Tag: meeting

Minutes: December 17, 2019

The meeting was called to order at 1845 by Larry Cannon, KØSFV, secretary.

Joe Pajor, KBØKFH, introduced our guest speaker, Tony Haidai, NØXXU. Tony is a retired master sergeant in the Kansas Air National Guard/U.S. Air Force with 26 years of total service. He was employed in flight simulation at the Flight Safety Lear Jet Learning Center at KICT for 16 years retiring in 2016. Currently he is an adjunct instructor at Butler County Community College. Tony has been in amateur astronomy since 1968, and has been in the Kansas Astronomical Observers as vice president, treasurer and secretary since 2000. He has held amateur radio Technician-class license NØXXU since 1987. Tony gave a very interesting PowerPoint presentation that included a lot of photos taken by amateur astronomers of the moon, nebulas, and galaxies. He talked about radio astronomy, a subfield of astronomy.

Following the program, no business was conducted due to not having a quorum present.

Meeting adjourned at 1940.

Preview: December 17, 2019

Please note: We will be meeting one week earlier than usual, due to the Christmas holiday.

Joe Pajor, KBØKFH, has lined up another great program for us for our last meeting of the year. It will be of general interest in connection with the Christmas season.

We need to elect officers for 2020 since we didn’t have time to do that at the October meeting. All offices are open for nominations: President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer.

We hope to see you there. As always, you are welcome to bring your spouse or another friend.

Minutes: October 29, 2019

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1900.

Joe Pajor, KBØKFH, introduced Jim Stafford, AJ5BS, who presented Part 2 of “My Submarine Career.”

He served aboard USS Seawolf (SSN 575) from 1972 to 1975. His talk included information about the nuclear reactors on board submarines and other general information about serving on submarines.

He answered questions from the audience, and his program concluded at 2025.

We didn’t have a business meeting after the program since the restaurant was closing. Election of officers will be at the December meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 2030.

Minutes: April 30, 2019

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1840.

Minutes of the February meeting and financial report were approved.

Old business: None

New business: There has not been a policy of paying for the meal of a Chapter 79 member who presents a program for a meeting. The Chapter has been doing that for non-members. Harold asked for thoughts about doing that for Chapter members who present a program. After discussion, Jerry, ACØRL, moved that Chapter 79 pay for meals for Chapter 79 members who present programs. Second by Henry, WØIE. Motion passed.

President Harold Childress said he needs to step down as president at the end of this year and won’t serve for another term. Secretary-Treasurer Larry Cannon said he needs to step down from that office at the end of this year, too. So, next October, we need to elect another president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer.

Harold asked that we all introduce ourselves.

Lloyd McCombs, KØLM, mentioned that his wife, Jeanette, passed away March 18. Our sincere condolences to Lloyd.

Shaun Halstead, KØPER, presented a very interesting program about ham radio testing. He started with some amateur radio statistics that showed that there are more licensed amateur radio operators in the United States today than at any time since 1912 when licensing began. As of January 2019, there are 755,952 licensed ham radio operators.

Shaun talked about Laurel Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC). Laurel doesn’t charge a testing fee. Wichita Amateur Radio Club (WARC) has a Volunteer Examiner team associated with Laurel VEC. Shaun is the Team Leader of the VE team.

Shaun also gave information about the felony question on the license application form.

Meeting adjourned at 2020.

Preview: April 30, 2019

At our next meeting, Shaun Halstead will tell us about recent changes and trends in amateur radio licensing.

Shaun is 41 years old, and has been licensed since April 1993.  Formerly NØWHG, he upgraded to General and changed his call to KØPER in 2013, then upgraded to Extra in 2014.  In 2015, the Wichita Amateur Radio Club decided to form a VE team under the Laurel VEC, and he joined the team under Frank Blake, AA4FB (formerly ADØNA).  With Frank moving to Florida, Shaun took over as team leader in 2016.  He is currently chair of the WARC Field Day Committee and owns MSI Tech Services, a computer services company.

Minutes: February 26, 2019

Ben Bogner tells club members about “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” Photo courtesy of Mark Bogner.

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1835. Minutes of the December 2018 meeting were approved. Motion by Joe Pajor; second by Gary Essells.

Harold asked that we give Joe Pajor a hand for doing a good job as vice president even without the designation. Harold asked that all members please help with finding programs. We need a program for the April meeting.

If you know hams who are eligible to join QCWA, please invite them to attend our next meeting.

Bryon Cannon, webmaster, thanked Dale Puckett for his articles for our chapter’s website. If you have something of interest for the website, please e-mail it to QCWA79@gmail.com

There was a clarification that just names and call signs of members will be in the public part of the website. Additional information might be available in a members-only section.

Please respond to meeting notices. You might get one from our president, and one from our secretary. We like to let the restaurant know ahead of the meeting how many people to set up for.

Guest speaker Ben Bogner gave a very interesting program, “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” He explained what gravitational waves are, how they are detected, and why astronomers care about them.

Meeting adjourned at 1940.

Preview: February 26, 2019, meeting

Our guest speaker will be Ben Bogner. His topic will be “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” What are gravitational waves, how can we detect them here on earth, and why do astronomers care? Bogner will take you through a crash course on gravitational wave theory, detection methods, and how a budding astrophysicist from Wichita collaborated with international and NASA scientists to probe the most up-to-date methods for finding gravitational waves.

Bogner graduated in December 2018 from Benedictine College in Atchison with a double major in physics and astronomy. He participated in two NASA internships as an undergraduate: one with NASA Langley Research Center and one with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He plans to use his research project and connections at NASA Goddard to support his pursuit of a Ph.D. in physics or astrophysics with a to-be-determined graduate institution. He plans to do research with NASA as a postdoctoral student for a number of years before going into academia as a university professor of physics and astronomy.


Preview: October 30, 2018, meeting

QCWA Chapter 79 will meet at 6:30 p.m. October 30. Our speaker is expected to be someone from the Civil Air Patrol.

At this meeting we will have nominations of officers for next year.  Our officers are President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer.  We need to nominate a complete slate of officers so we can function efficiently.

We especially need to nominate and elect a Vice President.  He chairs the meeting if the President is unable to attend the meeting.  He is also the person who secures a program for each of the meetings.  Throughout the year he will be happy to hear from members who are willing to present a program or who know of someone who will do a program for a meeting.

Self-nominations are allowed and even encouraged.  But if you are a bit shy, ask someone else to nominate you.  Please check ahead of time with anyone you wish to nominate to be sure they are willing to serve in an office.

Preview: August 28, 2018, meeting

Our speaker for the August 28 meeting will be Coy Terry, WØZWS.

After serving in the Army, Coy worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. He performed maintenance and did all of the electrical work on the rig. While employed on the rigs, he experienced Hurricane Katrina; he was housed in the Superdome in New Orleans and then transferred to various states from there. He had an interesting experience while in Cheyenne, WY, which maybe he’ll tell us about.

In 1986 Coy earned his baccalaureate in astrophysics from Louisiana State University as a result of his interest in astronomy. He studied clusters and wrote articles for several astronomy magazines.

Coy’s eyesight started going bad in 2006, possibly related to his stay in the Superdome. It is a slowly developing condition which will most likely result in total blindness.

In 2013, Coy went for his first amateur radio license and tested through to Extra Class. About two weeks later, he traveled to Kansas City where he took the commercial broadcasting exam. By this time, Coy had to have someone read the questions to him as he could no longer see well enough to read. Even though visually challenged, he worked in the broadcasting field repairing broadcast equipment for a number of years.

In amateur radio, Coy has enjoyed reconditioning tube-type receivers and transmitters. Yes, he has even learned how to solder, after burning his fingers countless time. His other passion is in antenna design. Not content with only the technical aspects of amateur radio, he has earned several difficult-to-get awards. Coy is a very accomplished CW operator, which is his favorite mode.

No doubt, Coy will have some interesting tales to regale us with. Hope to see you there.

Minutes: June 26, 2018

There was no formal business meeting.

Attendance was 11 members, 1 guest.

Jerry Kahn, ACØRL, presented an interesting program about reforming electrolytic capacitors. Jerry explained that the plates inside of an electrolytic capacitor slowly lose their insulating oxide layer as it sits unused for a number of years. As the insulating oxide layer depletes, the capacitor’s internal resistance lowers, eventually to nearly zero ohms. Permanent damage will occur if a sufficiently high current is applied to an electrolytic capacitor with depleted oxide layers.

The safest way to reform an electrolytic capacitor is to apply a constant low current (5 ma maximum) to the capacitor, with its rated voltage. When the capacitor is fully reformed, the current drops off sharply to a leakage current value on the order of microamps.

The next meeting will be August 28, 2018.