The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, February 10, 2020 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY. There were 26 members and guests present. Five came for FCC VE testing. (See results below) The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos KB9BVL. Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name and amateur call.
Club Business Items
- Secretary Ron Cowherd read the minutes from the January meeting. A motion to accept minutes was made, seconded and passed.
- Treasurer Roger Good brought us up to date with the club’s finances. Roger asked us to OK the payment of $250 for Field Day liability insurance. It was further brought to our attention that our Field Day liability insurance may have not been reviewed in several years. President Wielgos suggested a motion to check with City Hall to see if our policy still meets city standards for such event and, if not, our policy be upgraded to meet current regulations. Mike Newman suggested that if the cost of upgrading was too much, we could change the location to another site off city property. There was much discussion about the pros and cons of moving to another location. Roger will look into city park use requirements. A motion to accept the treasurer’s report was made, sec. seconded and passed.
- Jeff announced the PARA Vice President office was open and asked for any nominations or anyone that would volunteer to be considered for the position. Mike Newman finally volunteered and subsequently a motion was made, passed and voted to select Mike for the position.
- It was suggested that a letter of thanks be sent to Kevin O’Neill who oversees the use of the Emerging Technology Center building. A letter has been mailed.
- Regarding the KYQSO Party, Paul Smith stated that all the logging program people have been notified that there are no changes this year, all the contest calendar people have been notified of the new date, the webpage changes have been made, so right now we are pretty much on auto pilot. We need to find out if any other clubs would like to operate a bonus station so we can get them listed. It was also suggested we try to encourage more stations to become bonus stations since we only had two last year.
- It was discussed that we look into PARA logo polo shirts for the club.
NET CONTROL OPERATORS
Sunday night nets are at 9:00 PM on 147.060 MHZ. PL 179.9
February 16 Jeff KB9BVL 19 PARA ck-ins
February 23 W4NJA repeater inoperative. No count avail.
March 1 Roger KC9WPS 16 PARA ck-ins on .120 repeater
March 1 Logan KG4VKB 9 ARES ck-ins on .120 repeater
March 8 Jeff KB9BVL 18 PARA ck-ins
New License Successes
We are happy to report that (pictured L to R) Ronnie Stone and Justin King passed the Technician Exam. Shane Martin and Christopher Jenson passed both the General. Christopher Jenson also passed the Extra. Congratulations to all. We cordially invite all of you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.
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 upgrade exams are offered at the close of each meeting night throughout the year. See W4NJA web site for info. Click button at the top of the page: About Us, then VE License Testing. Also, you may call Fred Carter (AI4EY) and leave a message at (270)210-3628 if you wish to take a test at the next meeting.
- The Sunday Night PARA Emergency 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 the first Sunday night of each month.
- CW round table for on-the-air operating practice, 6:30 pm Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Meet on W4NJA 147.060 repeater at 6:30 to get instructions.
- Amateur Radio Emergency Services meetings are held at 7:00 pm on 3rd Thursdays, 3700 Coleman Road EOC building in the Jack Johnston meeting room.
- Metropolis net Thursdays 8:15, 146.655 PL179.9, 147.225 is old repeater freq.
- Draffenville net Wednesdays 9:00 145.390 PL118.8