2024_03_12 – Meeting Minuets

Sweetwater Amateur Radio Club

Monthly Meeting Minutes – 03/12/2024

Prepared By: Mathew Oeder, KK7KKE, Club Vice-President and Isaac Stiles, KJ7FAY, Club Secretary

Attachments:

Persons Present:
Ron Bruderer, N7ERH; John Ramirez, N7ABC; Zach Gunyan, KE7WYG; Bob Spain, WB2RVE; Matt Oeder, KK7KKE; Hubert Hazelett, KF7CJE; Lois Ramirez; Isaac Stiles, KJ7FAY; Joan Bruderer, KD7EMQ; Rick Breininger, N1TEK; Greg Bushman, N7BSH

18:30 – Meeting called to order.

From Mat:

• There was a review of the agenda for the meeting with no objections.
• The minutes from the last meeting were presented and offered for review and correction if needed.
  • No corrections were raised.
• There were no deferred items from the previous meeting.
• The Treasurers Report was provided verbally. There is an estimated $4,026.00 in the account.
• New Business:
  • A discussion was had regarding the club’s website. It was noted that the website is up and available on the internet.
  • There was discussion pertaining to posting the meeting agenda and minutes to the website.
    • No objections were made.
  • Zach stated that one of his radios is capable of recording the net controls and asked if there were any objections to recording and posting to the website the recordings of the weekly net control.
    • No objections were made.
  • Zach provided the attendees an overview of what was asked of the group in order to present information on Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office (SO) Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) on Thursday.
  • Guidelines were provided regarding the request including timelines.
  • Ron gave an overview of the GMRS/FRS set up that was published in a 2023 QST magazine.
  • Discussion was had regarding what equipment would be used and where it could be installed. Ron stated that he talked to Shane about putting the repeater on Wilkins Peak, but that it was not possible. Rick recommended building a suitcase repeater. Zach showed the group the radios and equipment he put together to be able to operate the GMRS set up. It was recommended that once spring comes, to look through the equipment that Jonny has to see if any of it could be used. Ron suggested that N7RON has Master 2 equipment, but there is concern that parts for repair or replacement would be difficult to obtain. Ron suggested looking at 460 radios and determining the cost. The group discussed one large benefit for GMRS is that there is only a fee for the ten-year license and no test. Rick suggested that if the plan moves forward to standardize on GMRS and not FRS due to more power in transmissions. The frequency suggested for this plan is 462.50.
  • The group discussed potential topics for the Thursday CERT meeting which included:
    • Radio etiquette
    • Visual aids
    • Basic functions of a radio
    • Difference between FRS and GMRS
  • Greg advised the group that Search and Rescue in the state uses “307” on GMRS and routinely monitors the frequency. The set up on the radio is channel 3, sub channel 07. He also recommended talking with Emily at Emergency Management (EM), about the GMRS repeater.
  • Zach shared that Emily from EM shared an email. There will be a Technicians License class being put on in Cheyenne with the option of virtual attendance. The class starts April 1, 2024 and will be Monday, Thursday, and Saturday until May 18, 2024.
  • Discussion was had regarding Field Day and the Pony Express. This year Field Day will be during the time the riders for the Pony Express will be passing through Sweetwater. It was recommended that the set up for Field Day should be along the Pony Express route in order to support both events.

From Isaac:

Round Table discussion:

• Isaac presented information regarding the AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS ACT, S. 3690.
• Zach presented plans to get tax exemption status. There would be a one time $600 application fee or $275 application fee if we meet certain qualifications.
• Ideas were discussed for possible class ideas. It was decided that next meeting we would all plan and discuss ideas for future classes and a Test Session.
• The recent death of Bob Hyle was brough to the attention to the club.
• Next meeting will be in Rock Springs.
  

Meeting was adjourned