Florida Repeater Council, Inc. Minutes of Business Meeting September 13, 2003 Melbourne, Florida ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The open forum was started at 3:00 PM on September 13, 2003 by President Ray Kassis, N4LEM. The following staff was in attendance: Directors in attendance were: District 1: District 2: Mark Filla, KS4VT District 3: Karen Power, KD4DJX District 4: Mike Fletcher, NI4M District 5: Ralph Betts, KC4SGG District 6: Dave Armbrust, AE4MR District 7: Ted Wirick, W4YJC District 8: Staff Members in attendance were: President: Ray Kassis, N4LEM Vice President: Ira Bickham, K8HRR Secretary/Treasurer: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Database Manager: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK President Kassis introduced himself and welcomed all present. 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 where no participation by the members would be allowed. No roll call is conducted during the open forum but the districts are well represented. Dan Derwart, KE4GWT, is the trustee of the 444.600+ repeater in Winter Park. He plans to move the repeater 5 miles west and to 200 feet but the uncoordinated upside-down repeater is causing a feedback loop. The coordinator explained that the Tampa repeater is not coordinated; therefore the FCC will need to get involved. Last contact with Riley Hollingsworth was about a year ago. President Kassis recommended that the owner submit request for change in parameters to the coordinator. An offer to supply a CTCSS board was made but refused. The Tampa repeater is carrier access and passes tone. Director Mike will help resolve the situation. Ray Vaughan, KD4BBM is the trustee of the 146.760- MHz repeater in Coral Gables. An adjacent-channel repeater is in-service on 146.775- MHz only 8 miles away. Ray has been in contact with Director Nilo, who said he would resolve the situation but nothing has been done. The coordinated 146.775 almost meets the adjacent-channel requirement but it is apparently out-of-service and a new repeater is in-service in a new location with a different call sign. The repeater's deviation is estimated at 2 kHz in and 6.5 kHz out. This is causing considerable splatter to the 146.760-. The coordinator reported that the 146.775- was coordinated in 1994 but is conditional due to adjacent channel conflicts. The 146.775- can be de-coordinated but the FCC would need to get involved to remove it from the service. Its coordinated location is Miami but no enclosing streets are indicated. Current location is Hialeah at Palm (zero) Avenue & 35th Street. Coordinates are 25 deg 51 min 13 sec by 80 deg 16 min 58 sec. Ray will confirm GPS coordinates of the operating 146.775-. Last update of the 146.775- was 3 years ago. The voice identifier is also over-deviating. Steve Zingman, N4IRS inquired about a proposal or request to change to the 900 MHz band plan (away from the ARRL plan) in use by the SouthEast Repeater Association (SERA). Director Mike indicated he received correspondence concerning this change. The change is an increase of repeater split from 12 to 25 MHz. This would alleviate interference from part 15 devices (cordless phones, video rabbits) and allow commercial equipment to be more easily adapted. Weak signal users would move down 500 kHz. Mike indicated he would like to present the proposal during the business meeting, publish it and vote on it at Orlando. Mario Leiva, KR4DQ indicated his 1,000 foot repeater on the Dade/Broward border is suffering interference from a television station remote on 450-451 MHz. A friend is coordinated on 442.525+ and would be willing to relinquish it. There is a paper co-channel is in Delray Beach (last update in 1994). Mario's existing 444.350+ would move further south (about 50 miles) and lose antenna height. Director Mark has no objection to this change and will send direction to de-coordinate Delray Beach. Vince Weil K4JC of Sebastian (Indian River county) indicated he had applied for a 2-meter repeater that is paper in Vero Beach (145.410-). This repeater has been inactive for 3 years. The trustee of the Vero Beach coordination indicated to Vince that the pair is inactive and he has no immediate plans to activate. The coordination has been updated recently. The 60-day confiscation procedure was described to Mr. Weil. He was directed to place his repeater in service and notify the director who will notify the coordinator. [Coordinator's note: QRZ reports Mr. Weil's address is Three Way, Tennessee, effective 11/29/03.] President Kassis thanked all who attended and expressed their opinions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The business meeting was called to order at 4:05 PM on September 13, 2003 by President Ray Kassis, N4LEM. The Secretary determined that a quorum of qualified Directors were in attendance: Directors in attendance were: District 1: District 2: Mark Filla, KS4VT District 3: Karen Power, KD4DJX District 4: Mike Fletcher, NI4M District 5: Ralph Betts, KC4SGG District 6: Dave Armbrust, AE4MR District 7: Ted Wirick, W4YJC District 8: Staff Members in attendance were: President: Ray Kassis, N4LEM Vice President: Ira Bickham, K8HRR Secretary/Treasurer: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Database Manager: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Report deferred. SECRETARY'S REPORT: The minutes of both February meetings (2/1/03, 2/8/03) have been posted on the FRC web site. Director Mike made a motion which was seconded by Director Mark to waive reading the minutes and approve them as posted. Motion passed unanimously. The newsletter was mailed during the 3rd week in August. Of the 634 mailed, 60 came back. The directors have picked through the returns to research addresses. TREASURER'S REPORT: The FRC Secretary/Treasurer reported the following: Opening balance, 2/5/03: $7,712.99 Income: $1,919.98 Expenses: $1,153.94 Balance: 9/11/03: $8,479.03 Paypal donation system was activated soon after the February meeting. To date $264 (after Paypal fees of 59 cents per transaction) has been donated. WEBMASTER'S/DATABASE MANAGER/COORDINATOR'S REPORT: The database currently contains 1,123 repeaters. A list of repeaters to be omitted from next report to the ARRL has been posted on the web site. The database manager has requested that the directors not update repeaters unless the trustee has specifically requested it. Simply updating because the repeater is known active relieves the trustee of his responsibility. Fifty-nine coordinations or transfers were completed to date. Also, one frequency change was approved. Fourteen repeaters were decoordinated, fourteen approved relocations. There are fifteen pending applications to be processed. REPORTS OF DIRECTORS: District 1: No report. District 2: 442.600 and 44.625 were coordinated and active, 145.190 was de-coordinated. KD4CPG in Jupiter had requested a change of location for his 443.800+ repeater. He was supposed to submit the request. The coordinator did not know if a request had been submitted and explained the order in which incoming applications are processed. For example, short-forms are processed first. 444.125 WPB is active. For the 146.880 new hardware was received from Motorola. Database manager was not notified. Coordinator reports no 443.800 in the district. 147.120 operational but on list of repeaters to be omitted. 146.985 is now coordinated to NERD group. 146.865 was issued to Archie 147.015 uncoordinated move in Miami. Coordinator reports receiving nothing. District 3: Eric Power reporting 146.61, 146.85 444.425 transferred. Okeechobee repeater transferred. 442.250 Cocoa Beach de-coordinated. 146.715 down for repair. 147.105 down for repairs. District 4: Quiet except for upside-down 440 repeater. 145.130 issue was resolved but continue to receive emails requesting coordination, which is not possible due to co-channel in Venice. Some hams think that a coordination is sold along with repeater hardware. Bartow owner that requested coordination, was erroneously issued a pair has installed a repeater on 146.550 out, 147.550 in. To prevent errors in the future, it might be a good idea for the directors to review the coordination before it's issued. It was decided to add all directors to the distribution list for applications and updates submitted on-line. The 147.105 in Punta Gorda has made changes to reduce coverage overlap with Tampa. District 5: Coy Hilton complained about the delay in transferring the coordination on 145.13 and obtaining the 146.700. Both were completed. District 6: All quiet. District 7: All quiet. District 8: All quiet. OLD BUSINESS: The Coordinator was directed to allocate two pairs in the sub-442 band for state-wide emergency use. A request for four frequencies has been submitted to FADCA (Russ Oder, N4KOX). President Ray asked Bill Sinbine, N4XEO to check into it. Nothing received to date. FADCA has designated 145.090 MHz for emergency data use. The Database Manager has setup a server that allows the FRC staff to search and print database records. It has unlimited access. The Database Manager will notify staff of any changes to the web IP address. Two newsletters will be mailed to each coordinated trustee by first-class mail per year. NEW BUSINESS: A motion was made by Director Mike to designate repeater pairs 441.725+, 441.750+, 441.775+ statewide for transportable, temporary repeaters used only for emergencies. Motion was seconded and passed. A motion was made to designate the repeater pair 146.550 (output), 147.550 (input) statewide for transportable, temporary repeaters used only for emergencies. Motion was seconded and passed. A motion was made, seconded and approved to implement the following policy immediately: When a new repeater coordination is approved, a conditional, non-renewable, six month coordination will be issued. Once the District Director and Coordinator are notified that the repeater is in-service, a full two-year coordination will be granted. A repeater will be considered uncoordinated on the expiration date of the coordination, even if the repeater is still in-service. It is solely the repeater trustees’ responsibility to renew the coordination before its expiration date if they wish to remain coordinated. If the two-year coordination expires it may still be renewed during a six-month grace period after expiration date. If the coordination is not renewed during the six-month grace period, the pair will become immediately available to be reissued at the end of the six-month grace period without notice. A coordination cannot be renewed after the six-month grace period. An application for new repeater coordination would need to be submitted. Effective immediately, no new or renewal repeater coordinations will be granted without an expiration date. Without exception, no coordination will be renewed if the repeater is not in-service. An exception or extension can be granted by the Board of Directors in the event a repeater is under repair or is relocating. Expired repeater coordinations will be listed on the Council web site, http://florida-repeaters.org/. A letter will be mailed to all trustees that have not updated their coordination in the last two years stating that their coordination has expired and will be revoked if an update is not submitted. If the letter is returned undeliverable, then the coordination will be immediately revoked. After 3/1/2006, the only notice a coordinated trustee will receive is an entry in the list of expired coordinations on the Council web site. A motion was made, seconded and approved to re-designate the Orlando HamCation as the permanent meeting place for the annual business meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 PM by President Ray Kassis. Respectfully submitted Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Secretary