Meeting 3/14/07 called to order by President Gene W0KAD at 7:02 PM
Board Members Vice President Ray, W2RS Secretary Phil, WE7PB, and Treasurer Carolyn AB7KC were introduced.
One New Member introduced himself—Rob Bonnema KC0ZVM
Treasurer’s Report:
Announcements:
Technical Report:
Ron VE6RGP told us the High Speed Internet is now in the SAV building and that work has begun on the remote control of the club HF transceiver by club members.
The IRLP none will be moved from Gene’s house to the SAV building which may improve what is already a very good thing.
Also, Ron reported that we will soon be able to drive up to a spot on the Titan Missle Museum grounds and use the discone antenna.
Web Site:
Jon Otto AD7GS is heading up the committee with help from a number of other club members.
A link is now available to a Madison, WI Club web page.
This club’s president is our very own Bill N9CHN.
Everyone was encouraged to contribute to our web page.
Picnic:
Gary WS1W will be chief cook at the picnic.
Gene will bring drinks furnished by the club.
Gary will take care of the hamburgers and hot dogs etc.
It was decided that about 50 people would be at the picnic and each was to bring a dish to share.
There will not be a group geocaching hunt this time so as not to interfere with the antenna assembly and tuning session.
Education Committee:
Lloyd N7GV said that all but one person passed the Technical Class test and all 7 passed the General Class test last month.
Another class is being given now on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings at the SAV.
Extra class is being covered.
Test will be in about 5 weeks.
Lloyd brought along 3 items the kids have been working on at Continental School this year.
He had with him a HF transceiver with a power supply and speaker as well as a 2 meter transceiver and J pole 2 meter antenna.
He is selling these for the estate of Evan Edwards KD7LUE with a minimum price of $350 for the HF transceiver, $200 for the 2 meter transceiver and $10 for the J pole antenna.
Notes:
Gene W0KAD is looking for a volunteer to handle rental or loan of some equipment the club owns.
This is to aid newly licensed members get started.
He hopes we will get more items as time goes on to use in this lending library.
He mentioned that links for IRLP and Echolink can be found at IRLP.net and Echolink.org and encouraged members to use our ILRP set up.
Speaker:
John Mitchell AC7JM gave a wonderful presentation on Contesting.
He was very entertaining as well as informative.
After John’s presentation Ray W2RS explained the use of QSL cards and a couple of new electronic ways of sending them.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM.
The club will be offering license exams in April on the following dates. Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 PM at the SAV and Sunday April 22 at 2:00 PM at the SAV. Anyone is welcome to come and test for any level of license. Let us know if you plan on coming. Call Lloyd at 648-2834.
Roster changes were mailed out and are available from our Secretary, Phil Brooke via E-mails
Be sure to check it out and while you are at it here is an interesting article to read.
A Quick Guide to QSLs and QSLing
by Ray Soifer, W2RS
Discone Antenna @ Missile Museum. Club members may now use the Discone antenna. Please contact Gene W0KAD for instructions on how to use it.
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 3, 2007 -- The fourth civilian to visit the International Space Station will accompany the station's Expedition 15 crew into space Saturday, April 7. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) reports that software pioneer and aviator Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP, plans to talk with students at four schools during his ISS stay, including a school in his native Hungary. He also may make casual contacts. A client of Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd, Simonyi, 58, will be the third passenger aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 "taxi mission" that will carry Expedition 15 Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Oleg Kotov, to the ISS. Simonyi will pay an estimated $25 million for the privilege of spending eight days in space.
"Charles and crew are now in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, participating in final flight preparations," a Space Adventures mission update said. "These activities include suit pressure checks, launch day press conference rehearsals and spacecraft fit checks. The crew also participated in a traditional flag raising ceremony."
In training in Star City, Russia, since last year, Simonyi also has taken part in other longstanding Russian space program traditions, including visits to Red Square in Moscow and to the tomb of Soviet space pioneer Yuri Gagarin, UA1LO. During his stay aboard the ISS, Simonyi will conduct experiments on behalf of several international space agencies. He obtained his Technician ticket in December.
Upon their arrival at the ISS, the two cosmonauts will join US astronaut Suni Williams, KD5PLB, whose duty tour will span Expeditions 14 and 15. Yurchikhin and Kotov will spend about six months aboard the ISS, while Williams will return home in June. Simonyi will travel back to Earth with Expedition 14 crew members Mike Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT, aboard the Soyuz TMA-9 now docked to the ISS. Yurchikhin, 48, will be making his second flight to the ISS; he was a member of a 2002 shuttle crew that did construction work on the station. Kotov, 41, is making his first spaceflight.
After a day off on Sunday, the Expedition 14 crew this week continues readying the space station for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew and Simonyi. Last week the current ISS crew relocated the Soyuz TMA-9 to the aft port of the station's Zvezda module, clearing the Zarya docking port for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-10, which will launch from Kazakhstan at 1731 UTC on April 7. It is scheduled to dock with the ISS at1903 UTC on April 9. A footnote from NASA: On April 3, Lopez-Alegria set a US record for a single flight of 196 days in space.
A one-time Microsoft application developer and reputed billionaire, Simonyi has established his space flight Web site to chronicle his training experiences. Space Adventures organized the flights for private space explorers Dennis Tito, KG6FZX, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, KC2ONX, and Anousheh Ansari.
-- some information from Space Adventures Ltd and NASA