KC9LFD.org

Meeting called to order by president Steve Schulze, N9UDO.There were no minutes from the August meeting as Rick, N9ROY was absent.

Treasurer Don Evenson, K9JYX reported on a successful 12 annual swap meet.
The club took in $850.00 in pre-sales and gate receipts. The food department manned (womaned) by Karen Schulze and Kim Harrison took in $765.00. Deducting operating expenses the club netted $575.93. Other income was $80.00 in dues and $80.00 in donations for the club to use as they wish.

Expenses were $18.27 for misc. parts for the new repeater controller and $11.29 for ARRL field day flyers. Leaving a bank balance of $7077.66.

Steve reported that the attendance wasn’t down too far from past swap meets. balloon flight was a success and Len, N9QIP recovered the balloon on the edge of a lake in a large gravel pit outside Marengo, Il.

A plaque for Ted Meyer, K9RCE was discussed. Ted donated HF and VHF gear to the club to be loaned to new hams to get them on the air. Don, K9JYX will order the plaque.

The subject of having a holiday party was brought up. Bill, KC9CVD is going to check some restaurants in the Sauk Prairie area. If anyone has any ideas on a location bring it to the October meeting or let the board know. Moved by Tom, N9PQJ and 2nd by Bill, N9KXX to have a party on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009. Passed.

Old/New Business:
Steve, N9UDO installed the new Arcom controller for the YTARC repeater on Aug. 16. It controls both the 147.315 and the 145.310 repeaters. Steve can operate the controller to change settings via the internet.

There is a possibility of linking the YTARC repeater with the Richland Center Repeater on command. This will be looked into some more.

Our D Star repeater pair has expired. Steve, N9UDO sees no problem in reapplying. He and Brad, KB9VMC are still exploring the logistics of getting it on Brad’s tower.

Annual Nominations of officers for 2009:
President: Bill, KC9CVD move to suspend the rules and cast a unanimous ballot for Steve, N9UDO as president. Second by Jamie, KC9LFD.

Vice President: Bill, N9KXX moved to suspend the rules and cast a unanimous ballot for Tom, N9PQJ. Second by Bill, KC9CVD.

Secretary: Bill, N9KXX moved to nominate N9ROY. Second by Jamie, KC9LFD.

Don, K9JYX nominated Jane, N9JAS. Second by KB9VMC. Dave KB9CSW moved to close nominations. Second by Bill, KC9CVD. Passed

Treasurer: Gary, W9ULK nominated Don, K9JYX. Second by Jane, N9JAS. Jamie, KC9LFD nominated by Jane, N9JAS. Second by Dave, KB9CSW. Bill KC9CVD moved to close nominations. Second by Bill, N9KXX.

The slate of nominees to be elected at the October meeting is:
President: Steve Schulze, N9UDO
V. President: Tom Harrison, N9PQJ
Secretary:  Rick Plouffe, N9ROY – Jane Steinweg, N9JAS
Treasurer:  Don Evenson, K9JYX – Jamie Ivanov, KC9LFD

Steve, N9UDO reminded members that the annual “Lightning On the Lawn” will be held at D. C. Cox’s place coming up shortly.

Dave, KB9CSW moved to adjourn the meeting. Second by N9PQJ.

In attendance:
W9ULK, Gary Sorenson
KB9CSW, Dave Spearing
KC9LFD, Jamie Ivanov
KC9CVD, Bill Stehling
N9KXX, Bill Klinkner
N9JAS, Jane Steinweg
N9PQJ, Tom Harrison
N9UDO, Steve Schulze
K9JYX, Don Evenson
KB9VMC, Brad Pointon

Respectfully submitted, K9JYX, Secretary pro-tem.

The weekend of Aug 29/30 is the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw. The Sauk Co. ARES/RACES group is going to be holding a fundraiser selling soda and possibly other condiments. I’m planning to attend and I think you should too! If you want to help out, contact Rick N9ROY, otherwise stop by.

If someone wants to rent a cow suit/costume, I’ll totally wear it. Bonus points if it has utters that squirt stuff. Seriously, I’ll bet you a dollar that I’ll do it!

I’ve owned RS HTX-202/404′s, Yaesu’s VX-5r, 6r, 7r, and now a Kenwood TH-D7A(G). The RX and TX performance exceeds the VX-7R in my experience. Maybe it was the radio, or maybe it was the antennas, but regardless.

Pros: Built in TNC is awesome and terribly convenient. Easy menu navigation and neatly organized. Nice big screen, and buttons are easy to navigate, especially with APRS functions.

Cons: Dual band/memories is rather odd.. I can store memories memories per band, but it won’t automatically switch between bands in case I wanted to scan all memory channels. Built in APRS software is limited for receiving messages and sending. Still works excellent for APRS broadcasts. No spectrum analyzer, something I sorely miss from my Yaesu radios.

Overall: The power levels are odd, 50mW, 500mW, and 5W, those are interesting jumps in RF output. I simply cannot argue with performance or built in TNC. I have the 9.6v 1700mAh battery and I get awesome performance, more so than my VX-7R.

In the end, I really wish I had purchased this radio instead of my VX-7R when I was shopping at AES. But I got it anyway and LOVE it. I couldn’t imagine myself without it. I give this a 5 out of 5.

I’ve owned a TT3 for some time now and I can’t say I hate it. It does what it needs to do automatically. I have it hooked up to a HTX-202 and the gps output of my GPSMAP60.

Pros: With the flip of a switch, it’s ready to rock without user intervention. The flash based programming utilitiy is rather straight forward to use and it has a numbre of nice features. You can set a static beacon rate or a dynamic beacon rate. I figured out a 1 minute becon with a 1 watt transmitter can drain my battery when I’m not driving. Even though I don’t make use of it, the gps output of the TT3 features a 5v output. This can come in handy with some units such as the DeLorme Tripmate (after modifications). I also can’t complain about the support. Usually within a day I get the technical advice I need.

Cons: There is no emergency beacon mode. A push-button emergency mode would be a nifty feature to have. Having to remove the TT3 and bring it to a computer for reprogramming can be troublesome and annoying, especially when fine tuning.

Overall, I’m rather happy with the unit. It takes my position and sends it to my radio for broadcasting. I really couldn’t ask for much more. I give this a 4 out of 5.

Grounding an antenna installation is quite important. Especially when it’s mobile. My first attempt at permi-mounting an nmo based antenna wasn’t the best due to a dodgy grounding system. I went and modified the original design. What you see is the silicone sealant on the outside to keep water out and the bottom of the mount.

What you may not see is that the bottom is elaborate. I first polished the roof of the truck to remove any pant or anything else that could prevent grounding contact. I have a small washer with “teeth” that gets up and close with the roof. For added support and grounding contact, I polished off a steel washer and put that under the previous washer along with some corrosion protector/contact cleaner for a little extra electrical contact. I then have a nut to hold it all together with a tight pressure fit with the roof of the truck. I laced the top of the truck around the antenna mount with a generous helping of silicone sealant. Less would be just fine, and you could smooth it out to make it look more appealing, but I like the Red Green (old tv series) or indistrual look. If my truck ever goes under water, the antenna will be the last thing to leak

My first attempt at this yielded a lot of static from a poorly designed ground system. This time I went all out and couldn’t be happier. I get a Q-5 from a HUGE radius on only 5 watts. Remember that grounding your antenna is important, especially with a mobile setup.

After the neighborhood was vandalized and my truck fell victum to some punks, I decided to permi-mount my high gain dual band antenna.

During the vandalism, the punks tried to remove my broadcast fm antenna; tried to rip off my rear windshield wiper assembly (its lose and needs to be re-mounted inside the hatch); they successfully removed and stole my remote start antenna; and they removed my high gain dual band antenna. Thankfully the antenna was ungodly large and they decided to just leave it lay behind my vehicle. It did sustain some damage, I think the kids decided to sword fight with it, but they still left it. Phew.

I got a base nmo mount and broke out the drill to make more holes. I had to scrape out the silicone sealant that I used to fill the existing hole before I widened it for the nmo mount… I don’t think I have a very good ground because my signal to Madison is rather scratchy from where I’m at. I also need to solder the pl-259 at the end of the coax. And before I forget, I need to return the SWR after those kids messed with the antenna.

I’m thinking of using some steel braid and making a trounding screw in one of the other silicone filled holes. A bolt, large washers, steel braid and solder.. Mmm…

Speaking of holes, my new lightbar required ALOT of holes. The mounts were rusted to hell so I ended up screwing the side mounts to the chassis and the pair of 8 gauge wire wouldn’t pinch in the door. That required a hefty hole and plenty of silicone sealant. If anyone wants to know what to get me for my birthday… A cauking gun and tubes of silicone. LoL but seriously.

What’s funny is that in downtown (and even the ghetto of) Madison, I never had trouble with anyone messing with my truck. I had to move to a town with 5 people in it in order to get vandalized. Ironic I think.

After much thought, I’ve decided to take a different approach to my website. I hope you like it. If not, well I really don’t care. This will contain updates and information related to myself and the activities I participate in and projects. There isn’t much now, but give it time.