President Jack McGowan AD7NK called the meeting to order at 19:00 and welcomed the 31 attendees.
Erich Draeger N7LHR, a new member introduced himself and was welcomed by the group.
Don reported on the success of our special event and acknowledged the efforts of Lloyd Miller N7GV and Gene Schouweiler W0KAD in organizing the event, Bob Epstein AD7FQ in providing publicity and Ken Hall KE7LKY for providing his RV.
Bob reported that we have had high expenses last month and will have more again this month. Also, that we have two new members, Erich Draeger N7LHR and Thomas Lang K7VOA.
Ron described a project that is in progress to bring high speed internet to the UHF and VHF repeaters up on the hill. That may also allow for a web cam viewing the valley. Another possibility is using one or more of the guy wires on the tower as dipoles. A more detailed report will be forthcoming at a future meeting. Gene mentioned that the picnic table at the discone-antenna site will need a new coat of varnish.
Lloyd said that the radio club at the Continental School is finished for this school year. There was great enthusiasm and there should be some excellent students participating next year. Unfortunately, Mr. Jim Nelson, the Continental School Superintendent who is very supportive of the Radio Club is retiring.
Don Doehring reporting for Jon indicated that our website received a total of 505 hits from 348 people during the past month. The home page, titan missile museum, and discone antenna pages were visited the most from the U.S., Germany, U.K., Canada, and Italy.
President Jack AD7NK announced under new business that Dick Palmer W7KAM will be moving to Missouri and therefore leaving the club. The members let him know that he will be missed and wished him well.
QSL cards from the special event are starting to arrive. We will respond with a certificate, a QSL card, and a pamphlet from the Titan Missile Museum.
The Titan Missile Museum Special Event was a success. The weather was comfortable, the food good, and we all had a good time. Ken Hall KE7LKY brought his RV which helped a lot with food preparation. Lloyd and Carolyn Miller presented the results of our efforts. We made contacts with 36 states and four foreign countries as follows:
The 40 meter band produced 240 contacts and the 20 and 15 meter bands the remaining fifteen contacts.
We are planning another transmitter hunt and geocache for Sunday, June 6th. We will meet in the SAV parking lot as before. Geocachers will start at 13:30 and transmitter hunters at 14:00. Reminders for this event will be emailed.
The cub scouts are holding their summer camp on Mt. Lemmon in late May and early June and have contacted Lloyd Miller requesting that we provide a number of sessions related to old time communications. Perhaps Morse Code, Semaphore, use of lights, or mirrors (heliographs) and anything else we could think of. Lloyd displayed several historic code transmitters. We will need some careful planning, and some volunteers. The session will consist of ten or less cub scouts for 35 minutes and each day may have as many as eight groups of scouts. They requested that we select one day from: May 29, 30, and 31. Also, each day for: June 1, 2, 3, and 4. Also, either June 5 or 6. Since our transmitter hunt is on June 6, selection of June 5 would be logical. Cub scouts range in age from seven to eleven years old. Lloyd passed around a sign-up sheet for volunteers.
Lloyd Miler and Rand McKay are preparing a report on how to build an antenna and other equipment to receive local, digital, television.
Ken Van Horn KE7VTW recapped the Mt. Hopkins field trip. It was interesting, educational, and a lot of fun despite some cool weather (i.e., snow + 29 degrees). Hey Dude! This was a COOL trip. Photos from the trip are on the website, click on "Calendar Information" then on "Club Activity" The idea of another trip in the future was welcomed.
The meeting was adjourned at 20:15
Our next meeting will be June 9th.