Attending: Jason KF5EJX, David W5DUH, Jim AB5JK, Cici AA5EK, Mary KU5Z, Erik K5WW and Richard N5YPJ.
We are going to participate in the Texas QSO Party, September 28 and 29. This is a short (18 hrs) phone/CW contest, in 2 segments. It runs from 9 AM central time to 9 PM central time on Saturday; and again from 9 AM central until 3 PM central time on Sunday. Participants outside of Texas get extra points for every TX county they make a contact with; and because of the lack of contesters in Uvalde county it is always in high demand. Should be a truck load of fun; so stop by the shack if you can!
This will be the first time we will be using our new call sign: KN5S. Yep, you read that right: KS5TX has been retired. KN5S was assigned to us on Saturday September 21, after a nail-biting 18 days of waiting, and a short battle with David AC5LS, who had also applied for KN5S. Sorry David, better luck next time! 🙂
With the club having a new call K5WW is looking for a good way to use the old KS5TX QSL cards. And we will need new QSL cards for KN5S, so the audience was asked to think of a good QSL design, such as the most famous building or feature in Uvalde.
The hole for the new tower will be dug after the TX QSO Party. After that the concrete will be poured, which needs to cure 28 days before the tower can be installed. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
David W5DUH reports that arrangements have been made to remove the repeater from its current location to inside the radio shack. That should be complete by the end of the week; but the repeater might not be active again until the new tower is in use. Also, because of the club’s new call sign David shut off the repeater remotely, until he can get his hands on the equipment to change the ID to KN5S. As soon as the repeater goes live again it should be on a different frequency pair as well.
Treasurer Cici AA5EK reports that the club has close to $800 in an old sock under her mattress. Shortly after that announcement president Jason KF5EJX asked the members to bring some suggestions to next meeting’s table regarding HF beams and rotators. Will do, sir!
The meeting was adjourned at 7:43 PM.