PARA Meeting Minutes 11/13/2017
The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, November 13, 2017 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY. There were 18 present. Two came for FCC license testing. See names and pictures below.
The meeting was opened by Club President, Jeff Wielgos (KB9BVL). Jeff invited each attendee around the room to introduce themselves with their name and call.
Items Discussed and Passed
The business portion of the meeting was as follows:
- The Treasurer’s report was given by Bruce Huyck (KS4V) followed by the Secretary’s report given by Ron Cowherd (K4GYD). Both reports were approved by unanimous vote.
- Paul Smith (ND4X) gave us the good news about PARA’s Field Day results. The data is as follows: (1) W4NJA had the top 3A score in KY. (2) had the top score in KY out of 38 entries. (3) was 18th out of 322 3A stations nationwide. (4) was 77th out of all 2,965 station nationwide. This is quite an accomplishment earned by our 16 operators participating. This year’s success will be a huge goal to surpass next year.
- The December PARA Club meeting will be replaced by the Christmas Party at Casa Mexicana, Monday, December 12th, 6:00 pm. The restaurant is located at 4793 Village Square Drive directly behind Walmart in the Strawberry Hill area. Spouses are welcome. No reservations needed.
- Jeff reminded us about the club DX contest which closes at the end of 2017.
- Jerry Oliver (KJ4EU) reported a new amateur radio satellite repeater will be launched Tuesday, November 14th. Jerry was encouraged to give us a presentation of his satellite operations sometime in the future.
- Some of us are having trouble logging onto the W4NJA EchoLink. Logan suggested that we should select “relay proxy.”
- Paul (ND4X) reported that he worked the KY QSO Party the past weekend and worked 116 stations on 40 meters SSB only with a duration of a little bit less than than three hours in the chair.
- Jeff showed a YouTube video of FT8 with discussion following. About half of the members present have been participating using this new mode. Bruce made additional comments about the latest version of this popular software.
Net Control Operators for Late November/December/Early January
November 19 Jay KD9HRH 9 check-ins
November 26 Frank KY4LDS 8 check-ins
December 3 Jeff KB9BVL 8 check-ins
December 10 Ken KW4DI 11 check-ins
December 17 Steve NW9W 6 check-ins
December 24 Christmas Eve–no net
December 31 New Year’s Eve–no net
January 7 Logan KG4VKB 10 PARA – 10 ARES
Jerry Oliver has received a very nice 10 Meter Contest Certificate. He received a score of 1,900 points to earn first place in KY section. Congratulations Jerry.
New License and Upgrade Success
We are happy to report that Mark Thorn and Michael Hicks have earned their Technician licenses at the close of the November meeting. Congratulations Mark and Michael, well done.
Remember:
- PARA meets at Emerging Technology Center, WKCTC on 2nd Monday, 7 pm of each month except December.
- New License and upgrades are offered on meeting nights throughout the year. See W4NJA web site at w4nja.org. For info click at the top of the page on 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 December PARA Club meeting will be replaced by the Christmas Party at Casa Mexicana, Monday, December 11th, 6:00 pm. The restaurant is located at 4793 Village Square Drive directly behind Walmart in the Strawberry Hill area. Spouses are welcome. No reservations needed.