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Welcome to the MARC Newsletter a publication of the Michigan Area Repeater Council. This news letter is published quarterly in conjunction with the quarterly business meetings. If you prefer a non-columnized version of this newsletter click here for the wide version. |
| Please notice the instructions for the December electronic meeting. |
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President’s Update: The September meeting in Lansing turned out very well. There were only 3 visitors, but much was accomplished. (Minutes can be found in this newsletter). The MARC election was held. The incumbent President, Secretary and Director were all re-elected. Fred, W8FSM, a MARC board member, sent out a number of notices of proposed de-coordination. They were sent to sponsors/trustees of repeaters that were not on the air when checked, or had less than the required minimum coverage. A few sponsors did reply with explanations and some did not respond which resulted in de-coordination. At least one returned frequency pair has already been coordinated to a person who had been waiting for about one year. Fairly often I receive an application for a new repeater, but find that the information is way off. This makes it difficult for the coordinator and also consumes a lot of volunteer time to try and correct. One good way to check your latitude, longitude and elevation is to use Google Earth. Bring up the program (free) and go to your antenna location. Place your curser on the antenna, tower or building and read the latitude, longitude and elevation at the bottom of the screen. This info, along with an address, which might be quite a ways from the antenna, is normally sufficient for the coordinator to verify the proposed site and start the coordination process. Please recheck your figures before submitting them. I often see coordinates given incorrectly. This may be because of confusing degrees in decimal to degrees, minutes, seconds, the format that MARC uses. Sometimes the application is off a whole degree or two, or due to a typo. The more accurate the application, the faster the process can get started. There is a useful web site to help you figure your HAAT (height above average terrain). You must change the height in feet above ground to meters to enter it. To change feet to meters, divide feet by 3.281.To change the result back to feet, multiply meters by 3.281.
Remember that the MARC application (TDS) asks for the power at the antenna,
not at the transmitter output. You need to calculate the losses in your cavities,
connectors and feed line and then reduce the power at the antenna by the amount of the
calculated loss (About ½ the power at 3 db of loss). This will be the
power used with your antenna gain to calculate the ERP of the proposed system.
A handy site for ERP calculations.
----------------------------------------------- Electronic Meeting Information: The December meeting is an Electronic Meeting! PHONE BRIDGE ONLY:
Dial In Number: 888-232-3870 WEBMEETING & Phone Bridge:
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Explorer Version 4.x, 5.x or Netscape™ Communicator Version 4.x.
Participation in the webmeeting is only needed for things like slideshow
presentations, or use of a whiteboard where someone may need to do an illistration.
It also allows us the opportunity to display the actual text of a motion for everyone
to read. If you are unable to participate in the webmeeting you may still join in
on the phone bridge from wherever you are.
Editors Note Phil, has included some good information this month in his President's Update. The need for correct information is more important then it ever has been. As our bands become ever more crowded, we as amateurs need to put forth effort to utilize our bandwidth in an effective way.When you submit a TDS please take a little extra time to make sure the data is correct. More importantly, don't make up information. There are too many tools available to help get the correct information to just try to fill in the blanks. Believe it or not, your coordinators have to go over all of the data to get an idea of the impact your repeater will have on the operations of other repeaters and we do see data that is obviously not correct so please, take the time to put correct and reasonable data into the fields on your TDS. ED -----------------------------------------------
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MARC Meeting Minutes
Date: September 8, 2012 Meeting called to order by Phil at: 1:11 PM.
Ann read the June 2012 minutes. A motion to approve minutes from the June meeting was
made by Dan, seconded by Dave, vote taken, minutes approved. Old Business: Corwin inquired about the status of the Semara club’s repeater coordination and possible waiver for his repeater. Phil stated he is still waiting for a waiver from Semara. Phil stated the repeater might be moved and used for ARES/RACES operations. Phil then read an email from Paul Reinhardt, KC8BDK, the Macomb County RACES Officer reporting on current status and plans for the future of this repeater. Fred reported on responses he has received from de-coordination letters that he had sent out. When repeaters are actually decoordinated, the repeater pair needs to be provided to Dave in order that the pair can be returned to the pool. Phil stated Dave has placed the updated DOG resolution #11, made on June 2, 2012 on the MARC web site. Dave has created a membership page on the MARC web site and added PayPal. He also shipped the MARC laptop off for repair after backing up all the files. The laptop has been returned and is working well. Corwin reported on interference generated from a 6-meter transmitter on key down for about 200 ms. A technical discussion followed. Jim mentioned that he would soon run out of MINO numbers in the 4200 block of numbers. It was determined that it is OK to go into the 4300 block. Elections:
Phil turned the meeting over to Dan to run the elections. Nominations were reopened.
With no new candidates nominated, Dan stated the incumbents are willing to run for
re-election. New Business:
Phil brought up DOG resolutions #12 and #13. Both of these resolutions have been in
use for 3 years, and now need to be considered for a vote for inclusion into the
bylaws or dropped. He then read number 12 as follows: Fred made the motion, which was changed to add 15 kHz - 25 miles. Dan supported the motion. A lengthy discussion followed regarding repeater spacing and the requirements to report when certain changes are made to a repeaters power, height or location. Vote taken, motion passed.
Phil stated that resolution #13 also needs to be implemented or discarded, as the
3-year trial for DOG resolutions is up. He read the resolution as follows: Phil called for a motion to adopt #13. Motion made by Jim and seconded by Fred. Request for discussion. No discussion. Call for vote, motion passed. These resolutions will be voted on (second vote) for inclusion into the bylaws at the December meeting. A short discussion on the use of the 900 MHz band took place. The December meeting will be held electronically on Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 1:00 PM. Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn made by Dan, seconded by Fred |
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December Meeting Information:
December 1 2012 |
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Directions:
For the Conference Bridge:
For the Web Meeting: |
| MARC Officers | Appointed Positions |
| President: Phil Manor W8IC | Frequency Coordinator 902MHz: & up Dan Thompson N8WKM |
| Vice President: Dan Thompson N8WKM | Frequency Coordinator 440MHz: Phil Manor W8IC |
| Secretary: Ann Manor KT8F | Frequency Coordinator Links & Control: Phil Manor W8IC |
| Treasurer: Dave Johnson WD8DJB | Database Manager: Dave Johnson WD8DJB |
| Director: Fred Moses W8FSM | Newsletter Editor: Dan Thompson N8WKM |
| Director: James Kvochick WB8AZP |