February 11, 2009

1. Club President, KØCF, called the meeting to order at 19:31 at the Grant Wood AEA Building. 24 hams and one prospective ham were in attendance.
2. Club Treasurer, KCØJFQ, reported a healthy bank balance.
3. Club Secretary, KØACP, read the minutes from the December meeting, as January's meeting was cancelled due to severe cold weather. Minutes were approved as submitted.
4. HAMRAD, WWØQ, reported:
   1. ARES District 6 Director, KCØOX was stepping down.
   2. Severe weather season had started early in 2009 and that the Iowa City Weather Spotter training would be held at the IC Public Library in April, details and sign-up to follow.
   3. The new Johnson County EMA center would be located at the SW corner of Melrose Ave and Hwy218. It should have a Ham capable tower.
5. Repeater:
   1. General consensus is that the repeater was working well except for some problems with DTMF tones on the auto-patch. Some enterprising individuals were going to investigate.
6. Net control:
   1. Net control duties for March will be shared by WWØQ, KIØJP, and KØCF.

Old Business

1. On February 6, 2009, 182 mailers were sent to licensed hams in the Iowa City vicinity. Six of the mailers bounced. This cost the club $93.38 through $76.44 in stamps and $16.94 in supplies.
2. Field Day 2009
   1. W3ACO had approached the folks at Kent Park and found that ICARC would not be able to use that for a field day site over noise concerns and the inability to leave / enter the park after sunset.
   2. W3ACO further approached Iowa City Parks and Recreation department (Mike) and secured approval to use the shelter in Upper City Park where there are real toilets….
   3. There was a move by WØICY and second by WWØQ to adopt Upper City Park as the location for Field Day 2009.
   4. There was a general discussion as to the level of intensity that would be exerted in this year's attempt. This was tabled for a future meeting discussion.
3. W5FH, reminded everyone that a USB net meets on 50.135 MHz immediately following the Johnson County Sunday net.

New Business

1. KC7QMF mentioned that 8/1/09 was the annual Hoover fest from 8:30 to 5:00 on the grounds of the H. Hoover Presidential Library. He was trying to gage interest in doing a Ham Radio demonstration. A decision to participate was postponed till a discussion could be held at a future meeting.
2. KØCF and AEØR informed ICARC membership that they were interested in preserving the University of Iowa Amateur Radio Club, WØIO. KØCF will be the president and AEØR will be Vice President. Meetings will be tentatively held in conjunction with ICARC meetings. AEØR as trustee will file necessary paperwork to renew the WØIO license.
3. W3ACO shared a comparison of QSL card vendors and provided a matrix detailing cost and quality. UX5UO has the best value going for plain and full color QSL cards. (This info is on the club web site, under the DX information page.)
4. W3ACO reminded everyone that K5D would be operational from Desecheo Island (KP5), starting Friday and running for 2 weeks.
5. WBØMCX reminded folks that the Solon parade was 7/18/09 and that volunteers would be needed to assist with the parade. KØCF will post this on the ICARC website.
6. KØLUM reminded hams that Iowa HR9 was in process and is a bill that would outlaw using two-way radios in moving cars. This is intended to curb cell phone calls and texting, but is written such a way as to impede mobile ham radio use. W3ACO has been in touch with Iowa City State Senator, Joe Bolkcom to protest the bill. Other hams are encouraged to follow W3ACO's example.
7. WWØQ moved to adjourn the meeting.

The program was a DVD from the Northern California DX Foundation on the allure of amateur radio contesting.

Art Peters, KØACP, Secretary

Last updated April 20, 2017 by KØCF