Branch 68

Present ZL2IC (c) plus 20 members as per attendance sheet.

One minute silence was held to respect silent keys.

Apologies – ZL's 3VF, 3SX, 3OV, 3GG.

Moved Tony ZL3HAM, seconded Doug ZL2BCF, that the apologies be accepted, carried.

Minutes of the previous meeting as circulated be taken as read and accepted as an accurate record.

Moved Mike ZL3MJS, seconded Jim ZL3ND, carried.

Matters arising:- None

Reports

68 – North Canterbury, presented by Tony ZL3HAM

Denise Hider ZL3HI gave us an interesting PowerPoint presentation on the "Aspects of Amateur Radio" followed by photos and stories of Denise & John’s recent trip on the maiden voyage of the "Queen Mary 2" liner, very interesting stuff.

This month we had an interesting visit to the Civil Defence Light Rescue Centre in Southbrook.

Our meeting this month was a general chat evening with nibbles and drinks provided by the committee plus a Branch 68 Xmas cake organized by Denise Hider ZL3HI.

We had our Xmas BBQ on the 15^{th and as usual it was enjoyable with a good turnout.February}

It was the AGM on the 14th with little change in the committee apart from the Vice-President, Mark Harrison ZL3HS, not wishing to stand for a further term and Ian Hewson ZL3CE leaving the committee. Following the AGM we welcomed Geoff Chapman ZL3PX who gave us an illustrated talk on "Electrical Safety", this was very good as Geoff is a great speaker.

The subscriptions remained at the same level as last year, plus we dropped the repeater levy for this year.

The John Powell Memorial Trophy for ham of the year was awarded to Ian Hewson ZL3CE for his long standing work over the many years in various club roles.March

Following a lengthy discussion on whether the club should register as a charitable organization we were pleased to vote in Ann Fraser ZL3TNT as Vice-President and David Fraser ZL3AI and Owen Pimm ZL3GM onto the committee. After the official part of the meeting Ian Hewson ZL3CE gave an excellent talk on "Waiouru Radio Station".

Tony Buckland

President Branch 68

CARDS presented by Mike ZL3MJS

01 – Ashburton presented by Jim ZL3ND

October ’07 Don Geddis gave an illustrated talk on his recent trip to Codfish Island to assist with the counting of Sooty Shearwaters for D.O.C.

November ’07 Terry Dalton Introduced us to Seekers Radio and showed some new equipment.

February ’08 Tony ZL3HAM showed us a DVD on the Dxpedition to Scarborough Reef.

March ’08 Was our AGM. There were only a couple of changes,AREC section leader is now Gordon ZL3AQ and AREC deputy is Robin ZL3REW.

Presented by Jim ZL3ND.

05 – Christchurch presented by David ZL2ICOctober 2007

3rd October a presentation by Christchurch AREC Team, on what AREC has been doing and to give an idea for those who don’t get involved, on what they do. This was done to hopefully pull some more members to get involved with the activities of AREC.November 2007

1st November A talk from Greg ZL3IX on the subject of "Software Defined Radio" showing the experimentation that he had been doing with this new mode of radio.December 2007

5th December AGM of the Branch

Minor changes to the committee:- Mike Barnes Vice President

David Holland President

Amateur of the Year was awarded to Rory ZL3HB for his work organising the data projector funds from Pub Charities January 2008

No meetingFebruary 2008

6th February BBQ at the clubrooms

No Branch MeetingMarch 2008

5th March Geoff Chapman ZL3PX is speaking on his adventure to Antarctica, a very interesting talk by Geoff.

Our thanks to all of the folk who gave talks to our members.

Presented by David Holland,

ZL2IC,

Christchurch 05 President

56 – Christchurch West presented by Mark ZL3HAGeneral meetings; we enjoyed the following monthly meetings.

October Dr John Campbell from the Physics Dept, University of Canterbury

November; talk and demonstrations of morse keys by Bill Smith.

January 2008 Meeting; cancelled due to closure of Auburn Park by Police.

February Geoff ZL3PX talked on recent visit to Antarctica.

Computer upgrade; facilitated by Bruce ZL3TMF and Mike ZL3TMB

Eureka Trust; grant of $750 towards whiteboards in meeting room and radio room

Remit to NZART Conference 2008 re Call-Book

Regular working bees to upgrade antenna systems, etc.

Field Day; 23 & 24th Feb at Rimu Park cancelled due to mix-up over park booking

Club’s radio station ZL3VV open every Tuesday from 1700hr. All welcome

Prepared by John Walker ZL3IB, Hon Sec

North Canterbury AREC presented by Geoff ZL3QR

ACTIVITIES (Since the last CBF)

Oct. 7 – 12/07. Assist Ch-ch AREC with Jetboat Marathon.

Oct. 27/07. AREC Training Day. 11 attendees from Nth. Canterbury.

Dec. 2/07. Assist Ch-ch AREC with Kayaks – Waimak.

Feb. 9/08. Assist Ch-ch AREC with annual Coast-to-Coast.

Jan. 21/08. Annual planning meeting with Waimakariri CDEMO. As the North Canterbury

Communications Club (CB’ers) is now in recess there have been no further developments

regarding their inclusion for CD communications.

Nov. 07. 5 Rural Fire callouts for the month.

Dec. 07. 1 Rural Fire callout. (Xmas Day)

Jan. 08. Forest skidsite fire, Ashley Forest. (New Years Day)

3 Rural Fires, two of which were within Forest Fire Boundaries.

2 callouts to smoke showing over forests. One was smoke drift from south side

of Waimak River, the other was an illusion caused by cloud.

Feb. 08. 2 Rural Fire callouts.

None of these callouts required "on site" communications, all were operated from Home Base by either myself or my Deputy. Because Waimakariri District does not have its own Rural Fire Team, our Forest Fire unit has been tasked to assist with rural fire fighting in this district. This, coupled with the hot, dry summer, is the reason for the high level of activity this season. In addition to all these callouts, there have been an almost equal number of "advisories" where callouts have been initiated for within our forest fire boundaries but have been dealt with by the

NZ Fire Service which, by rights, are always "first call".

Geoff ZL3QR / ZK9EG.

Section Leader.

AREC presented by David ZL2IC

NZART Council Report presented by Keith ZL3QH

We are still battling with the repeater fee, ZL3QH is on the sub committee dealing with this issue.

11 people currently have a single letter callsign.

The saga of the ZK callsigns still continues.

Council are bringing the Foundation License idea to conference and are looking into pursuing it further following the success it has had in Australia.

The call book is currently subject to remits but badly needs updating. Nzart sent out letters inviting none members to join and 151 were returned because it eas the wrong address.

General Business

Geoff ZL3QR had been asked by the family of Ian ZL3OK to dispose of his radio gear. He had a list of items which was passed to each branch and the list will be published on Branch 68's website (www.ncarcinc.com)

David ZL2IC reported there was a lot of APRS and old packet still around, a vast amount are on 146 repeaters, 650 and 575. David ZL2IC moved and Tony ZL3HAM seconded that a recommendation be made, to all clubs in our area, shift all APRS to didgta repeater 144650 and encourage people to use the new paradigm, carried.

Ann ZL3TNT advised of the new email address for Combined Branches and urged all to use it for Combined Branches business (cancbforum@yahoo.co.nz).

Ann ZL3TNT brought the idea of a callsign for Combined Bramches for use in a variety of activities,That involved two or more of the Branches attached to the Forum. After futher discussion it was moved Doug ZL2BCF, seconded Mike ZL3MJS that the CARDS callsign ZL3CAR be used for such activities, carried.

David ZL3AI suggested a yahoo group be set up for branch members of Canterbury clubs as represented at Combined Branches. It was agreed this was a good idea and David ZL3AI will set it up.

Terry ZL3QL, NZART Overseas Liaison, spoke about the IARU Region 3 Conference that is to be held in Christchurch in October 2009 (see report attached to permanent copy of these minutes). There will about 75 delegates attending and 15 "hangers on". some assistance will be required to help with various tasks and a treasurer will be needed. Transport will be required to meet delegates and also for transport around the city.

Next meeting will hosted by Christchurch West (Branch 56) on 22nd September 2008

Meeting closed at 2105 hours.