Chippewa Valley VHF Contesters

December Meeting/Newsletter 2004

 

Date:  December 18th, 2004

Meeting place:  Burger King at the Westridge Center, Eau Claire

Time:  9:00 am, CST

 

Members Present:

   N9TTX            David Aho

   KB9LVK            Darrell Schreiner

   KB9PJL                Robert Rohrssen

   N0AKC                 Charlie Betz

   W9RAY          Ray Johnson

   KB9TLV            John McDonald

   W9CDL            Chris Lantz

 

 

Item #1:   Upcoming Events

·         Jan. 1st, 2005                 -  ARRL Straight Key Night

·         Jan. 8-9, 2005                 -  ARRL RTTY Roundup

·         Jan. 8-9, 2005                 -  North American QSO Party – CW

·         Jan. 15-16, 2005                 -  North American QSO Party - SSB

·         Jan. 22-23, 2005                 -  ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

Home Operations:  N0AKC, W9CDL, KB9PJL, K9AIH, W9RAY, N9TTX

Rover operations:  KB9TLV – Possible Home

                        Grids to be activated: EN44, 45, 34, 35 ending up in 45

                           Will post schedule near contest date.

K9MU – Possible single op at W0AIH’s if Rotators are working

-- Possible home.

      N9ISN – On and off Home operation…Family commitments.

     Others…plans not known

·         Feb. 5-6, 2005                 -  10-10 SSB Winter contest

·         Feb. 5-6, 2005                 -  Minnesota QSO Party

·         Feb. 12-13, 2005                 -  CQ WPX RTTY Contest

·         Feb. 19-20, 2005                 -  ARRL CW DX Contest

·         Feb. 26-27, 2005                 -  CQ WW SSB 160-Meter Contest

·         Mar. 5-6, 2005                 -  ARRL SSB DX Contest

·         Mar. 26-27, 2005                 -  CQ WW SSB WPX Contest

 

Item #2:  Setting yearly meeting times

 

·         This was brought up in an effort to possibly set various dates throughout the year for meetings so everyone would know the weekend of a meeting.  This idea was taken from the various contest dates such as…everyone knows Field Day is the 3rd weekend in June.  Thus it would be easy to remember if we had a meeting on the 2nd week of some month, etc….  If the “weekends were known, then people (Members or not) who could make it, show up if they want.  It was also tabled that Quarterly meetings would be sufficient for discussion items and such.  The Weekends were picked by going through the contest calendar of last year and scheduled around contest/event weekends.   Saturdays were chosen as the target day of the week and other than the Antenna Party meeting, the location was this Burger King on the West side across from Menards.   A couple dates are not set completely in stone, but here is the schedule of weekends throughout the year we would like to meet. 

  

1.       2nd  Weekend in April ßOur Antenna Party.  Held usually before Aurora so we could test the completed antennas during the Aurora Conference.

2.       3rd Weekend in July ßMay change due to Central States Conference date.

3.       1st Weekend in October ßPossible EME contest conflict?

4.       3rd Weekend in December ßWeekend after the 10 meter contest

 

Item #3:  Added Individual Club Recognition

 

·         Justin, K9MU:  Current Website Designer

·         Paul, KB9TYC:  Club Website Domain provider

Thank you to both for the work you have done.

Item # 4:  Current Member Roster

·         We discussed keeping a list of members which included who they are, callsign, address, email (if any), ARRL member, Grid Location and bands/modes active on.  This will be compiled over the course of the year.

Item #5:  VEC offering

·         An idea was brought up to possibly having at least 3 VEC’s in the group.  The idea was decided against (as a club oriented item) as we have the Eau Claire Club and Chippewa Valley and Red Cedar group all testing.  It was said we do not need the extra headache and paperwork that the VEC offering would bring (i.e. midnight calls about testing questions etc…).  The other groups in the area can take care of the testing issues.  This however does not prohibit those who want to become a VEC from not becoming one…just that as a Club we decided against being directly involved with testing.

 

Item #6:  Code Practice

·         This was an idea to start code practice sessions to build proficiency on air.  Steve, KA9OMY is willing to head it, so we decided to let him organize it and let us know what frequencies and times he would like to do this.  We are interested, and I am sure others would help out with the sending and such.  It is your baby Steve, so let us know and we will be there to participate and help out when you get some of your frequency and time issues figured out.  Thanks.

 

Item #7:  W0AIH/W0UC Chalet

·         What could we do as a club to help out in order to possibly insure/allow us to work some contests out there as a club or individually?  The chalet out there as was used in September worked out well, and it was thought that Paul (W0AIH) would be more than happy to have us out there using the place.  The thought was that it will be OK to work out of there as long as the other Paul (W0UC) is not out there contesting…although that does not exclude us from helping out in his efforts under the W0UC call in multi-op work.  It was thought that our presence could be welcomed if we would help out with some antenna work/repair (which does need to be done)…and that we should talk with them about it.

 

Item #8 :  K9CVC Club call Contact Logging

·         If the Club Callsign of K9CVC is used for an event or individual contact, all I (N9TTX) ask is that the contact or CT log for contest effort (as was in Sept.) have the following information, and that it be submitted to me (N9TTX), so I can put it in the club paper log as I am QSL manager for the call:

(Standard ARRL Logbook info or CT log info for example)

 

1.       Date

2.       Frequency

3.       Mode

4.       Power

5.       Time (UTC please)

6.       Station worked

7.       Report (RST or Grid or Both) – or standard Contest exchange

8.       Comments (if any) such as aurora, name, state, country, etc…

 

Item #9:  Use of the K9CVC Club Call

·         Reminder that the Club call can be only be used as per the privileges of the highest license class operator present at the station.

 

Item #10:  Newsletter & Info

·         A quarterly newsletter (such as after each scheduled meeting) should be more than sufficient to keep content alive and information fairly current.  If contesting, please submit to the secretary your claimed score and summary, so the scores can be included in the next newsletter…even if it is one (1) QSO.  Remember, points is points…even little pieces points.

 

Item #11:  Club Competition

·         Remember to submit your scores with the name “Chippewa Valley VHF Contesters” as the affiliated club name…otherwise the robot will bounce it back for correction, or the score will not be credited to the club if manually sent in.  For the 2004-2005 HF contest season, unfortunately I (N9TTX) have already made commitments to the green team effort for the MWA, so I will not have our club as the affiliated club as per the MWA requirements (other than the MNQP contest).  Next year I will not be doing so.  Remember, the club is not VHF only, for those with HF privileges.

 

Item #12:  Website/Reflector:

·         Content can be added to the site…such as adding contesting scores, new equipment etc.

·         Weblinks to personal sites—there is space on the club site to add your own site, mirror site, or link to your site if you have one on for example QSL.net

·         Email addresses can be added also.

·         Contact Justin (K9MU) to work on these and other items on the site.

·         The Website is at  http://www.cvvhf.org and the reflector has the address of cvvhf@cvvhf.org

 

Item #13:  John’s (KB9TLV) Tower

·         John still has to get his tower up in the air, and he suggested waiting until spring to do it…he will let us know on dates when it gets warmer and we will try and organize something at that time.

 

Item #14:  Membership applications

·         I still have not drawn up a basic application form.  Anyhow, if you know someone that is interested in joining, have them email me with the following information, and I will put them in the roster.

·         Email:  n9ttx@yahoo.com

·         I need:

1.       Call Sign

2.       Name

3.       Street Address

4.       ARRL member or not

5.       Email address would be nice also

 

      Other optional misc. info:

1.       License class

2.       Bands/modes active on

3.       Grid location

 

Item #15:  Club Donor Equipment:

·         An idea of having a list of Donor equipment to be available.  For example, if someone is in need of a certain band or an antenna because of equipment problems or portability issues (Dxpedition type thing) etc…they can contact someone with that piece of equipment to use if it is available.

·         List to include what is available, and who has it…with contact information.

·         Postable and updateable on the Club website?  Preferably on a members only area if possible…and/or keep the secretary updated with a list to be posted quarterly.

 

Item #16:  Parts Searches

·         Bob (KB9PJL) is in need of Crystals ground for frequencies of 10.0 to 10.110 Mhz.  Contact him if you have any around.

 

Item #17:  Added info:

·         This was not noted in the meeting, but was brought up afterwards.  The past club newsletters plus bylaws/constitution, etc…will be added to the website as archive files, so those wanting to read/re-read them can do so.

 

 

Meeting Adjourned at 10:45 am CST.