Western Pennsylvania Repeater Council
January 16, 2011 Meeting Notes
From: Charles Gessner W3ON, 'Acting Secretary'


The January 16, 2011 meeting of the Western Pennsylvania Repeater Council 'WPRC', started at 1:30 pm ET. It was held at the Washington County Building, Emergency Operations Center-Room C3, 100 West Beau Street, Washington PA.

Thanks to Paul Plants N3WMV and Sam Mayberry W3CYO for providing the meeting location and refreshments.

Acting Chairman Denny McElhaney N3EJY announced that due to the resignations of three of the former officers of WPRC that he had appointed an emergency BOD to replace the missing officers.  Those temporary positions would expire after a new board of directors was elected. Those appointed were:  Joe McElhaney KR3P as vice chairman, and Chuck Gessner W3ON as secretary.

WPRC Board of Directors members present were: Denny McElhaney N3EJY (acting chairman), Chuck Gessner W3ON (acting secretary), Joe McElhaney KR3P (acting vice chairman and frequency coordinator), and Paul Plants N3WMV (assistant frequency coordinator).

Attendance Roster:  (M=WPRC Member  /R=Repeater  G=Guest)
There were 10 WPRC members and 4 guests in attendance including:
Joe McElhaney KR3P (M) 146.97 N1RS/R, Denny McElhaney N3EJY (M) 444.900 N1RS/R, Sam Mayberry W3CYO (M) 145.49 W3CYO/R, Paul Bidzilya AB3PJ (M) 443.600 AB3PJ/R,
Bill Kristoff N3BPB (M) 147.09 W3EXW/R, Paul Plants N3WMV (M) 442.125 N3WMV/R, Chuck Gessner W3ON (M) 147.12 W3OC/R, Ken Johnson N3OVP 51.980 N3OVP/R, Sandy Johnson N3QWW (M) 147.270 N3QWW/R, Monte Costa WB3CCN (M) 442.700 N3OVP/R, Bud Plants N3TIR (G), Toni McElhaney (G), and Bill Steffey NY9H (G), and Ron Lape K3MI (G).

Resignations:
Denny N3EJY (acting chairman) announced the recent resignations of three of the former WPRC BOD members.  Those who resigned were:

Dave Crise N3GPM as chairman (October 16, 2010)
Phil Heck KE3EI as vice chairman (January 4, 2011)
Barry Troutman N3TNA as secretary (January 5, 2011).

All resignations were received as emails sent to the BOD and some WPRC members. Joe KR3P (acting vice chairman) read all three emails to all of those present.  Denny N3EJY also announced that no official meetings have been held since the April 2010 meeting due to: 

JULY 2010 meeting - cancelled due to a lack of a quorum.  Also, the last minute canceling of the meeting location.

OCTOBER 2010 Annual Meeting  - was an unofficial meeting due to a lack of a quorum.  No election of officers was held as required by the WPRC Constitution.

Discussion was held with the BOD and those present regarding the reasons for the resignations.  Mentioned in the emails were lack of interest by WPRC members, lack of quorums by members and BOD members, timely processing of paper work, meeting scheduling, high transportation costs to and from the meetings, philosophical reasons between BOD members, etc.

Bill N3BPB asked a question as to 'What is the plan for moving forward'.  Denny N3EJY (acting chairman) stated that a new board of directors election would be conducted at this meeting to replace those who had resigned per the Constitution.

OLD BUSINESS:
Secretary
s Report was not available.
OLD BUISINESS (cont)
Treasurers Report:
Denny N3EJY (former treasurer) reported the following balances:

Ending Balance (July 18, 2010):  $ 1722.14
Income from donations:              $     30.00
Total Receipts:                           $1752.14
Disbursements:                                 None
Total Disbursements:                         None
Balance (October 17, 2010)        $ 1752.14
Certificate of Deposit (5/11)         $ 1048.24

Motion To Accept "MTA":  Paul AB3PJ. 2nd: Paul N3WMV. Motion passed on voice vote.

Frequency Coordinators Report:
Frequency Coordinator Joe McElhaney KR3P reported:

Since Last Meeting:                   2010 YTE:                                 2011 YTD:
=====================================================================
 20 items acted on                     90 items acted on                      04 items acted on

11 Final Coordination’s               41 Final Coordination’s               01 Final Coordination
(04 WPA/07 Other)                    (14 WPA/27 Other)                    (01 WPA/00 Other)
00 Initial Coordination’s               08 Initial Coordination’s               01 Initial Coordination’s
00 Proposed Coordination’s        03 Proposed Coordination’s        02 Proposed Coordination’s
07 Voided (04 Out of State)         23 Voided (13 Out of State)         02 Voided (00 Out of State)
02 On The Air Received              05 On The Air Received              00 On The Air Received
00 Denied (00 Out of State)         10 Denied                                  00 Denied (00 Out of State)


=====================================================================


As of January 16, 2011 (Today)               TOTAL REPEATERS COORDINATED:
All items received have been acted upon              YTD      11 01
All items processed within 1 week:                                              10 41
New data submitted for website.                                                  09 57
ARRL Repeater Directory Submitted.                                           08 97   (3rd highest year)
                                                                                                07 137 (new record-40% over

                                                                                                              previous record)
                                                                                                06 75
                                                                                                05 84
                                                                                                04 53
                                                                                                03 95
                                                                                                02 99
                                                                                                01 37
                                                                                                00 52
                                                                                                99 93
                                                                                                98 82  (177 W/OH backlog)
                                                                                                97 81
                                                                                                96 23
                                                                                                95 26
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MTA: Paul AB3PJ.  2nd: Paul N3WMV.   Passed on voice vote.

 


NEW BUSINESS:

Forced Transfer of Trusteeship:
From KE3ED for BVARA repeaters 145.31 and 442.975 Mhz. This action was caused by an email from BVARA club president KZ3Z regarding an attempt to update the trusteeship due to a change in trustee several years ago. FC KR3P reported that this could not be done without the approval of current trustee KE3ED, as he is the trustee of record for those coordinations.   FC KR3P suggested that the change be a "forced transfer" to reflect the current holder of the BVARA club call W3SGJ.  KR3P asked for forced transfer from KE3ED to W3SGJ. A brief discussion was held.  MTA: N3BPB. 2nd:W3CYO.  Passed on voice vote.

Noted:  Denny N3EJY (acting chairman) stated that radio clubs should consider the
option using the current holder of a club call to prevent problems where a trustee is no longer involved with a repeater coordination. FC KR3P mentioned that the coordination secondary trustee can be the holder of a club call such as BVARA's W3SGJ.

Denny N3EJY further mentioned that it was important to keep your current amateur radio license address up to date and on file with the FCC, as WPRC uses the FCC addresses to keep in touch with repeater trustees.

Ron K3MI commented on this as it could effect a coordination application that he is working on.

Reinstatement of Propagation Study Software For Frequency Coordination Studies:
FC KR3P requested the reinstatement of Coordination Policies 7c and 7d, to re-enable repeater frequency coordination studies using computer repeater propagation software.  FC KR3P reported that using this process had stopped last January.  FC KR3P reported that all repeater coordinations at present were using distance only calculations between repeaters on the main frequency channel and adjacent frequency channels.

A discussion ensued between FC KR3P, Sam W3CYO, Paul N3WMV, and members of the audience, regarding these studies.  FC KR3P suggested that using the studies could make it possible for some newly requested coordinations to coexist, as using a distance calculation would not allow this action.
MTA: Paul AB3PJ.  2nd: Paul N3WMV. Passed on voice vote

Constitution Change:
Note requires two readings before it can be brought up for a vote.
Remove Section 6c "Duties of the Vice-Chairman"
which states "He shall work directly with the Frequency Coordinator on all frequency recommendations."

FC KR3P noted that no frequency recommendations had been made in the last 20 years, and that none would be since WPRC’s policy is to approve requests and not make recommendations.

A lively discussion was held between those present as to changing the wording.  Ultimately all present decided that it should be removed.  MTA: Sam W3CYO.  2nd: Paul N3WMV.   Passed on voice vote.

Election Of Officers:
An election was held to replace officers on the WPRC board of directors.
  
Chairman:         Denny McElhaney N3EJY was nominated. MTA: Sam W3CYO.  2nd: Joe KR3P.
Vice Chairman: Paul Plants N3WMV was nominated.   MTA: Denny N3EJY. 2nd: Bill N3BPB
Secretary:         Paul Bidzilya AB3PJ was nominated.    MTA: Bill N3BPB. 2nd: Ken N3OVP.
                         Chuck Gessner W3ON was nominated. MTA: Joe KR3P. 2nd: Denny N3EJY.
Note:  Bill N3BPB was asked to conduct a secret ballot for the secretary's position. Bill completed this task.
Result:  Paul Bidzlya AB3PJ was elected as the new WPRC Secretary.
Treasurer:  Chuck Gessner W3ON was nominated.  MTA: Bill N3BPB. 2nd: Ken N3OVP.

Motion was made by Sam W3CYO and 2nd by Denny N3EJY for the acting secretary to cast the ballot for those running unopposed.  Motion passed on voice vote.
Acting Secretary W3ON cast the vote for those unopposed nominations.




2011 Dues Structure:
After a short discussion it was decided to keep the 2011 dues structure at the $15 per represented repeater.  MTA: Paul N3WMV.  2nd: Ken N3OVP.  Passed on voice vote.

2011 Meeting Locations:
After some discussion between the BOD and the audience regarding meeting locations, it was decided that meetings for 2011 would be held in the following locations (subject to availability)

APRIL 17, 2011 -- Mercer Pa -- 130 pm
JULY  17, 2011  -- Somerset Pa Hamfest or Ebensburg Pa
                              MTA: Joe KR3P.  2nd: Ken N3OVP.  Passed on voice vote.
October 16, 2011 -- Annual Meeting & Election of Officers  --  Butler, Pa
January 15, 2012 -- Washington, Pa  MTA: Sam W3CYO.  2nd: Paul AB3PJ.  Passed on voice vote.

New Members:
No new membership applications were presented.

 Adjournment:
Paul AB3PJ voiced a motion to adjourn the meeting. This was seconded by Ken N3OVP. This motion was passed on a voice vote. Chairman Denny N3EJY adjo
urned the meeting at 324 pm ET.

Respectfully submitted by:
Charles 'Chuck' Gessner W3ON
Acting Secretary

Note that these notes are unofficial and are subject to review.
  They do not become official until voted on at the next WPRC meeting.