The June 10th, 2024 monthly HARC meeting was held at Hermiston High School in Room 311 and was called to order by President Sam at 19:00.
Member Attendees: W7ILD, W7JJK, AI7UH, KI7CUS, AA7TH, KJ7NYZ, KD7VX, KE4TRR
Guests: John B.
New Members: Rhett, N2SRX
The May 2024 meeting minutes and June 2024 Secretary/Treasurer’s Report were distributed via email by J. Kelso on 06/01/2024.
A motion was made by W7ILD to adopt the May meeting minutes as presented and it was seconded by KD7VX. The motion passed unanimously.
The June 2024 Secretary/Treasurer’s Report was read by Jeff K.
Ongoing Business:
- Dennis provided a solar report to the club.
- Field Day will happen on June 22nd and 23rd at Drift Fence. A few members of the club said that they are planning to attend. Lynn Wilson has put a GMRS repeater up on Cabbage Hill and he and Mike Gemelke have something of a following on the repeater. Lynn has asked if he could point curious GMRS users to our club to answer questions about Field Day. Sam agreed to be the point of contact for any GMRS users who come to the club’s Field Day. Sam also mentioned that he would send information about Field Day out via email to the Google Group.
- Todd shared that he has made 189 contacts for LCTOTA and it’s been a struggle to get contacts as conditions aren’t great. Also, he’s not found the 20m band to be very friendly as he has experienced interference and jamming there. Kevin wrote an email to say that he wouldn’t be at tonight’s meeting but will be at the July meeting to give a prize to anyone who made an LCTOTA contact as an activator.
- Dennis mentioned that the website needs to be updated to reflect the fact that testing doesn’t happen after each meeting any longer. Jeff said that he’d address the issue.
- There was a brief discussion about the Round-up wagon train event starting on June 24th, and the consensus was that Kevin had all of the ham volunteers that he needed for the event.
New Business:
- Jeff mentioned that he is a candidate for Hermiston’s City Council and if he wins in November, the City Council meetings will conflict with the monthly HARC meeting.
- Sam asked if there is any sort of formal process required for him to start a net on a club-owned repeater. It was decided that there is no formal process, but that a vote would be appropriate. Sam proposed a once-a-week work day net on the .02 and an evening social net on the 70cm repeater. Jeff moved that the HARC allow Sam to start and promote whichever nets he likes on the club’s repeater. The motion was seconded by Whitley. Motion passed with one abstention.
- Sam was contacted by a member of the public who donated a Radio Shack 2m HT with a couple of dead NiCad batteries and an error code, which may be fixable by the replacement of the button cell battery on the board.
- Dennis said that ARES District 3 EC Stuart has told him that another trip to the Black Mountain repeater will be required, probably in July. Dennis said that Emery mentioned on the net the other night that the .78 antenna needs to be replaced as the fiberglass sheath is compromised in some way. Whitley mentioned that it might just need a coat of paint. Todd said that it might be wise to contact the EMs for Umatilla and Morrow Counties to let them know that we might need a new antenna on the .78 repeater.
Announcements:
1. Club Breakfast – Saturday, June 15th at Rayz Dayz, Umatilla at 8:00 AM.
The meeting was adjourned by AA7TH at 19:58.
Respectfully submitted by Jeff Kelso, W7JJK.
