RETURN TO INDEX OF MEETINGS
Minutes - 4th May, 2004

14 members were present at the meeting held in the Sunbury 911 Center.

Minutes of meeting from 4/6/04, at Hoss's Steakhouse, were read and approved.

Treasurer
Report given to the meeting.
Accepted - KA3PYZ/N3LEP

Repeaters
On-going problems with all repeaters discussed
W3JJL said that an antenna party was being arranged for July to replace the antenna on 82.
KA3PYZ proposed motion to purchase clear coat for the old club antenna, prior to it being mounted. N3CVQ seconded. Passed
It was mentioned that K3ARR was undertaking maintenance on an on-going basis on 27.
K3MD offered use of his tower for a repeater.
W3JJL mentioned political issues which precluded moving any repeater at the moment.

Activities
W3JJL said that Shamokin Dam recreational area was being reserved for the annual picnic in August. Date TBC. N3XJY was not present and KA3PYZ professed no knowledge! It was suggested that a weekend date might be better, if available.
N3XJY had sent a letter to the SV Mall asking if the club could provide a demo station for kids day on June 19th.
Get acquainted with radio was to take place at the Club House on Tuesday May 18th at 7.30pm.
Lewisburg Arts Festival. It was agreed that this had been the best one yet, and W3JJL revealed that everyone from the Chief of Police to the cleaning crew were very complimentary about the club's efforts. WY3M was asked if a date could be confirmed to the club for next year's festival by January 2005. He was given a list of suggested organizational improvements to pass on.
Milton Tomato Festival. W3JJL had been approached by the organizer of the Milton Tomato Festival to provide similar security for her event over two weekends in September. He told her to contact her local club first, and come back to him if they were not interested
Field Day - June 26th
W3JJL ran through provisional arrangements.
Hoped to run 4 stations this year. This is not going to be a social event but a competitive one. We want to do everything we can to get the best possible points total. N3CVQ proposed that if possible we should run all stations from emergency power sources. This was agreed. It was hoped to arrange for copies of a software logging program to be available to all stations. Site manager to be appointed. He/she would have the last word in all matters to do with Field Day site operations. A meal area would be arranged.
K3MD said he was bringing a 40' tower. AB3AX offered to help him with its installation on site.
N3JIW reported that problems with the 82 repeater was making the operation of the weekly net difficult. He said that the net may have to move repeaters if problems continue.
W3JJL reported on the achievements of the Club House working party. Grass was cut, general tidying up was carried out, 80m dipole installed to use with club radios, and the computer was up and running. He also mentioned that a 16 channel 2m radio had been donated to the club, with APRS and Packet capabilities.

Proposed Purchase
W3JJL said that the Club needed a power supply for their HF and VHF radios. Suggested purchasing 2 - one for each radio. He said that he had details of an estate sale from the widow of N3VTE and that this included a 35A supply. N3CVQ proposed the club offer $100 for this unit, which seemed a fair market price. AB3AX seconded.
K3MD said he was going to the Dayton Hamfest, and was mandated to spend a maximum of $120 if a suitable second power supply, to match the Yaesu 747 that the club owns, could be located there.

50/50 Club
No draw took place - no tickets available

Communications Committee
VE session for Bloomsburg Hamfest (June 12th) was mentioned. It was not yet known who would be running this for 2004.

Old Business
Technician License Course - February
Mentors were to get in touch with those who failed to see how they could help them progress and retest.
Hoped to run another course later in the year, and perhaps a General Update course too.

New Business
AB3AX addressed the meeting concerning BPL and the current situation in the battle to stop its deployment. The ARRL had just lodged its reply to the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, in which they claimed that the FCC had not followed its own rules and procedures in dealing with this matter. That the onus should be on any manufacturer of a part 15 (unregistered device) such as BPL, to carry out interference mitigation prior to it being approved for use. In this case they had placed the onus on licensed services to complain and attempt to seek redress after the fact. The reply, drafted by ARRL counsel Chris Imlay, contained the broadest hint yet that legal action would follow if the FCC failed to abide by its own established procedures. The meeting was told that any such action was sure to be expensive and that the ARRL needed financial support.
It was agreed that each member would donate through the club any money that they wished to forward to help with this action, and that the club would discuss topping up the donation from club funds. A motion to this effect would be put to the next meeting in June.

Repeaters. A discussion took place about current problems, and about the possibility of moving one or more of them to new sites. 27 was being worked on, and K3ARR/N3JIW were going to put up a new antenna and feed line. They hoped to enlist the services of a tower crew who were scheduled to carry out maintenance there shortly.
W3JJL said he would investigate an old offer from the local fire company at Mile Hill to install a repeater on their property. There were, to his knowledge, 2 spare repeater frequencies in the area.
The discussion about repeaters was to explore future possibilities.

Adjournment
Moved by N3LetsEatPizza, seconded by N3JIW

Respectfully submitted: Gordon Lamb AB3AX