts of a Fall camping trip, just to have one last hoorah before Winter Field Day comes along.

Again, I am proud and honored to be the current leader of such a great group. I have said it before and I’m saying it again, I want to hear from you! The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! This is just as much your club as it is mine. I look forward to the years to come!

Justin Flick N9WX

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Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors 9/7/23

Attending are: Tom (W8NWG), Adam (KD9NYE), Justin (N9WX), Deb (WD9EB), Doug, Rob (KD9DBQ), Scott (K9XJT), (Tanya, KD9YPM, joined later)

7:02 p.m., we begin…

Bandbits approval: Deb makes a motion, Rob seconds. All are in favor and it passes.

Treasurer’s report from Justin (no Tanya until later):

• Savings: nothing!
• Checking: $5,000.00
• $775 is coming out of checking for golf carts
• $1,888.55 transferred from checking to PayPal in case we need to refund anyone for Superfest (Deb did have to refund $50 for a double orders of tables)
• $341.48 for purchase of Square hardware
• $7,772.46 is in our money market
  Motion to accept the report by Tom, Deb seconds. All are in favor.

Repeater committee: No updates, says Tom, due to being busy with Superfest

Old business:

– Justin still hasn’t heard anything further from the Red Cross about needing to move, but did hear back last that they’re pretty sure we have room in the new building.

– Doug says that the American Legion is once again an option for us if desired… they won’t charge us, either. They want to be involved with us.

– Jason said that there’s a gentleman (Adam?) from Dream Center who thinks we could also be there, perhaps. The guy is supposed to call Justin next week to discuss.

New business:

– None

Superfest from Deb:

– We got a lot of things straightened out with golf carts… one 6-seater, one cargo and 3 smaller ones. Justin has a friend who has a friend who has also agreed to loan us their golf cart. We need to be careful with all carts – do not overload, etc. Deb will take pictures when they deliver them at 3 p.m. Friday, to avoid prior damage claims. We’ll have the personally-loaned one on Thursday.

– Deb will get Tanya a list of what cash we’ll need; we’ll organize it all during Thursday night’s regular meeting.

– Deb is also going to get our certificate of insurance soon.

– Emails have been sent to all indoor vendors thanking them for participating and reminding them that setup is Friday from 1-8 p.m. Vendor packets will be waiting for them.

– Deb is going out to the site Wednesday afternoon to meet with Susan on any last minute things we need to do. There are some ruts by the gate due to recent weather, but hoping to have that addressed in advance.

– Also working on ARRL request paperwork for next year’s Superfest.

– Deb has our raffle license to have on-site as required.

– So far, with all expenses we know about, we have almost paid for the venue. $2,926 in income so far. Venue is $3,500 (not much more than what we paid for Expo last year) Postage, raffle license, portable toilets, etc. are other expenses.

– Gary from the Woodford club mentioned a desire to work with our club next year in exchange for part of the profits. Will need further discussion by the board.

– Adam volunteered to help integrate our new Square account into our website… Deb will reach out with info needed.

– Deb needs to get some sort of sweets/treats for the vendors on Friday afternoon. Sweet rolls/doughnuts from Walmart? We may comp drinks/etc for vendors for the weekend from the on-site concession stand.

– Darren is planning to bring his grill; we’ll fill up the coolers in our trailer with water and ice.

At 7:38 p.m., we’re finished!

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Superfest

OH MY!! What can I say but THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Our first Midwest Superfest^TM in our new home was a resounding success. The comments we received, or just overheard were fantastic. People were surprised by how well we had planned some things, and yes there were some things we definitely have on our list for improvements for next year. We found out that the golf carts are required and our guests were very grateful for the rides. I heard some of our shuttle drivers were even given tips 😁

We have already started planning for next year and if you would like to help, you are welcome to join us on the 4th Thursday of every month at 7pm, go to the Club meetings page and click on the Superfest link.

Deb Suhs, WD9EB

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Peoria County ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

October 4, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
October 7, Community Service Event, 1:30 PM at Junction City for PAWS-TOBERFEST
October 11, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
October 18, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

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September Net Logs

9/3
KD9ANU K9XJT WD9EB W9WGN KD9TAA KD9YTM KC9IH KD9IBC K9HJZ W9JDP KD9JXR NM0O KD9IVV KB9ATO KD9PXZ KD9WVP W8NWG KD9VAN N9WFT KD9AER N9NDF N9CS K9UQF K9WFT KD9RYH KC9YTT KD9STL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/10
KD9ANU K9XJT W9WGN K9OBI KC9IH KD9YTM K9HJZ KD9HZZ K9WFT KD9PXZ KD9IVV KB9ATO NM0O K9TNT KD9JXR W8NWG W9JDP KD9AER KD9TEG KD9QQU N9CS KB9VCJ K9UQF NP2WJ KD9STL WW9DLM N9NDF KD9RJH WF9E W9DAY KD9NYE KB9SF KD9RYH K9CEW KD9WVP K9RCS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/17
KD9ANU K9XJT N9WX KD9WRX KD9IBC K9HJZ KD9YPM KD9TEG KC9IH KD9HZZ KD9PXZ KD9JXR N9CS KB9ATO N9WFT W8NWG KD9IVV K9RCS KC9YTT KD9QQU NP2WJ KD9WVP KD9RYH W9JDP K9WFT KD9STL K9CEW KD9VLQ N9NDF W9WGN KD9AER KD9NYE WF9E K9UQF Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/24
KD9ANU WD9EB W9WTF W9WGN KD9YPM K9HJZ KC9IH W8NWG W9SEB K9TNT K9XJT KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9IVV KD9IBC NP2WJ KD9VIN KD9AER N9WFT KB9SF KD9WRX KD9VAN KB9OGS N9GZ WF9E N9CS KD9STL K9UQF KD9DBQ KD9RYH NM0O K9RCS KK6EUH Submitted by K9WFT 73

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October Club Events

October 4 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

October 5 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

October 11 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

October 12 – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: Vote on Constitutional amendments. American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville

October 18 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting: via Zoom

October 21 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: October Location: Hopedale Village Hall Community Room, 101 SE Main St, Hopedale, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.

October 26 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting

IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!

Can you tell I am excited? 😀 So much so I took over Justin’s spot!

I want to say thank you to all who have and who will be assisting with making our first year in our new home a success.

The September Club meeting will be at Three Sisters, in the area we will be camping, (behind the pavilion to the left of the flea market). We will be grilling, so bring what you want to grill. In addition to some food and fun conversations with fellow hams, we will also be going through the plans for the weekend and how different areas will operate.

If you haven’t signed up to help yet, please visit the Volunteer sign-up page, even if you plan on helping all weekend, please sign-up for specific jobs, so I know all jobs are covered. Assistance is especially needed on Thursday, marking the flea market and on Friday setting up the tables and helping the indoor vendors load-in.

In appreciation of your assistance, all volunteers will receive one 2-stub ticket for 2 or more hours worked.

If you sign-up for one of the first time slots of the day for that tasks (gate sales, parking help, those type of jobs) please be at the park at least 1/2 hour before the start of your time slot.

Please remember to make sure you get a receipt when you turn in your ticket money. If you pay by check, I will take a picture of your check and your check will be your receipt. If you pay by cash, make sure you get a paper receipt from me.

Any questions about Superfest, send me an email at: WD9EB@arrl.net

Again, and yes I am repeating myself 😎 I am deeply grateful to everyone who has helped or will be helping.

Thanks & 73,
Deb
WD9EB

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President’s Report

The big news this month is SUPERFEST! We hope to see everyone there, and of course make sure you join us for our monthly club meeting at Three Sisters Park so you can see why we’re so excited about our new Superfest home.

I want to remind everyone that we will be voting on an amendment to our Constitution, AND electing officers at the October Club meeting. This will allow us to apply for the IRS nonprofit status that will make us eligible for grants, and will make contributions to the club tax deductible. We will also make a slight modification to the language regarding election of officers.

These changes can be found on our web site by clicking here or visiting the link labeled “Constitutional Amendments.”

See you at Three Sisters September 16-17!

Justin, N9WX
PAARC President

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Meeting Minutes:

Board of Dirctors Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:03mpm. Attending the 8/3/23 PAARC Board of Directors meeting:
Justin N9WX, Tom W8NWG, Adam KD9NYE, Darren KD9HZZ, Tanya KD9YPM, Rob KD9DBQ, Scott K9XJT, Doug, Matt KD9ERS, Deb WD9EB

Bandbits: No meeting last month, so no minutes to approve.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• PayPal: $880.74
• Checking: $523.50
• Savings: $245.87
• Money market: $9,765.04
• Nothing pending
• Still need to pay for port-a-potties (2x), hand washing station (1x) and tables for Superfest ($7.50ish per table), along with the other half of the Superfest site fee. We’ll also have to pay for ticket printing and postage, but neither should be much.

Rob makes a motion to approve, Deb seconds… all are in favor.

Repeater committee from Matt and Tom:

• We did get remote access working again for the repeater site
• Still have internet work to do for D-star and .085 repeater
• There’s a computer already out there at the bunker, but we need to configure the router
• Also have plans in the future to link together the 085 to 610 in Bloomington to make a central Illinois net
• Matt is hoping to get out to the site next week

Superfest update from Deb:

• Everybody should be getting their tickets at the next club meeting!
• Need to call A-Z to see if Rich can pick up the tables on Thursday night to keep them in his enclosed trailer and bring them out first thing Friday morning to the site
• Next year… someone needs to step up and pick up the tables and take care of the garbage next year. Rich won’t be at Superfest because of his 40th anniversary! Not complicated – just need to move bagged trash from barrels to the dumpster. Scott volunteers for 2024!
• We’ve got quite a few orders coming in for tickets…
• 40 prizes so far, about 30 less than 2022. Scott may look for some additional things to add to the prize pool. Craig says that he has prizes for Superfest from the ARRL. This appears to be separate from the usual gift certificates we get from them as a sanctioned hamfest. Our main prize so far may be a handheld this year… DMR6X2Pro. Will keep looking for more prize options, including possibly buying something as a club. Gigaparts has offered us Hamvention pricing for door prizes. Tom suggests a ceiling of $400 to see what we can get from a few vendors. Scott generously offers to pay for half the cost of something under $500. He also brings up the idea of getting a netbook as a prize (like a POTA kit.) We need to also ask the POTA org if they might have something to donate to Superfest.
• Tickets are available at Midwest Two-Way and Don’s CBD shop in East Peoria in addition to any club member or through w9uvi.net

Old business:

• Tom has updated the website/Facebook with our upcoming membership meeting where we’ll talk about a new transceiver demo and possible new club bylaws.
• There was a bunch of stuff donated from someone in Pekin, and Mark is going to try to sell some of it at the Peotone hamfest this weekend for club proceeds.

The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Membership Meeting

7:01 p.m., our meeting is called to order

Tonight’s agenda: Amendments to our constitution

Time to approve the minutes in Band Bits:
– Mark Suhs (W9WGN) makes a motion, Jim Polson (W9JDP) seconds.. all are in favor. Passes.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya (:
– $245.87 in savings
– $523.50 in checking
– $9,765.04 in money market
– $158.28 in PayPal (all from Superfest tix)
– $412.16 spent on Superfest grand prize (G90 kit) (still need antenna, for $60-ish possibly.) Scott is generously donating half the cost of the prize, with rest from our money market account. Also ordered 6 HTs for prizes as well. And two RTL-SDR dongles as well! (the surprises keep coming from the generous Scott!)

Tom (W8NWG) makes a motion to accept, Scott (K9XJT) seconds… all are in favor and it passes.

Repeater committee report from Tom (W8NWG):
– Things are working and sounding good. We still haven’t gotten the D-Star repeater internet set up, though. Ben has volunteered to help.
– We need to get the antenna back up at the Red Cross as well… Darren will handle.
– In the future, we hope to link some of our repeaters across the state in a network.

Old business? None.

Superfest committee report from Deb (WD9EB):
– If you’re a club member, you should have an envelope of 10 tickets for you. These are to sell, buy or give back. Return unused ones at the next club meeting (two nights before Superfest!)
– If you’re paid with a check, bring it… if cash, get a written receipt!
– The Superfest meeting in two weeks will be at the Red Cross, going over logistics for that weekend.
-Anybody who is available that Thursday to be out at Three Sisters Park at 10 a.m., help is appreciated to mark out the Flea Market area. (Deb will check on paint needs to mark those spaces.)
– Deb will check on what time to have campers set up….hopefully also on Thursday.
– We have a renewable contract with Three Sisters… what we pay this year is what we pay for the next four years. There’s room for growth there!
– We’ll have golf cart shuttles available since the site is so large. Some carts will be for PAARC official business, others will be for guests (6-passenger ones with shuttle drivers.)
– We’ll have garbage pickup that will need to be handled, emptying bags out of the barrels and taking them to the dumpster.
– We’ve rented two port-a-potties and one handwashing station ($400 total for the whole weekend.)
– There’s no charge for 20 amp electricity! There’s a campground adjacent with higher level service also available.
– Testing will be Saturday at noon… and is in a separate area from the forums, which means they aren’t waiting on each other.
– Lots of extra room to expand!
– If you help out this year in needed positions, you get two free tickets to Superfest. Sign up for positions by letting Deb know, or by going to w9uvi.org. Flea market setup on Thursday morning, table setup on Friday morning, trash duties, etc. Get involved!

New business:

501(c)3 and sexual harassment policy:

– We need to have a policy for our constitution. It’ll be posted on the website and in the next issue of Band Bits, with the club going back over it in September and then voting on it in October.Constitution amendment:
– Article 4, Section 2… terms of office. Right now, it says “The president shall be elected for one calendar year and shall be limited to a maximum of two consecutive elected terms.” That also applies for a few other board positions, but not all.
– Justin and Scott don’t mind staying in their positions of president and VP, but they can’t unless we change the constitution.
– Justin proposes that we change the language to “In the event that no one is wanting to accept a new position, the current person in the position will continue for another term. This may continue for unlimited consecutive terms.”
– If someone in a position doesn’t want to serve and no one else does, the next senior position on the board is appointed.
– Article 4, section 3: “All officers shall be voting members in good standing and shall have been members of PAARC for 6 months prior to the year for which they’ll hold office.”
– Justin proposes: “All officers shall be voting members in good standing.”
– Reason for these changes are that we need to have everything in order to be a 501(c)3 for grant applications, etc. There was a dying club featured in ARRL Magazine, but they were able to save the club by officially becoming a non-profit.
– This will cost $1500 as a club for an attorney’s help.
– No objections from the club membership for the proposed plan to post in Band Bits, review in September, and vote on in October.
– The end of our October meeting is also time to vote for officers… so put your hat in the ring if you’d like to run.

Mark (W9WGN) makes a motion to adjourn, seconded by Darren (KD9HZZ)… 7:53 p.m. official meeting business is over, with Scott beginning a presentation on the Xiegu G90 radio.

__________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

September 6, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
September 13, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

There will be no Monthly ARES Meeting for September 2023.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

___________________________________________________________

August Net Logs

8/6
W8NWG KD9ANU WD9EB K9XJT W9WGN KD9MPI KC9IH KD9TEG KD9YCJ KD9HZZ KD9JXR N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ KD9WRX KD9AER N9WFT W9WTF W9DAY KD9SPI K9RCS KD9YPM KB9ATO WW9DLM KD9RYH NP2WJ KD9WHE KD9STL K9TNT KD9QQU KD9NYE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/13
N9WX WD9EB KD9ANU W9WTF KD9QQU K9XJT W9WGN W8NWG KD9WRX KD9IBC KC9IH KD9AER K9HJZ KD9YCJ K9RCS KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9JXR N9WFT K9TNT KB9ATO W9JDP WF9E KD9WHE KD9RYH K9UQF KD9YPM KD9STL NM0O KD9TEG Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/20
N9WX WD9EB W9WGN KD9ANU KD9QQU W9JDP K9XJT W8NWG KD9MPI KD9WRX KD9AER KD9YTM KD9PXZ KD9IVV N9NDF NM0O KD9JXR K9WFT K9RCS NP2WJ N9WFT KD9VIN KD9NYE KD9TEG K9UQF KD9NYI WW9DLM KD9STL KB9ATO N9SJZ KD9IBC W9DAY KD9RYH KD9WHE KC9YTT KC9IH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/27
KD9ANU, WD9EB, W9WGN, KD9IVC, KC9IH, K9HJZ, KD9DBQ, KD9YCJ, NP2WJ, W9JDP, KD9PXZ, KD9IVV, W9WTF, NM0O, K9TNT, KD9JXR, KD9AER, KD9YPM, W8NWG, N9JXR, K9XJT, KD9RSC, N9NDF, N9CS (formerly, KD9WHE), WF9E, KD9RYH, KD9STL, K9CEW, KB9ATO, N9NDF, N9CS, KB9OGS, KD9WRX, KC9YTT, KD9NYE Submitted by KD9QQU 73

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September Club Events

Sept. 6 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

Sept. 7 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

Sept. 13 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

Sept. 14 – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: Three Sisters Park, 17189 IL 29, Chillicothe

September 16-17, 2023 MIDWEST SUPERFEST 2023  Three Sisters Park
17189 IL-29, Chillicothe, IL. Flea Market, Vendors, Forums, License Testing and more!

September 28 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting

President’s Report

Heads up! Changes Coming Soon! Be at the next Club Meeting to discuss the changes that will be proposed for our Constitution. We will discuss these changes and then vote on them in September. Needing to be added to the Constitution is a section on sexual harassment. This is mandatory per a pro bono lawyer that we have been seeking advice from.

In order for us as a Club to become an IRS 501 (c) (3) not for profit, we will need to update our Constitution. Please plan to attend the in person meeting at the Red Cross Thursday, August 10th 2023 at 7PM. The majority rules the house! In order to have your voice heard, you must be paid up on voting member dues. Feel free to reach out to any Board member if you have and questions, comments or concerns. I want to hear your voice! This is your Club as well… not just mine. If you cannot attend the meeting in person, please Email or Call me and let me know what you want said on your behalf. N9WX.ARES@gmail.com or 309-830-1967

501 (c) (3): We missed out on a large ($5,000.00) grant through Caterpillar due to not being a 501 (c) (3) organization. Currently we are a 501 (7) (c). In order to make sure everything is completed correctly, Darren Weir KD9HZZ has spoken with several lawyers. The cost would be around $1,500.00 for them to file on our behalf. This cost may be reduced since we are adjusting our Constitution before we apply for 501 (c) (3).

Again, we will bring up changes to the Club’s Constitution at August’s Club meeting and then Vote in September! Please be there both nights!

Superfest is less than 2 months away! I’m extremely excited for this event. I hope that you will consider coming out and working a task or several. Position’s can be found on the Club’s website under the Superfest tab. This year it was voted that anyone who works at Superfest will receive 2 tickets, good for the whole weekend, as a thank you. Without your help and support, we won’t survive as a club.

I’ve been hearing that a lot of people are moving away or considering not re joining next year. This makes me very sad. I belive we are a great Club and I’m proud to be a part of it. I am trying my hardest to keep this Club alive and running smoothly. I do not want to see this amazing club die. We are over 100 years old! That’s an amazing achievement! If there are issues that need to be discussed, please bring them to my attention or to a Board Member’s attention.

Elections: Elections are coming up quickly as well. If you think you’d like to be a member of the Club’s Board Of Directors, please let myself or another Board member know which position you are interested in. We are in this together! As most know, at the end of this year, I will have been President for about 2.5 years. While I love the position, I want to know if there’s someone who wants to step up and lead the Club. Is that you?

Never hesitate to contact me via email or phone. I’ll respond to your messages just as soon as I can. Thank you to all of you, our members, for making this a great and fun Club!

73!
Justin Flick – N9WX
PAARC – President

__________________________________________________

A Message from Craig Worrick

I’m inviting comments from the ARRL members and appointee’s within the Illinois Section that DID NOT get notified of the dues survey in May. With only 15.9 % response from the members of the Central Division (Illinois,Indiana,Wisconsin) . Something is definitely wrong! 

It is my opinion this is not a fair representation of the Illinois Section. It is my goal to make your voice heard. I’m fully aware that many are very upset about the dues increase, I’ve already heard from several members in my area that they are not going to renew when it’s time. HQ has decided to freeze ” new applications for Life Membership and ARRL Life Membership 70+ are not being accepted as of 7/21/2023 while new rates are being established.” 

I believe mistakes have been made and WE need to correct them. 

I patiently await your responses, 

Thank you & 73′

Craig, K9CEW
IL ASM

__________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

Membership Meeting 7/13/23:

Justin Flick, N9WX, Club President called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Justin welcomed guests to the Meeting, and introduced Tanya Knapp, wife of Ben Knapp (KD9RYH). Today is Tanya’s birthday and further the day she got her Technician License. She is KD9YPM.

Rich Schmitz, K9RCS, made a motion to approve the Meeting Minutes as published in BandBits. Darren Weir, KD9HZZ, seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed.

Treasurer Report

Justin Flick reported the balances in the individual accounts. We have already sold some Superfest Tickets, so the PayPal account is growing a bit.

A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Darren Weir, KD9HZZ, and seconded by Mark Suhs, W9WGN. A vote was taken, and the motion passed.

SuperFest Report

Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT, made a motion to give 2 SuperFest tickets to club members who work to help with setup of the Midwest SuperFest. Ben Knapp, KD9RYH, seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed.

Repeater Report

Matt Behnke, KD9ERS, reported that he hopes to get out to the Groveland site to resolve remote access issues with Echolink, and further get Echolink back in service on the 075 repeater. He also reported that the D-Star (UHF) server at the Bunker is now operating, he needs to get out there too, to resolve IP Address settings, so that the D-Star equipment can connect through the Internet.

Old Business

There was no Old Business.

New Business

A discussion was held regarding considering setting the club up as an Illinois 501(c)(3) non-profit. When complete, this would provide the club with tax exempt status and provide the opportunity to get grants and matching funds for certain donations. To do this we would need to make some changes to the club bylaws. It is believed based on preliminary discussions with an attorney that the paperwork to become a 501(c)(3) would cost $1500 or less. The idea of holding a meeting dedicated to discussing changes to the bylaws was made, which might be via Zoom or in-person.

Radio Activities

Justin Flick, N9WX, reported that he plans to hold a Fox Hunt and POTA this Saturday, July 15th at Jubilee State Park. Operators who want to participate should meet at the college historical site at 10 a.m.

A motion to adjourn was made by Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, and seconded by Ben Knapp, KD9RYH. A vote was taken, and the motion passed. The club meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Program

Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT, spoke about doing POTA, as-well-as the OMISS International Sideband Society. He had some useful and interesting handouts. A number of door prizes were also handed out based on drawing call signs of those present from a hat.

Meeting ended at 8:10 p.m.

Submitted by Richard Holtman, KD9ANU

__________________________________________________

KD9DBQ, KD9ANU and N9WX at the Emergency Expo

Peoria County ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies When All Else Fails®.

August 2, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
August 9, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
August 16, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich using the contact info below if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

Meeting Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Repeater & Simplex Testing, NVIS Exercise, Winlink News, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

____________________________________________________

Purchase tickets, Flea Market spots and indoor vendor spaces onine!

It is almost here, the time flies so fast. I can’t stress enough how much your help is needed and appreciated.

I want to say thanks to those of you who have reached out already volunteering for different positions at Superfest, anyone else who would like to request certain positions, feel free to contact Deb Suhs WD9EB@arrl.net.

____________________________________________________

July Net Logs

7/2
KD9ANU N9WX W9WTF W8NWG W9WGN KD9MPI WD9EB KC9IH K9HJZ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9RJH KD9JXR KD9IVV NM0O KB9ATO N9WFT KD9AER KD9ERS K9RCS/AE W9DAY KD9RYH K9XJT WW9DLM KD9STL KB9OGS KD9NYE K9UQF KD9WSP/AG KD9TEG Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/9
KD9QQU KD9ANU K9XJT KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF KD9IVV NM0O KD9PXZ KD9JXR W9WGN WD9EB NP2WJ KD9AER N9WFT KD9IBC WF9E KD9WHE W9WTF K9RCS KB9ATO WW9DLM KC9YTT KD9YPM W9DAY KD9STL KD9RYH KD9ERS KD9NYN KD9NYE KD9WSP Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/16
KD9ANU K9KJT W9JDP N9NDF K9TNT NM0O KD9IBC KD9PXZ KD9AERT KD9JXR W9TTX N9WFT KD9WSP K9RS K9IVV W9WGN KB9ATO KD9DBQ KD9ERS KD9QQU KD9TEG KD9STL K9CEW KD9HZZ Submitted by N9WX 73

7/23
KD9ANU N9WX K9HJZ KC9IH KD9IBC K9TNT N9NDF KD9JXR K9WFT WW9DLM W8NWG W9TTX NM0O KD9PXZ W9JDP KD9AER KD9TEG NP2WJ N9WFT KC9YTT KB9ATO KD9WHE N9SL KD9IVV KD9RYH KD9STL K9CEW KD9RJH KD9YPM KD9WRX WF9E K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/30
K9XJT N9WX WD9EB KD9ANU W9WGN K9HJZ KD9MPI KD9YCJ KC9IH W9JDP W9TTX NM0O K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9JXR W8NWG KD9IVV N9WFT KD9AER KC9YTT NP2WJ K9RCS KD9RYH KD9YPM W9DAY KD9WHE WF9E KD9STL KD9IBC KD9SPI Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

____________________________________________________

August Club Events

August 2 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

August 3 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom

August 9 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

August 10 – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: Discussion and vote on Bylaw changes – American Red Cross, 311 W John H Gwynn Jr Ave, Peoria

August 16 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting: TBA

August 19 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.

August 23 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075

August 24 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting

Board Announcement

As was announced on the W9UVI Sunday night net tonight, John Zandowski has tendered his resignation as PAARC treasurer. The PAARC Board of Directors sincerely appreciates John’s service to the club, and we are looking forward to working with him again in the future. In the meantime, John plans to stay as active as possible with the club so he won’t be a stranger.

The PAARC BOD is deeply grateful to Tanya Knapp (KD9YMP) for agreeing to be the new treasurer.

This change is effective as of 07/15/2023.