SCCARC Board Minutes 3/26/20

Call to order

A meeting of SCCARC (Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club) was held via telephone conference call on March 26, 2020, beginning at 7:35 PM.
Attendees
Attendees: Allen, WB6RWU; David, N6DTA; John, N6QX; Becky, KI6TKB; Nate, KM6THA; Cap, KE6AFE; Richard, K8SQB; Don, K6GHA
Board Members not in attendance
Not in attendance: none
Approval of minutes
February BOD meeting minutes approved.
Reports
Treasurer’s Report
All good – current balance about $4,000.
P.O. Box renewed for another year.
John was reimbursed $200 for the club’s liability insurance.
Renewal of club incorporation with California Sec’y of State due in April – no cost.
Old Business
Club Repeater Shack Door
Becky found a replacement metal exterior door available at Home Depot for $187 plus tax. The Board elected to defer any purchase until there was a plan for installation. Is the door frame out of square? To assess, Becky volunteered to visit the site with Duane, K6TS, or another volunteer
with carpentry experience.
Club Station Shack Roof
Allen and Cap assessed. Roof’s overall condition seems satisfactory. $400 quoted for whole-roof sealant, but this may be inappropriate. Spot-patching of holes likely would be better. Cap will inspect after Thursday’s heavy rain to locate any leaks.
Club Repeater Status Update (Nate)
Nate and Paul, K6EH, spent considerable time on Sunday, March 1, adjusting levels to improve the audio quality on several circuit paths. The audio level on the UHF link from Watsonville varies unpredictably, perhaps a thermal issue in the link receiver. The 1‐second audio delay when
keying the repeater is due to the Yaesu interface and not adjustable.
Everything is currently functioning. The CAT-1000 controller intermittently fails to decode DTMF tones, an internal problem.
The separate K6BJ UHF repeater outputs no PL tone when repeating a digital audio signal. No fix for this. In the future, Nate plans to repurpose the PC, which Cap donated to the club repeater, to enable Wires-X on the UHF repeater.
New Business

Club Repeater Equipment Upgrade
The board was divided on the question of significant expenditures to upgrade some of the repeater gear. Becky asked Nate and David to create a summary of the current repeater status and recommendations for replacement equipment, intended for posting in a separate chat room on the club email reflector in order to get member input.
Field Day 2020
The combined Santa Cruz and SLV clubs’ Field Day Committee consists of Scott, KE6QZJ; Richard, K8SQB; Gary, K6PDL; Sam, WB6RJH; Kerry, K3RRY; and Becky, KI6TKB. The committee currently favors space at a winery at 25200 Loma Prieta Avenue, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This remote location lacks restrooms, and so would require porta-potty rental, about
$450, a new expense for Field Day. Alternatively, operation might be possible at Sky Park, a more accessible spot. It remains to be decided whether the club will pay for food, or whether to go 100% pot-luck. Committee recommendations expected next month.
Club Name Badges
Don has ordered magnetic badges from Name Badges International for new members at a cost of
$10.55/badge. The Board approved reimbursing Don $68.39 for the order.
Topics of Interest On-Line Poll Results
David got input from 11 responders in his poll of topics for future club meetings. Ordered by
number of requests:
1) Software-Defined Radios
2) Antenna Building; Digital Modes
3) Fox Hunting; DX and Contesting; Portable Gear and Operating Techniques
4) License Upgrades to General or Extra Class
5) Compromise Antennas for Small Spaces
6) Ham Radio Baloon Tracking
David reported we now have 99 members in our Groups I/O, with 99 posts in the month of February.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 9:03 PM.
Next Board Meeting
Conference call, Thursday, April 23, 7:30 PM
Voice-only dial-in number: 515-604-9396. Code: 781200
Video conference link: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/k6y_radio
Minutes by John, N6QX.