Minutes of Regular Meeting of Members

of

Coppell Amateur Radio Enthusiasts

Date: April 16, 2019

Location: William T Cozby Public Library, Coppell TX

The meeting was called to order by Darryl, KG5MDS, at 7:00 PM.

Financial update

Aaron, K8AMH, provided a financial report for March. Current equity is $930.74. Treasurer reports are available on the website’s About Us page.

Repeater

We continue to work with the city, and the water tower remains the primary deployment site. As it is still undergoing renovation, there is no ETA to share at this time. We also continue work to obtain the past group’s coordinated repeater pair.

Kroger support program

Those shopping at Kroger are now able to link their shopper rewards cards to support CARE. Kroger makes a financial contribution from its own funds based on what rewards card members have spent. In order to support CARE, those with rewards cards must designate CARE as their nonprofit group they want to support. Directions are available on the website.

Weekly amateur radio net

Aaron would like to set up a weekly net. This would be an opportunity for amateur radio operators to share how they are doing, what they are up to, any exciting news, and so forth in a welcoming environment. While the net is social in nature, it encourages building camaraderie on the air and building net participation skills. After discussion, we agreed that the net would take place Tuesdays at 7pm weekly, except for the night of Group meetings.

ARRL affiliation

Our application for affiliation was generally approved and is now at the Director level awaiting sign-off.

2019 Mentorfest

Hella Hams is hosting this year’s ARRL North Texas Section Mentorfest on April 27, 2019 in Rowlett. This is an opportunity to learn about many areas of amateur radio, and we encourage those interested to attend. Details, including the schedule and sign-up link, are available at https://arrlntx.org/mentorfest.

Boy Scouts merit badges

William Evans, a regional scout master, came to speak with the Group about opportunities to partner and help scouts earn merit badges related to amateur radio. There are some requirements to be able to do this, such as passing background checks and a need to register as a merit badge counselor, which requires taking a BSA Youth Protection training every two years. There are 6 troops in Coppell with roughly 500 to 600 scouts. We are interested in this opportunity to work together and the Board will look into the specific requirements.

Educational topic: Show and tell with homebrew gear

Several hams brought many homebrew items they made or put together as part of their amateur radio tools and kits. Darryl brought a 3D-printed portable antenna he uses for POTA/SOTA. Kurtis, K5KLR, brought a 2m/70cm antenna he built, which tricked several of us into thinking it was an Arrow antenna. Aaron brought an AllStarLink node he put together with a Raspberry Pi, USB sound card, and Baofeng radio, and a 9:1 un-un antenna, similar to what Darryl put together. Jon, N5JBS, had numerous items, including a quarter wave antenna made with welding rod, several Powerpole cables, a 2m RF choke, and more.

Adjournment

With no other matters before the membership meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.