Grounding Presentation
K5JBT did this presentation on Grounding and it is highly recommended
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMUcgPjWD7ttZLAI2O3xf2BadTH0clcd/view
K5JBT did this presentation on Grounding and it is highly recommended
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMUcgPjWD7ttZLAI2O3xf2BadTH0clcd/view
Winter Field Day will be held on January 29/30, 2022. KARS will setup at Cullen Park in Pavilion C as we normally do. The event runs from 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Saturday to 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Sunday. KARS wants to make this a successful social event and will be providing Lunch and refreshments. The plan is to start setup around noon. Please use the signup form if you plan on attending so we can get an estimated head count for ordering food. https://forms.gle/eemhq46HUyE7EEuf8
The event is open to all so feel free to bring friends and family.
More information about Winter Field Day can be found here
https://www.winterfieldday.com/
Minutes from the KARS BOD November 29, 2021
Original agenda:
1. Apologies for absence
2. Treasurer report
3. Secretary report
* Activities coordinator report
4. General discussion
Meeting notes:
Our KARS board of directors meeting was conducted via Zoom.
The amateur radio field trip to the Senior Road Tower facility in Missouri City has about 30 members signed up.At the November General Meeting the members approved that KARS would contribute $150 towards the costs of refreshments and lunch.
To date, 22 sets of 6 tickets (132 tickets total) have been sold. A pack of 6 tickets costs $10 meaning that we already more than broke even on the Raspberry Pi 400 prize.
The meeting concluded at 7:54 PM.
Hielke Buddelmeijer
KARS Secretary
KI5JYX
Original agenda:
1. Apologies for absence
2. Treasurer report
3. Secretary report
4. Activities coordinator report
5. General discussion
Meeting notes:
Our KARS board of directors meeting was conducted via Zoom.
The Treasurer secured an amateur radio field trip to the Senior Road Tower facility in Missouri City. This is a 2000 foot mast (tower) that is used by the majority of the FM radio stations in Houston. We will get to see the combiner room, and hopefully we will get to see some of the Transmitter rooms. The date is Dec 11th at 10am. Participants need to sign up on a Google Doc. Information has been provided through the KARS listserver. If approved at the General Meeting, KARS will contribute $100 towards refreshments and lunch.
The members will be asked to approve the purchase of a (used) laptop during Black Friday / Cyber Monday to run Zoom during the General Meetings. The initial idea of using the Raspberry Pi 400 failed because the unix client for Zoom does not run on the processor the Raspberry Pi uses (AMD?).
Raffle Tickets will be created by the Secretary using the templates from last year. Care needs to be taken to include the legally required details. These aren’t too onerous but need to spell out the day of the drawing and the prize, among others.
The Christmas party and meeting will be held at Rudy’s at 1930 hours on the second Monday in December. The room has been reserved, with the understanding that should a paying party show up we will be bumped towards the patio in the front.
The meeting concluded at 7:50 PM.
Hielke Buddelmeijer
KARS Secretary
KI5JYX
Minutes from the KARS BOD May 31, 2021
(Held on Wednesday June 2 due to May 31 being Memorial Day)
Original agenda:
1. Apologies for absence
2. Treasurer report
3. Secretary report
4. Activities coordinator report
5. General discussion
Meeting notes:
In keeping with the continuing social distancing guidelines, our KARS board of directors meeting was conducted via Zoom. The original meeting was slated for May 31, but it being Memorial Day the meeting was moved to Wednesday June 2. The meeting started early at 7:20 pm.
The meeting concluded shortly before 8:00 pm as the Technical Session was about to start and uses the same Zoom link.
Hielke Buddelmeijer
KARS Secretary
KI5JYX
Original agenda:
1. Apologies for absence
2. Treasurer report
3. Secretary report
4. Activities coordinator report
5. General discussion
Meeting notes:
In keeping with the continuing social distancing guidelines, our KARS board of directors meeting was conducted via Zoom. The meeting started at 7:40 pm
The meeting concluded shortly before 8:20 pm.
Hielke Buddelmeijer
KARS Secretary
KI5JYX
Minutes from the KARS Monthly Meeting February 8, 2021
In keeping with the continuing social distancing guidelines, our KARS meeting was conducted via Zoom.
The meeting was started at 7:30 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance.
The meeting started off with an announcement that there were two slots available for Net Control on March 23 and 30.
Members were advised that membership dues are due by 1 April.
We did not secure a room for our face-to-face monthly meetings and the board and membership expressed the desire for a hybrid setup where members have the choice between joining in person and joining online.
We had a new member, George T Richards (WA9GUS; General Class) who was voted on by the members present. There being no dissenting votes he is now an official member of Katy Amateur Radio Society.
The working group lead by Louis Orlando (W5BWV) was asking for members to email their suggestions on membership recruitment and retention.
The treasurer reported that not all members had paid their dues yet and gave an update on the storage shed. The price was to increase to $72 in February, but we had countered with a lower offer. No news yet on that being accepted. The 5×10 storage unit is climate controlled.
The suggestion of an ice cream social with Brazos Valley was raised to establish potential collaborations.
The option of a DMR repeater for KARS was raised, but with the new one in Richmond that covers most of Houston there was not much to gain.
The meeting ended with a presentation by John Thurmond (K5JBT) on microprocessors. He showed what was possible with just a handful of dollars in equipment and a copy/paste code from freely available websites. During the presentation he showed how easy it was to create a light that would differ in brightness depending on the strength of the Rx signal. Specific equipment that was mentioned was: Pi Zero; Arduino ($30), Arduino Nano ($20), the Arduino Starter Kit ($36), and the Raspberry Pi Micro Controller (Pico RP2040 for $4). John showed that you don’t need advanced programming skills, and that there is a huge library that you can tweak to your particular purpose.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm
Hielke Buddelmeijer KI5JYX
Secretary KARS
The meeting started at 7:30 with the Pledge of Allegiance.
This month’s presentation was by Robert Powell, KF5GHD on the topic of batteries, loading, charging and building a power source. Lithium batteries will cover a range of applications, some of the parameters that need to be identified are: Type and size of load, what period of time needs to be covered and what size requirements do you desire, portable or larger stationary systems.
Roberts contact information is available and if there are enough interested parties a workshop session could be scheduled.
KARS Business
The Board of Directors meeting minutes were previously shared, a motion was made by Charlie, KT5BBQ and seconded by Tom, AE5TG… A majority show of hands accepted the minutes.
Upcoming Events
The Annual KARS Christmas Party will be held on December 9th at 7:30 pm at Rudy’s BBQ, located at 21799 Katy Fwy. Join us for a good time, bring the family, there will be door prizes and the drawing for the winning raffle ticket. Raffle tickets continue to be available so don’t miss the opportunity for a chance to win the “Shack in a Pack”!
Smoke Alarm Blitz Results from 11/9
Attempted 169 homes, Entered 58 – 34%, Installed 235 smoke alarms, Installed 59 CO alarms
Thanks to those who participated and helped make the community safer.
We have two new club members voted in:
Kurt G. Ristig, W7TL who holds an Extra license
Alexander Park, KI5GTT who also holds an Extra License
Alex received his Technician license on 10/10/2019. He then attended the KARS VE Session on 11/9, where he took and successfully passed both the General and Extra License Exams. Alex is 11 years old.
QRZ published the official Field Day numbers:
The Multi Group official results were: First Place for 10A stations and 6th total standing overall.
We had 27 members and one visitor in attendance.
Net Control 11/19 Bob WB3EWP
Net Control 11/26 Tom AE5TG
Meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm.