The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, January 14, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY. There were 34 members and guests present. The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos. Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name and amateur call.
Club Business Items Discussed
- Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed business items from the November meeting. Also, pictures snapped at the Annual PARA Christmas Dinner held at Casa Mexicana restaurant, December 10th were projected for all to see. The dinner replaced the December Monthly Meeting. In addition, Secretary Cowherd presented statistics from both the 2018 club meetings and the WordPress W4NJA.org web site. The numbers reveal that the club has steadily improved average meeting attendance, FCC exams, and Sunday night net checkins over the past 3 years. In addition it was shown that the use of the W4NJA.org web site has also grown during the same period. See the December Monthly Meeting web page for pictures and statistics.
- Treasurer Bruce Huyck reported the club’s current financial status was in good shape. He also reminded us that 2019 club dues ($20) are now payable.
- Dave Perry reported that ARRL is in the process of reassessing the scoring of the International Grid Contest that closed at the end of 2018. The official announcement of final scores will be available at a later date.
- Dave Perry gave an update on the 2018 KY QSO Party awards concerning the criteria that was used for selection of the top scoring winners. Dave reported that soon the brass plates were to be engraved, attached to the plaques and shipped to winners. The winners are listed on the KY QSO Party web site.
- Following discussion of date selection for the coming 2019 QSO Party, June 1st and 2nd was approved by unanimous vote. There was additional discussion of what we learned from the 2018 experience and how we can improve the next event.
- PARA club officers re-elected for 2019 are: President, Jeff Wielgos; Vice President, Ken Wontor; and Secretary, Ron Cowherd. The Treasurer’s office is still vacant due to Bruce Huyck’s request to retire from the office. Anyone interested in the position, please speak up.
Sunday night nets are at 9:00 PM on 147.060 Mhz. PL 179.9
January 20 Jeff KM4LDP. 9 ck-ins
January 27 Steve NW9W 9 ck-ins
February 3 Jeff KB9BVL 7 PARA
February 3 Logan KG4VKB 7 ARES
February 10 Ken KW4DI 11 ck-ins
Remember:
- PARA meets at Emerging Technology Center, WKCTC on 2nd Monday, 7 pm, each month except December. Prospective hams in search of general info concerning the hobby may Google ARRL.com and click on relevant headings.
- New License and upgrades exams are offered at the close of each meeting night throughout the year. See W4NJA web site at w4nja.org. For info click button at the top of the page: About Us, then VE License Testing.
- The Sunday Night Net meets each Sunday night at 9 PM. All amateur radio operators are invited to check in. 147.060 PL 179.9 The ARES monthly net convenes immediately following PARA net on first Sunday nights.
- CW round table for on-the-air operating practice, 7:00 pm Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Meet on W4NJA 147.060 repeater at 8:00 to get instructions. Stay tuned on these nights for info about a “Grass Roots” CW class to be organized in the near future.
- Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) meetings are held at 7:00 pm on 3rd Thursdays, 3700 Coleman Road EOC building in the Jack Johnston meeting room.