June 18th Meeting

President Joe Loucka opened meeting at 1900 at the Activities Building of the Henderson Church of Christ.

Question arose to if we need to get new name tags. Motion by Gary Roeder, seconded by Barry Smith, to order new name tags for those members who do not now have name tags. Motion passed.

Field Day, 2009: unable to get the desired pavilion at Chickasaw State Park. Debate on whether or not to participate, due to many club member's pre-commitments. Decided not to participate in Field Day.

President Joe Loucka presented the evening's program, on amateur radio digital communications modes, including PSK-31, slow-scan tv, etc. The presentation was hampered by the lack of acceptable antenna at the meeting site, and was no one's fault. (The Club decided to check with the Church of Christ to perhaps get an okay to install a discreet wire antenna over the Activities Building. Such antenna would greatly enhance such on-the-air presentations, as tonight's program). Free software is available on-line for PSK-31 ops. PSK-31 is keyboard-to-keyboard commo, mostly without error correction. Speed limitation to about 50 wpm, comparing to CW. Most PSK-31 is found on 20 meters, around 14.070 Mhz. The mode gets through quite well, and QRP is often used. About 30 watts is considered most power that any station should run. What do you need to get on PSK-31? First, a radio (you could even use a scanner), a computer and sound card, two audio cables (two, if you transmit), one serial cable, most late-model computers do not have serial port, so need a USB to serial port converter, and software. Lots of software available free on the Web. Digipan is one such program that works well.

Try PSK-31---you will probably like it!

We are open to suggestions for the next month's program. Send suggestions to President J. Loucka. If anyone wishes to put on a club program, that would be great!

A VE test session will be Saturday, June 20, at the Pinson Church of Christ, at 0900.

In attendance: Joe and Sue Loucka, Dexel Burns, Thad Williams, Barry Smith, John Adams, Gary Roeder, Mike and Louise Burkhead, Mike Hurst, Teresa Davis, and Mr. John Rickard. We were especially pleased that Mr. Rickard attended. As most everyone knows, Mr. John has been residing in Colorado Springs, CO, for some time. Come by every time you can, Mr. John! We had a guest from the Jackson Amateur Radio Club, but I forgot to get his name. My apologies, sir. If I missed anyone else, please accept my apologies. Will try to do better.

Thanks to everyone who brought snacks and goodies to munch on! They were good, and much appreciated.

Meeting adjourned,
Mike Burkhead, K4TC
Secretary, Chester Co. Amateur Radio Club