FLORIDA REPEATER COUNCIL, INC. MINUTES OF OPEN FORUM AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING SEPTEMBER 8, 2001 MELBOURNE, FLORIDA The following staff were in attendance: Directors in attendance were: District 1: Nilo A. Hernandez, W4HN District 2: District 3: District 4: Paul Knupke Jr., KR4YL District 5: District 6: Dave Armbrust, AE4MR District 7: Ted Wirick, W7YJC District 8: Frank Butler, W4RH Staff Members in attendance were: President: Ray Kassis, N4LEM Vice President: Ira R. Bickham Jr., K8HRR Secretary/Treasurer: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Database Manager: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK
The open forum was started at 2:00 PM on September 8, 2001 by President Ray Kassis, N4LEM. President Kassis welcomed all present and explained that the first part of the meeting would be an open format, where anyone could express any thoughts. This portion of meeting would lead into the formal portion of the meeting when completed. Mario Leiva, KR4DQ requested clarification from the Council concerning the use of a remote base attached to a 1,000 foot repeater that is used to access another distance repeater. Considerable discussion about interference to other users and repeaters along the path. Chuck Esposito, N4EHM, reported that he appeared before the FRC Board in February 2001 presenting the paperwork to acquire the 146.340/146.940 pair to replace the Florida Boys Ranch repeater. About 5 months later, the Coordinator returned his application with notice that the originally coordinated trustee, Mr. Dave Stocky, K4KE, planned to return his repeater to service. Mr. Esposito claims that the equipment is owned by the Boys' Ranch and not Mr. Stocky. Mr. Esposito claims that Mr. Stocky wants his callsign off the repeater. Mr. Joe Bushell has requested that Mr. Stocky transfer the coordination to him. Mr. Esposito claims that Mr. Bushell is the ARES representative of Columbia county and has been voted out of the County. Mr. Esposito claims that the Boys' Ranch wants the repeater removed. Mr. Esposito claims that the repeater has been inactive for more than two years. Considerable discussion followed. It was decided to entertain a motion during the business meeting to grant a coordination to Mr. Esposito. Mike Forsythe, KG4EMA, requested a 2-meter repeater pair in Jupiter. The coordinator indicated that no pairs are available. The frequency pair is 145.390 has a co-channel repeater 82 miles away. It was decided to entertain a motion during the business meeting to grant a conditional coordination to Mr. Forsythe. Doug Ferrell, KD4MOJ, reported that inactive repeaters previously reported are still listed in the directory. Considerable discussion about paper repeaters followed. Bill, N4XEO, reported that he heard a portable repeater was going to be coordinated with a 1 MHz split for emergencies. Considerable discussion followed. Open forum closed at 2:45 PM and formal portion of the meeting was opened.
The Board of Directors meeting was called to order at 2:45 PM on September 8, 2001 by President Ray Kassis, N4LEM, who determined that a quorum of qualified Directors were in attendance. President Kassis called for a motion to accept the minutes from the last meeting as published on the web and in the newsletter for all to read. The motion was made, seconded and passed. TREASURER'S REPORT: Opening balance: $7,918.84 Income: $1,860.00 Expenses: $1,985.79 Ending balance: $7,793.05 WEBMASTER REPORT: Website is receiving 20 hits per day. Have received spam from search engines. Newsletters are now posted. A new listing format has been implemented for the three most popular bands. Any comments are appreciated. New list of repeaters to be omitted from next report has been posted. It's up to the Directors to peruse the list and contact delinquent trustees. Coordinator's remailer may be of interest to the rest of the FRC staff. COORDINATOR/DATABASE MANAGER REPORT: A list of changes to the database is posted on the web site. An exact number of coordinations was unavailable. There is currently 1,101 repeaters in the database. How many of those are actually active is unknown. REPORTS OF DIRECTORS: DISTRICT 1: No problems. DISTRICT 2: The passing away of W4UJ removed the 146.88 repeater coordination in WPB and allows for full protection for the 146.88 in Ft. Lauderdale. The repeater 147.165 in WPB is experiencing some unknown interference recently and has been turned off until the interference can be identified. The interference keys the machine once every 2 to 3 seconds, interferes with communications, and is taxing the repeater. Due to lack of attention and electrical payment the 146.94 in WPB has been turned off by the tower owner. WA4FAP has neglected the repeater and it has drifted 1500 Hz off frequency and the TX audio is very distorted. The tower owner is going to re-enstate the frequency after 90 days and advise the Council that he wishes to begin the 60 day clock to transfer the coordination to him. The repeater 147.255 in Boca Raton has received a grant from the Federal Govt. to replace it's repeaters. The City of Boca is in the process of procuring the repeaters. Broward and Martin Counties are quiet. DISTRICT 3: No report. DISTRICT 4: Director Paul declares the Council involvement with the 146.640 interference complaint between Holiday and Orlando closed since it is being handled by the FCC. Considerable discussion followed. The uncooordinated upside-down 449.600 MHz repeater is still being operated by Wally Cashman, W4EFK who has informed Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC that he is not planning to change the configuration of his repeater even though he informed the Council that he was planning to invert it. Riley has not responded. The correctly-operating repeater in Winter Haven is still suffering interference. Considerable discussion followed. The 442.95 repeater in Oviedo has complained about interference from the Verna repeater. The directors believe that the operator is experiencing coverage overlap and not interference. DISTRICT 5: No report. DISTRICT 6: No problems. DISTRICT 7: The 147.075 repeater in Flagler beach is operating within its coordination. No further action is necessary. DISTRICT 8: Received letter from Lee Rodby indicating that he sent reports to Database Manager but received no response. The Database Manager indicated that he has processed the reports and responded. OLD BUSINESS: Coordinator Rodakis indicated that, at the last meeting, an amateur was going to author an article about the benefits of CTCSS (PL). There has been no article submitted, nor do we know who that amateur was. An article was prepared recently by Paul Toth, NA4AR. Copies were distributed to the Directors and President for review. If approved, it can be published on the web and newsletter. Certified mail procedure has been established. NEW BUSINESS: Database Manager Rodakis gave a history of an action he had in 1999 to locate more modern database software for fear of Y2K problems in the old File Express. None occurred during the rollover to 2000. He recently created a new database using a commercially available database program that he has been using on the Macintosh for a number of years called FileMaker Pro. It is available for Windows. Director Knupke indicated in a previous email that the directors should be allowed to obtain a copy and be reimbursed. President Kassis indicated in a previous email that he would like to see a demonstration of the software. A demo of the new database was conducted by the Database Manager. It was well received. The data can be exported back to File Express if needed. A motion was made and seconded for Director Knupke to research pricing on a volume purchase of FileMaker Pro. If not available, then each Director can purchase his own copy and be reimbursed by the Treasurer. A motion was made and seconded to require a minimum antenna height of 50 feet above ground level to the top of the antenna for coordination. Passed. Coordination policy needs to be reviewed to set minimum repeater spacing based upon frequency, output power and antenna height, instead of using a fixed separation of 85 miles for all cases. The Council needs to allocate a repeater pair on 144 and 440 MHz statewide for emergency use. This item is tabled until the Orlando meeting in February. The Council needs to develop a unified approach to dealing with paper repeaters. Considerable discussion followed. This item is tabled until the Orlando meeting in February. A motion was made and seconded to allocate $200 for printing and postage in support of legislation concerning tower building restrictions. Passed. A motion was made and seconded to grant a conditional coordination on 145.390 MHz to KG4EMA (club call W4SRT). Passed. A motion was made and seconded to grant a full coordination on 146.940 MHz to K4EHM. Passed. A notification letter will be sent to Joe Bushell and Dave Stocky. A motion was made and seconded instructing the Coordinator to notify the FCC the current status of the 449.600 repeater operated by Wally Cashman, W4EFK. Meeting adjourned at 4:10 PM. Respectfully submitted by Dana Rodakis, K4LK Secretary