Call to Order:

The President, Garett N9HXR called the meeting to order at 7:14 pm. He next took attendance. Joe KE9CMR, Garett N9HXR, Cae Associate, Sam KD9BRW, Don KC9ZMY, David KE9BPC, Josh K9TEA, Ryan K1TLN, Simon KE9CLZ, Davis KE9DKR and Joshua KD9MXV were in attendance. There aren’t any newcomers so we’ll dispense with introductions.

Minutes:

Garett asked if everyone had received the minutes and if there were any corrections or comments. There were none voiced.  Sam KD9BRW made a motion to accept, which was seconded by David KE9BPC.  The ayes have it. The minutes will stand as read.

Officers’ Reports:

President:

Garett N9HXR stated we would make an effort to move through the business portion of the meeting more quickly so we can spend more time doing things like presentations or Q&A and what not. He also announced he donated a Baofeng UV-25 handheld radio which would be raffled off at the end of the meeting.

Vice President:

Nothing

Treasurer:   

Kevin Associate, stated that 30 people have applied for membership, 18 have paid their dues, which includes 14 full members and 1 associate member and 3 family members sponsored by a licensee. Not including the raffle we now have $470.00 in the account. Anyone else who wants to pay can reach him at treasurer@wcars.radio. You can also hit him up on Discord.

Recording Secretary:

Nothing

Trustee:

Sam KD9BRW stated He wants to get our Club Call sign its own Echo link node, so that we can use it for any digital stuff. That way we won’t have to use Garett’s N9HXR call sign.

Old Business:

We’ve sent out emails detailing collection of dues, which need to be collected by July 31st.We’ll be accepting Cash, cashier checks, or money orders and Zelle.

New Business:

Need new members. Joshua KD9MXV will give a presentation on cyber security slated for October. Cae and possibly Josh K9TEA, will do a presentation on Mesh technologies including Reticulum, Meshcore, and the like in either September or October.

Joshua KD9MXV posted info on Discord in the Public Service channel relating to volunteering to assist with the Chicago Marathon Ham Radio Medical Communications team.

The President asked if there was anything else to be brought up, there wasn’t, so he stated that the next Membership meeting would be held September 8th 2025 at PS1 due to the normal meeting day falling on Labor Day. The next Board meeting will be held Tuesday September 16, 2025.

The raffle was held next and David KE9BPC won the Radio.

There being no other business, Garett N9HXR asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Associate Cae made the motion, which was seconded by David KE9BPC, meeting was adjourned at 7:39

Respectfully,

Joseph Murphy Jr KE9CMR

Recording Secretary

Garett N9HXR called the meeting to order at 7:10pm. In attendance were Garett N9HXR (Pres), Joshua KD9MXV (VP), Sam KD9BRW (Trustee), Joe KE9CMR(Secretary), Kevin (Treasurer), Ryan K1TLN, John KE9CAG, Don KC9ZMY (Board), Caelan (Board) and Josh K9TEA.

First order of business was to review and approve the previous meeting’s minutes. They were read and approved as written by all in attendance. Motion to accept was made by Kevin, and seconded by Sam. No oppositions and the Aye’s had it.

Next was a vote on the language modification for Bylaw 17 of the club. This was passed unanimously and updated on the website. Members will now be given a minimum of 10 days advance notice in the event of a need for a meeting to be rescheduled. The vote was unanimous in favor for this change among 10 members.

Next on the agenda was discussion regarding a modification of the language defining a quorum in Bylaw #18. The current language states that 1/10th of the membership or 9 voting members be present in order for a quorum to be met. It was suggested that the change be made to the 1/10th rule be kept but the 9 voting member option be removed, and a change to an “active” member quantity be implemented. This was ultimtely decided to be unnecessary and instead suggested a reduction in minimum number of voting members be implemented in order to ensure the club can conduct business during a normal meeting with current membership levels. Further discussion will be had at the next board meeting and future membership meetings to finalize the language related to this.

Attendee introductions were the next subject, and new members along with other who had not yet introduced themselves were had, including new member K1TLN who joined on Field Day.

President N9HXR Garett had no new reports. VP Joshua KD9MXV has some discussion regarding volunteer work with the red cross to share, and would bring more detail to that later. Next, Sam had a report on the field day results, with a total of 11 contacts during the session. Next Kevin reported on the status of the bank account with $190 dollars. We are now able to accept dues by cash, check, money order or by Zelle to treasurer@wcars.radio. If paying by zelle, note the level of membership you are paying for including cost and additional members included if paying for a family membership. No new report from Joe KE9CMR for secretary office.

Next we went over old business regarding the Field Day activity, thanking KE9CMR Joe for his volunteering of the battery and FT-891 for the Field Day station along with N9HXR Garett for the antenna and a request for someone to volunteer for assisting with Social Media management.

Under new business we discussed the club dues being due by July 31st. Dues are (annually) $30 for full licensed members, $30 + $10 for each additional family member, and $20 for each associate member. Members who have applied but not paid by July 31s risk removal from the roster if no arrangement has been made promptly. Please reach out to Kevin at treasurer@wcars.radio if you need to make special arrangements.

Next, Joshua KD9MXV spoke about volunteering opportunities with the Red Cross and other organizations and encourages members to help in any way you are comfortable for public service. Please reach out to Joshua KD9MXV for more information.

Garett called for a motion for adjournment. Motion was made by Joseph, Joshua seconded. Motion passed and the meeting ended at 8:25pm CDT.

Respectfully,

Joseph P Murphy Jr, KE9CMR
Recording Secretary

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by the President, Garett N9HXR at 7:32 pm.
Attendance: In attendance were Garett N9HXR, Sam KD9BRW, David KE9BPC, Joe KE9CMR, Don KC9ZMY, Cae Associate, and Kevin Associate.
Minutes: Garett asked if everyone had a chance to review the Minutes and if there were any corrections. There were none. Joe KE9CMR made a motion to accept the Minutes, which was seconded by Cae. The Minutes shall stand as read.
Officers’ reports: Garett N9HXR was interviewed by someone from Northwestern for an article She was writing about Ham Radio.
Vice President: Nothing to report
Treasurer: Kevin stated that we had 16 paid members and Garett N9HXR stated that he had received one check in the mail.
Recording Secretary: Joe KE9CMR stated he still has to send emails to all those who had attended a meeting, but had not returned to see if they might attend again.
Cae : Nothing other than some information about reticulum and how she thought it might help bring people into the club.
David: Nothing
Don: Nothing, other than that he had paid his dues.
Old Business: Garett N9HXR talked about email accounts and how Proton wanted $85.00 per user per year. Way too expensive. He stated He would check into TUTA to see what prices there were like. Otherwise, there’s always Gmail.
New Business: It was brought up that engagement activities might help draw people to our group. Reticulum and Mesh activities might draw people that, to this point weren’t necessarily interested in Ham Radio. Cae will work on Posters to announce meeting dates to hang at PS1 and other places.
Next Board Meeting: August 19th 2025
Adjournment: Garett N9HXR asked if there was anything else to discuss? There being nothing He asked for a motion for adjournment, which was supplied by Cae. Kevin seconded the motion. All present agreed. Meeting was adjourned at 8:22 pm.

Respectfully,

Joseph P Murphy Jr, KE9CMR
Secretary

Call to order: Garett N9HXR called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm at our in-person location at Pumping Station 1 3519 N Elston in Chicago. The meeting is also available with Discord. Attendance was taken with quite a few walk-ins.
Minutes: Minutes were sent out a couple days ago. Garett asked if everyone received the minutes and if there were any comments or corrections. Nothing was voiced, so he asked for a motion to accept the minutes. Sam KD9BRW made the motion, which was seconded by David KE9BPC. The vote was taken with no Nays and the ayes had it. The minutes stand as read.
Board Vacancy: Josh K9TEA steeped down as a Board member due to work conflicts, so there is an opening on the board. He’s not leaving the club, will stick around for educational matters and stuff like that. We appreciate everything He has done thus far. David KE9BPC expressed an interest in the position. Garett N9HXR nominated Him and he accepted the nomination. Garett N9HXR asked if there was anyone else interested. That person would have to be licensed, as we can only have one unlicensed person on the board of directors which is already filled by Caelan. No one else spoke up. Per the By-laws a voice vote was called. The President placed a poll on Discord and had a show of Hands at PS1. There were no Nays. The Ayes have it. David KD9BPC is our new Board member and will serve out the remainder of the 1-year term.
Club Logo: Various versions of Caelan’s fine work had been placed on Discord for members to view. The latest version seems to be the most well liked. A vote was held to approve the new logo. There were no nays, the ayes had it. There was some discussion about image resolution and format, so as to make it easier to adapt the logo to other uses, i.e. decals, clothes, stickers etc. Caelan will include those files at a later date.
By-Laws Clarification: Clarification was given as to an amendment to the by-laws about changing meeting dates. Both versions were shown on Discord and the replacement will be voted on at the July Meeting due the need for a 30-day notice.
Introductions: The president asked everyone to introduce themselves as there quite a few new people in person and on discord.
Officers Reports: The president just talked about the fact that the Board was squared away. Vice president had no report. Treasurer Kevin said that he and Garett had opened a bank account and that it would take 2 to 5 business days to open because of the type of account and another 2 to 5 business days to get Zelle access. Then we will finally be able to collect dues. We’ll let you know when. Sam, the Trustee, talked a little about our TQSL certificate. The Recording Secretary was absent due to a conflict of a medical issue.
Old Business: Always need new members. Field Day coming up. One option is at PS1, but we need to get on the Roof to check things out. An antenna might be a problem. Another option is to operate with one of the many clubs in the Chicagoland area. Anyone with ideas or contacts talk to Sam KD9BRW. Field days is held June 28-29.
New Business: New members. We’re getting a lot of traffic do to walk-in and word of mouth and that’s excellent. Some are coming from PS1 and others from BBQ’s, parties and other get togethers. To refresh your memories, the annual club dues are 30 dollars, a family membership is 30 plus additional 10 dollars for each immediate family member and each member gets voting rights. Associate membership can be had for 20 dollars if unlicensed, but there are no voting privileges. We will take cash, check, money order, and Zelle when that goes through. Members who have applied, but haven’t paid will be given accommodations, but if we send multiple emails and receive radio silence, we’ll have to remove them from the roster. More to come on this.
Q and A: discussion about different radios, hf, uhf, mesh, all-banders (20-40yr old rigs) and antenna farms. A 2200-meter project was (jokingly) brought up,
Adjournment: The next meeting will be held July 7 2025 at 7:00 pm at PSI and on Discord. Garett N9HXR asked for a motion to adjourn, which was supplied by David KE9BPC. It was seconded by Joshua KD9MXV. Meeting was adjourned at 8:01
Respectfully
Joseph Murphy Jr KE9CMR

The President called the meeting to order at 7:34 pm. Present were Garett N9HXR, Kevin Grant, Don KC9ZMY, Sam KD9BRW, and Joe KE9CMR. He asked if everyone had a chance to review the agenda for the meeting.

Next order of business was the minutes of the last board meeting. Joe KE9CMR made a motion to accept as read, Sam KD9BRW seconded the motion. The minutes will stand.

Next there was discussion on Caelan’s prototypes for the club logo. Five members voted to approve the latest version to Discord for members to review before a vote to be held at the next membership meeting in June.

More talk about Field Day, potentially being held at PS1 using temporary antenna or antennae on the roof. Books, our PS1 liaison was excited about this happening.

The talk then turned to VEs. One new discord member, KW9U, is a VE affiliated with the Anchorage Club (KL7AA VEC). We hope he will consider joining us as a VE.

Having elected Kevin Grant as our treasurer, we will now be able to open a bank account and start collecting dues and use the money for some of our projects. Garett N9HXR and Kevin will get together and open an account at Wintrust. We will accept Venmo, Zelle, possibly PayPal, and of course checks and cash.

Under new business, we decided to send out a notice that we would prorate dues through June 30th only.

The Secretary has been having people sign in at the in-person meetings, so he will be sending
emails to those who only made one or two meetings to see if he can renew interest.

The next Membership meeting is scheduled for June 2 2025 and the next board meeting is
scheduled for June 17 2025. Garett N9HXR asked if there was anything else to discuss and
there being nothing he asked for a motion to adjourn. Sam KD9BRW made the motion, and
Don KC9ZMY seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:09 pm

Respectfully

Joseph P Murphy Jr KE9CMR

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 by the President, Garett N9HXR. In attendance were Garett N9HXR, Joe KE9CMR, Sam KD9BRW, Joshua KD9MXV, Ben KC9UNS, John KE9CAG, Don KC9ZMY, David KE9BPC and Kevin Grant.

The first order of business was the minutes. Garett N9HXR asked for a motion to accept. Joe KE9CMR made the motion, which was seconded by Sam K9BRW. An Aye vote accepted the minutes as read.

Next order of business was officer election for the treasurer role. Our former Treasurer Brian N9BF had resigned due to work restraints keeping him from participating. Kevin Grant expressed interest and stated that he would accept the role if nominated and elected. Per the constitution, will have to become licensed within six months per the bylaws. Garett nominated Kevin and he was duly elected by those members present.

The next order of business was officer’s reports. Garett N9HXR stated there was no April Board meeting due to conflicts and lack of quorum on the day of the meeting. VP Joshua KD9MXV had no report. Trustee Sam KD9BRW had no report. Secretary had no report. Although absent, Caelin produced three prototypes for our club logo for consideration. Further discussion would be had at the next board meeting. Old business, need new members. New business, we need people to come up with ideas for committees and for people to step up to work those committees. We need people to take advantage of our nets, both digital and voice.

Events coming up were brought up. The 6-meter Club of Chicago Ham Fest to be held in Brookfield this year on Father’s Day weekend. St Paul’s Lutheran Church and School 9035 Grant Avenue Brookfield. Next, the ARRL Field Day 2025 Theme is to be “Radio Connects” and is to take place June 28 and 29. WCARS locations for Field Day operations is to be determined. Silver Springs State Park was mentioned, as was Stratton State Park in Morris. Pullman was also brought up as well as Pumping Station 1. Garett asked Sam KD9BRW to look further into the WCARS Field Day. He agreed to do just that.

In past events, Garett N9HXR stated that he and Joe KE9CMR and Garett’s son Sam attended the Dekalb Ham Fest in Sandwich, IL. It was much Larger than Garett had anticipated. He managed 4300 steps while there.

Upcoming for the Club is the next Board meeting, which is scheduled for May 20, 2025 at 7:30pm and the next Membership meeting, which is scheduled for June 2, 2025 at 7:00pm.

Garett asked if there was anything else up for discussion. There was nothing, so He asked for a motion for adjournment. Sam KD9BRW made the motion, which was seconded by David KE9BPC. The meeting was adjourned at 7:43 pm.

Respectfully,

Joseph P Murphy Jr KE9CMR

Garett N9HXR called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm. In attendance physically were Joshua KD9MXV, Sam KD9BRW, Joe KE9CMR, Sam Witmer, Edison O, and Books our PS1 Affiliate. In attendance remotely were Josh K9TEA, Caelan Costigan, Don KC9ZMY, Tom KD9YOV and Simon KE9CLZ.

First order of business was approval of the minutes from the last meeting. Garett asked if there were any corrections. None were voiced, so Sam KD9BRW made a motion to accept and Joshua KD9MXV seconded the motion. Minutes stand as read. Next item on the agenda was the Change to the by-laws that would allow the executive board to change the meeting date as per section 17. Garett N9HXR placed a poll on Discord and hand vote of the in-person people. The change was approved. Joshua KD9MXV abstained because he did not like the wording. He is to work on that for a future clarification. Next, Garett N9HXR announced that we are now a boosted club with Pumping Station 1. This means we can get help from PS1 for some of our projects.

Vice President Joshua KD9MXV reported on his experience at the Illinois Repeater Association (ILRA) meeting and learned that they had cleared up a large portion of their backlog. He also talked about how GPS company NexNav have petitioned the FCC to take over some 902-928mhz (33cm) band frequencies for use with land-based GPS. They are purposely using outdated data to try to misrepresent the activity on these frequencies. The docket number is 24-240. Please go to the FCC and file your grievance with this. Simon KD9CLZ has offered to help write an official opposition to the petition for rule making, as he does technical writing as part of his profession. Garett N9HXR mentioned that Yaesu has their repeater promotion going again. It’s $950 for the DR-2X without the LAN card, and $1300 for the one with the LAN. This would be a 2m or 70cm repeater.

Sam KD9BRW announced that we had received our Club Call sign and that we requested a vanity sign and had received WC9CRS.

Joe KE9CMR stated that, although leery, would accept anything members sent him, Pictures, articles, Ideas, whatever for use in the newsletter. If anyone is interested in helping publish the Newsletter, please let us know. Our treasurer Brian is going to be tied up with work and traveling a lot so we’re without a treasurer. We can’t open an account, collect dues, or pay bills without one. If anyone would consider taking this important office on, please contact one of the officers or board members. We need to fill this role as soon as possible, hopefully we can vote on someone by the next meeting. Also, on the subject of Brian, He was looking into the U-505 activation event but we don’t know how far he got. Garett N9HXR called the Museum of Science and Industry and the private events office offered a room that would hold eight hundred people but that is obviously not what we’re looking for. He explained that we were looking for something on or near the sub and told him to talk to the Education Department. They told him that their programs were aimed at elementary school or high school kids. So, he sent her a blurb about the group that does the battleship New Jersey activation and how it’s worldwide phenomenon with museums and ships all over the world for them to consider. We also need to start searching for places to place a repeater. Multiple places were made mention of. Garett asked if there were any other items to discuss, but there were no responses. He next asked for a motion for adjournment, which was supplied by Sam KD9BRW and seconded

by Joshua KD9MXV. Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm. Reminder for Thursday night net KA9HHH at 7:00pm and Digital net on TGIF talk group 65535, YSF Reflector 65535, Allstarlink Node 630121, and Echolink node N9HXR-R (320720) on Sundays at 7:00pm.

Garett N9HXR called the meeting to order at 7:39. Present were President Garett Murphy N9HXR, VP Joshua Hamlet KD9MXV, Trustee Sam Clark KD9BRW, Director Joshua Grubman K9TEA, Director Cae Costigan, and Secretary Joe Murphy Jr KE9CMR. Garett asked if there were any corrections to the Minutes. There were none, so they will be accepted as read. The president showed those present his agenda for this meeting. He asked for Officers reports. There were none. Garett next explained that we achieved boosted Club status with Pumping Station 1 and produced an email with particulars. He asked if there were any questions on that and there were one. Sam KD9BRW and Garett N9HXR talked about our Club call sign. W9CRS or WC9ARS, which would be better as it would match our acronym. These are two of several we asked for. Garett stated it generally takes about eighteen days to get processed by the FCC. Unless the FCC has a meltdown, we should hear something soon, possibly by the next membership meeting. Garett said He was going to check with Wintrust, His employer about getting help setting up our 501c3 status. We may have a minor problem as our EIN number may have been incorrectly entered with the IRS. He was looking to see if Wintrust can do a lookup to see if it is correct or not. Once that has been corrected, we can set up a Bank account and start collecting dues and ramp up things that take money to accomplish. Sam KD9BRW is still working on QRP Lab type ideas. Cae has been working on some POTA ideas and will publish something possibly before the next membership meeting. She is also still working on logo ideas. Garett N9HXR suggested setting up a poll on Discord for members to vote on their choices. Brian was absent, but still working on the U505 outing, and we’ll hear more about that later. Joshua K9TEA is looking into business radio licenses. He mentioned Reticulum, packet radio and others. There is the possibility we would need a frequency Coordinator and mentioned Midland Corporation and the suggestions they make get a business license. Joshua KD9MXV stated He had several radios we could use to setup a Shack at PS1. Joshua K9TEA stated he had a Cushkraft R5 antenna at his mom’s house in the crawlspace that he would lend to the club to set up at PS1 with the caveat that when no longer needed it would be returned to him. Garett asked if there was anything else to be brought up and there wasn’t. He then asked for a motion to adjourn, which was supplied by Sam KD9BRW and seconded by Joshua K9TEA. Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.

                                                                                                                    Respectfully

                                                                                                                     Joe Murphy Jr KE9CMR

                                                                                                                     Secretary

The meeting was called to order by the President Garett Murphy N9HXR at 7:05 pm. In attendance were Vice-President Joshua Hamlett KD9MXV, Trustee Sam Clark KD9BRW, Secretary Joe Murphy Jr KE9CMR, Caelan Costigan Director, Josh Grubman K9TEA Director, Books Our PS1 Liaison. Absent were Brian Freedman N9BF Treasurer, Charlie Ferreira W9CEF Director, Don Gover KC9ZMY Director.

First order of business was approval of last month’s minutes. There being no corrections Joe Murphy Jr KE9CMR made a motion to accept, which was seconded by Sam Clark KD9BRW. The minutes were accepted as read. The President Stated that He had talked to the Secretary of State and Needed to put the Names of all officers and directors on the paperwork for change of registered agent, which he did. He paid the extra fee for expedited action, so the Club name was corrected spelling wise and He is listed as registered agent with his home address as club address. He then asked for officer’s reports. Vice-President, Trustee, and Directors had nothing to report. The Secretary Stated that he had bought and sent a condolence card to a former member on the passing of his sister.

Old Business: Cae is still working on some logo ideas for decals, stickers, patches, whatever.

New Business: We need new members. Sam Clark KD9BRW to Work with Garett N9HXR to get the Club Call Sign through the Anchorage Club. This will happen next week. Brian N9BF is going to work on a possible activation at the U-505 Submarine. We are also interested in other submarines or ships. We had previously mentioned some kind of build party. One
could be a WSPR radio build as it is both easier and cheaper than radios mentioned before. Some people thought a soldering “how to” might be appropriate. Sam Clark KD9BRW will look into it more and we can discuss it at the next meeting. Garett Murphy N9HXR brought up the Change to the bylaws which stated the Executive body may change meeting dates when needed, while giving the membership ample time to acknowledge and make time for the meeting. Garett asked if there were any comments on the change and stated it would be finalized at the next meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for April 7 2025. We then had everyone introduce themselves so that both in person and remote participants were acknowledged.

Garett asked for a motion to adjourn which was given by Joshua Hamlett KD9MXV made the motion, which was seconded by Sam Clark KD9BRW, meeting was adjourned at 7:38 pm.

Respectfully,
Joseph P Murphy Jr, KE9CMR, Secretary

The President, Garett, called the meeting to order at 7:34. First order of business was taking of attendance. Joshua KD9MXV, Garett N9HXR, Sam KD9BRW, Cae, Joe KE9CMR, Brian N9BF, Don KC9ZMY, Josh G K9TEA were in attendance, no Charlie W9CEF this time around. President asked if everyone got the minutes as they had been sent out and if there were any corrections to the minutes. It seems there were possibly some grammatical mistakes, so there was talk about returning the Secretary to High School. Garett had sent out wrong minutes which he rectified while the meeting continued. Next order of business was declaration of Agent paperwork. This would detail the change of Agent from Kevin Suddoff Sr and his address to Garett Murphy and his address. This would be signed by the Secretary, and Garett as the registered Agent. It was brought up by Joshua KD9MXV that once we got it drawn up, He could take it to Kevin’s to get it signed. Garett explained that Kevin had been talked to over a month ago and was not returning Garett’s calls. It was decided that We would do it by an action of the Board. Joshua KD9MXV brought up that Our Name was Misspelled in the original Papers and We need to correct that. Garett showed an amendment to the Corporation papers with both the misspelling and correct spelling. Garett asked how we should list members of the board on the forms. Joshua stated we should put the names of Cae, Charlie, Don and Josh G and have todays date and Garett will check with the state as to whether he alone can sign or if we need other’s signatures and will then get those signatures if needed. Garett asked if there were any questions on any of the forms He showed. Joshua KD9MXV stated He thought the new forms will take care of both the name correction and the Agent change. Cae expressed, that she thought it was a lot to ask of Garett to run around to get signatures, but it was brought up we could do it at the next meeting or have Joe KE9CMR take it to Don. Don said he was in the Loop three days a week and Brian lives in the Loop. So, it shouldn’t be a problem. If Garett alone can sign, He will or we’ll do it at next meeting. That took care of agenda points 2,3, and 4. Number five Garett filched from a list given to Him by Sam. They were, number one, our Call Sign. Garett searched and found that W9CRS is available. Joshua asked why not WC9ARS, and was told that it was a special sign and not given out. Everyone agreed it would have been nice to get that one but, it is what it is. Garett had watched a video that explained that WC call signs were special and in fact anyone who had been given one were going to get them revoked. Garett asked Sam to start that procedure to get a club call sign. Sam asked if We wanted to do it through the ARRL or maybe Anchorage Club as they have an easy online portal to do that. We may need Articles of Incorporation to do so. After some discussion it was decided that Sam and Garett will work together and use Anchorage as a means to apply for a sign. It will be cheaper than ARRL and probably quicker. Next on the agenda was whether we would use Anchorage for VE services. Brian is a VE with a number of Clubs and the ARRL. It was brought up that Ingrid is a VE and that Garett was going to sign up with Anchorage after he passed his Extra class. Sam believed we need four Ves before we can offer testing. And that we should try to get ready to offer it to those who might find the virtual testing encumbering. It was thought that we should offer free testing to our members and to members of PS1. Joshua said he thought a lot of PS1 members who want to get back in to ham radio or those interested would probably pass the technician test just on their electronics knowledge. Next item on the agenda was events. Sam thought the idea of QRP lab builds might be a good idea as He has wanted to build one. He was sure if He mentioned it on the Net and repeaters He would find some interest. Don asked if anyone had built one. Sam said He heard they can be challenging. Don said He had built four. He stated you don’t tackle them with a soldering pencil. You need a soldering station. It was brought up that those were available at PS1, at least to members. It was asked approximate cost of a kit. Sam said one of the cheaper ones was $65 dollars last time He checked. He thought it would be good because they were for digital only and that was becoming very popular. Joshua thought maybe we could get Don down there to help us as He had already built some. Don said maybe He could try. He stated it could take twenty to thirty hours to finish one unit. He said all smd were already in place but that you had to wind the toroid, and install all the other components. Garett said they would be like the ATU kit he was building. He has to wind the seven stages and place the components. Joshua thought an easier kit might be a hotspot. Garett said, yes, because Joshua has one that needs to be soldered. There is our first Donor kit. Sam said he would investigate further so we weren’t getting in over our head. Don said a whispr radio by QRP Labs was kind of cool and a much easier build. Garett said we preprint cases for them and have them ready to go. Don said you could build with or without gps and with Joshua said, with or without a screen. Brian brought up the fact that you can buy to pre-wound toroid from various places which would cut time. Not necessarily the way to go but an option. Next on the agenda was POTA events. Garett thought once we had our call sign it would be cool. He said we have time because it was definitely too cold out to play radio. Brian thought that the closest park to Chicago was the Indiana Dunes and that they had lots of areas down there. Brian thought there were a lot of official parks around Pullman Park is a National Historical Park, Santa Fe is another, William H Powers is another. Another consideration would be a field day. Cae thought that would be fun. The U505 activation was another consideration. Brian said they had worked the USS Lexington and a Civil War Submarine the Huntley while in Charleston. The club down there activated every year from the Sub. They were outside the building as the Curators didn’t allow anyone on the Sub or in the building to set up. Brian said He would contact someone who is a big history Buff who has a website named U505 to see if we could work something out. He also said the Adler Planetarium launches weather balloons and has a call sign so we could activate from there, though it didn’t have a lot to do with Ham Radio. Garett next moved to open discussion to see if anyone had anything to add to, or correct the minutes of the last meeting. Sam thought we should move on the Sub activation because that takes place in June. Brian said we would look into it next week. Sam suggested we do a field day first to find out if we know what we’re doing. Joshua said we should do a dry run. Garett said we could do that outside on the grass outside the building. Cae stated that She would invite some people in an attempt to grow the club, because she had been turned off by clubs previously as being too misogynistic and gruff for someone like her. She thinks this club is different and likes the way its going. Using Discord to promote all forms of radio communication, mesh, sdr, etc. for people who may not want to get a license and still enjoy the genre. Garett said that that was what we were founded on, more inclusivity. Sam suggested we have some plans by the next Board meeting so we can present them to the club at Large. Joshua asked if we could have some our issues worked out by the next meeting and Garett said He would even pay the extra fee to get them expedited. If the fee is paid, we should receive results within 72 hours. Joshua asked if that’s needed to finish corporation papers. Garett said He believed so, then get our call sign. Joshua said we then need to apply for the 501c3 status. Garett said we need to open a bank account first. Cae said she thought we were making great progress, but that everything shouldn’t fall to just Sam or Garett and she’s willing to help, just ask. Garett said he definitely would. Garett asked if there was anything else to discuss, there wasn’t. He said he had the next Board meeting scheduled for March 18, 2025. It was then disclosed that Don and Cae were both Canadian by birth. Don from Calgary. Garett said He would send out a notice ahead of time. He then asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A motion was made by Joshua KD9MXV and was seconded by Sam KD9BRW. Meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm

Respectfully,
Joseph Murphy Jr KE9CMR