MINUTES OF THE NAPIER AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
Meeting on Wednesday 7 September 2016 at the Clubrooms 123 Latham Street
Chair: Laurie ZL2TC, the meeting started at 7:30 pm.
Present: Revell ZL2SS, Dave ZL2DW, Paul ZL2HB, Bert ZL2OC, Blue ZL3TT, Michael ZL2MY, Rob ZL2US, Dave ZL2MQ, Peter ZL2CD, Stu McLeod and Karl ZL1TJ.
Apologies: ZL2MO, ZL2DC, ZL2VM, ZL2IT.
Minutes of previous meeting: Read and confirmed to be correct: ZL3TT, ZL2MY.
Arising: Rob ZL2US produced some further information on our neighbour the Manshed’s power account. It would appear that they are getting a much better deal from their power supplier (Contact Energy). A switch will no doubt be proposed at the next committee meeting.
Correspondence: Received, notice of decision from the Auckland Council on recommendations by the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel on submissions to the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. Letter from Blair ZL3TOY regarding the QTenna project and notice from NZART Council regarding public liability insurance.
Finance: no financial transactions reported.
General Business: Rob ZL2US: The next Branch 13 weekend course for aspiring radio amateurs is planned for 12 and 13 November. Three candidates have expressed interest sofar, two from Palmerston North and one from Napier. The minimum number for the course to proceed is eight so 5 more recruits are needed. Spread the word. A booking fee of $40 is required to cover preparatory expenses. Additional tutors are needed also to cover an hour or so to give the main tutors a break.
Dave ZL2DW mentioned that at the next branch 13 meeting the issue of repeater licenses and license fees will be discussed. Branch 13 may decide to reduce the number of repeaters it supports and as the cost of some of these is shared between the two branches Napier ARC will be consulted.
Another aspect of repeater ownership that needs addressing is ongoing maintenance. Presently repeaters are being maintained (without charge) by members who happen to be professional technicians and who have access to the commercial repeater sites. Once they retire (or just get to old to climb icy towers, see last month’s minutes!) the owners of the sites may not be agreeable to unqualified amateurs having access.
Another question is: will there be adequate technical know-how in The Bay to maintain repeater equipment or will ‘outside’ expertise need to be brought in? All in all, repeaters may become ‘a thing of the past’ eventually.
The meeting closed at 8:20pm.
Followed by Revell ZL2SS introducing his talk on the History of Radio.
Earliest radio transmission and reception was (amazingly) achieved by purely mechanical means. No electronics as we know it, valves, semiconductors, amplifiers were involved.
Revell spent many hours collecting info and pictures but the power-point presentation he prepared on his home computer would not run on the club’s computer due to software age differences.
Part two (the major part) of Revell’s talk will be delivered at the October or November meeting.
Karl Matthys ZL1TJ, Secretary NARC.