The CRES Amateur Radio Club held its fourth quarter general meeting and holiday party at the Donatos Pizza in Pickerington on 10 Dec 2003. After most of the people had finished their dinner and discussions, President David Jeffords/K8ON called the meeting to order at 6:52 PM. The following members and guests were present: KD8WK, N8ZOG and her mother, K8ON, KC8VKS, KC8HIH, WA8LBZ, N9CX, K8AX, K8KJ, WD8CZG, K8RSP, WD8EBS, K8TX, K8NU, KD8ZG, W8FMN, KD8BJ, and NV7X and his wife. Dave Jeffords started the meeting by reflecting on the club highlights from the past year. He then turned the floor over to Art Grandle/KD8ZG to talk about the recent repeater problems. Art told those present that several people had observed a problem with transmitters close to the main site appearing distorted on the repeater, particularly in the voice peaks. He and Dave Woolf/K8RSP spent some time at the repeater site Monday evaluating the problem. One thing they observed was that the audio levels were no longer the same between the main and remote receivers. Consulting with the voter designers (Duane and Doug Hall) they determined that this can cause the signal with the weaker audio level to be selected erroneously, and this meshed with our observations of what was happening on 6.67. Art and Dave readjusted the levels and this seemed to help a lot. Dave Woolf commented that a second problem was then observed: There seemed to be significant RF signal-strength fluctuation on the audio link from the remote receiver site. Several people investigated this and it appears the problem is in the coax or antenna at the remote receiver site at Dave's house. He is temporarily using another of his 440 Mhz antennas for the link transmitter with acceptable results. Mike Stansbery/WD8EBS motioned to "spend whatever it takes to fix the repeater to what it once was." This was seconded by Dan Merrick/ K8TX. Rob Stampfli/KD8WK expressed vehement objections that the motion was entirely too broad (no sunset provision, no definition of what "once was" meant, nor a definition of who determines what needs to be done). Bill Erwin/N9CX suggested a counter motion to impose a $300 monetary limit, but it was determined this was against Robert's Rules as a motion was already on the floor. After discussion, the motion passed 14-3. Rob then asked for clarification as to who could submit bills to the Treasurer under this rule. Dave Jeffords then used his power as President to authorize Art Grandle, Dave Woolf, and Stu Steenburgh/KB8DEO to act under this authority. The next order of business was to determine if there was sufficient interest in the club for us to offer to sponsor next year's CQ-WE contest. Jerry Scott/K9RV, our contest coordinator, would lead this effort if the club was amenable to undertaking the sponsorship, but he would need significant help to review the submitted logs and produce the certificates. Rob estimated we might have to allocate about $100 for up-front costs, but most or all of this would likely be recouped by the "suggested green-stamp" donation for each certificate. The following people indicated they'd be available to help if we do sponsor the contest: KC8HIH, N9CX, K8AX, K8KJ, WD8CZG, K8RSP, WD8EBS, K8ON, K8TX, K8NU, KD8ZG, W8FMN, NV7X and KD8WK. Jerry will approach the national people and let us know if we are selected to sponsor the contest in 2004. Art Grandle reported that we conducted a VE session on Dec 6th. Eleven VEs were present and four people took exams, for one of our lowest examinee turnouts in recent history. The session went off without a hitch, though. Our next session will be in April, probably on the first Saturday of the month. Art motions (seconded by Bill Erwin) to spend $5 for our continued repeater coordination. Motion passes. The Nominations Committee, consisting of Mike Stansbery, Al Mecozzi/ WA8LBZ, and Jim Yoder/W8ERW, presented the following nominees for the club's 2004 officers, all who have agreed to serve if elected: President - Jack Kirkpatrick/KC8TM Vice President - Tricia Kovacs/KC8HIH Sec/Treas - Rob Stampfli/KD8WK Equip Manager - Stu Steenburgh/KB8DEO No names were placed in nomination from the floor. Art motions (and Bill Erwin seconds) that the slate be elected by acclimation, and the motion was approved. Mike Rauh/NV7X gave an update on his tower status, which many club members have assisted with the construction of: The tower is complete and Mike is working on assembling the 40m beam (w/42 ft boom). He hopes to get it up and operating soon and thanks everyone for their help. Mike Rauh also made a plea that club members write their federal elected officials in support of the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act, an act currently before Congress. Although not directly related to BPL (high-speed internet over power lines, which is known to cause significant HF interfence) the passage of this bill will make it harder for our frequencies to be trampled on or given away. See the ARRL web page for more information. Al Mecozzi asked what the value of our repeater hardware was. Gordy Lashley/WD8CZG estimated the cost for the transmitter at about $10K new, the antennas at about $1k, and the controller at about $600. The final order of business was to determine the sense of the membership with respect to requiring CTCSS tone (PL) on input to access the repeater. Gordy indicated "PL is available unless the repeater has been modified," but putting the machine in PL turns off the remote receivers. Dave Woolf indicated the PL decoder on the main site was broken. Dave also pointed out that a power failure would cause the machine to revert to non-PL mode by default. He indicated he is neutral on putting PL on the machine on a full-time basis. Bob Cartwright/W8FMN suggested if we go to PL, we publish the frequency in the repeater directory. Art Grandle motions, and Mike Stansbery seconds, that we reconfigure the repeater to require PL on input by default. The motion passed with one NAY vote. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM. Respectfully submitted, Rob Stampfli, CRES-ARC Sec/Treas Addendum: The Treasurer wishes to thank the following members, who have prepaid 2004 dues: K8AX, KD8BJ, N9CX, WD8CZG N4DB, WD8EBS, W8ERW, W8FMN, KC8HIH, K8KJ, WA8LBZ, W8MHW, K8NU, K8ON, W8REW, W8RJM, K8RSP, K8TX, KC8VKS, KD8WK, NV7X, KD8ZG, N8ZKU, and N8ZOG.