MICHIGAN AREA REPEATER COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

WEB SITE: http://www.miarc.com        e-mail: mail@miarc.com

March  2006

 

A short note from the Prez……

  

To begin with, I would like to congratulate the elected and appointed members to the their positions for the next two years. The only elected position at the December meeting was the office of Treasurer. Dave Johnson was elected to that spot.

Prior to the meeting in Lapeer, I received a communication from Walt WD8RCH stating “Due to health problems and time constraints I am submitting my resignation as director effective December 1, 2005.”

 

Ron Gordon, whose term had expired as a Director, was appointed to fill the one-year term that was open do to the resignation. When the elections were held the office of Vice-President and Director was still vacant even after nominations were re-opened.

Jim Kvochick WB8AZP was appointed to fill the position of Director.

 

I am pleased to announce that James Maike KB8IFE, who has been an officer of MARC in the past, was approved by the Board to fill the position of Vice-President. We now have a full Board.

 

I have taken over the duties of Coordinator for 440 and Down frequencies. I have started going through the records that Kelly Karpp had. Some of the request for New Coordination’s are so old, that I will make an attempt to contact the applicant to verify the information on the TDS’ sent in.

Phil Manor W8IC, who takes care of the NOPC from out of state, link and control frequencies coordinator, has taken on the 6M coordination’s.

 

Please send your 2006 dues direct to Dave Johnson 2266 E Vermontville Hwy, Charlotte, and MI 48813-8705. If you send it to the general mail P.O. Box in Mt. Clemens, this will only delay the process.

 

The ARRL Directory has gone to print. If your TDS is current, you will be in the new directory. If your TDS is at the three-year mark you will not.

 

The March meeting will be on the in Battle Creek, at the Battle Creek Elks. Directions else where in this newsletter.

The June meeting will be the Traverse City, and the September meeting in Delta Twp.

 

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 5th, I’ll see you there.

73,

 

Dennis, W8DFG

President

 

 

Old Business:

 

Nominations opened for positions of Vice President, Treasurer and Director.

 

Vice President:  no nominations.

 

Treasurer:  Kelly, KB8RWG (I) and Dave Johnson, WD8DJB.

 

Director:  Ron Gordon, W8YUC (I). Ron, W8YUC withdrew at this time.

 

Vote taken for treasurer; Dave Johnson, WD8DJB was elected unanimously.

 

Next elections will be held in September 2006 for the positions of President, Secretary and Director.

 

Phil, W8IC stated that in resolution #6, the statement “442.000-444.975, repeater inputs should be  “repeater outputs”. Phil proposed that this be amended to “outputs”.  2nd by Dan, N8WKM, discussion, motion carried.

 

New Business:

 

Dave WD8DJB stated that the ARRL Repeater Directory goes to press in January and he requested that all TDS’s be submitted by the end of the year.

 

Phil, W8IC:  made a proposal to add a resolution under the DOG to make changes to the MARC standards as follows:

 

Resolution #8:  move to make changes to the MARC Standard to add additional coordination guidelines for Auxiliary Stations (links and control stations) as follows:

 

MARC standard

 

I.         Coordination Standards

     A.

8.        Auxiliary stations that are used to link two or more individual repeater                                                                                                                                                                     systems shall comply with the following:

 

Transmitter power may exceed 10 watts to accomplish the link but shall not exceed 50 watts.  Links using transmitter power levels in excess of 10 watts shall use directional antennas with a minimum of 6-dBi forward gain and the antenna must be aimed so that the major lobe is centered on the receive site. Higher gain antennas and using the minimum power necessary to complete a link are recommended, as it allows the coordinator to more effectively assign the available spectrum.  These links are not intended to extend the coverage of any individual repeater beyond its coordinated area.

 

2nd by Ron, W8YUC: discussion.

 

Dan, N8WKM, moved to amend the motion to require a minimum of at least 9-dBi forward gain. Supported by Ron, W8YUC, discussion followed.

Motion to amend to 9-dBi approved.  Original motion carried as amended.

 

Database Managers Corner

 

Another year has come and gone and our MARC database remains in good shape.  The 2006/2007 ARRL Repeater Directory submission was completed January 13th on schedule.  There have been lots of database updates over the course of the year, but I am managing stay on top of it, although at times I get a bit swamped.  I will try in the coming year to refresh our MARC Repeater Directory web pages at least once a month.

 

Now I’m not one to beg for work but we still have roughly 20% of our repeaters with overdue TDS’s.  Trustee’s if you haven’t checked our MARC Repeater Directory in awhile to check your status now might be a good time.  It will save the MARC Board time and expense, if we don’t have to send out decoordination notices.  TDS forms need to be filed at least once every two years.

 

 

Thanks to all of you who take the time to submit accurate updates.  It really makes my job easier and improves the validity of MARC data.

 

Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

 

--------------------------------------------

 

MARC MEETING MINUTES

 

Date:  12/4/05

 

 

Absent:  R. Bruce Winchell, N8UT; Kelly Karpp, KB8RWG; Walt Van Gorp, WD8RCH.

 

Meeting called to order by the President at:  1:00 PM

 

Minutes from previous meeting read by Ann, KT8F.  Phil, W8IC requested that the time limit for his DOG proposal in June 2005 be corrected from 2 years to 3 years, as is actually stated in resolution #2.  It was incorrectly listed as 2 years in the minutes.   This was approved.  Motion to accept the amended minutes as printed in the newsletter made by Phil, W8IC, and 2nd by Ron W8YUC, motion carried.

 

No treasurer’s report.

 

No correspondence.

 

Dennis, W8DFG stated that Walt, WD8RCH has resigned as director, per a phone conversation with Walt.  At this time Ron, W8YUC stated that he would like to fill the rest of Walt’s year.  With the Board’s approval, Ron was appointed to fill the rest of Walt’s year.

 

Dan, N8WKM made a motion that Jim, Kvochick, WB8AZP be appointed to the position of director, 2nd by Ron, W8YUC, discussion, motion carried.

 

Phil, W8IC brought the following questions to the Board:

 

If an adjacent state requests a frequency for a repeater that our band plan has reserved for links and controls, can we not object to the coordination if the distance is over 100 miles from the Michigan border?   Discussion followed.  It was agreed that a rejection should be sent with a note that, because of the distance, interference should not be as issue.

 

Other states now have SNPR repeater frequencies reserved.  Ours do not match up on some frequencies.  Since SNPR repeaters should have no further range than one of our regular links, should we not object if it clears our boundaries by 100 miles?  Discussion followed.  It was agreed that we should not respond unless it will effect existing links in our state as these are shared non protected repeaters and are not coordinated in Michigan.

 

Should any of our adjacent state guidelines for coordination be put into the bylaws?  Example - the 100-mile agreement for adjacent states repeater spacing.  Discussion followed.  It was mentioned that MAC was the body that got an agreement of 100 miles between adjacent states.  Some states placed this agreement into their bylaws and others held with the agreement as a “gentleman’s agreement.”  It was decided that a proposal should be made to put the agreement into our bylaws by proposing a resolution using the DOG.  Phil will work on this resolution.

 

A question was asked – are any Canadian coordinators ever heard from?   Phil stated that they do respond to his requests for clearance.

 

A question was asked on the time required to coordinate a 6-meter repeater.  No definite time frame was given, but it should not be too long.

 

KB8LJB described a situation regarding the club CCARA.  Discussion occurred regarding the holder of the coordination of this repeater.

 

Per MARC records, the CCARA (sponsor) is the holder of the coordination, provided they comply with the MARC Bylaws.

 

Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Ron, W8YUC and 2nd by George, K8GEO.  Time 1:54 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Manor, KT8F

 

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

I took over as treasurer at the Dec 4th MARC meeting after my election.  Dennis Gaboury, W8DFG, mailed me a cashier’s check in the amount of $ 3,915.10, drawn on our previous MARC account at Northland Area Federal Credit Union.  My treasurer’s report will start with this dispersal.  Dennis and Phil, K8IC are in the process of running a “starndard transfer of duties” audit of the books received from Kelly Karpp, KB8RWG, past treasurer.

 

I have opened a MARC checking and savings accounts at Farm Bureau Family Credit Union in Lansing, with the cashier’s check of $ 3,915.10.  W8DFG and WD8DJB are signatories on the account.

 

MARC Funds as of 12/14/2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Share Acct

 

 $      5.00

 

 

  Money Market

 

 $3,400.00

 

 

  Checking

 

 $   510.10

 

 

Beginning

Balance

 

 $3,915.10

 

 $ 3,915.10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Income

 

 

 

 

 

  Dues

 

 

 $   140.00

 

 

  Interest

 

 

 $     13.16

 

 

Total

Income

 

  

 

 $    153.16

 

 

 

 

 

  

Expenses

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Dec Newsletter

 

 

 

  

     Postage

 

 $    (74.00)

 

  

     Paper, Printing, Folding

 $    (35.86)

 

  

 

Total

 

  

 

 $   (109.86)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Web Site Renewal

 

 

 

    Domain Name 1 yr

 $     (9.20)

 

  

    ISP Existhosting 1 yr

 $    (78.00)

 

  

 

Total

 

  

 

 $     (87.20)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Software Renewal

 

 

 

    Norton AntiVirus 2005

 $    (14.99)

 

 $     (14.99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

Expenses

 

 

 $   (212.05)

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARC Funds of 02/09/2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Share Acct

 

 $      5.00

 

 

  Money Market

 

 $3,413.16

 

 

  Checking

 

 $   438.05

 

 

Ending

Balance

 

 $3,856.21

 

 $ 3,856.21

               

Dave Johnson, WD8DJB                           

 

 

 

Meeting Location:    

March 5, 2006  1:00 pm

Battle Creek Elks #131

1200 Harmonia Rd,

Battle Creek, MI 49015

 

 

Directions:

Take I-94 to Exit 95, turn LEFT (North) on to Helmer Road S.

Continue North on 3 Mile Rd [Helmer Rd S] for 3.7 miles.

Turn LEFT (West) on Bus I-94 [W. Dickman Rd] and continue for 0.1 miles.

Turn RIGHT (North) onto Helmer Rd N. Continue 1.1 miles.

Turn LEFT (West) on Harmonia Rd. Continue 0.3 miles to Elks Lodge.

 

 

MARC Officers                                                     Appointed Positions:

President:           Dennis Gaboury W8DFG

Frequency Coordinator 902MHz & up        Dan Thompson  N8WKM

Vice President:   Jim Maike KB8IFE

Frequency Coordinator 440MHz & down:  Dennis Gaboury  W8DFG

Secretary:           Ann Manor  KT8F

Frequency Coordinator Links & Control:    Phil Manor  W8IC

Treasurer:           Dave Johnson  WD8DJB

Database Manager:                                       Dave Johnson  WD8DJB

Director:             Ron Gordon W8YUC

Newsletter Editor                                          Dan Thompson  N8WKM

Director:             James Kvochick WB8AZP

 

 

All MARC officers receive email using their callsign@miarc.com