Minutes of Monthly Meeting

Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club
Roy Noon Hall, Fallbrook, California
May 3, 2008

President Jon Bart, K6QVA, called the meeting to order at 1500.

The pledge was recited.

President Bart asked everyone in attendance to introduce themselves.

It was announced that Paul Sautter, W6SJL, recently passed his Extra Class License Exam.

Ken, W6MF, gave the following financial report:

Checking Balance March 31, 2008	$1,907.57
Petty Cash Balance March 31, 2008	$27.94
Total	$1,935.51

APRIL INCOME
FARC Membership Dues	$20.00
Tech Q & A Manual Book Purchases	$60.00
Total	$80.00

APRIL EXPENSES
No Expenses	$0.00
Total	$0.00

Checking Balance April 30, 2008	$1,987.57
Petty Cash Balance April 30, 2008	$27.94
Total	$2,015.51

Ken also announced that Ron, KG6HSQ, Randy KD6UAK and he had assisted Phil Leonelli, WF6L to administer license exams on May 2nd to students at Iowa Street School. That testing produced four new Technician Class licensees and Alex, KG6ZOZ upgraded to Extra Class during that session.

It was also announced that the current Technician Class that is being conducted at the Community Baptist Church will complete the regular class sessions on May 13th and there will be a review session conducted on May 20th. A test session is scheduled for May 27th and the exam is open to everyone. All three exams (Technician, General and Extra) will be available. The exams are being conducted at the Community Baptist Church, 731 S. Stagecoach (Near Intersection of Reche and S. Stagecoach) on May 27th at 7:00PM. Anyone wishing to take the exam or upgrade is welcome and should contact Ken by e-mail of phone.

Ron, KG6HSQ, gave a “wrap-up” report on the Avenue of the Oaks Bicycle Ride and the recent Avocado Festival. FARC provided communications for both of these events. Ron met with the Oaks Bicycle staff and they were pleased with the assistance provided by our radio operators. It was suggested to Ron that he might ask that the Bicycle Staff to make provisions for “sweepers” at the end of the race. This year Wayne, WD6AHX, on his motorcycle provided the sweep along with a bicycle repair vehicle neither who were scheduled to do so. Ron also suggested that the starting times for the races might be more condensed next year. This year the starting times were really spread widely and it made utilization of radio operators and other volunteers rather difficult. Ron indicated that quite a few riders did not display their numbers and that made it difficult to report accidents, need for assistance and other issues where rider identification would have been a help.

Ron also reported that he had attended the wrap-up meeting for the recent Avocado Festival. He reported that the Chamber of Commerce was very pleased again with FARC’s participation and assistance. Amateur Operators were given a cap with Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club embroidered on it this year. The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce provided these caps. The set-up went smoothly. Packets to vendors were mailed out with different arrival times this year which helped with the set-up. He said that “Key” Chamber Staff had commercial radios that worked well within the downtown area but Paul, W6SJL, works directly with Bob Leonard so there is a constant exchange of information from Chamber Radio Information to Amateur Radio Information as well as in the reverse. Ron said that the Chamber said that this was “one of best up to this point”. The Chamber also posted a “Thank You” page in the North County Times and Village News thanking individuals, by name, for there assistance.

Ron said that he would not be able to take the lead in organizing Field Day this year because of caring for his father.

Ron said that the interference from the Whittier repeater has been resolved. He finally had to get Riley Hollingsworth with the FCC involved to get it fixed.

Ken reported on the continuing saga with the WB6NIL 445.600 Mhz repeater interference. The interference from this repeater was first observed in July or August 2007. The repeater is located in Palos Verdes and is an un-coordinated repeater that has very good coverage into Fallbrook in different areas. Unfortunately it has good coverage in FARC’s primary coverage area along the I-5 corridor especially between San Onofre and Oceanside. The interference has been reported to both WB6NIL and finally to Riley Hollingsworth at the FCC informing both of them that the repeater is causing interference and is an un-coordinated repeater. To date there has been quite a bit of correspondence with both WB6NIL and Hollingsworth but no solution to the problem. For some reason Hollingsworth is very non-committal on the issue and it appears that WB6NIL, Jim Dixon, has no interest in cooperating at all. He has said that “there is no coverage from his repeater to the South” (of Palos Verdes).

Bob, W6VR, discussed the use of “Smartmeters” by SDG&E. Apparently these meters are being “tested” in the Fallbrook area and transmit a signal that a meter reader can detect with an electronic device and read the meter. Bob indicated that the Palomar repeater has had some interference from such a meter at one of their locations. He asked Ron if this could be a possible source for the “desense” activity on FARC’s 2-meter repeater? Ron said that he has not had time to check this possibility out as of this time. Steve, KE6GXP, said that this type meter not only provided electronic readings to a meter reader but they also provided a constant monitoring all the way back to the electric company. These meters supply the power company a constant stream of data and usage information. He said that at some point power companies will be incorporating this information into their billing system to bill based on usage and other factors. He said that the meter reader would actually no longer need to come on-site to read a meter even electronically because the data is already being collected from a central location.

With no further business the meeting adjourned at approximately 1620.

Ken Dickson, W6MF
Secretary/Treasurer