Editorial Note: January Minutes here are changed to reflect an earlier misprint of the February program. Rodney Price is scheduled for the March 2004 Meeting.

The February 21, 2004 meeting was held at Red Coach Restaurant in Newton. The meeting was called to order at 9:20am by Secretary/Treasurer David Godshall. Present were Lon Buller, Gary Dix, David Duerksen, Ron Farthing, David Godshall, Bob Harder, Michael Harvey, Dan Inskeep, Roger Jost, and new member Sean Kelly.

440 Repeater: Michael brought in the 440 Repeater, asking the club for what callsign to use: W0BZN like on the 61 repeater, or N0NK. As soon as the repeater is fully coordinated with the callsign and a time is found to place it on the grain mill, it should be ready to go as a backup repeater for the Newton area. Michael will let the treasurer know the total expenses later, but is estimating it to be about $140.

61 Repeater: Has been running EchoLink recently, so it can be linked up with repeaters across the country and world via the Internet. EchoLink's website has a list of participating repeaters, and a person with a computer and sound card can connect to any repeater as well.

Annual Storm Spotter's Meeting: Lon Buller reminded everyone about the storm spotter's meeting Tuesday, March 2, 7pm, Chisolm Middle School.

Membership: Michael Harvey has prepared a newsletter he passed around at the meeting to mail to area amateurs letting them know what is going on and including a membership form to encourage them to join the club.

Legislation: Some discussion about various laws in the works protecting antennas and spectrum. Right now a lot of communities have rules prohibiting the kinds of antennas amateur operators need for effective emergency communications. Some states have passed laws disallowing such rules from applying to amateur operators, and there is interest in getting Kansas to pass such a law.

Kansas Sampler Festival: Coming up in a few months in May 1-2. Amateurs will help with communications.

MCC Relief Sale: The sales falls on April 16-17, which is the same weekend as the club meeting. Lon moved that we move the April club meeting to April 24 pending verification with Roger. Michael seconded. Passed unanimously.

Hamfests: Joplin and Kansas City hamfests in April.

Emergency Operations Center: Adding computers, phone lines, etc., might be able to use help running cable, etc. Let Lon know if interested in helping. Will probably do on a Saturday or some evening.

Meeting adjourned 10:09am.