LPARC Minutes
Present: George Smith, AE6KE, President;
Austin Lesea, AB6VU, Vice President;
Bill Rose, KG6VMX, Treasurer;
Gary Watson, K6PDL, E.C.;
David Katinsky, N2RDT, Board; Jason Willebeek-LeMair, KG6VPL; Leon Milburn, KD6FAQ; Jeff Miller, K6EWT
George called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm
Approval of the Feb 6, 2014 minutes
David motions, Gary seconds, approved.
Treasurer’s Report
$1076.08 current balance (after payment of insurance)
Nets
3/11 - Austin
3/18 - David K.
3/25 -Kathi
4/1 - George
Equipment
KC6TYG seems to be down for the count.
AB6VS repeater seems to be working fine. It went down due to lack of sun and wind to keep the charge rate at 12.3v which protects the batteries from getting too cold, and freezing. Batteries are old and may need replacing.
AE6KE had major difficulty on 3/4/14 net. The two meter antenna is original, 20 years old. It was moved and seconded to replace the antenna with a new one. If that does don’t fix the problem the repeater will be sent to Santa Cruz County for repair.
ARES EC Report
George is looking for a few operators to handle radio ops for the MERC drill on April 26, at the Community Center. This will be a simulated activation of the Red Cross Shelter.
Gary read a letter that Kathi forwarded, regarding a request for radio operators to assist with traffic and parking at Los Gatos High School on 3/15. Due to the short notice, Gary forwarded the message to Los Gatos-Monte Sereno ARES group.
President’s Report - N/A
Old Business
The need of getting the packet operations up and running at the Community Center was discussed. We may need a new TNC and definitely need to replace the Win 98 laptop computer. Packet needs to be able to handle traffic with Outpost for Santa Clara County, and Fldigi and RMS for Santa Cruz traffic.
Science Fair at Loma/CTE School, Saturday, March 29, 2014, is still looking for a couple of volunteers to demonstrate radios and represent the club.
New Business
Jason Willebeek-LeMair, KG6VPL, is an assistant scoutmaster and ham merit badge counselor for the local troop. He informed us that a number of the scouts, and parents had gotten their licenses and was hoping that the club would be able to give demonstrations and talks to help keep the amateur radio interest level high. JOTA support and a talk about ARES were mentioned.
David suggested that we should begin planning for plans to observe the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Quake and the founding of our group by hosting a Special Event Station.
Training N/A
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 pm