Welcome to the MARC Newsletter a publication of the Michigan Area Repeater Council. This news letter is published quarterly in conjunction with the quarterly business meetings. If you prefer a columnized version of this newsletter click here for the columnized version.

Presidents Update:

Congratulations to the elected officers of MARC. Vice president; Dan Thompson, N8WKM. Treasurer; Dave Johnson, WD8DJB, and Board Member; Jim Kvochick, WB8AZP. All three have been with MARC for years and their dedication to the repeater Council is greatly appreciated.

The repeater council has a major problem in making new coordinations. We need to have frequency pairs that are coordinated but not in use returned to the pool. If you are holding a coordination, and your repeater is off the air, please send in a TDS and comment that you are returning the pair.

After the first of the year, I hope to start a program to gain back the unused coordinations by sending out notices of decoordination to all sponsors and trustees that are 3 or more years behind in their annual report. Those that do not reply will be decoordinated after 30 days.

At this time, there are very few 440 coordinations available in the Southern part of the state and 2 meters is generally unavailable in the South, until some unused pairs are returned.

MARC’S next electronic meeting will be conducted on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 1:00 PM. Info on how to join in the meeting will be found elsewhere in this newsletter.

73, Phil W8IC
w8ic@miarc.com

Database Manager's Corner

We have a number of TDS forms that are overdue. Over 28% of the repeaters in our database have not been updated in two or more year’s. If your TDS is not current, the deadline to have your TDS information included in the 2011 – 2012 ARRL Repeater Directory is 12/31/10. So take a minute and check your entry in the MARC Repeater Directory to see if it is time to update your records.

Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

Coordinators View:

There have been a number of requests that have had to be set aside due to the lack of available pairs. Many of these requests could probably be finished if people who are holding coordinations without having a repeater on the air would simply return those coordinations to the pool. If your repeater has been off the air for more than 6 months, you agreed to abandon the coordination and return the pair to the pool. Violations jeapordize future attempts at coordination. Are you one of the people who is violating the agreement of a coordination?

This is most surely going to be a topic at the next meeting.

Dan Thompson
Editor

Electronic Meeting Information:

The December meeting is an Electronic Meeting!

PHONE BRIDGE ONLY:

Dial In Number:    888-232-3870
Event ID:        603585#
   1. Dial into bridge using Dial In Number
   2. Enter Event ID
   3. If the meeting organizer is already present,
        you'll be connected. If not, you'll be
        placed on hold until the organizer appears.

WEBMEETING & Phone Bridge:

Your browser must be Microsoft™ Internet Explorer Version 4.x, 5.x or Netscape™ Communicator Version 4.x.

   1. Activate your Web Browser
   2. Go To https://connect2.uc.att.com/attinc/meet/?ExEventID=8603585
   3. Enter your name and email address
   4. Click on the "join event" button
   5. Once connected click on the telephone
       icon for dialing instructions.

Participation in the webmeeting is only needed for things like slideshow presentations, or use of a whiteboard where someone may need to do an illistration. It also allows us the opportunity to display the actual text of a motion for everyone to read. If you are unable to participate in the webmeeting you may still join in on the phone bridge from wherever you are.

The abilities for MARC to use the Phone Bridge and Webmeeting facilities has been brought to us by Jim WB8AZP and his employer.

We hope that moving to this format will increase participation by the membership of MARC so that we are better able to serve the amateur community.

MARC Meeting Minutes

Date: September 17, 2011
This meeting took place at the Delta Twp Fire Department, Lansing MI.

Officers:

President: Phil Manor, W8IC
Vice President: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Secretary: Ann Manor, KT8F
Treasurer: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
Director: Fred Moses, W8FSM*
Director: Jim Kvochick, WB8AZP
Coordinator: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Coordinator: Phil Manor, W8IC
Database Manager: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

Absent: none
Visitors: Ray Tomlinson W8PIE, Kurt Broman WU8V

Note: call signs of board members are not repeated in the minutes as they are listed above.

Meeting called to order by Phil at: 1:05 PM.

A motion to approve minutes from the June meeting was made by Dan, seconded by Fred; vote taken, minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s report provided by Dave. Motion to accept the report made by Ann, supported by Fred; vote taken, motion carried.

Old Business:

Elections:
Nominations were opened up for offices of vice-president, treasurer, and one board member. The ballot currently showed Dave for treasurer, Jim for board member, and Dan for vice president from the previous meeting in June 2011. There were no other nominations; the nominations were closed. Fred made a motion that the secretary should cast a unanimous ballot to re-elect the incumbents. Motion supported by Ann and was passed. The secretary then cast the unanimous ballot. Dave, Jim and Dan were elected to a two-year term. Next year, the office of president, secretary and one board member will be voted on.

A motion was made during the June 2011 meeting to change the bylaws as follows: Article III, part B, Section 3: Secretary. The secretary shall maintain accurate records of the events of each meeting of the MARC, and perform such other duties as are customarily associated with the title of secretary. The secretary shall also be responsible as resident agent with the state of Michigan, and shall either act as that agent or be responsible to see that another person shall be appointed by vote of the board to become resident agent with the state of Michigan.
Discussion as to why this change was needed took place during the June Meeting.
Call for additional discussion: none
Call for the vote: yes: 6; no: 0.
Motion carried.
The MARC bylaws contained on the MARC web page will be edited to reflect this change.

New Business:

A discussion took place regarding the co-channel clearance requirements when crossing Lake Michigan. MARC will continue with the present separation requirements for now.

Phil reported that he is working on seven 440 applications and also one 2 meter application. He is waiting on three decoordinations to continue on 440. Two of the 440 applications were for Moto-Trbo mode repeaters. Because of their design even though these are considered "narrow band" devices (using 2.5 KHz modulation bandwidth) and offer a digital voice mode, these repeaters will need to operate on a standard channel as opposed to the splinter channels offered to other digital voice repeaters.

Phil has not been unable to get a response from Jack Smits, KD8LLJ. He had submitted an application for a 440 repeater for West Michigan Amateur radio Club, KD8PHR. Phil reported that he had sent three emails and made one phone call with no results. Jack’s application is now at the bottom of the list. If anyone knows Jack or an any other officer of the West Michigan Amateur Radio Club, please contact Phil at w8ic@miarc.com.

Kurt, WU8V offered to help with coordinations. Phil will contact him with details concerning coordination procedures.

Adjornment:

Motion to adjourn made by Fred, seconded by Jim.
Motion carried.
Meeting closed at 1:55 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F, Recording Secretary

-----------------------------------------------

December Meeting Information:

December 3 2011
1:00 pm EST
Electronic Meeting
Callin Numbers:
    Toll-Free 888-232-3870
    Toll         805-240-9853
Access Code:    603585#   (For Bridge & Webmeeting)
Webmeeting URL: https://connect2.uc.att.com/attinc/meet/?ExEventID=8603585
Meeting Number: 8603585

Directions:

For the Conference Bridge:
Dial the callin number listed above.
Wait for the call to be answered by the automated receptionist.
When prompted enter the meeting number listed above followed by the #.

For the Web Meeting:
Click on the link provided above.
Enter your name and email address, then select the "join now" button.