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 Column:

The next MARC meeting will be held on September 11, 2021 at the Delta Township Fire Station at 1:00 PM. Directions are included in this newsletter.

The June meeting had to be canceled due to some technical issues with the on-line meeting setup. In the future, MARC will have at least one alternative host to bring up the meeting on line.

The in person meeting is planned for September 11, 2021. With the Covid19 Delta variant now circulating through the country, the meeting place could possibly be canceled. If that happens the meeting will be held on line. Instructions on how to attend the on line meeting are also included in this newsletter. All interested parties are encouraged to join the meeting whichever way it is convened.

Elections are normally held at the September meeting. These would include elections of; Vice President, Treasurer and one Board member for a 2 year term. Because the June meeting was canceled, a nominating committee was not formed. The September meeting will include forming a nominating committee then nominations will be accepted. A vote will be taken at the December meeting after the positions are printed in the newsletter. Additional candidates will be accepted at the December meeting before any votes are taken.

I am happy to say that MARC now has two volunteers waiting to help out. It is difficult to train the new people over the summer with all that has been going on. I am looking forward to getting our new volunteers up and running over the next few months. Thanks to Keith, KD8ZSK and David, KE8OHG for volunteering.

73, Phil W8IC

Annual Business Meeting Information:

Meeting Location: Saturday Sept 11 2021 1:00 pm EDT Delta Township Fire Station 811 N. Canal Rd. Lansing, MI

Directions: Take I-96 to M-43 exit 93, go East to the first traffic light at Canal Rd. Turn left (North) on Canal Rd, go 150' to Administration Dr turn left (West), the new fire station will be on your right. Take the first driveway on the right to the West parking lot. Enter the building at the South entrance on Administration Dr.

Annual Business Meeting

This month brings the annual business meeting where we hold a physical meeting in the Lansing area. This includes the elections for board positions that will expire. This year, the Vice President, Treasurer and one Director position will be up for election.

If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please contact any one of the board members in person or by sending email to them using their [callsign]@miarc.com. Please note that candidates must also be current MARC members.

The absentee ballot is available for you to print and mail in. We can not accept votes via email at this time. Your ballot must appear in the MARC postal mailbox no later then Friday September 6th to be included. Please also note that in order to vote, you must be a paid member.

Membership dues may be mailed to the postal address listed on the main page of the website, or by clicking on the link to "Pay Your Dues" on the same web page.


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MARC Meeting Minutes

Date: March 06, 2021
This meeting took place via internet and phone connection.

Officers:

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

Absent: Indicated by * above
Visitors: John KB8OIS, Jay WB8TKL


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

Meeting called to order by Phil at 1:00 PM

Minutes of the last meeting were read by Ann.
A motion to approve minutes from the December meeting was made by Jeff, seconded by Dan, vote taken, minutes approved.

Treasurer’s report provided by Phil.
An error was noted in the newsletter treasurers report and it will be corrected later today by Dan. A motion to approve the corrected report in the newsletter was made by Jeff, seconded by Dan, vote taken, Motion passed.

Old Business:
Jeff requested that Bob Burns official email address to be sent to him. Phil will send it.

New Business:

Resolution # 19 was due for a second vote. Resolution read by Phil, as follows: Reserve 442.125/447.125 as a SNPR pair to align Michigan with several adjoining states. Motion made by Jeff, seconded by Ann, vote taken and resolution #19 passed. Resolution to be added to the bylaws.

Resolution # 3 , from September 1, 2003 was brought up for discussion. The resolution was not brought up for a second vote. Eventually, a modified version of the resolution was most likely voted on for inclusion as a bylaw change. Dan will check dates and votes and see if any further action is required by MARC. Motion tabled until the next meeting.

John, KB8OIS asked some questions regarding the successor sponsor of Corwin, WB8UPM's (SK) repeater.(146.74) Jay, WB8TKL was listed as the successor sponsor on Corwin's coordination. John asked Jay if he would list The University of Michigan as the successor sponsor for the 146.740 repeater. Jay indicated that he wants to keep ARROW as his successor sponsor for his 146.740 coordination. John asked if a co-sponsor is a possibility. The MARC Board answered that only one sponsor can be the holder of a coordination. This avoids complications from disagreements between sponsor and any other involved party.

Dan is working on a program for the spread sheet submissions. Progress on the spread sheet tools is proceeding but is very time consuming. There was a discussion on some of the problems in implementing the spread sheet system. Dan also made a correction to the data base for one of K8SN's repeater links. Jeff will call KB8SWR to check on the status of his spread sheet.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn made by Jim, seconded by Jeff, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 1:42 PM .

The next meeting will be conducted electronically on June 12, 2021 at 1:00 PM. Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F, Recording Secretary

Vice President's Thoughts

With the Septemnber meeting being the physical meeting, I hope to see everyone there. The minutes printed in this newsletter are from the March meeting due to the problems with the scheduled meeting in June.

Unfortunately, there were issues holding the last meeting that is setting a few things back. Without going into details, I was sidelined and in the hospital and unable to deal with the meeting that day. As a result, nominations were not opened as is required. We will be moving the elections to the December meeting so that we can properly open nominations and offer a time period for those nominations to arrive prior to the vote.

To access the online portion of the meeting, please see the June Newsletter and follow the instructions. If we are able to make it work we will be there.

Dan Thompson, N8WKM

Annual Business Meeting And Elections:

This is a reminder that the September meeting will be a physical meeting to take place in Delta Township (Lansing Area) Due to unusual circumstances the June meeting did not take place. The elections will need to be moved to December. This is still prior to the time when current offices end. We are not able to take ballots via email! If you intend to vote by mail, please note that the ballot must arrive at the MARC mailbox no later than Friday prior to the meeting.

Offices that will be open for election this year are:
  Vice President: Currently Dan Thompson N8WKM
  Director: Currently James Kvochick K8JK
  Treasurer: Open, being covered by Phil W8IC

A printable version of the 2021 Ballot is available to print and mail.