MINUTES OF THE NAPIER AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
Meeting on Wednesday 1 March 2017 at the Clubrooms 123 Latham Street
Chair: Dave ZL2MQ, the meeting started at 7:35 pm.
Present: Revell ZL2SS, Blue ZL3TT, Stan ZL2ST, Michael ZL2MY, Errol ZL2IT, Stu ZL2XC, Peter ZL2CD and Karl ZL1TJ.
Apologies: ZL2MO, ZL2DW, ZL2HB and ZL2VM.
Minutes of previous meeting: Read and confirmed to be correct: ZL2ST, ZL2TT.
Arising: Dave thanked all those (ZL2HB, 2MY, 2MQ, 2IT and 1TJ) donating time to the club on 23 February for the purpose of giving the the clubroom exterior it’s second coat of paint. Perfect conditions and five large paintbrushes made the job quick and easy and fun. Special thanks to Paul 2HB for doing the cleaning the day before.
Correspondence: Email the ELG’s Steve Fogerty about the 2m beacon frequency explaining the club’s view and requesting that another frequency is allocated. Email response (dated February 6th) from Steve promising to have another look at it.
Finance: The cheque signing authority for both the club and the AREC accounts has now been transferred from Laurie to Dave ZL2MQ. Karl 1TJ was also added as a reserve signatory.
General Business: Stan ZL2ST: this year’s Jock White Memorial Field day contest was participated in by the team consisting of himself, John ZL2QM, Peter ZL2LF, Paul ZL2HB and Sunday only Karl 1TJ. The usual Tangoio site was used, courtesy of owner Jim and antenna’s designed by John were pre-installed (and taken down again) by John and Stan on Friday. Propagation on the forty metre band was poor right throughout the contest, coupled with the early failure of the club’s FT1000 rig meant that the final 40 m score was much lower than usual.
Eighty meter did much better and the usual score of about 450 contacts was attained. Both Paul and Karl being either new or rusty at contesting were ‘instructed’ so the contest ended up being part training exercise. It was the usual adrenaline fueled but also fun weekend. Packing up after went smooth and took only one hour and a bit.
Karl: for future participation in the contest a 7MHz filter may be needed to suppress the second harmonic which can (and did) interfere with 40m reception especially when 80m CW was being transmitted. Dave to look into design and components needed.
Moved by Karl and seconded by Blue ZL3TT that the club reimburses Stan for the cost of fuel for the weekend which is in the region of $38. Passed unanimously.
Dave 2MQ: is the generator being maintained, oil changes etc.? Stan: yes, the oil is being monitored, some repairs were done to the generator 2 or three years ago. Perhaps a usage / maintenance log could be kept? Blue 3TT: the previously announced Taupo Club net has now been discontinued due to lack of local support.
The meeting closed at 8:20 pm.
The programme for the evening suggested a discussion with and about recently licenced amateur operators. The purpose being to investigate the possibility of the NARC offering a follow up to the Hasting’s club weekend (high pressure) licencing course. This follow up would cover subjects such as operating procedures, first antenna construction, assistance with procurement of equipment etc..
Also perhaps learning to operate CW, still a requirement for contesting and Dx-ing. The only recently licenced ham present was Stu ZL2XC, his antenna options were discussed at length.
The concept needs further consideration and perhaps some more preparation.
Karl ZL1TJ Sec. NARC.