Jack McGowan AD7NK called the meeting to order at 19:00 and welcomed the 39 attendees including Ron AD7FV and Dee AD7NM Gross who are back.
Don pointed out that numerous GVARC events are scheduled for this month including: antenna party on the 12th, attenuator party on the 19th, picnic on the 25th, and transmitter/geocache hunt on the 27th.
Because Jon is out of town, Don Doehring reported for him. During February, the club’s website had 749 hits by 459 different people. The most popular web pages were the discone antenna and the GVARC newsletter. Countries of origin were: U.S., U.K., Canada, and the Netherlands.
Ron reported that the UHF repeater is still out of service. He expects the new repeater to arrive in the next couple weeks.
We have four meetings left before the semester will be over. There are twenty radios under construction. If the students finish them, the girls will build clocks and the boys will build race cars.
An exam is scheduled for March 18th, 2:00 p.m. at the SAV. Please notify anyone wishing to take any level of exam.
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We are looking for volunteers who are willing to create a mailing list of local hams who do not belong to the club so that we can contact them using post cards.
A while back, there was a discussion of a Wednesday night net. We need a volunteer net control for it.
RST Hamfest is Saturday, March 27th at the Kino Sports Complex. Ajo Way and Forgeus Ave.
Tucson Ham Picnic, April 10th, Columbus Park, noon till 4 p.m., Ruthrauff and Silverbell. Find details at Tucson Ham Picnic.
Each Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., Dee Gross AD7NM and Jane Lang AD7NR run the Oatmeal Net on 145.290. Jack extended a special thank you to Jane who drives from Rio Rico to Tumacacori to connect with the 29 repeater.
Gene Schouweiler W0KAD reminded members about the antenna party at his place on March 12th and the attenuator party on March19th, both at 1 p.m.
The picnic will be at Whitehouse Ramada in Madera Canyon on March 25th at 11:30 a.m. Bring a dish to supplement the usual food and drinks that the club supplies.
On March 27th we will have our transmitter/geocache hunt starting at the SAV parking lot. Geocachers will be given the coordinates at 1:40 p.m. The cache will contain the frequency for the hunt. The frequency will be provided to all at 2 p.m. sharp using 145.290. A good geocacher should be able to get a head start.
Lloyd did a demonstration of the heterodyne attenuator in action. He showed, with the attenuator, that the directional antenna was effective as close as three feet from the transmitter.
Ken van Horn KE7VTW provided details for the April 30th field trip to Mt. Hopkins and the Whipple Observatory. There are only six more places available on the bus, but other arrangements may be possible. We will meet at 9 a.m. at the Visitors Center at the base of Mt. Hopkins. The cost of the trip, for transportation is $7.00. The summit is at 8,550 feet so bring some warm clothing. We should be back by 4 p.m. Be sure to bring a picnic lunch.
A short discussion of HOA, C&CR’s ensued. Lloyd has a collection of letters, requesting permission to erect an antenna. There currently is legislation at both the state and federal level that will significantly ease restrictions on ham operators if passed. Senate Bill 1755 -- The Amateur Radio Emergency Communication Enhance-ment Act of 2009 introduced in October 2009 by Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) has unanimously passed the US Senate and has been sent to the US House of Representatives for consideration. It now sits in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Arizona House Bill 2615 (Emergency Communications Antennae Accommodation) was passed (3/16/2010) by the House. It is on to the Arizona Senate now.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, 14, at 19:00 p.m.