Meeting Minutes

Club Minutes 4/9/2024

The Martin County Amateur Radio Club met at 7pm at the Martin County EMA building. There were 16 people in attendance. Everyone attending the meeting introduced themselves and told where they were from. 

The Loogootee repeater, located on the City of Loogootee water tower, was worked on Saturday, March 23rd. Jerry Purcell replaced the current repeater with a loaner replacement while he takes the original for repairs. Paul reported the SWR is really low on the existing antenna and feed line coax. Jerry has software to generate coverage maps for repeaters. Andy will speak to the D10 Alliance to determine who has ownership of the repeater and is responsible for upkeep. Both the cans and duplexer need to be tuned. Andy reported that the City of Loogootee plans to have the water tower where the repeater is located painted soon. He will meet with the City to ensure that our antenna will not be removed. It was suggested that he see if the placement of the antenna can be moved to the top of the tower so the additional Rohn antenna piece can be removed. 

It was also reported that sensitivity may be a little low on the Shoals repeater. The feed line and antenna need to be checked. There was a discussion of what happens if digital traffic is interfearing with local traffic. Melvin and Reuben can both shut off the digital feature if needed.

Testing dates in nearby communities-May 11th in Jasper, Evansville hosts testing 2 times per month and Boonville hosts testing monthly. Hamstudy.org (a fee is involved) and ham radio prep (free) were mentioned as good training sites for people who wish to study for a test. 

May 4th & 5th is the Indiana QSO party. 

Reuben has secured MCARC.club and martincountyamateurradioclub.com for the group. A website has been developed-MCARC.club. It was free and has no adds to deal with. 

A membership application has been developed. Once a prospective member completes the application it is emailed to board members. 

Google Groups has been set up to email information to members. It can store documents in a file in case it is needed again. Andy can add new members to the group as needed. 

Reuben has developed a post card he is mailing out to all HAM’s in Martin County with an active license. It has an invitation to our monthly meeting and weekly net along with other information. 

Reuben provided an update on the weekly net. The first week there were some minor issues that have since been resolved with the repeater. The 2nd net went well. It was suggested that net control be a shared roll among any members who are interested. A script is available but net control for the evening would be responsible for logging check-ins on a document that can be shared. It was discussed that it would be ideal to do the net on the Loogootee repeater as well until the 2 systems can be linked. The weekly net is on the Shoals repeater Thursday evening at 9:00 pm. After the conclusion of Shoals, a net will be held on the Loogootee repeater. 

Jay developed a Facebook page for the group. Meeting dates, events and other information can be shared easily on the page. Both libraries are interested in having an informational session on what HAM radio is.

We need a club call sign. A search of available call signs can be done online or we can apply and be assigned one. Reuben will search for one for the club. 

A few possible logos for the club were presented. Members can develop and submit a possible logo. We will vote on them at the next meeting. 

By-laws were discussed. Cory presented a draft for review. A group discussion was held with a few suggestions for changes. They will be finalized and emailed out to members to review. They will be presented at the next meeting for a vote. 

Cory discussed having a training session with each meeting. Anyone willing to lead a training or has an idea for a topic can let him know. 

After Cory presented the information on the club at the Commissioners meeting a write up was in the local newspaper. This generated interest from some potential new members. It also was seen by a writer for Amateur Radio Newsline. Cory was interviewed and information will be featured on an upcoming news article on their website arnewsline.org

Andy announced the EMA will be hosting a Weather Spotters class on April 23rd at the EMA building. 

The next meeting of the Martin County Amateur Radio Club will be May 14th at 7:00 pm at the EMA building. The Net will be held weekly on Thursday at 9pm.

Club Minutes 3-19-2024

The Martin County Amateur Radio group met at 7pm at the Martin County EMA building. There were 20 people in attendance. Everyone attending the meeting introduced themselves and told where they were from. By-laws for the newly formed group were discussed. ARRL has a template for them and by-laws from other clubs were reviewed. The By-laws will be finalized and presented at the next meeting for a vote. 

The group discussed the status of the Loogootee repeater located on the City of Loogootee water tower. Jerry Purcell volunteered to test the system and help with repairs if needed. He gave the background history on the purchase and installation of the District 10 repeaters. He stated they were originally designed to link to other southern Indiana repeaters for emergency use by EMA. He informed the group that maintenance and upgrades to the repeater are allowed as long as it remains available for its original purpose. A group will meet at the repeater site at 9:00 am on Saturday, March 23rd to assess the repeater and develop a plan for repairs. Andy Ringwald will contact the City of Loogootee to get permission for the group to access the water tower. Reuben stated it is a goal of his to eventually get the Shoals and Loogootee repeaters linked to allow better coverage throughout the county.  

Testing for new members was discussed. Jerry Purcell is also able to assist with ARRL testing. The cost is $15 per test. John Kettinger is also able to help with testing. Dates for reviews and testing will be set up at a future meeting. 

There was discussion on a day and time for the weekly net and a net control script. Reuben volunteered to run the weekly net. It was decided to hold the net on the Shoals repeater on Thursday evening at 9:00 pm beginning on March 28th.  

The group discussed an official name for the club. Several suggestions were presented and members chose their 3 favorites. A final vote was held among the 3 highest with Martin County Amateur Radio Club getting the most votes. 

Jay Martin volunteered to develop a social media page for the group. Meeting dates and other information can be shared easily through Facebook. 

Andy announced the EMA will be hosting the Indianapolis National Weather Service for a Weather Spotters class on April 23rd from 6-8pm at the EMA building. 

It was discussed that we need to have a set day of the month for meetings. The 2ndTuesday of the month was the agreed upon date. The next meeting of the Martin County Amateur Radio Club will be April 9th at 7:00 pm at the EMA building.

HAM Club Minutes FEB 29th, 2024

Getting on shoals and Loogootee repeaters was discussed along with some issues with the Loogootee repeater.

It was determined that the Loogootee repeater was last serviced approximately 6 years ago. 

Nathan Albright has volunteered to climb the Loogootee water tower and fix the leaning antenna and possibly mounting it outside of the walkway.

Testing sessions were discussed and trying to promote more people to testand get licensed.

HAM vs GMRS was discussed.

As a group we determined as a club we need a president, VP, secretary/treasurer and 2 non positions for our board.

Board member elections were held positions are as follows. 

President: Cory Brassine

VP: Ruben Montogomery

Sec/tres: Julia Albright

Non-Position: Melvin Albright

Non-Position: Paul Mcfeaters

Elections will be held on a yearly basis.

Monthly Net calls were discussed.

Alternating net controllers for the net call

TUES 9PM potential weekly net call times

Tues March 19th at 7PM is the next meeting.

Before the next meeting be thinking of what name you would like for the group to have.

I will get some Bylaw ideas off other HAM clubs and ARRL website and present them to the board during the next meeting for review and approval.

Thank you all for a great meeting.