Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association
General Membership Meeting
Meeting Minutes

1)  Call to Order

Melanie Fernandez (KJ4VCT)called to order the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association’s regular meeting at 19:30 EDT (23:30UTC) on September 28, 2021, over ZOOM. A quorum was present with 17 members.

2)  Pledge of Allegiance

3)  Secretary’s Report – Charlie Artner (KN4VDW)

Motion to approve Minutes from August 24, 2021. Jeff Stahl (K4BH) second the motion. Meeting minutes accepted without objection.

4)  Treasurer’s Report – Erik Olmer (W4EJO)

We had two new members (Ramon Fernandez KO4BRS and Jared Sherman KC2MMI).

Two bank fees since our last meeting because of the way the bank cuts their month. Last month we had no bank fees—$ 20.00 for web hosting as every month. And we also spend $82.49 on business cards to hand out with the Club’s information on one side a list of our repeaters’ information on the other side.

We spent $475.00 for a backup antenna paid to Mike’s Electronics.

The checking account has $8,752.6. The PayPal account has $115.2. The total available to the Club is $8,867.86

Joe McGee (NX4T) was asking what precisely the definition of “Net Budget” is. Erik Olmer (W4EJO) explained that “Net Budget” is an estimated budget for the year.

5)  Membership Chair’s Report – Joe McGee (NX4T)

For this month, we have 51 paid single members and three paid family members who carried four additional family members with them. In addition, we have 19 Lifetime members. The total number of members for this month is 77.

6)  VE Status Report – Jeff Stahl (K4BH)

Jeff Stahl (K4BH) reported that he might have a location for testing in Coral Springs. He met with a lady from CS, and she has a community room available just off of the police station, and we could probably squeeze 20 people in there; if COVID numbers drop off, we could get up to 30 people in there. No details are worked out yet.

There is also a possibility of using some of the community rooms at the parks for our meetings. The lady suggested contacting the parks. Jeff Stahl (K4BH) did not have the chance to follow up on that yet. Each park has a big room we could book, but we don’t know if there will be any cost for the Club.

7)  Repeater Report – Ricky Eaton (KD4HGR)

Ricky Eaton (KD4HGR) reported that the .610 repeater has a few issues. One of them being interfering, static noise. We have not figured out yet, the origin of the noise. We know it is coming from the outside. Ricky Eaton (KD4HGR) asked if anybody could hear the noise to check on the input and report to him the QTH and whether or not the station could hear the noise.

We now have a spare UHF antenna. We have two complete spare repeater systems. One is sitting at the house of Kenny Hollenbeck (KE4NC), donated by Mike Wolf (K2HXC). Terry and John donated the other system; it is a dual-band system.

Ricky Eaton (KD4HGR) has also contacted the BARA to see what will happen with the Club, and he found out that the Club will try to get members back into the Club. BARA also talked to the Palmetto Club and DCARA.

Joe McGee (NX4T) asked if it was possible to replace the current .610 machine with one of the spare repeaters to test if we could eliminate the noise. Ricky Eaton (KD4HGR) explained that it would not be that easy because of the cabels going to the CAT controller. The cables are made specifically for the repeater we are using right now. If we replaced that repeater without having the proper wires, we would have no courtesy tone or anything like that.

Jeff Stahl (K4BH) mentioned that the PL tone is not turned on, and turning on the PL tone could eliminate the noise if it is a random interference. If the noise still makes it through the repeater, we know the interference is intentional. Unfortunately, we cannot turn on the PL tone because of issues with the CAT controller. For reasons unknown at this time, the decoding does not work correctly, and once the PL tone is turned on, the repeater will not key up anymore, not even with the correct PL sent.

8)  Web Admin Report – Charlie Artner (KN4VDW)

Charlie Artner (KN4VDW) reported no significant changes to the website. The only new feature added is a contact form to make it easier for visitors or members to contact the board members. The contact form can be reached by clicking on “Contact Us” at the main menu at the very top of the page.

9)  Announcements

a)    GCARA Quarterly Dinner

This Sunday evening, October 3, 2021, at 19:00 EDT (23:00 UTC), the Club hosts the quarterly dinner at Wings Plus on Sample Road.

b)   Sunshine Committee

Hope Smith (WB3ANE) is our new member of the Sunshine Committee.

10)      Speaker: Jeff Stahl (K4BH)

Jeff is going to host a game of Kahoot.

11)       Adjournment

Melanie Fernandez (KJ4VCT) adjourned the meeting at 20:00 EDT (00:00 UTC).