Ottawa Amateur Radio Club MONTHLY CLUB MEETING APRIL 7, 2020 7:30PM 1 COVID-19 REMINDERS Wash your hands…don’t touch your face…shake feet not hands…sneeze or cough into your elbow or tissue… And most importantly (for whatever reason) …use toilet paper sparingly and stock up! 2 Agenda • Member Survey Results for How we can re-imagine the use of our Repeater during this current COVID-19 to bring value to our members • Proposed Discussion Topics •Proposed Schedule •Proposed Meeting Format 3 Topics Popularity Ranking Building antennas 10.48 Building accessories 9.9 Building radios 9.52 Computer supported modes like FT8, RTTY, PSK31 8.9 QRP operations 8.76 VHF Digital Modes - DMR, C4FM Fusion, and DSTAR 8.43 APRS 7.86 HF contesting 7.67 Fox Hunting 7.62 Satellite operations including EME (moon bounce) 7.19 VHF and up DXing 6.86 Slow Scan TV 4.67 LF or MF operations 3.95 Other 3.19 4 Knowledge and Experience Ranking 4- 1-NOVICE– 2-INTERMEDIATE–3-ADVANCED– EXPERT– TOTAL– WEIGHTED AVERAGE– Building accessories 2 11 6 2 21 2.38 Building antennas 3 11 6 1 21 2.24 Building radios 7 10 4 0 21 1.86 APRS 11 6 3 1 21 1.71 HF contesting 13 5 2 1 21 1.57 Computer supported modes like FT8, RTTY, PSK31 15 3 1 2 21 1.52 VHF Digital Modes - DMR, C4FM Fusion, & DSTAR 12 6 2 0 20 1.5 Fox hunting 12 8 1 0 21 1.48 QRP operations 15 4 2 0 21 1.38 Other: __________________________________ 12 3 1 0 16 1.31 VHF and up DXing 16 4 0 0 20 1.2 Slow Scan TV 17 3 0 0 20 1.15 Satellite operations, EME (Moon Bounce) 18 3 0 0 21 1.14 LF or MF operations 19 0 1 0 20 1.1 5 What I like most about creating more opportunities to discuss focused topics during NETs • lively and imaginative discussions. • chance to learn new things from those who have been there done that • Poking fun at Roger • increase in variety of information exchanged • Creativity, the unexpected. • a new approach that's worth a try • the ability to learn about amateur radio subjects not yet explored. • learning about things I don't presently know. • Welcoming new Hams, ability to ask questions and get answers. • ARES Emergency servicesm formal net control • Its one way to find out who is interested in a topic and you can tell if the really know what they are talking about by how they answer questions. • To provide a forum for discussion to replace our meetings and hopefully establish a radio discipline amongst our members that will be useful in other areas of our hobby. • Substitute for in-person meetings with knowledgeable presenters • Ottawa available repeaters • having quality conversations with others • Continuous learning which is why I got into this hobby. 6 Things that would keep me from participating in these sessions • mic shy topic too basic (what is 'novice' vs 'intermediate' anyway?) • My available time. • lack of back-and-forth opportunity during a net. I prefer nets that have at least two cycles (round tables). I like to respond to participants that talk after me in each cycle. • Uninteresting topics, inconvenient event times, too much event time, poor presentations • unhelpful attitudes from old-timers and the "not a real ham unless you learned code and served in the war" comments • Lack of signal path to the repeater • 1 - same routine repeated every net, not interested in being there just to let others know I'm listening | 2-forgetfulness just don't remember net times • Time of the day. • length of time involved and scheduling • Other commitments (family, etc) & other hobby activities • none • Other commitments, inexperience in topics covered. • lack of net control. • Some topics really need visual media to support discussion. e.g., block diagrams, or circuit design. • My 2 meter vertical polarized antenna is not the best. It would get me to finally get it up In a better location. • Just rag chewing. Opinions rather than information • When will these NETs planned? • Poor quality of the conversations 7 Proposed Schedule Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 7-9 pm Roll thru 12 topics every 3 weeks Take a break one week for a regular monthly meeting on the Second Wednesday 8 Proposed Format Checkins (5 minutes) • Checkin with callsign only if you just want to listen • Checkin with your callsign and your name, if you want to actively participate Topic Discussion • Tonight’s Topic – introduced by Session Leader and bring the group up to date from the previous session (5 minutes max) • Roundrobin – Session Leader will then invite all those who checked in to participate to share (in order): (45-75 minutes) • Something you have done on this topic in the past • Something you are working on now • Something you’d like to share with the group that you have found out as a result of researching an action item from previous session • A question to the group to further our curiosity on this topic. If unanswered by the group, Net Control will ask for a volunteer(s) to research it for the next session • Other topics the group should consider adding to the agenda to discuss now or in a future session Wrap-up - The session leader will summarize any action items and owners and confirm the next session time (5 minutes) Recommendation - Some sessions might benefit from being conducted via ZOOM 9 Questions ? 10.