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Month: February 2025

SAARC Meeting Minutes – January 25, 2025 – 10:00 am

Published February 1, 2025 by vicepresident

Present: Barry VE6BGR, Cory VE6CYT, Steve VE6SCL, Larry VE6WL, Wayne VE6WEK, Blair VE6AGH, Terry VA6TMA. David VA6SYS, David VE6DRL, Walter VE6XWG, Kalvin VE6KRO, Scott VA6JSR, Mike VA6PLC, Geoff VE6LSX, Tyler VA6TI

Meeting called to order – Motion by Tyler and seconded by Cory.

Treasurer Report – presented by Barry:

  • 2024 financial summary:
    • Insurance continues to be the highest annual expense.
    • Land use payment is next.
    • Financial statement is ready for the audit committee.
    • Bulk of the 2024 expenses are related to the repeater upgrade.

CAM repeater project update – presented by Barry:

  • Phase 1 – Grounding was upgraded as equipment grounds were floating. Everything has been grounded except the repeater rack. This will be added to the repeater ‘to-do’ list.
  • Phase 2 – PV array was replaced with two 460W panels. Thanks to Ron VE6PAP for sourcing these at a good price. Thanks to Dave VE6DRL for fabricating the PV panel frames.
  • Phase 3 – Addition of an additional battery bank. Thanks to Scott for donating the batteries and to Barry for fabricating the battery box.
  • Phase 4 – Completion of DC upgrade and environmental work. The new Yaesu repeater requires an AC primary source so a 500W inverter was added to power the repeater. The repeater will fail over to the DC supply when the AC is not available but the power output is reduced to 20W. The Yaesu outputs approximately 42W after the duplexers (cans). A UHF Yagi antenna was installed and connected to the repeater’s ‘B’ receiver input for repeater control.
  • Phase 5 – to be completed in the next few weeks. The solar charge controller connected to the battery bank that powers the repeater malfunctioned. The environmental battery bank and the equipment battery bank have been temporarily connected and are being charged by a single panel and charge controller. A new charge controller has been purchased and will replace the failed one. A wiring change will be performed that utilizes the ‘low voltage disconnect’ function of the charge controllers. Currently the equipment is wired directly to the batteries. The issue with this is that the batteries can be drawn flat which puts the batteries at risk of freezing and sulfating. Drawing batteries down this low also reduces the overall number of charge cycles. The low voltage disconnect will disconnect the equipment when the battery voltage is below 11.5V and will reconnect at 12.2V.
  • Next steps – Barry discussed adding a repeater controller. The Yaesu performs many of the functions that a repeater controller would, and available repeater controllers are expensive, so a dedicated repeater controller will not be purchased at this time. A monitoring system would be useful, however, to monitor battery voltages, temperatures etc. Barry et al. will look for options to get a lower cost monitoring system in place (microcontroller, PI, Arduino, etc.).
  • Project financials – The repeater project, once complete, is estimated to be $400 over the $3,000 budgeted.
    • Wayne made a motion that the $400 is acceptable given the unknowns when the estimate was made. Dave seconded the motion. All in favour.
  • Attendees thanked those that were part of the repeater project with a round of applause. Many thanks on behalf of the club to Barry, Cory, Dave and others for the many hours they spent designing, installing and configuring the recent repeater upgrades.

Additional items that were discussed:

  • Barry and Cory mentioned the importance of having others familiar with the current repeater design in the event that Barry and Cory are not available if/when the repeater needs troubleshooting. The repeater knowledge needs to be shared with a wider group. Barry asked for people to consider joining the repeater committee at the next AGM.
  • The repeater still has a noise issue on windy days. Cory and Barry feel it is up-tower. The current plan is to accept the noise as it only occurs a few days a year. In the meantime, some work may be done on improving the grounding of the tower and guy cables. The club may need to hire a qualified tower climber some time in the future to climb the tower and inspect/replace bad connectors, coax, etc.
  • Barry asked attendees about selling off some SAARC equipment that is not used. It is currently being stored in Barry’s basement. The club will keep one of each type of radio, antenna etc.
    • A motion to sell the excess equipment was made by Blair and seconded by Scott.
  • Wayne (coordinator of the CAM net) is looking to add individuals to the casual net controller list. Renze has been operating in this capacity and will be stepping in to take the spot left open by the retirement of Bruce (VE6ATY). A huge thank you to Bruce for his many years as a competent, friendly, and reliable net controller.

Dave made the motion to close the meeting – all in favour.

 

 

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