MICHIGAN AREA REPEATER
COUNCIL NEWSLETTER
WEB SITE:
http://www.qsl.net/miarc e-mail:
miarc@yahoogroups.com
November 2002
|
A short note
from the Prez……….. First
of all, I would like to congratulate Dave Schwein KE8Z on being elected to
the position of Director. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank
Dan Thompson for taking the editors position so that this newsletter would
still hit the press. Unfortunately, the position of Secretary was not filled
at the September meeting. Any volunteers to fill this void should contact the
Board. The
MARC Board received this e-mail from Jim Maike; Due to personal
responsibilities, I will be unable to continue my position with the Michigan
Area Repeater Council; although I did enjoy the year, I spent serving.
I'm a newly elected County Commissioner in my County (I have no opposition in
the upcoming General Election Nov. 5), and I have several building projects I
need to finish before Jan. 1 when I take office. I wanted to inform you now
of my decision to step down, so you can inform everyone in the December
newsletter and appoint someone at the December meeting. Please take me
off the miarc repeater ASAP. I get a lot of email from the townships
I will be representing, and the miarc repeater system is mostly junk
mail anyway. So long, good luck, see you at the IRA ham fest. Jim. So, at this time we are
without a Vice-President. Again, if anyone is interested in sitting in this
chair for the rest of his term, please contact me, or a Board member. We are looking for a
meeting location in the Kalamazoo area for the March meeting if you are
interested in hosting this meeting please contact us ASAP. Please send
replies to miarc@yahoogroups.com. The
December meeting will be held at the Mt. Clemens Elks. Directions are else
where in this newsletter. Talk-in will be on 147.180/100hz Pl. Hope to see
you at the meeting. 73, Dennis,
W8DFG President |
Database Manager / Webmaster’s Corner
Activity
during the past quarter continued at a brisk pace. I produced updates of the web site Repeater Directory in
August, September and October along with the Meetings and Newsletter
pages. I plan on producing another
series of updates by mid November. I
completed my audit of the differences between the MARC repeater database that
I received from N8UT 09/13/00 and the MARC database of 07/26/02. On
August 18, 2002. I distributed the results
to adjacent state coordinators and the NFCC.
I received positive responses on my efforts to clear the air and
update their information about Michigan’s Lower Peninsula repeaters. Wallace
Murray announced a number of pending new coordination’s at the September
meeting. However, I have not yet
received a copy of the final coordination paperwork from Wallace and so the
database has not been updated. I
processed 30 renewal TDS's between Aug 1 and Oct 31. I currently have 5 renewal TDS’s in
processing that were submitted between Oct 8th and 30th. I
logged 123 hours on MARC activities between Aug 1st and Oct 31st. MARC
will be starting de-coordination activities on repeaters that have not had
TDS updates submitted in over two or more years. To give you an idea of the
scope of the problem, there are over 100 repeater trustees that have not
submitted TDS updates since December of 1999. TDS’s are due at least once every two years. If you want to know the status of your
repeater refer to our web site repeater directory: http://www.qsl.net/miarc/repeater_directory.html. If your entry is Red you have an overdue
TDS. I’m not trying to drum up more
work for myself, just trying to remind you of your responsibility as a
repeater trustee. Thanks
to all that are keeping their TDS’s current.
MARC relies on the validity of our database and your current
information helps us do our job.
|
Proposed By-Law Changes
August 14, 2002
|
ARTICLE
I - Name & Purpose 2: Purpose 1.) Coordinate the allocation of frequencies for use by repeaters, and remote receive link's in the Lower
Peninsula of the State of Michigan where requested. 6.) Publish a quarterly newsletter to be electronically
mailed to all members, all coordinated repeater trustees,
all Great Lakes area coordinators, and the ARRL Section Manager for the State
of Michigan. Also mailed via USPS to all currant members when
requested, listing information which may be of concern to them,
such as: new repeaters coordinated during the previous quarter; disputes or
interference problems which are currently known; and the date, time, and
place of the next meeting of the MARC. ARTICLE
II - Membership and Dues 2.) Full Member. A Full
Member shall be a repeater owner
and/or trustee, and have all of the rights and privileges of
membership including voting and holding office. 3.) Supporting Member. A Supporting Member
shall have all of the rights and privileges of membership except voting and
holding office. This membership is open to all Amateur Radio
Operators and Amateur Radio Organizations. ARTICLE III – Officers A.
The officers of the MARC shall be
|
4.) Treasurer.
The Treasurer shall maintain records of Full Members, Supporting Members (delete,
and Associates), maintain the financial records, collect dues,
disburse all Monies, file all reports and returns as may from time to time be
required by various governmental agencies, and perform such other duties as
are customarily associated with the title of Treasurer. 5.) Directors. Each Director shall be assigned by the
President to oversee, verify, and assist a Coordinator. The
Directors shall
assign the Michigan coordination number to all completed
coordination’s, and verify the coordinators activities
as being in strict accordance with these By-Laws and the
Standards and Procedures. The Directors will
assist the other officers in the proper conduct of the affairs of the MARC
and perform such other duties as are customarily associated with the title of
Director. 7.) Coordinator(s). It
shall be the explicit duty of a Coordinator to assure that all coordination
activities are conducted strictly within the literal written bounds of these
By-Laws and the Standards and Procedures. The Coordinator(s) shall be
appointed and/or removed at the discretion of a majority vote of the other
officers of the Board of Directors. No more than two (2) Coordinators
shall be appointed at any given time. If two are appointed, one shall be
responsible for coordination activities regarding two-meters and down and the
other shall be responsible for coordination activities above two meters in
the ARS allocated frequencies. Coordinator(s) will be solely responsible for
direct coordination/de-coordination activities conducted by MARC. While
serving actively, the Coordinator(s) shall have full voting rights in the
affairs of the Board of Directors. Coordinators shall have no defined term
limits. |
|
7a.
It shall be the explicit responsibility of each coordinator to assure the
prompt delivery of current data and information to the Database
manager as it becomes available for recording. 8.Database Manager. The database manager
shall be solely responsible for maintaining accurate and up-to-date MARC
coordination records in electronic and organized paper formats for the
MARC. Electronic records must be backed up to a remote location at all times.
The Database Manager shall be appointed and/or removed from office at the
discretion of a majority vote of the other officers of the Board of
Directors. While serving actively, the Database Manager shall have full voting rights
in the affairs of the Board of Directors. The Database
Manager shall have no defined term limits. 2.) Term of
Office. The term of office of
all officers, except Immediate Past President, Coordinator(s) and
Database Manager, shall be two
(2) years, and further until replaced. The office of Immediate Past
President, if filled, shall have a term of one (1) year. The term of office for
elected officers shall begin on
the first day of December in the year elected. The terms of office shall be
staggered—Chairman, Secretary, and one (1) Director shall begin in even
numbered years; Vice Chairman, Treasurer, and one (1) Director shall begin in
odd numbered years. The office of Immediate Past President shall be filled by
the outgoing President, if any, and shall have a term of one (1) year. 3.)
Coordinator(s) and Database Manager
shall have no defined term of office. |
ARTICLE V - Appointed
Position 1.) The Board of Directors shall appoint Full
Members to such positions as may from time to time be needed in order to
fulfill the purposes for which the MARC exists; these positions shall
include, but not be limited to, Frequency Coordinator, Database
Manager, and Newsletter Editor. The appointees shall serve at the
pleasure of the Board of Directors and may be removed at any time, with or
without cause, by majority vote of the Board of Directors. The appointees
shall have their actions directed by such guidelines as the Board of
Directors shall establish, and their actions shall be subject to review by
the Board of Directors. Should an appointee resign, or a vacancy otherwise
occur, the President shall appoint a Full Member to fill the position until
the next meeting of the Board of Directors, at which time the Board of
Directors shall appoint a Full Member to the position. The President shall
review with each appointee in December of even numbered years whether the
appointment should be continued and shall report to the Board of Directors
before their next meeting the result of this review. 3. Database Manager. The Database Manager shall
assist the Frequency Coordinator(s) in the maintenance of the MARC database
of coordination’s and (ed Note: This portion printed as received.) |
|
This is a
reminder to all repeater Trustees, TDS’ are due every two years. If you do
not know the current status of the TDS on your repeater please see http://www.qsl.net/miarc/repeater_directory.html
to see the status of your repeater. Also, if you would like a nice way to
find your HAAT data as well as create a coverage map for your repeater please
see http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html
for information about Radio Mobile. The learning curve is high,
but well worth the effort. |
|
|
Letter to the Editor, the MARC newsletter November 2002 In
the August 2002 MARC newsletter, there were some proposed law changes that
the membership are asked to review before ratification in December. As a member of the By-Law Committee, I
felt compelled to bring to the membership’s attention, certain changes, the
ramifications of which may not be readily apparent. Please reference the by laws on the MARC web site for the
complete present version. I feel very
strongly about the changes that are proposed in Article II. ALL members need to fully understand the
implications here! I will reiterate
what the last sentence of this letter states (in part): “…if you feel that
the MARC should be responsive to ALL the Amateur Radio operators in the lower
peninsula, you MUST vote these changes down…” If you look at nothing else in this letter to the editor,
READ AND UNDERSTAND ARTICLE II and my comments about them! In my opinion, the definition of a “Full
Member” should remain as is! Article
I – Name & Purpose; Section B, Purpose.
(This was erroneously printed as “Section 2) Purpose” in the
newsletter.) The change in subsection
1 just reiterates the coordination of link frequencies. Subsection 2 now specifies that printed
newsletters will be sent by request only and that electronic newsletters will
be the norm. Article
II – Membership and Dues; Section B Full Member. The stipulation “…be a repeater owner and/or trustee, and…” has
been added to the description of a Full Member. This addition to the original description is erroneously
labeled as “2.) Full Member” in the newsletter.
In addition, Section C Supporting Member (erroneously labeled Section
3 in the newsletter) has this addition after the present description: “This
membership is open to all Amateur Radio Operators and Amateur Radio
Organizations.” This statement is
already in the present by-laws in Section A of this article! What’s going on here in Article II is VERY
IMPORANT to understand! Two of the
members of the By-Laws Committee felt strongly about the changes in this
Article. A majority of us on the
committee DO NOT agree with this change. What it means is that Officers with
voting rights for the MARC can only be repeater owners and/or trustees! This is contrary to the opinions expressed
by the ARRL and the FCC (and most hams)!
The ARRL and the FCC states that coordinator respond to the “broadest
base” of local ham operators. Here
is an excerpt from the ARRL publication "The FCC Rule Book" , 10th
edition, Chapter six, page 6-10. This material is not included in the
official rules, but is part of the discussions for the planning of the
coordination procedures, specifically from the FCC's Report and Order to PR
docket 85-22. |
The Commission stated: (Paragraph
two) “Several
coordinators urged us to establish some mechanism to officially recognize
local or regional coordinators. Others were concerned about the potential for
abuse of power at the local level. Another concern was the exclusive right to
coordinate within a geographical area. It is essential that repeater
coordinators respond to the broadest base of local amateurs and consider the
concerns not only of repeater owners, but also of those users of spectrum
affected by repeater operation. Their authority is derived from the voluntary
participation of the entire amateur community; their recognition must be
derived from the same source. We believe the new rules will assure that a
coordinator is representative of all local amateur operators.” We all need to
understand what the FCC wrote and how that differs from what is proposed in
our by-law changes in Article II. The
first passage to understand is: “It is essential that repeater coordinators
respond to the broadest base of local amateurs and consider the concerns not
only of repeater owners, but also of those users of spectrum affected by
repeater operation.” In this
sentence, the FCC is saying that we (the MARC) must consider ANYONE that can
potentially use repeaters, NOT just the owners! To continue “We believe the new rules will assure that a
coordinator is representative of all local amateur operators.” This final sentence is self evident! ALL local amateurs, not some, not an elite
group, but all! The proposed changes
to Article II is contrary to this belief!
The changes in Article II basically says that only repeater
owners/trustees can be officers and vote in our organization! I want to go on record as vehemently
opposing this change since it was suggested!
It is contrary to the purpose of the MARC! We need to get MORE people involved with our
decision making process, not less! We
need MORE hams to join the MARC and volunteer to assist with its
responsibilities and decision making process! We, the membership should vote down these proposed changes and
the By-Laws in Article II should be left as it has been for over a decade
now. That is the right thing to do
even if it means that we must revisit this subject at the next membership
meeting, IMHO. Article III – Officers, Section A. The officers of the MARC shall be. In this section, there are the proposed additions of no more than 2 coordinators and the database manager as voting officers. This brings our officer count to a possible 10. Please think about this one carefully, as we’ve had a problem with getting a quorum at our meetings in the past! |
|
In
section B Duties of the Officers, subsection 4 Treasurer, there is a change
to delete “Associate” members from which the Treasurer will maintain records
of. Because we haven’t eliminated the
Associate Member from Article II yet, we may not want to lose track of
“sponsors of repeaters coordinated by the MARC, who are not members of the
MARC”. In
section B Duties of the Officers, subsection 5 Directors, the addition of the
President being able to assign each director some responsibilities to assist
a coordinator, the directors assigning Michigan Coordination number to
completed coordinations, the verifications that coordinators activities
adhere to MARC guidelines should be self explanatory. In
addition, subsection 7 Coordinator(s) and subsection 8 Database Manager has
been added. With the addition of
these new positions are details of their responsibilities, voting rights and
term limits. Also given is the fact
that each of these officers are voted into and out of their positions be a
majority vote of the rest of the officers.
Also given under sub-subsection 7a is the directive that the
coordinators must provide pertinent information to the Database Manager in a
timely manner. Section
D Term of Office (erroneously printed as 2.) is to be changed to add the
Coordinator(s) and Database Manager to the first sentence under
exceptions. Also, “for elected
officers” is added to the sentence beginning with “The term of office…”. The
last proposed change in Article III is “3.) Coordinator(s) and Database
Manager shall have no defined term of office.” This is superfluous, as it spells this out at the end of the
new description for both officers. It
is also unclear as to exactly where this sentence is to be placed in Article
III. In
Article V – Appointed Positions, the addition
of “Database Manager” to the first sentence. The
final proposed change is the addition of “Database Manager” to the list of
“Appointed Positions”. It is labeled
as “3.” in the newsletter, but should be labeled as “4.”, if we were to
properly number the Appointed Positions under Section A of Article V. They are not numbered as subsections at
the moment. The text under this
position seems to be from an e-mail that is not complete at the end. The gist of the Database Manager’s
description and responsibilities seem to be acceptable, but it should be
rewritten properly and the subsections should also be labeled properly. |
This
is all at this time. There will be review
of the remainder of the By-Laws as well as the Standards and Procedures. Please take the time to read and
understand the ramifications of what will be changed when the updates are
ratified. Again, I urge all of you to
understand that even though you may not have any problems with any other
aspect of the proposed changes to our By-Laws, if you feel that the MARC
should be responsive to ALL the Amateur Radio operators in the lower
peninsula, you MUST vote these changes down and compel the By-Laws Committee
to change the membership requirements to allow any interested ham the
opportunity to hold office and vote on the MARC Board! Respectfully, Floyd
Soo, W8RO Letter to the Editor Hello
All: In
the August 2002 MARC newsletter, there were some proposed by-law changes that
the membership are asked to review before ratification in December. As
a repeater owner and RACES officer in northern Michigan I felt that I should
respond to what I thought of the changes. It sounds as if there has been some
narrowing of our thinking in coming up with the change that only owners
and/or trustees can be the only voting members of MARC. We
need to rethink our ways of regulation and find ways to enhance and not
restrict involvement. We need to be open to maximize our abilities so that we
can increase our levels of participation and those who participate. I
urge that everyone that has the ability to voice their opinion, attend the up
coming meeting and offer their opinion. With the recent changes that the FCC
has made, making it easier for hams to upgrade into the hobby, folks here
don’t need to be making rules in the reverse. We should encourage not
discourage folks to get involved with radio. Thank
You, Gerry
Crawford, K8GER |
|
A Short Note
From the Editor. If
you would like your comments included in the newsletter please email them to dan@waycom.com. Obviously I can only include
what will fit into the newsletter. Please also note that the MARC also
maintains an email address for communication concerning MARC business as well
as a P.O Box for you to send USPS mail. The email address is miarc@yahoogroups.com and the USPS
address can be found on the label of this mailing. |
|
Minutes of September 8, 2002 meeting of MARC INC. The
annual meeting of the M.A.R.C. Inc. was held at the Delta Township Fire
Station in Lansing Michigan on September 8, 2002. President Dennis Gaboury,
W8DFG called the meeting to order at 1 pm. The following board members were
present President Dennis Gaboury, Vice President Jim Maike KB8IFE, Treasurer
Kelly Karpp KB8RWG, Director Ron Gordon W8YUC, Director Bill Kelley KC8D,
Frequency Coordinator Wallace Murray KE8HR, Database Manager Dave Johnson
WD8DJB, and Secretary Ron Huber N8JAZ. Eight
members were present. Treasurer’s
Report
Kelly
Karpp read the treasurer’s report. Account
Balance
Savings $4502.11 Checking $
595.90 Check
on Hand $ 10.00 Total $5118.01
Expenses
Check # 1006
State of Michigan
$10.00 Check # 1007 Ron Huber (Newsletter) $307.85 Total $317.85 Income
Dues $190.00 Interest $
25.72 $215.72 A
motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was
made by Bill Kelley. A
quorum wasn’t present at the last meeting so the reading of the minutes was
omitted. |
Other Business
Wallace
Murray, Frequency Coordinator gave his report showing 2 links, 11,
coordinations, 30 repeaters out state, and 9 new requests for coordination. Al
Eckman WW8WW presented a request for a repeater at Lowell Schools Wallace
Murray will look into this request. Wallace Murray has accepted the position
as Technical Coordinator in the state for A.R.R.L. His position will need to
be filled at a later date. Our
new Newsletter Editor is Dan Thompson N8WKM from Wayland, Michigan. Elections
President
Dennis Gaboury was re elected. David
Schwein KE8Z of Webberville was elected as Director. The
position of Secretary was left unfilled. Bylaws
Jim
Maike presented a motion that all new or modified repeaters will add tone
encoding. Dave
Schwein seconded this motion. This will be brought up again later for changes
to the rules and procedures. The final note on Bylaw changes will be brought up
in December. Jim Maike will take over as Bylaws Chairman. Schedule
for upcoming meetings are December E.O.C. Oakland County, March Bay City,
June Tawas, September Lansing, December Kalamazoo Battle Creek. A
motion to adjourn was made by Ron Gordon. The meeting adjourned at 3:08 pm. Respectfully
submitted Ron
Huber N8JAZ Secretary. |
|
We
are looking for a meeting location in the Kalamazoo area for the March
meeting if you are interested in hosting this meeting please contact us ASAP.
Please send replies to miarc@yahoogroups.com. |
Directions to Mt. Clemens Elks
Talk-in will be on
147.180/100hz Pl
From I-75 (Pontiac Area)
East on M-59 to Groesbeck (M-97) about 19 miles, turn right. South on M-97 to Cass Ave., about 2.3 miles, turn left. East on Cass to Main Street, about 1 mile, turn right. The Elks are located just south of the Post Office on the East side of the street. 179 S. Main.
From I-94 (Detroit) &
I-96 and 696 (Lansing)
I-696 will run into I-94. Take I-94 (West) to Exit #231 (this will be second Gratiot exit from Detroit). Continue North on Gratiot (M-3) about 5 miles, to Robertson, turn left. Go to stop sign turn right on Main Street. Elks located just past furniture store on east side of street. 179 S. Main
MARC Board of Directors
|
President |
Dennis Gaboury |
W8DFG |
P.O. Box 463148 Mt. Clemens, MI 48046 |
|
Vice President |
Open |
|
|
|
Secretary |
Open |
|
|
|
Treasurer |
Kelly F. Karpp |
KB8RWG |
PO Box 127 Oscoda, MI 48750 |
|
Director |
David Schwein
|
KE8Z |
3920 E Frost RD Webberville, MI 48892 |
|
Director |
Ron Gordon |
W8YUC |
7172 Sharp Rd. Swartz Creek, MI 48473 |
|
Frequency Coordinator |
Wallace Murray |
KE8HR |
1403 S. Hill Rd. Milford, MI 48381 |
|
Database Manager |
Dave Johnson |
WD8DJB |
2266 E. Vermontville Hwy Charlotte, MI 48813 |