ILLINOIS REPEATER ASSOCIATION
BOARD of DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
Friday, April 5, 2019
Holiday Inn Express
Urbana, IL
- Meeting called to
order by President Greg K9QI at 8:45 pm. Present were President Greg K9QI,
V/P Tim K9CQ, Sec’y/Treasurer Will W9WSS,
Directors Al K9SI, Steve WD9CIR, Milt K9QZI, Freq. Coordinator Aaron
N9OZB, & Mike AA9VI Technical Committee Chairman. Present also were
three representatives of the Wisconsin Association of Repeaters (W.A.R.).
- Will read the minutes
from last year’s Board meeting. Motion to accept, second, and passed.
- Will read the
Treasurer’s report. A discussion regarding Aaron’s and Will’s databases
being merged took place. At the time of mailing, the lists couldn’t be
merged, so post cards were sent to all coordinated repeaters, past
members, and paid IRA members. A future cut-off date of January 31, 2020
will be set and the lists will be merged at that time, no earlier. A
motion to accept, seconded, and passed.
- Frequency
Coordinator’s report was read by Aaron N9OZB and entered into the record.
A motion to accept the report, was seconded, and passed.
- Greg mentioned that
the only old business is the spectrum defense fund. We did not make a
donation last year. We previously took funds from input of repeater data
to ARRL for the repeater directory, and turned the funds back to them for
the spectrum defense fund. It will akso be
brought up at tomorrow’s general membership meeting.
- At present, the ARRL
is going through some major changes, and new positions are not totally in
place.
- We do have spectrum
attacks, and the ARRL said that they would lose the most recent battle
3550-3700 MHz, CBRS is being proposed. 1240-1300 MHz is back to being
stable. In the coming years, 420-430 MHz will be under attack, and is
currently in jeopardy.
- Aaron mentioned that
we no longer donate to Dave Karr KA9FUR of CTK Software, because he no
longer supports it for us. It will not be brought up at the general
membership meeting tomorrow.
- Aaron said that a
bunch of silent key systems need to be dealt with. Some of it has been
taken care of, others have not.
- A new frequency
coordinator from Missouri has been appointed. Aaron works with them along
with other adjoining states on a regular basis.
- Mike AA9VI has
located several non-working northern Illinois repeater systems. This info
has been shared with Greg and Aaron.
- Aaron said that
in-state interference issues between a Chicago and DeKalb system on
146.730 are ongoing. This issue needs to be resolved because the Chicago
system K9QKW is not running PL.
- Aaron is seeking a
possible assistant or replacement for his position of frequency
coordinator. He’s been doing it for 13 years now. KC9KKO was almost
completely trained, but stepped down unfortunately. Greg will ask the
floor tomorrow if anyone would be willing to assist Aaron.
- Greg said that
merging the coordinator’s and the membership roster will occur on each upcoming January 31st.
A 3rd party will merge both lists, and compile a viable mailing
list. The meeting notice should be sent out at about that point in time.
We need to nail down the date a year in advance for the future. Milt says
that the last part of March would work out better than into April because
of other commitments in the geographic area using facilities. Al suggested
choosing the last two weekends in March, and determine
which will work out the best for our annual meeting. This will be
mentioned at the general membership meeting tomorrow. Milt will attempt to
book hotel rooms in advance, once the schools’ schedules are located and
confirmed.
- Do we need to discuss
alternate sites, or remain in Champaign? As long as Al and Milt are OK
with staying, then we should remain here. Tim said that the Red Cross in
Springfield has a good meeting room as an alternate location if for some
reason our current location can’t be secured.
- Mike will give a
presentation about moving forward with open coordination by simulation.
Mike gave a few examples, and will explain this at the general membership
meeting tomorrow morning.
- Elections: The
following positions are open: President, Vice-President,
Secretary/Treasurer, and two Directors (Jerry Sebok
N9RBQ and Milt Forsberg K9QZI). So far, everyone has agreed to run again.
Nominations will also be accepted from the floor.
- Part of the UHF
spectrum 430-433 MHz should be looked into for hot spots. This will also
be brought up tomorrow at the general membership meeting. This will also
be discussed with surrounding states.
- Greg asked our guests
from WI if they had anything to add to the meeting. They were also looking
at a band plan for hot spots as previously discussed. System Fusion codes
were brought up as a proposed plan they discussed at their local level. WI
also would like to do frequency coordination by modeling. They are
interested in Mike’s presentation which will take place at tomorrow’s
general membership meeting. WI is also discussing the same issues we are
talking about.
- A motion to close the
meeting was made, seconded and passed. Greg closed the meeting at 10:30
pm.
ILLINOIS REPEATER
ASSOCIATION
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Windsor Road Christian
Church
Champaign IL
- Meeting called to
order by President Greg K9QI at 10:06 am. Present were President Greg
K9QI, V/P Tim K9CQ, Sec’y/Treasurer Will W9WSS,
Directors Al K9SI, Steve WD9CIR, Milt K9QZI, Frequency Coordinator Aaron
N9OZB, & Mike AA9VI Technical Committee Chairman. Absent was Jerry
N9RBQ due to a death in the family. Board members introduced themselves.
Surrounding states were also represented from Indiana and Wisconsin
Repeater Associations
- Reading of last
year’s minutes was dispensed, which was moved, seconded, and passed.
- Treasurer’s report
read by Will W9WSS, motion made to accept, seconded, and passed. Report
entered into the record.
- Aaron Collins N9OZB
Frequency Coordinator read the Coordinator’s Report; Motion made to accept
the report, seconded, and passed. The report has been entered in the
record.
- Greg mentioned that a
point of old business is the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund. IRA will not be
donating due to the fact that we are not submitting repeater information
to the ARRL, hence, not getting payment for our data, which we used to
turn around and submit back to the ARRL for the Spectrum Defense Fund.
- Mike AA9VI did a
presentation on coordination by modeling which he had a power-point
demonstration detailing this method. Other states were doing similar steps
along these lines. Aaron is also working with Mike on this process. The
power point presentation will be available and will ultimately be posted
on the IRA web site per Aaron.
- Greg mentioned that
Paul W9DWP, SK was unable to attend last year’s meeting due to illiness, and sadly, he passed away a few months
later. Mike AA9VI took over the position of Chairman of the Technical
Committee.
- New business; Greg
mentioned that Aaron stated we would be willing to work with RFinder for
future submission of repeater data in an acceptable format or method. If
this can be worked out, then our info will ultimately be published in an
ARRL repeater directory.
- Greg said that Kermit
W9XA was unable to attend our meeting, but sent an email explaining being
tied up with an ARRL meeting elsewhere. The email was read by Mike AA9VI
to the membership. At this time, the most accurate source of repeater
information is the IRA website, and no where else, per Aaron.
- Aaron said that the
info on the IRA website could be available as Chirp code plugs for Chinese
radios.
- Aaron went on the explain that 433-435 MHz may be considered for
hotspots. 446.400 MHz through 446.475 MHz may also be a possibility
- Springfield Red Cross
meeting center may also be a possibility for an upcoming annual meeting,
per Tim K9CQ. Greg said that we must meet in the central Illinois area.
The last two weekends of March 2020 will be considered for tentative dates
for the annual meeting. Members were encouraged to submit input to the
Board within the next 30 days for consideration.
- Greg thanked local
Champaign group for the gracious hosting of today’s meeting.
- A motion was made by
the floor to meet again in Champaign next year. It was seconded, and
passed, therefore, the 2020 IRA meeting will again be held in Champaign.
- Greg mentioned that
elections will take place today. Will took nominations for the open
positions, and with no further nominations from the floor, all positions
were elected by acclimation. President Greg K9QI, Vice-President Tim K9CQ,
Secretary/Treasurer Will W9WSS, Directors Milt K9QZI and Jerry N9RBQ.
- Greg said that
frequencies in the 3550-3700 MHz band are being considered for use by
other than Amateur Radio services.420-430 MHz is also being threatened to
be taken away from Amateur Radio by the FCC.
- A member from the
floor commented that there is not much use of repeaters in the area he
monitors within 50 miles of QTH. Use of all repeaters should be
encouraged! Greg said that we must use the spectrum, in several modes if
possible or possibly risk losing more Amateur Radio frequencies.
- Greg again mentioned
that Paul W9DWP, SK had done a great amount of work for Amateur Radio
through the years. A moment of silence was held in memory for Paul. There
is a memorial for Paul on the IRA web site. There are several other
members who have medical challenges.
- A motion to adjourn
was presented, seconded, and passed. Greg closed the meeting at 11:56
hours.
ILLINOIS REPEATER
ASSOCIATION
BOARD of DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
(after General Meeting)
Saturday, April 6,
2019
Windsor Road Christian
Church
Champaign IL
- Meeting called to
order at 1158 am by Greg K9QI.
- Board and Committee
members remained after the general membership meeting in attendance. Jerry
N9RBQ unable to attend.
- Chair of the
Technical Committee remains to be Mike AA9VI.
- Aaron N9OZB appointed
Frequency Coordinator for another year.
- There was no opposition for the 2020
meeting to be held the 3rd or 4th weekend of March
2020.
- Al K9SI said that
there had previously been general security issues at the Church, but not
with the IRA. Al did not foresee any future problems.
- Meeting closed by
Greg at 12:06 hours.