August 19, 2021

Danny Kafka KD9HIL Vice President called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM

Attendees:

Tim Smith KC9NMW	Rob Glowacki N9MVO	Danny Kafka KD9HIL
Bob Benwitz N9JAX	John Douglas KD9KSH	Barry Friedman K9FMB
Don Dewar KD9NJR	Robert Kocourek W9RKK	Bob Zuttermeister W9GEW
Dennis Calvey KD9HIK	John Zietlow K9WIC	Leo Ribordy N9NBH
Bill Riess KW9WR	Brent Kaser WB9UXN Jim Hansen KD9TGS	Hugh Pearl WB9VWM
Charlene Treve K9CMZ	Cliff Sowka K9QD

Secretary’s Report:

Cliff Sowka K9QD July Minutes as published in the RHG for Approval. So Moved.

Treasurer’s Report:

John Zietlow K9WIC provided the following report:

Bank Balance $6,519.44

INCOME $1,101.00 from CP Surplus Sale

DISBURSEMENTS $62.82 16-Apr data line

Petty Cash $144.20

FD Donations $75.00 included in balance

Funds Available $7,576.82

As of Aug 19, 103 paid members.

Public Service:

Rob Glowacki N9MVO informed there are no planned events for the remainder of the year.

EMCOMM:

John Zietlow K9WIC reported he intends to publish the Village of Schaumburg Emergency Operations Center link for those members who wish to apply to become a trusted radio operator for the village.

Since SARC isn’t a SkyWarn entity, we may still wish to educate members to become mobile observers even without official standing: we can assist the various village services in assessing such events as damage reports to speed responses after an emergency. SkyWarn procedures define specific parameters to be followed in reporting situational occurrences. Establishing correctly-understood criteria by the various agencies follows specific protocol. Notification of dangerous situations is an important service Ham Radio Operators can contribute.

Schaumburg Public Safety Day is scheduled for Saturday October 2^nd. SARC has historically prepared a booth and plans to participate again this year.

Repeaters:

Rob N9MVO reported the internet link is experiencing sporadic service interruptions. Kent W9KAO previously suggested changing our service away from AT&T and John K9WIC has investigated moving to Extreme DSL. Update expected shortly.

Construction Project:

Don’s KD9NJR Saturday morning CP meetings remain dormant until the fall sessions resume in late September. The budget of $500 for consumables and instrumentation purchases has already been approved. Purchases have already begun with the acquisition of some hand tools.

VE Tests Results for August 7, 2021

Name	Call	Class
James Hansen	KC9TGS	Technician

Class
Technician	1
General	0
Extra	0
Total	1

Participating Volunteer Examiners (VEs):

Ed	Lishka	AC9SD
John	Schofield	AC9JS
Dirk	Smith	W0RI

Next examination date: September 4, 2021

John Schofield AC9JS

Session Manager

Radio Hill Gazette RHG

Mike Griffiths K9KMV no report.

Membership:

Darryl KD9RHR not present.

Social:

John Douglas KD9KSH reports we have reservations for a social gathering at Garibaldi’s Sunday 23^rd of September @ 6PM.

Education:

Leo N9NBH reports our Tech/General training schedule planning with Village’s library facility is currently unable to be restarted due to lack of staff responses to his inquiries. Cursory survey of membership indicates there are more than 16 wishing to join a Morse Code training effort sometime in the fall.

NETS:

Leo N9NBH has been receiving much-needed support from John Scrip N9IJS for the evenings he has schedule conflicts. Nets are active and well attended.

Publicity:

Dennis KD9HIK Chairman posted a procedural notice on SARC-ALL explaining how to invoke Amazon charitable reimbursement on all purchases that can provide financial benefit for our club if smile.amazon.com is selected when entering new orders. Since SARC is a 501c3 organization, Amazon has already qualified us as a valid recipient and John Zietlow K9WIC has already enabled our banking to gain access to any funds earned.

Programs:

No report. Need Chairperson. Charlene Treve K9CMZ presented a ~7 minute video of her earlier jazz vocal performances tonight.

Old Business:

None.

New Business:

Nominating Committee chaired by Leo Ribordy N9NBH formed to recruit officer candidates for our fall elections:

Barry K9FMB

Rob N9MVO

John K9WIC

Danny KD9HIL

It is expected they will convene quickly to begin the process due to the notification restrictions of the Bylaw Election Requirements being only weeks away.

Dues Proration: New members joining months before the July renewal will be provided automatic extension of their membership for the following year.

John Zietlow K9WIC moved a Bylaw change that moves our Fiscal Year to July~June instead of current Jan~Dec. This will help align our financials with annual reports, membership census, and record-keeping. Danny KD9HIL seconded.

Bylaw change will be on our November Ballot for membership approval.

Matt Walsh AC9IG has been gathering membership responses to two questions about Newsline being played after the weekly Net. Discussion tonight ensued and vote taken to determine the membership’s desire regarding Newsline.

DECISION: Continue to provide Newsline following the Net’s closure

Do you listen to Newsline after the Thursday net?
Would you prefer the net to end and immediately return to normal QSOs?

Please see the responses below and read them into the minutes:

I rarely ever listen to it. And when I do listen to it , never pay attention or remember it.

I like many others call it snoozeline.

I know it’s supposed to be valuable information but I just don’t find it all that interesting.

I’d personally open it up for a question and answer discussion to all. Basically a tech net , but don’t call it technet.

Or better yet to get some forced discussion going , go around to all that check in and have them chime in on any activities ham related or not. Or hold off on the question at the check-in and just take calls. Then after all initial club matters are done, then pop the question of the night and make a round of it and then a 73 round.

Do you listen to Newsline after the Thursday net? No, it’s almost a week old by the time SARC plays it. We started running Newsline on the net many, many years ago before the availability of the Internet as we know it now. We had to dial up Newsline on the landline and record it on a cassette and then play the cassette back over the SARC repeater Thursday night. I did that more than a few times.

Would you prefer the net to end and immediately return to normal QSOs? Return to normal QSOs but either way is ok with me. Some people may like to hear it over the repeater. The repeater is available for QSOs almost all the other 7×24 hours a week.

I do like hearing the newline after the Thursday net.

Rarely

I don’t typically hang around for Newsline.

At the same time, I don’t have a preference about whether the repeater returns immediately to normal traffic.

Hi. Matt. Keep it. Believe it or not there are people who don’t use the internet but do listen via scanner etc. I view it as a service to those outside of ham radio. It may even help attract future hams.

I don’t find that Newsline really has any information that is useful. I would vote to eliminate.

I do like to listen to (s)Newsline, but would like it even more if it was new news. Hearing about goings on I missed last weekend is disappointing.

I enjoy listening to the Newsline, so my vote is to continue running it after the Net…

Yup, listen to Newsline after Thursday net. Prefer that it continues…

I usually don’t listen to the news line after the net.

I do listen to the Newsline after the net.

I vote to keep it.

Another thing for those who have smart speakers, like the Alexa, all you have to do is say:

Alexa play ARRL Newsline.

What is cool you can pause it and come back and listen too.

The audio quality is much better too.

Ask an Elmer