Wilderness Road Amateur Radio Club (WRARC)
Monthly Meeting Minutes for 26 JULY 2022 – FINAL RECORD COPY
Hybrid meeting via Dennis’ Zoom account. (Thanks Dennis!)
Meeting called to order by President Mike May (KF4FMQ) at 1931 hours EDT.
Attendees: 14 attending members of 44 total:
Andy Rose (KI6SEP), Chris Galbreath (KG4UQL), Chris McCollough (KI4WKM), David Sexton
(AE4YM), Dennis Weiskircher (K3KZU), Doug Collins (KA4SWT), Gene Klaus (KO4IVI), Glenn
Ferrell (KD4AXN), John Wulf (K4FT), Larry Roberts (WE4LR), Mike May (KF4FMQ), Peter Rock
(KJ4ND), Rick Flynn (KO4UHE), Tony Cromwell (KB4TC).
Previous meeting was 28 Jun 2022. Motion to accept Minutes of that meeting as published (via email) by
David (AE4YM), 2nd by Peter (KJ4ND). Passed by acclimation.
Treasurer’s Report:
Starting balance.
‐$0
Ending balance.
Past Activities Report:
Previous VEC Testing was conducted Saturday, 23 Jul 2022 at the American Legion Post
46.
Previous WRARC hybrid monthly club meeting was on Tuesday, 28 June 2022 (4th
Tuesday of month) at 1930 hours EDT at the American Legion Post 46 and via ZOOM.
Previous monthly coffee social was at AJ’s Country Café and via Zoom at 0900 hours
EDT, Friday, 1 Jul 2022.
Previous TALARC D‐STAR Net: originally set for Monday, 4 July 2022 was canceled due to
the holiday. See Ken’s attached report.
Previous Club Activity was Saturday, 23 June 2022, after 1100 EDT at American Legion
Post 46: WRARC FOX HUNT.
Previous Club Activity was 0900 EDT, 1 July to 2400 EDT, 8 July, 2022: 14th Annual 13
Colonies Special Event.
Previous weekly WRARC Club OTA Nets were conducted each Wednesday evening at
2000 hours EDT on 29 June, 1 Jul, 6 Jun, 13 July, and 20 July 2022.
Old Business from 24 May 2022 meeting
o AMAZON SMILE donation program discussion. Amazon has a donation program called
“AMAZON SMILE” for approved 501(c)(3) non‐profit organizations in which they donate
0.5% of your purchase price to your designated non‐profit organization at NO EXTRA
COST TO YOU. Many other Amateur Radio Clubs are already using this program as an
additional revenue stream for their clubs and our WRARC is already registered to
receive donations from this AMAZON SMILE program if our club members and family
use the new Amazon Smile URL to do their shopping and purchasing. The new Amazon
Smile website is easy to set up and simple to use. When you shop at Amazon, or if you
already have an account with Amazon (https://www.AMAZON.COM) you just use a
slightly different URL (https://SMILE.AMAZON.COM) to access the
SMILE.AMAZON.COM site and your original Amazon user ID and Password will be
exactly the same on the new site. (Thereafter, you must always use the new Amazon
Smile URL for the donation program to work. If you go back to using the old
Amazon.com URL, then no donation will be made.) When you first access the new
Amazon Smile URL you will need to designate the non‐profit organization to receive the
donation. The WRARC Secretary will send out a groups.io email showing how to use the
Amazon Smile donation program.
o “KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS” donation program discussion. Kroger has a similar
donation program for approved 501(c)(3) organizations. Currently we are working to get
WRARC listed in their approved non‐profit organizations. Updated info will be
forthcoming at a later date. Program info at
https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community‐rewards.
o WRARC facebook page discussion. There are currently two WRARC facebook pages on
facebook when only one official club page is needed. A motion was made to consolidate
or close the two existing pages and to establish one official WRARC facebook page to be
maintained by the club secretary for the purpose of interfacing with the public. The
motion was made by David (AE4YM), 2nd by Dennis (K3KZU). Passed by acclimation.
o The next TALARC D‐STAR NET, which had been scheduled for Monday, 4 Jul 2022 (1st
Monday of month) at 2000 hours EDT on Reflector 056C, has been canceled.
o ICOM 7300 class / briefing. Since so many club members now own an ICOM 7300, there
was general interest shown in developing a club briefing or presentation on the
functions and capabilities of the radio.
New Business
o AMAZON SMILE PROGRAM. Detailed screen print instructions for how club members &
family can use the AMAZON SMILE program to help fund our club was sent out by the
club secretary on 2 July 2022. Hope everyone can use this because every little bit helps.
o KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS. Still working to get this established as another club
funding source.
o WRARC Facebook page. A redesigned WRARC Facebook page is now available. If you
use Facebook, search for “Wilderness Road Amateur Radio Club, Danville, KY” to join.
The primary purpose of the WRARC Facebook page is to recruit new members from the
general public by (1) advertising the fact that the club exists and (2) by showing how
much fun amateur radio can be. The recruiting base is the general public, at large, but
particularly focused on local students, existing HAMs, and people wanting information
on Amateur Radio. Although WRARC club members are encouraged to post
entertaining / informative amateur radio info / activities, this Facebook page is not
intended for club members to use as a club communications method because it is not
secure & we have groups.io for our secure commo.
o Extra Building Keys. It is very important for us to get extra building keys to the club
room and American Legion Post.
o WRARC Club Dues. Club dues for 2023 are now being accepted.
Full Legion members are $30 and can be paid online with a credit card at
www.legion.org and click on “Renew”.
Sons of the American Legion are $20 and can be paid by check.
Legion Associate members are $30 and can be paid by check.
All checks should be made out to “The American Legion Post 46” and mailed to
Ken Douglass, 108 Chandler Drive, Danville, KY 40422.
o ARRL Membership. Ken (KY4KD) also needs to know which WRARC members are also
members of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in order to maintain our ‘affiliated
club’ status. So please let him know whether you are an ARRL member or not.
o Discussion of ICOM 7300 class / briefing / video. Since so many club members now own
an ICOM 7300, there is still general interest shown in developing a club briefing or
presentation or video on the functions and capabilities of the radio. Various methods
were discussed on how to make this happen.
o Net Control Rotation Discussion. Everyone should know how to conduct a net and act
as the net control station especially during emergencies. Therefore, members are asked
to volunteer to rotate the job of net control for both the club’s Wednesday night OTA
net and for the 1st Monday of the month TALARC Post 46 net.
o Net Control Script dissemination. Whomever has a copy of the net control operators’
script & logging Excel spreadsheet, please send copies to the club secretary to type up /
clean up and he will send it out to all club members on groups.io email.
o New Club Treasurer. Ken (KY4KD) will not stand for re‐election as club treasurer during
the next election cycle. Club members are urged to stand for election as his
replacement.
o Parks On The Air (POTA) discussion. Some interest was shown in activating a park as a
club activity using the club’s call sign. It was also pointed out that this activity might be a
matter of considerable interest to students and non‐club members to visit and see what
HAM radio is all about. General POTA info at https://parksontheair.com/.
Future Activities:
o Next weekly WRARC OTA club net is each Wednesday evening at 2000 hours EDT on the
club’s 2m Repeater: 145.310 MHz with ‐600 kHz offset and Split PL Code 100 Hz (i.e. 100
Hz on both CTCSS & Rx CTCSS).
o Next TALARC Post 46 D‐STAR NET is on Monday, 1 Aug 2022 (1st Monday of month) at
2000 hours EDT on Reflector 056C.
o Next WRARC hybrid Coffee Social is on Friday, 5 Aug 2022 (1st Friday of month) at 0900
hours EDT at AJ’s Country Café and via ZOOM.
o Next Club Activity is 1400L, Saturday, 20 Aug 2022: NA QSO Party (1800Z) utilizing
ZOOM.
o Next WRARC hybrid monthly club meeting is on Tuesday, 23 August 2022 (4th Tuesday of
month) at 1930 hours EDT at The American Legion Post 46 and via ZOOM.
o Next VEC Testing: On Saturday, 22 October 2022 starting at 1000 hours EDT at The
American Legion Post 46 building, 45 Spears Lane, Danville, KY. See
http://www.wrarc.com/ve‐testing/ for details. Pre‐registration is required.
Adjournment. Motion to Adjourn by Dennis (K3KZU), 2nd by Tony (KB4TC); Passed by acclimation.
Adjourned at 2014 hours EDT.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Mike May (KF4FMQ)
After-meeting Presentation: none