April 06, 2017 LPARC Minutes
Attendees:
Bert Bailey, KG6MBA, President
John Yontz, KA6HCG, Vice President
Penny Allen, KM6JUO, Member
Dan Pugh, KM6GNG, Guest
Introductions
Bert called the meeting to order at 7:04PM.
Treasurer’s Report (N/A)
Nets
11 AP16 Bert
18 AP 16 Dan
25 AP 16 John
02 MY 16 Penny
Equipment
• AE6KE and KC6TYG repeaters are working well.
• AB6VS repeater is back at Austin’s place. After being reinstalled a few weeks ago, the repeater failed again. This time it was the audio return from the AE6KE repeater not getting to the AB6VU for retransmission. Bert and John took the repeater down and took it back to Austin. Austin looked at it and it was working again. Austin will enhance the wiring documentation and Bert will pick it up from Austin and get it installed soon.
• While up at the AB6VU site, Bert and John lowered the newer solar panel to match the 1st panel and put the panel controller into a waterproof box.
ARES EC Report (Bert stood in as the AEC) for Gary (the EC)
Dan mentioned that he has fulfilled most of the requirements for MAC certification with Santa Clara County. Dan needs support from Gary Watson, our EC to get the certification. Bert promised to talk with Gary to get Dan the required help for his certification.
President’s Report
Bert congratulated Penny, KM6JUO, in getting her Technician license and Dan, KM6GNG, on getting his General License.
On 21MR17, Bert presented the ARES/LPARC activities to MERC and invited MERC folks to attend LPARC meetings and offered to teach a Technician HAM class for those interested.
Training
• Bert led a discussion of Earthquake preparedness using a Red Cross prepared Earthquake question set. Family response planning, safety and responses during and after an earthquake were discussed.
New Business
• Dan mentioned that the California law regarding Hands-free driving does not allow HAMs to use their radios unless they 1) pull over off the road or 2) use a Hands free setup to talk while driving. It was also suggested that the use of VOX setup was undesirable, as the VOX turn on time causes the beginning of messages to be cutoff.
• The status of liability insurance renewal discussed at last month’s meeting is unknown.
• Bert invited all to sign up for the Sea Otter Classic event on 20-23 AP17. The event each year calls on local Ham volunteers to provide communications support for several bicycle events.
• John presented a method to feed Ham cables through house walls complete with a cowling which he machined to be able to reseal the hole after the cable has been threaded through the house wall.
• Dan asked about becoming a member of LPARC and was told the process. Hopefully he will be able to give Bill $25.00 at our next meeting in May.
Old Business
• N/A
Action Items
• George Smith to contact Bert regarding status of insurance renewal.
• Bert Bailey to talk with Gary regarding;1) Dan,KM6GNG’s request for MAC certification support, and 2) LPARC participation in Santa Clara County’s city/county drill exercises in mid-May 2017.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 0829 PM.