January 2003 Ground Wave

JANUARY MEETING…

Our first meeting of the New Year is Thursday, January 9th, at 7pm in the cafeteria of BAMC in Menominee. In the event of inclement weather, which we have had for some previous January meetings, listen to the 147.000 repeater for announcements of cancellation. The agenda will include items relating to: By-laws, repeater update, charter banquet plans, among others.

We hope to see as many as possible in attendance.

MEMBERSHIP DUES…

All dues should have been paid by December 31, 2002. If you have yet to pay yours, and wish to continue as a member, please take care of that now. Anyone not having paid by the above date will be dropped from the official club roster. Of course, you may rejoin at any time. Please also update your membership form if any changes have been made since you last filled one out. We want to keep all memberships current with up-to-date information. Thanks to those who have already renewed their memberships for 2003...we're happy to have you back.

KG9GH ANNOUNCED AS HAM OF THE YEAR FOR 2002…

Our annual Ham of the Year announcement was made at the Christmas party, and Eric Janssen, KG9GH, was awarded the honor by a vote of his fellow club members. Congratulations to you, Eric, for the distinction, and appreciation for the many things you have done for the club in the past years. Actual awarding of the plaque will be made at the Charter Banquet in February.

W8NZV SILENT KEY…

We are saddened to report the passing of John Edquist, W8NZV, of Menominee. He was 84 years old, and a charter member of the M&M Amateur Club, as well as a life member. For many years he was the club historian, and participated in many activities. He appeared at many of our recent picnics and parties along with his wife Rosemary. Memorial services were held on Dec. 20th in Menominee.

WD9N SILENT KEY…

We were also saddened to learn of the passing of Mel Marquardt, WD9N of Lena, Wisconsin in early December. Mel was blind, but active in many things including amateur radio.

Our condolences go to both families.

REPEATER NEWS…

The 147.000 repeater is now hearing and playing better than ever at its present location. On Tuesday December 17th, our trusty repeater technician, Noel, K8NB, made a trip to BAMC and adjusted some parameters, especially on the receive side. As a result the receiver is now performing at peak efficiency. There had been a problem with some distant signals not being heard by the repeater, and several members unable to access the machine. That has been corrected. KB9DSV now reports he has a good signal out of the repeater as does Dwight, W9YQ. Mobile access has also been improved. The output has been slightly increased as well.

The 444.075 continues to work extremely well, and did not need any "tweaking." In fact, KB9AXH is able to access the 444 mobile from the McAllister area on a regular basis. Base coverage from Door, Kewaunee, and Oconto counties, as well as much of Menominee and Marinette counties is good on both repeaters.

ABRAMS REPEATER IMPROVED…

The KB9DSV 146.835 repeater has grown "taller", by about ten feet. As a result, the coverage area has also grown to now include much of the Green Bay metro area, and a noticeable increase in the M&M area. It is an especially good machine to use on your trips to the GB area. Access can be gained from Peshtigo south, and even from our area, the signal can be heard mobile.

Thanks to club member, Earl, who owns and maintains the repeater. Further improvement is planned for it in the coming months.

GREEN BAY REPEATER HAS BRUSSELS LINK…

The 146.685 repeater owned and maintained by KB9GKC now has a link at Brussels, just across the bay. The link is on a 110.9 PL, and can easily be accessed from the M&M area. This frequency was used by the Pound repeater up until several years ago when it was taken down for lack of use.

WEATHER SPOTTER TRAINING…

Menominee County Emergency Coordinator, Marge Bramschreiber, has arranged to have a weather spotter training seminar with Marquette NOAA Weather Service, on Thursday, March 13, 2003 at the River Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of Tenth Street and Tenth Avenue, Menominee Michigan.

In addition to club members, this training session will be open to law enforcement, fire fighters, first responders and the general public.

The last training session held at the chamber building saw a capacity crowd. Due to the space limitations, anyone attending the session must be at least 18 years of age.

Further details, including a start time, will be in the next issue of the Ground Wave and in local press releases.

Questions regarding training may be directed to Ms. Bramschreiber at 906-863-9817.

CHARTER BANQUET SET FOR FEBRUARY 1^ST…

It’s time again for the annual Charter Banquet. A reservation form is included in this edition of the Ground Wave.

Erik Lowman, Marinette County’s new Emergency Director, will be the guest speaker for our Charter Night Banquet. Eric will give a brief overview of the grants/plans for the coming year, and answer a few questions. We’ll also formally present the Ham of the Year plaque to Eric, KG9GH.

Please note the Thursday, January 23^rd deadline for reservations!

We hope you can join us.

CHRISTMAS PARTY ENJOYED BY MANY…

The annual club party was held on Thursday December 12th at Schusslers in Peshtigo, with 29 in attendance. Everyone enjoyed the delicious family style dinner. Afterwards, prizes were given out, and the Ham of the Year announced. Many thanks to Lynne, N8OSK for taking care of all the arrangements.

CLUB ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION…

By Lynne Rynish, N8OSK

As a reminder to all club members and guests at social functions, we are offering a few informative comments. When the club sends out notices regarding activities, and we specify that reservations are required, we are not doing this to put a burden on those wishing to participate.

When the chairperson of an event must call in a head count to a facility, we are obligated to pay for the number of reservations we report. If a person makes a reservation and must cancel prior to the deadline, we are able to make a refund. However, once the deadline passes, the club must pay for the number of reservations whether or not the participants attend the event.

Those of us who chair these activities put the latest possible deadline for reservations allowed by the facility we utilize in order to accommodate as many club members and guests as possible.

The facilities we contract with must order food, arrange the wait staff schedule, bartenders, etc. based on the number of participants in any given group. All of this is done more than a week in advance of the actual activity. Those who fail to attend after making a reservation, or show up without a reservation, throw off the preparations of both the facility and the chairperson of the event.

Last August more than 25% of the people attending the family picnic showed up without a reservation or the pre-payment as requested on the form published in the Ground Wave. Not only does this cause a problem with the amount of food and beverage we anticipate using, it puts stress on the chairpersons of the event.

The August picnic showed the theory of "one or two more people will not make a difference", DID in fact make a huge difference - by more than 25% of the entire group!

As those of us who have handled the Friday evening fish fries, we ask for reservations to allow the management ample opportunity to have sufficient food on hand not only for our group, but for their regular guests as well. There is a local facility that has told we are no longer welcome at their establishment. We had called in head counts, the first time had six people show up without a reservation, the next time we had eight people show up without a reservation. This facility had set up for exactly the number of people we said would attend, they had to pull in tables from another area and then had to turn away some of their regular patrons.

Please follow the instructions on the reservation form. We ask participants to either MAIL the reservation and check to the club post office box OR turn it in at a club meeting, or in the case of a fish fry, contact the chairperson either on the air or via telephone. Chairpersons do not have the time to run around picking up reservations, nor do they expect club members to stop at their place of employment to drop off the check and form. The club post office box is rented for the convenience of everyone!

We hope this year club members will honor our request for making reservations as requested!

E-MAIL CONTACT MADE EASIER…

For those of you with internet and email capabilities, there is now a way for you to contact any officer or club member without knowing their address or phone. Just go to the club site and on the boot up page, you will see a scrolling banner. Click on the following - info@w8pif.com The message will go to K8IR, and then to the appropriate person in any format, email or landline

BAWA MEETING ON JANUARY 9^TH…

The Bay Area Wireless Association will hold a brief meeting at 6:30pm just prior to the regular M&M ARC meeting. Discussion will center on the upcoming Wisconsin and Michigan QSO parties. Dues can also be paid at this time.

Marinette-Menominee Radio Club

November 14, 2002

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by club President, Jim Callow.

It was reported that the testing which took place prior to the meeting found two new amateurs in our midst. Passing were Aaron Buchholz and Ben Benesh.

Bob Schrader AA9GZ moved to approve the minutes as printed in the Ground Wave, second by Dwight Bosselman W9YQ. Motion carried.

Lynne Rynish N8OSK gave the treasurers report.

            Disbursements: UP Repeater Association - one-year dues                  5.00
                                       Jim Callow, postage                                                 9.68
                                       Jim Callow, diplexer                                               54.98

              Balance in checking:                                              271.08
            Balance in savings:                                                348.08
                        Total assets:                                                619.16

On motion of Bob AA9GZ, second by Marge Bramschreiber to accept the report as read. Motion carried.

In the absence of the secretary, the Vice President, Ed Engleman KG8CX, read the correspondence.

A letter from Marquette NOAA weather invited amateur operators to participate in a NOAA Special Event on Saturday, December 7^th. Additional information can be obtained by visiting the NOAA web site.

NET REPORT:

It was noted we are having smaller number of check-ins for the Sunday evening net.

OLD BUSINESS:

Repeater move: President Callow thanked Eric Janssen KG9GH, Noel Beardsley K8NB, John Goldschmidt KC9AXH, Tom Rynish N8LHB and Ed Engleman KG8CX for making the move of the equipment and installation of new coax for the dual band antenna.

Members are reminded that since the move, we no longer have autopatch as a feature on the repeater.

Inventory of the club equipment is as follows:

K0SN - Tom Hellem, masts and coax

AA9PB - Jim Mans, coax

W9YQ - Dwight Bosselman, club generator

In addition, we have repeater equipment, diplexer, antennas, coax installed and working at BAMC, Menominee as well as an antenna on the RangeLine Tower owned by Jim Swanson KC8DOA.

On motion of Bob AA9GZ, and second by Dave Cunningham NS9R, the club secretary is to compile and maintain a complete list of all equipment, etc. the club owns and keep the inventory current at all times. Anyone who knows of additional club items that are not listed, should contact one of the club officers so it may be added to the list.

Ham of the Year voting will take place at the annual Christmas party on December 12^th. A team to handle the voting and counting was appointed. Those serving this year are Tom Rynish, Marge Bramschreiber and Dwight Bosselman.

NEW BUSINESS:

The annual Charter Night Banquet will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2003. Please mark your calendars!

It was decided to hold amateur radio classes after the first of the year. Tentative date for starting the classes is Tuesday, January 21, 2003 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Eric Janssen will check on a location to hold classes. Volunteers to instruct are Bob Jarnutowsky, Dwight Bosselman, Edward Engleman, Bob Schrader.

Two membership applications were presented to be voted upon. After lengthy discussion regarding whether or not the names must be published in the Ground Wave prior to voting upon the applicants, the voting took place immediately after presentation. The by-laws committee was requested to address this issue in the revision of the club by-laws. Voting on two new members took place immediately following the discussion. Earl Andre KB9SSV and Dan Wagner N9OWD are our two new club members.

The by-laws committee gave a brief report on their progress. Eric Janssen asked that the club vote on the portion of the revision they have completed with voting on the remainder at a later date. On Motion of Lynne Rynish, second by Marge Bramschreiber the by-law revisions are to be sent to be back to the committee, with voting to take place after all revisions have been completed. Further, the proposed Constitution and By-laws will be printed in the Ground Wave once the committee has completed their work and voting will take place at a meeting after publication. Motion carried with one nay and one abstention.

At 8:50 p.m. Bob Schrader moved we adjourn.

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED!

Date: Saturday, February 1, 2003

                    Place:         Schussler’s Supper Club
                                       W 3529 County Trunk B
                                       Peshtigo, WI 54157

                    Time:         6:00 p.m. social – cash bar
                                         7:00 p.m. family style dinner
                                     coffee, tea or milk

Reservations are due no later than Thursday, January 23, 2002. Make check payable to M & M Amateur Radio Club and mail to:

                             M & M Amateur Radio Club
                             P. O. Box 1082
                             Marinette, WI 54143

* Please do not put a burden on the restaurant by showing up without a reservation! The restaurant must order food a week in advance, and we must abide by their rules! If each person felt that just one or two did not matter, and SIX of you felt this way, we would be creating a problem for the kitchen and their wait staff for the evening. If you do not have a reservation, you will not be accommodated. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS!

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