MICHIGAN AREA REPEATER COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
WEB SITE:
http://www.miarc.com e-mail:
mail@miarc.com
March 2005
|
A short note from the Prez…… I
have had some feedback from a couple of the Trustee’s concerning about the
location of our meetings. While we
had the December Meeting in the Lapeer area at the Lapeer Elks, the question
came up why we did not contact his group to host the meeting. The answer: we
move the meeting around the state and have mentioned in what quadrant of the
state where we would like to hold the meeting in. Never have we received a
request, out side of the Cherryland and IRA groups, to host a meeting. We
have made phone calls around in the quadrant, but have always come up short.
Please, if you see a notice in the newsletter, or website that we are looking
for a location, do give us a call or send us e-mail. Also,
it was brought up about advance notice so one may attend. Like I mentioned
earlier, we do try to set up the locations a year in advance. Sometime this
does not always work. Just remember that we hold quarterly meetings on the
first Sunday of the month of March, June, and December. The month of
September this is our Annual Meeting held in the Lansing area on the Sunday
following Labor Day. All meetings start promptly at 1:00 PM. Please leave
these dates open and plan on attending. The
Standards and Procedures committee still has been pretty much inactive. We
hope to be back on track here very shortly. A
reminder that dues were payable on January 1. Please send your dues direct to
Kelly Karpp direct to the Oscoda P.O. Box. If you send it to the general mail
P.O. Box in Mt. Clemens, this will only delay the process. Remember,
TDS’s are due yearly, but can go up to two years. Please help keep your
information current in our Data Base. The
March meeting will be at the Cadillac Elks on S. Mitchell St. Map is on the
website. The June Meeting will be held on Saturday June 4th at the IRA
Hudsonville Swap. Our annual meeting will be in Delta Twp. On September 11th.
Election will take place for Vice-President, Treasurer, and a Director. If anyone has any questions, you can reach
the Board via of the website, or my phone number is 586-465-7126. For those
of making the meeting on the March 6th, I’ll see you there. 73, Dennis,
W8DFG President |
Database Managers Notes…….. Please
take an extra minute or two to fill out your TDS forms accurately and
completely. If you need help with coordinates or elevation above sea level,
send me an email with the repeater address and nearest intersection and I
will look up the information on Microsoft Streets & Trips and/or Topo USA 4.0 and get back to you. http://www.miarc.com/info_faq/Activity_Report.html Follow
the links for the 4th Quarter 2004 and 1st Quarter 2005. The
2005 ARRL Repeater Directory went to press on January 15, 2005 with the MARC
data as of 01/10/05. Dave
Johnson WD8DJB Note From the Editor The by-laws
committee is still working on ways to make changes
that will improve the ability of MARC to
coordinate repeaters. Some of the changes that have been discussed over the
past meetings are the ability to shorten the spacing between co-channel
repeaters (repeaters that share the same frequency. Other things that have
been talked about are the use of software to predict coverage of a proposed
repeater. MARC has been looking for input as we work toward implementing
these changes. Your participation at meetings only serves to help the board
to make good decisions, and allows you to have input on the changes that are
made. For those that are unable to attend meetings that take place on
Sunday, MARC tries to have at least one meeting each year that falls on a
Saturday as well as having contact through email via the email address that
is listed at the beginning of this newsletter. This year, once again, the
June meeting is planned to take place immediately following the IRA Hamfest. |
|
Minutes,
December Meeting LaPeer, MI Minutes from MARC Meeting Dec 05, 2004 Meeting called to order by President Dennis
Gaboury at 1:00 PM. A
Quorum was present. Secretary Jeff Skurda was absent. The Minutes from the September meeting
where read by President, Dennis Gaboury. Treasurers
report read: Kelly Karpp Motion
to accept: George Schutte K8GEO Seconded
by: Phil W8IC Motion
carried: New
business: Computer Dave Johnson gave rundown of what was
purchased to fulfill the vote taken to supply the Database Manager with a
laptop computer for use in the duties of the Database Manager. Cost
total was $1279.00 for computer with added
AV software, Dr Zip software and a mouse. Motion
to accept costs overrun on DB mgr computer and reimburse Dave Johnson for
costs by: George K8GEO Seconded
by Ann Manor KT8F Motion
Carried: DB
managers report: Dave
Johnson Report
included information including that the MARC website as been moved to
www.miarc.com. Also included was information concerning the way that the
website was working and about the new
email addresses and services. Dave
also reported that the new company hosting the website is Existhost.com and
has a cost of $78/yearly. Dave also reported that the Domain Name Renewal was
paid. Dave
also indicated that the deadline for TDS renewals for inclusion in the 2005
ARRL Repeater directory is Dec 31. |
New Business: Discussion
of Kelly's computer problems slowing down the clearing of the Backlog of TDS
and new requests. A
suggestion made to have the assistant coordinators
start doing the coordination for link frequencies to help relieve pressure on
Kelly. Dan Thompson will take care of 220 MHZ backlog. Dan
Thompson N8WKM presented information regarding the 900MHz DOG and the
thoughts and suggestions of the 900MHz DOG committee. Discussion
and questions followed concerning the implementation of a change to the By-Laws
for the 900MHz band plan. No
motion was made at this time, however a resolution to take the time to bring
the motion to the membership to change the By-laws of MARC concerning the
band plan and coordination of repeaters in the 33cm band at the next meeting. It
was also noted that under these conditions, the earliest possible vote on
this issue would be June meeting. Kelly
Karp introduced discussion asking for a resolution on how to respond to
surrounding states who are using frequencies that we coordinate as links as
repeater frequencies. Kelly has had some communication with surrounding
states. The board has determined that requests for NOPC from surrounding states
for repeaters that fall outside of our repeater frequency guidelines will be
answered with an objection to coordination. Questions
were asked by John Teagardin AA8UU concerning link frequency coordination.
John was given some advice on going about having additional link frequencies
coordinated. 2:15pm
Ron Gordon motioned for adjournment Seconded
by Dennis Gaboury Motion
Carried. Meeting
Adjourned Minutes
taken by Dan Thompson w/corroboration by Dennis Gaboury. |
MARC Board of
Directors
|
President |
Dennis Gaboury |
W8DFG |
P.O.
Box 463148 Mt.
Clemens, MI 48046 |
|
Vice
President |
R. Bruce Winchell |
N8UT |
5354
Baker Rd |
|
Secretary |
Jeff Skurda |
N8XN |
5130
W Tothill Cir |
|
Treasurer |
Kelly F. Karpp |
KB8RWG |
PO
Box 127 Oscoda,
MI 48750 |
|
Director |
Walt Van Gorp
|
WD8RCH |
Not
yet available |
|
Director |
Ron Gordon |
W8YUC |
7172
Sharp Rd. Swartz
Creek, MI 48473 |
|
Frequency
Coordinator 902
Up |
Dan Thompson |
N8WKM |
1844
126TH Ave Hopkins,
MI 49328 |
|
Frequency
Coordinator 440
Down |
Kelly F. Karpp |
KB8RWG |
PO
Box 127 Oscoda,
MI 48750 |
|
Database
Manager |
Dave Johnson |
WD8DJB |
2266
E. Vermontville Hwy Charlotte,
MI 48813 |
|
Newsletter
Editor |
Dan Thompson |
N8WKM |
1844
126TH Ave Hopkins,
MI 49328 |
The Next meeting is March 6, 2004 at 1pm.
Meeting Location:
Location: Cadillac Elks
122 ½ S. Mitchell St.
Cadillac, MI
Directions: From the South take US131 to Bus-131 (Exit
177, Mitchell St) to downtown Cadillac.
From
the East take M-55 (E Division and E Cass to Bus-131 (Mitchell St) and turn
right,
(Phone # 231-775-5331)
Park in the lot behind building. Entrance to Elks can be made from public parking area behind store fronts.
