MINUTES of the VALLEY RADIO CLUB MEETING May 2, 2008 Recorded by Steve N7STS, Secretary

President Riley W7RIL called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm, saying, "Look at this crowd!" Riley gave his name and call sign and had everyone in the room give theirs. (66 members and guests signed the attendance sheet.) Riley passed out membership applications and copies of the May newsletter.

CURRENT BUSINESS

Tom KE7GBO asked for articles to put in the newsletter. ke7gbo@arrl.net

John K7JU said he has updated, printed copies of the roster available. Electronic copies are available by sending a request to: jgschaad@gmail.com

Matt W7ARD said both of his license study classes are well underway and are going good, with 4 students in his Tech class and 7 students in his General class.

Vice President Ron WJ7R reported there was a very large group at the last DX SIG meeting where they watched a DVD about the 3B7C DXpedition. The next meeting will be on the fourth Wednesday, 6PM at Countryside Grill and Pizza. Ron said he hopes to see new people. Ron Snow K7EB said he enjoyed his visit to the DX convention in Visalia, CA. Attendance seemed down a bit, but the programs were interesting. Ron encouraged those interested in DX to attend a convention in Visalia or Portland.

Mindy KE7OFG said she has a list of jackets available for ordering. She is hoping to place an order at the end of the month.

Mark N7MQ, Emergency Coordinator for Lane County, said that two new EmComm frequency charts are available on the VRC and W7EUG websites; one for VHF, UHF and HF voice and the other for packet. Mark reported on the Simulated Emergency Test held last Saturday, saying this was the first of two planned SET's this year. There were two components to this exercise: testing the statewide packet & airmail system and checking access to local EOC's. 6 EOC's were activated. 34 people participated in the local exercise, including 15 who were also helping with the March of Dimes. There were no equipment failures. Record keeping was good to poor; we need to work on logging. Two locations didn't get packet going. The local airmail node K7BHB-10 was overwhelmed with traffic. The Lane County EOC was able to receive the simulated declaration of emergency from OEM and to send a simulated situation report addressed to the governor. Mark was out of town during the event but was monitoring all airmail traffic as it was happening.

Jim KI7AY said the March of Dimes radio support event was the best one he has run. He thanked Kenton K7BQ for his role as net control and his nice preamble. Jim said this was the first year he didn't have anything to do and he liked that. He plans to incorporate APRS at the next event in October.

Riley announced that this year's Field Day will be at the Red Cross building. A station can be set up outside. If people want, they can spend the night. There can be a BBQ in the early evening. Rich KE7PGO didn't respond to hopeful looks that he would take care of the BBQ. Riley said this event gives a chance for Techs to get on the air with help from extra class ops. ARRL Field Day tee-shirts and pins can be ordered during the break.

Riley showed off the new ICOM 718 for raffle. Tickets will be sold for $5 during the break. 110 tickets need to be sold. Riley said he hopes this radio will encourage someone with a Tech license to upgrade.

Bill KE7JFL said he sent a flyer to Riley announcing a chili cook-off for the WA7ABU repeater on 146.29 MHz.

Ron WJ7R reminded that this weekend is the 7th Area QSO Party.

Doug KA7NVB said he has confirmed we will be participating again in this year's Scoutaganza on September 13th. We will have the same spot we had last year.

Joe KE7ICY said he is looking for a study buddy to practice CW QSOs. Joe is now at about 12 wpm and is learning to copy in his head, only writing down a contact's name, call and QTH.

PROGRAM

Rudy N6LF gave a power point presentation on the results of his tests on 40m vertical antennas. Rudy explained that while there is a lot written about vertical antennas, there isn't a lot of real performance data for ham band antennas. Rudy used a Vector Network Analyzer to accurately measure the radiated power of vertical antennas with different arrangements of ground plane radials. One of Rudy's graphs showed radiated power vs. number of radials. Having 16 radials provides 4 dB gain over having only 4 radials - worth the effort. He also determined the increase in radiated power from raising radials off the ground. Rudy found that his test results generally confirm the results of antenna modeling software. Rudy's power point presentation will be posted on the VRC website.

BREAK started at 8:40 pm. The meeting resumed at 9:06 pm.

Riley said 50 raffle tickets were sold during the break.

ROUTINE BUSINESS

Riley asked if anyone saw any mistakes in the minutes of the April meeting. None were noted and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer Al K3DUW reported the following balances:

General Fund $1712.67 Raffle Fund $857.09 Station Fund $1276.90 Grand Total $3846.66

Trustee Larry WJ7S was not present to report on the club station. Riley said he was up in the shack and all is OK. The station is getting better and better all the time.

VE Riley reported that at the last test session 2 people passed the Tech exam, 3 passed the General exam, and that EmComm 1 & 2 tests were given. The next test session will be on the 14th (always on 2nd Wednesday). Riley said, "Thanks again to all the VEs who help. I can't do it by myself." It was noted that July will mark the 9th year that Riley has been giving exams. He was applauded for his years of service.

MEMBERSHIP READINGS

Al K3DUW gave a first reading of application for membership for:

David Stone KE7PGN

Al gave second readings for:

Mark Gorham KE7SLU

Roland Jillings KE7RRS

Richard Howard NK3B

Sylvia Sycamore KE7SLT

Toney Peters KE7RRR

The second reading applicants were escorted out of the room and all members said AYE to being in favor of making them a new members of the club. As the new members came back in, Riley said "Welcome aboard."

GOOD OF THE ORDER and BRAGS

Jeff KE7OUR said he received a "Thank you" from the Hearing Loss Association for his presentation on Ham Radio. Appreciation was also extended to Scott W7SOT and the radio club for helping Jeff with the presentation.

Riley adjourned the meeting at 9:18 pm saying, "Great Meeting! Glad Rudy came and gave us his presentation. Let's go out and play radio."