KSØMAN

Manhattan Area Amateur Radio Society

Tuned to 147.255 MHz, the Society’s own repeater. Drawn, not received.

2015

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    Meeting minutes, September 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, September 11, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary

    Meeting commenced: 6:40 p.m. at Vista in Manhattan, KS.   Meeting concluded: 7:30 p.m. Attending: Dave Mills, Treasurer, KDØAZG, Manhattan
    George Johnson, KEØALQ, Manhattan
    Patti Johnson, KEØBBJ, Manhattan
    Jim Foster, Secretary, KDØNQQ, Wamego
    Farren Constable, KBØAZT, Blue Rapids
    Mark Benfer, President, KCØQAS, Manhattan
    Jeff Greer, WD4ET, Manhattan
    Scott Chainey, ACØCY, Wamego
    David Mills, KSØAZG, Manhattan
    Francis Sable, WØEVJ, Wamego
    Myron Calhoun, WØPBV, Manhattan
    Nancy Calhoun, NØKMU, Manhattan

    Topics 1. Repeater usage in storm situations Is the club satisfied with the K-Link, given the circumstances of the 10th’s storm? Need to re-circulate the tone/no-tone operation of the repeater On the web site – Mark will forward On the e-mail list – Mark will post

    2. Proposed SET – Myron Calhoun October 10 Participants need to inform Myron if they want to participate. Three bands, three times of day (7-7:15, 1-1:30, 7-7:30) Myron will call at set times, listen for responses on Simplex. Myron will send out a log form for participants to fill out. Jim will send out to Larry’s List.

    3. Oct. 3 Testing Session – Jeff Greer all set up and registered would be nice to have one more extra volunteer examiner Nichols Hall reserved – lots of construction, come early. George will publish on Ft. Riley.

    4. Field Day – George Johnson 25-26 June, 2016 Venue Discovery Center – would love to have us put on a display in the lobby. Discovery Park – want to get an exemption. How? / Plan to request a waiver of hourly free and overnight exemption Myron will talk to people about supporting our request. Alternate: another park in the Manhattan system Alternate: free venue Plans – what do we want to do? Promotion Activities Bring ideas to October meeting

    5. November Elections – Mark Benfer Jim will put out a notice to the list. What are the offices? When is the election? Nomination process Requirement – be paid member by October

    Other Business Constitution
    The constitution requires us to physically mail to each member. We need to change the mailing requirement. Patti has agreed to transcribe the print copy into an electronic format. Jim will bring a proposal for an amendment to the October meeting. Dave given club approval to buy a receipt book

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    Meeting minutes, July 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, June 10, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary

    Meeting commenced: 6:45 p.m. at Vista in Manhattan, KS.   Meeting concluded: 7:53 p.m. Attending: Dave Mills, Treasurer, KDØAZG, Manhattan
    Nancy Calhoun NØKMU, Manhattan
    Myron Calhoun WØPBV, Manhattan
    Francis Sable WØEVJ, Wamego
    George Johnson KEØALQ, Manhattan
    Patti Johnson KEØBBJ, Manhattan
    Jim Foster, Secretary, KDØNQQ, Wamego
    Nick Merryman, KG7NQS, Seattle
    Jeff Greer, WD4ET
    Max Nager, KD2GJM

    Topics 1. Field Day Review Membership is low enough, 24-hour station is difficult Possibly set up a partial session, Sat. P.M., Sun. A.M. Security for partial day, lock boxes More public place might get better traffic Walmart parking lot Above the dam, observation area Park area near the Discovery Center Modes? Voice, CW (if we can get a volunteer), Phone 40m, 80m, ? Set personal goal – work all states? Number of contacts? Review this about March 2016

    2. Testing Session When? After K-State returns – early October 3 Where: Computer Science Conf. Room, Nichols Hall, K-State VE: Jeff is Extra VE. Jim and Max will seek to get VE status. Max will contact Vern as a potential VE.

    3. Upcoming Events September 26 – Oztoberfest Communicate to Jay – will transport nearest SAG, not home

    4. Treasurer’s Report No change Signed up Max and George as members

    Next meeting: Francis will present on solid state devices. George could present a Baofeng class – 4-5 months out

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    Meeting minutes, June 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, June 12, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary

    Meeting commenced: 6:30 p.m. at Vista in Manhattan, KS.   Meeting concluded: 7:35 p.m. Attending: Mark Benfer, President, KCØQAS, Manhattan
    Dave Mills, Treasurer, KDØAZG, Manhattan
    Nancy Calhoun NØKMU, Manhattan
    Myron Calhoun WØPBV, Manhattan
    Francis Sable WØEVJ, Wamego
    Paul Schliffke, NØUZN, Wamego
    George Johnson KEØALQ, Manhattan
    Patti Johnson KEØBBJ, Manhattan
    Jim Foster, Secretary, KDØNQQ, Wamego Topics 1. Member Report – Dave presented a list of who is in active membership, and those on the rolls but inactive/unpaid 2. Field Day Plans – 27-28 June Sat 10 a.m. – Sun 4 p.m. (xmit 12 – 12) 2A classification Using club call: KSØMAN Link or no link? Stations GOTA station – Paul S., 6m? HF 40m – Mark: HF, battery, Antenna. Pneumatic mast? 20m – Jim: HF, battery 40m antenna, 20m antenna – Francis Other Supplies Mark – Generator Jim – tables Dave will look for rain tarp Press Paul will contact the Wamego papers, put them in contact with Jim Jim will prepare a press release based 3. Testing – there has been some demand. Jim will post a request to our mailing list for VE commitment.

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    Meeting minutes, May 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, May 8, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary

    Meeting commenced: 6:30 p.m. at Vista in Manhattan, KS.   Meeting concluded: 7:45 p.m. Attending: Mark Benfer, President, KCØQAS, Manhattan
    Jeff Greer, WD4ET, Manhattan
    Nancy Calhoun NØKMU Manhattan
    Myron Calhoun WØPBV Manhattan
    Reid Sayler, KEØEIE, Manhattan
    James Copeland, KDØICP, Manhattan
    Max Nager, KD2GJM, Manhattan
    Farren Constable KBØAZJ Blue Rapids
    David Mills, Treasurer, KDØAZG Manhattan
    Francis Sable WØEVJ Wamego
    Jim Foster, Secretary, KDØNQQ Wamego Topics 1. Bike ride after action review Route K177 is dangerous – lots of traffic, narrow road, non-existent shoulder Dog issue – has happened in the past, this year a bite Use the “old” northern route? Event coordinator should publish phone number of coordinator for riders to call – feedback from riders Jim will follow up with Aaron – he is supposed to be giving us feedback More concerted effort to get pictures next year’s event – use for promotion Should we provide transport? We will provide transport to the nearest SAG, rider or event coordinator will transport ‘home’ Giving full rides takes operators off the route, leaves holes in coverage Need to communicate this to event coordinators Planning Jim will share his research on planning documents, both rough drafts and what on KC area group is doing 2. Repeater discussion Options for operation Tone or no tone Proposal: add trailing chirp for using tone – Club agrees: Dave will contact Justin to enact. Dave will notify Link or no link? Proposal: stay linked for a month and get used to it Dave will enact Francis is having problems hitting the repeater in Wamego when mobile – cause unknown Proposal: Mark would like to change the power to 50W out of the duplexer, vs 50W into the duplexer Agreement to try it – Mark will enact and notify 3. Testing session feedback 9 attended, 7 passed Brian says that he can have them any time. Quarterly? Need to check Larry’s List for when other regional – Jim will look, and put together a schedule Will discuss next meeting, after more info 4. Field day – June 27-28th Wamego City Park pavilion is reserved Permission granted to hang antennas non-permanently in trees Eric has offered up the pneumatic mast again Stations Jim will bring HF, run 20 or 40 Mark will bring HF also Additional modes for public demonstration would be good Create press release in advance – Jim Wamego Paper K-State Collegian Manhattan Paper Manhattan Free Press Jim will have a copy to review by next meeting Club members will contact folks, generate volunteers for event Better to have fewer contact stations, and more public-facing 5. Yellow Brick Road Bike Ride – date TBD Club plans to use this event as our SET exercise – Myron will report 6. Other business K-State club has invited use of their 2m and 70cm repeaters, WØQQQ. They are working to upgrade their antennas, hope to have HF tower up next semester. Dave will be putting his Echolink node on no-tone to keep transmissions off K-Link. Financial report – We’re solvent. Phone line is disconnected, owe $20. Dave will publish the details later. Do we have a student rate? Yes, $10/yr for full-time students

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    Meeting minutes, March 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, March 13, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary

    The meeting was called to order at 6:55 p.m. at the new venue, Vista in Manhattan, KS. Repeater Upgrade Mark and Dave have not had opportunity to work on the repeater. Due to the state of the budget (see below) there is some urgency to get it in place so that the phone line can be discontinued. Dave will reach out to Justin Reed of the K-Link system for programming and troubleshooting assistance. Various club members have offered assistance of transport, paying for gas and buying meals as necessary. Treasurer Dave gave the treasurer’s report. He has been working, and is not quite finished, with an overhaul of the member rolls, and an audit of who is current in membership. In the mean time, the latest phone bill has been paid. It was over $60, due to charges AT&T adds for changing the name on the account. It will be back to the usual $43 next month. There is also a $31 charge for another 6 months of the P. O. box, which is due this month. With current assets, we must either increase income or decrease expenses. As the phone is the primary expense, eliminating that would help a great deal. That, of course, is dependent on getting the new repeater programmed and installed. VE Testing We have tentative agreement from several VEs: Brian Carter, Francis Sable, Bill Kuhn. Club has agreed to set the date of the testing session for May 16th, to allow time to publicize the event. Jim will reach out to the VEs and confirm their availability. Myron will schedule the room, and check for any conflict with graduation. Members are encouraged to promote this event wherever they can. Jim will inform Larry’s List, the ARRL website, the KAR newsletter and attempt to reach the KSU ham club via their Sunday night net. Fox Hunt Agreed to table discussion of such an event until after we get through bike ride season. Bike Ride — Cabin Fever, April 11th, 7:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Jay Clark has asked us to support this ride, we have tentatively agreed. We will need to recruit at least six or seven hams to the event by April 1, or we will need to bow out. Jim will coordinate volunteers pre-event. Dave, Farren and Jim will publicize to other hams in the area. Dave will bring his camper and portable tower to the start to give some presence to our participation. He will run net control from the school parking lot. He will also have a donation jar, asking for support of the repeater. We will use the St. Mary’s repeater. Jim will reach out to the K0HAM organization, asking for control to take the repeater off the net during the event. Jim will inquire of Sylvia, Brian and Mark to see who has the MAARS banner and the magnetic car signs. Some discussion of how we might be able to legally interact more closely with the Pott. County Sheriff, as their support on last year’s YBR ride was very helpful. Myron will look into this. Field Day — 27-28 June, 2015 no new business Agenda items for next meeting: Technical Presentation — Francis Sable Repeater Update — Dave, Mark Treasurer’s Report — Dave Ham Testing — Myron will confirm we have a room, and share details Cabin Fever — day before, last-minute preparation, hand out maps and assignments Attending: Francis Sable WØEVJ Wamego David Mills KDØAZG Manhattan Nancy Calhoun NØKMU Manhattan Myron Calhoun WØPBV Manhattan Farren Constable KBØAZJ Blue Rapids Jim Foster KDØNQQ Wamego

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    Meeting minutes, February 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, February 13, 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary The club met at the new venue, Vista in Manhattan, KS. The majority found this place a good meeting spot, so we will meet here again next month. The club welcomed Dane Nichols, KK4RUH, into membership. Dane is stationed at Ft. Riley, and is active with Scouts. Club discussed how we might support local scouting, either giving training for merit badges or operating a Jubilee on the Air (JOTA) station in October. Repeater Upgrade Mark and Dave gave a status update on the repeater. Setup is complete, but modulation is not happening as it should. That will be fixed. Next step will be to do the programming. A date for this has not been set. The phone line is being maintained until the new repeater can be brought online. Treasurer Dave gave the treasurer’s report. Current assets of the club total $131.80. Suggestion was made to set out a donation jar at bike rides. The club is in favor of this move. It has also been decided that we be careful about how we ask; this must be clearly a request for general repeater support, not payment for the event. VE Testing Jim presented a list of our club members who are on the books as VEs with ARRL. We have enough extras to present an exam for all levels, including extra. Club has agreed we will hold a testing session some time in April. Myron suggested we do it on KSU’s campus, as he can arrange a room. Jim will contact Brian Carter to see if he will be lead VE. We still need to set a date. There was also discussion of giving training. Decision is that for this session we will not, but will look to do that in the future. General agreement that we need to make testing a regular event, probably twice a year at least. Fox Hunt No date was set. Several options were discussed: local (within a park) or regional, plus rules variations. Nothing definite decided. Dave will reach out to a local ham who is a fox hunting enthusiast, asking for support and ideas. CERT Mark will talk to Lori about what would be needed for MAARS to support the Riley County CERT training session in April. Jim will arrange a meeting with Chris Trudo to learn more about CERT in Pott county. Bike Rides Jim will reach out to Jay for Cabin Fever Ride dates. CASA, our other major ride is May 2nd. Yellow Brick Road bike ride is concurrent with Oztoberfest in Wamego, usually the end of September or beginning of October. Club agreed that we need some sort of presence, early at the ride, to publicize ham radio participation. May or may not be net control, but a radio and antenna (possibly more than one) should be in evidence along with signage and the aforementioned donation jar. More planning is needed. Field Day — 27-28 June, 2015 Agreement that we will hold the event again in Wamego City Park. Some discussion of using power besides a generator, nothing solid decided. Discussion of getting scouts involved to help man the station. Will be kept on the agenda for further discussion. Agenda items for next meeting: Repeater Update status — Mark, Dave Treasurer’s Report — Dave Ham Testing — Jim will report on staffing, we need to finalize a date. Fox Hunt — Dave will let us know how the discussions with his contact went. CERT Training — Mark will let us know more details of the Riley County event Bike Rides — Jim will bring details of the Cabin Fever event Field Day — further discussion Attending: Mark Benfer KCØQAS Manhattan
    Laura Benfer
    Francis Sable WØEVJ Wamego
    David Mills KDØAZG Manhattan
    Gordon Alkire KBØYYO Riley
    Nancy Calhoun NØKMU Manhattan
    Myron Calhoun WØPBV Manhattan
    Farren Constable KBØAZJ Blue Rapids
    Jim Foster KDØNQQ Wamego
    Dane Nichols KK4RUH Wamego


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    Meeting minutes, January 2015

    MAARS Meeting Minutes, 9 January 2015


    submitted by Jim Foster, KDØNQQ, secretary We’ve agreed to maintain monthly meetings, however the venue and times will be new starting with the February meeting. There will be no separate eating meeting. Instead, the club will meet at Vista, starting at 6 pm, on the second Friday of the month. The Friday meeting time is not set in stone. If anyone would like to suggest another date, please do so. A survey of the room indicated that available evenings, in order of preference are Friday, Monday, Sunday. The repeater was discussed. Two decisions were made: The treasurer has been empowered to seek a reduced rate for the line, and if this cannot be achieved, cancel the phone line to the repeater, as the club cannot afford the expense. A meeting has been set for anyone who wants to help get the new repeater going. We will meet on the 16th of January, beginning at 7 pm. Location will be Dave Mills’ house, 2501 Church Circle, Manhattan, KS. Primary goal for the meeting will be to determine a deadline for deploying the repeater, and action items to make that happen. Agenda items for next meeting: VEC Certification — Jim will research this, and present. Goal is to get enough VECs certified to at least allow testing for new Techs. Fox Hunt — Mark will lead a discussion about putting on a fox hunt at some point this spring CERT Training — open discussion of the club hosting, or helping facilitate a CERT training event, with a concurrent test Bike Rides — Jim will lay out a calendar for the rides we’ll likely be asked to support this year Field Day — a general discussion/brainstorming session for the 2015 Field Day Attending: Mark Benfer KCØQAS Manhattan
    Francis Sable WØEVJ Wamego
    David Mills KDØAZG Manhattan
    Gordon Alkire KBØYYO Riley
    Paul Schliffke NØUZN Wamego
    Nadine Steuve KØUHF Wamego
    Nancy Calhoun NØKMU Manhattan
    Myron Calhoun WØPBV Manhattan
    Farren Constable KBØAZJ Blue Rapids
    Doug Miller – Manhattan
    Jim Foster KDØNQQ Wamego
    David Yoder KAØJPM Manhattan


    Addendum to the Minutes from Myron, WØPBV: The “Banquet” room at Vista Drive In is now reserved for MAARS for 6:00 – 8:00 P.M. for every future second Friday of the month, until we decide otherwise. This reservation did/does NOT cost anything, since Vista likes people to eat in their facility!-) FWIW’s:
    An electrical outlet is available, but Vista does not provide Wi-Fi. The Manhattan Mercury prints a TWO-FOR-THE-PRICE-OF-ONE Vista coupon in the COUPON CLIPPER column below the fold on the right-hand side of page A3, in each Monday edition of the newspaper. Although Nancy and I don’t eat there that often, we do clip these coupons and save them (and those from other establishments) “just in case”, and the expiration dates for the four coupons we have right now are:
    12 Jan – two desserts
    19 Jan – two combos (hamburger, fries, & drink)
    26 Jan – two burgers
    2 Feb – two desserts I also saw a “TWO-COMBOS-FOR-THE-PRICE-OF-ONE” coupon in the Manhattan Free Press. I don’t know the publication date, but this coupon’s expiration date was 6 January. To see Vista’s menu, visit these URLs: Sandwiches
    Sides & Salads
    Desserts
    Children