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 columnized version of this newsletter click here for the columnized version.

President’s Update:

MARC is very busy as usual. You can see just how busy by checking the activity report provided by Dave, WD8DJB, our database manager on the MARC website here. Notice the de-coordinations that Bob, N8ZCC has completed. These are repeater coordination's that needed to be investigated by Bob, and in many cases a certified letter had to be sent. Please, if your repeater is off the air, turn in the pair for our coordinators to work with. It is no fun telling an applicant that there are no available pairs when there actually are repeaters that are off the air.

When you have some extra time check out the entire MARC web page. There you will find out what happens as new technologies appear, such as Dstar or Fusion systems. MARC has had to adapt to the changing amateur radio demands. Changes don’t always happen super fast, but remember that they occur due to volunteers doing the research and proposing the necessary changes to the MARC bylaws.

One thing that would help our volunteers in their efforts is your accuracy in submissions to MARC. Please be as accurate as possible when submitting a request for a coordination or when submitting a renewal Technical Data Sheet (TDS). It is very time consuming to have inaccurate submissions corrected manually by our volunteers. Be sure to check with your trustee if you are a member of a coordinated club repeater. Ask if the coordination is up to date. You can easily check the status of your repeater using the MARC website in the Repeater Directory. The technical people in your club need to be sure that the info in the coordination is up to date and corrected if more accurate info becomes available.

73, Phil W8IC

Electronic Meeting Information:

The June 3, meeting is an Electronic Meeting at 1:00pm!

PHONE BRIDGE ONLY:

Use this ONLY if you are only using the phone.
Dial In Number:    641-715-0663
Access Code:      384775#
   1. Dial into bridge using Dial In Number
   2. Enter Event ID
   3. If the meeting organizer is already present,
        you'll be connected. If not, you'll be
        placed on hold until the organizer appears.

WEBMEETING & Phone Bridge:

Using your web browser

   1. Activate your Web Browser
   2. Go To https://join.freeconferencecall.com/marc-meeting
   3. Enter your name and email address
   4. Click the phone icon, you will have a choice to
        select using a telephone or your computer for
        audio if you have speakers and mic.
   5. If you select computer you should connect.
   6. If selecting telephone you will be presented with a number
        to dial and an access code.
   7. When prompted enter the access code followed by the # symbol.
   8. Once the audio connects you will need to press # once again
        and enter the synch code followed by the # symbol.
   9. You should now be connected.
       

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.

Recent Developments

In our last meeting, we discussed somewhat at length some of the things going on and our (MARC) decision to not provide repeater directory detail to RFinder.

So far I have not been given audience with Bob Greenburg since our last meeting. He was at Hamvention this year, but unfortunately due to a vehicle problem I was not able to attend Sunday when I might have had a chance to talk to him. I did however get audience with another subject in this whole thing.

Saturday afternoon I finally left the flea-market to take a look at the "other" part of the event. I was hoping speak with some of the ARRL officials, and to my surprise the person that I got to talk to was Tom Gallahger the current CEO of the ARRL. This chance meeting turned into a 30 minute meeting.

I plan to discuss this meeting and the impression that I was left with at it's inclusion during the June meeting. My time will be somewhat limited due to family obligations that day, however this is an ongoing issue that we are going to have to settle. Hopefully this will turn into something helpful for all.

Dan Thompson, N8WKM

MARC Meeting Minutes

Date: March 04, 2017
This meeting was an electronic meeting.

Officers:

President: Phil Manor, W8IC
Vice President: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Secretary: Ann Manor, KT8F
Treasurer: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
*Director: Jim Kvochick, K8JK
Director: Jeff Oberg, KB8SXK
Coordinator: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Coordinator: Phil Manor, W8IC
Coordinator: Jeff Oberg, KB8SXK
Database Manager: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
Newsletter Editor: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
*Volunteer Coordinator: Bob Walchli, N8ZCC

*Indicates Absent:
Visitors: Corwin, WB8UPM


Note: call signs of board members are not repeated in the minutes as they are listed above.

Please note that though Phil was present for the meeting, Dan presided over the meeting at Phil's request.

Meeting called to order by Dan at: 1:03 PM.

The minutes from the March meeting were read by Ann.
Motion to approve minutes from the December meeting was made by Dave, seconded by Corwin, WB8UPM, vote taken, minutes approved.

Treasurer’s report provided by Dave. Motion to accept the report made by Phil, seconded by Ann, vote taken, Treasurers report approved.

Old Business:

Discussion on coordination by propagation modeling in lieu of distance requirements. Radio Mobile is a program that could possibly be used for this type of coordination calculation. Dan is working with the program and will be looking into possible use on all repeater bands. There was also discussion regarding using a program written by Dave Karr, KA9FUR, titled Coordinators Tool Kit. It is currently limited to Windows XP. Hopefully, this software will be updated to include other operating systems.

Thanks to Jeff and Bob, for your recent MARC work, it is very much appreciated.

New Business:

Phil made a motion to make 442.125 / 447.125 a SNPR pair to be in line with several adjacent states. At present, Michigan has no standard coordinated repeaters on this pair. Several areas of the state would benefit from the availability of another SNPR channel.

Motion by Phil, W8IC for a DOG Resolution #19 : Reserve 442.125 /447.125 as a SNPR pair to align Michigan with several adjoining states. Second by Jeff. Vote taken, motion approved.

Bob was given the position of coordinator to replace Jim Poehlman, K8ABZ.

Discussion on the former ARRL Repeater Directory and it's successor. The directory is presently run by a private company,“RFinder.” The ARRL no longer produces a repeater directory, and R-Finder has been requesting that coordination bodies send their information to them for inclusion into their repeater directory. The ARRL never asked for precise locations, just the city, county and state. MARC has always kept the location of a repeater private. Rfinder is asking for more precise locations of repeaters. Hopefully in the future, MARC will be able to send Rfinder the equivalent information that was previously sent to the ARRL. Dan will be contacting Bob Greenburg, 516-807-0697, and checking on the requirements and any possible leeway. MARC may be asking repeater owners/Trustees, as an option, if they want their accurate location data ( latitude and longitude ) provided to Rfinder. There is also the question of income to MARC for providing this data. The data provided to the ARRL in the past did provide some income to MARC. Other considerations include the fact that MARC has not been provided a contract that lays out the use of the data and time limits, as well as the possibility of making additions and deletions to this new directory. This was done by bulk database download with the ARRL once a year.
Many questions are still unanswered.

It was mentioned that an adjoining state meeting would be scheduled in 2017.

Discussion regarding MARC coordinators making updates in the MARC database. This change might hopefully take some of the work load off Dave, our database manager. Work on this is ongoing.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn made by Phil, seconded by Jeff, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 2:36 PM.

Note: The next meeting will be conducted electronically on Saturday, June 4th at 1:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F, Recording Secretary

Treasurer's Report
For the Period: 2/28/2017 to 05/31/2017

MARC Funds balance on 02/28/2017 was $ 4,904.85
Income for March, April and May was $ 12.97 from dues and interest.
Expenses for March, April and May were $ 66.49 from postage and PayPal fees.

MARC Funds balance on 05/31/2017 was $ 4,851.33

Respectfully Submitted,
Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
MARC Treasurer

Supporting Detail

MARC Funds as of 02/28/2017