Emergency Preparedness Meeting
Feb 27, 2021

The meeting was called to order at 8:40 AM with the following members present: Keith/KI5US, Dick/W4NWD, Doug/K4DGG, Joe/W0QF, Dan/N2MEO

  • No report from Eric/WA4EMN on the progress of the “nag” to encourage everyone to complete their profile coming?
  • No report from Eric/WA4EMN on the capability to see who is not active on the website.
  • Dick/W4NWD reported on the status of the antenna and feedline project. Most of the feed lines are complete. A couple of lines need to be routed to from the patch panel to the cabinet where the DSTAR repeater is housed in preparation for the WinLink systems. Antenna connections still need to be checked and antennas analyzed. Jim/K2PLC is still working on the shack 12v system connection to the SGC tuners.
  • Dick/W4NWD reported install new UHF/VHF radio to support Winlink using the same SGC Modem and computer used by Winklink HF is nearly complete. The system will be tested and verified before it’s moved into the room next door.
  • Dick/W4NWD will work with Joe/W0QF to develop a flowchart or diagram of club message passing capabilities including both hardware and software supported and preferred. Hopefully, this will be ready for review before the next EPC meeting
  • Eric/WA4EMN will work on a standard for club RTTY compatible message passing modes and frequencies. There was some discussion about RTTY not being a good common denominator for message passing. It’s not supported by HRD or Flmsg. MT63-2KL and bpsk125 are preferred.
  • The Monday 4 pm message passing nets have been a great success and a good opportunity to develop proficiency and learn the capabilities of the members.
  • 20 new FRS radios were acquired and are ready for distribution.
  • Keith/KI5US reminded us that hurricane season is not all that far off and we need to decide how we are going to handle emergency power and if we needed to drill to test equipment readiness.
  • This led to a lengthy discussion on changing power distribution to 12v DC. There is some work to be done and this may be the next project after the antenna feed line project is complete.

The meeting adjourned about 9:20 am. The next EPC meeting will be held on March 27th at 8:30 am.
Respectfully submitted,
Doug/K4DGG

Doug (K4DGG)

By Doug (K4DGG)

Retired from the National Science Foundation in DC in 2006 and moved to Sun City Center. Became a ham a few years later.