WINTER MEETING MINUTES
January 17, 1999
S. Strabane Township VFD
Washington, PA

The winter meeting of WPRC was held at the South Strabane VFD #2 Washington
County, PA on January 17, 1999. Denny (N3EJY) asked permission to record the
proceedings of the meeting for the purpose of transcription of the minutes.
The recording of the proceedings will then be destroyed after the minutes
are transcribed. Permission was granted by consensus of the voting members
present. N3EJY called the meeting to order at 1339 hrs.

1) N3EJY requested introduction of those members present.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS PRESENT: N3EJY, N3GPM, KC3ET, N3QCR, KR3P

REGULAR MEMBERS PRESENT: N3MBR, W3CYO, N3WMV, N3XAR, N3LIF, K3KEM,
KE3ED, KA3SMF, WA3PBD, N3QZU

GUESTS PRESENT: WB3IAL
2) Applications for membership to WPRC were presented:
Regular Memberships: NA3I Harry Steele representing 146.97 in
Warren, PA. Membership was accepted by consensus of the members
present.
3) The minutes of the Annual Meeting (October 18, 1998) were read by
the secretary and approved by consensus of the members present.
4) The treasurer's report was given by Chuck (KC3ET), showing a balance
of $2,412.17 in the treasury. The treasurer's report was approved
on motion by K3KEM/W3CYO.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

COORDINATION
Joe (KR3P) indicated that since the last meeting there have been 80
coordination items acted upon: 36 new items, 31 final coordinations issued,
14 on air notices received, 9 initial coordinations issued, 6 proposed
coordinations sent out, 11 recoordinations processed (6 voided), 3
coordinations are currently on hold for further information (1 from Ohio and
2 within state). This brings us to a total of 177 items presented for
action to WPRC. Even if we don't include the 95 items backlogged from Ohio
that still leaves us with 97 items which alone is higher than any previous
year. For 1999, we have acted upon a 9 items thus far, which means that we
are on a pace of action on a potential of over 200 items, which again would
be a record high. There are currently 42 items outstanding, 26 waiting for on air notices, 10
in the 90 day waiting period prior to final coordination, 4 on hold, 2 proposed coordinations
outstanding.

KR3P reported on the application for coordination submitted by N3JGT. The
application was denied. All three choices did not meet WPRC policies.
Another letter to Mr. Reid will be delivered personally by N3GPM.

A questionnaire was developed and distributed to the 6 meter repeater
owners present.

CO-CHANNEL SPACING
No further action was taken. The committee is awaiting the arrival of the
propagation study software for more informed decisions.

WEB PAGE
KC3ET reported on some new items being added on to the web page. The
repeater directory has been updated. It was suggested that a donation be
sent to help with the costs of maintaining the site where are web page is
located. On motion by N3WMV/N3MBR it was agreed that the treasurer send
a $25 donation to Al Waller K3TKJ the qsl.net webmaster. The motion
carried.

OLD BUSINESS
KR3P reported that there are still 2 items that in spite of the numerous
requests of WPRC for information, we still have not received any information
on the two systems below:

N3FYD in Emporium on 146.805
N3FXD in Sheffield on 444.475

KR3P indicated that final notices will be sent to the trustees of record by
certified mail and that the frequencies will be returned to the pool of
available frequencies.

KR3P presented a standardized form for Waivers (WPRC-111/0199). Copies
were made available for examination at the meeting and the form will be
placed on the web page and may be downloaded.

KR3P presented a list of Duties and Requirements for Regional Coordination
Assistants. At the present time 5 regions are open for this position with
a potential of 15 regions. This list will also be available on the web
page.

The propagation study software should be in before the end of January.

WPRC is still working on a solution for a request from Indiana County for
a 2 meter frequency.

K3KEM brought up the need for a policy on the use of the software and the
reimbursement to the individual who has purchased the policy. As agreed
upon by the membership at the October meeting a fund will be established
to reimburse the purchaser.

K3KEM/N3MBR moved that WPRC establish a policy whereby after this software
is paid for and owned by WPRC those individual members requesting use of
the software will reimburse WPRC for the cost of each report.

N3EJY suggested an amendment to the motion by insertion of the fee of $10
per frequency per report. K3KEM/N3MBR agreed to amend the motion.

KR3P suggested that the motion become the policy, rather than requesting
the board to make the policy and bring it back to the membership at the
April meeting. K3KEM/N3MBR agreed to this amendment. The motion as amended
carried. The policy as established by this action follows.

Members of WPRC requesting propagation reports will be charged a fee of
$10 per report, per repeater.

K3KEM/KE3ED moved that the following policy be established.
Amateur non-members requesting propagation reports will be charged a fee
of $25 per report, per repeater within the WPRC purview and will be run
only at the discretion of the board of directors. The motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS
1) Kevin K. Custer W3KKC submitted a request in concern of the
standardization of the ctcss or "PL" tone frequency for use in the "South
East" section of Western PA. As trustee of several repeaters located in
the "SE" section, he requested that the standard ctcss tone in the SE
section be changed to the frequency of 123.0 cycles. This change is based
on the current use of this particular tone frequency now in use by several
of his own repeaters, and several others. He also requests this change
because of the conflicting use of the present 146.2 cycle tone by some
repeaters in Northern Virginia.

W3CYO/N3WMV moved that the standard ctcss tone for the SE section be changed
to 123.0 cycles. The motion carried.
2) KR3P suggested that the frequencies 446.400 to 446.475 be reserved
for cross band repeaters. This action would help to keep crossband repeat
on some of the link frequencies. KE3ED/K3KEM moved that 446.400 to 446.475
be reserved for mobile cross band repeaters. It was suggested that this reserved
section of the band be noted in the repeater directory. KR3P will contact
ARRL to see if we can add this to the directory.

N3EJY updated the membership on the Proposed Rule Making developed by the
ARRL and the NFCC. The PRM was approved on a vote of more than 75% of the
membership of NFCC (132 yes out of 166) and the ARRL board of directors
will vote on January 17, 1999. Basically the main position of the document
is that the FCC will establish mandatory coordination. Interference between
two coordinated repeaters will be shared equally by the repeater trustees.
If the interference problem is between a coordinated repeater and an
uncoordinated repeater you are in violation of the FCC rules and regulations
part 97.... take your system off the air.

3) KC3ET reported on the improvement on enforcement actions by the FCC
CIB.

The locations for the next meetings of WPRC have been established.
April 18 - Bradford area. N3LLR will contact N3QCR with location and
directions.
July 18 - Delmont.
October 17 - Brookville.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1525 hours.

Respectfully submitted,
N3QCR Mary A. Housholder, Secretary

Please note that these meeting notes are subject to change and do not
become a part of the offical record until voted upon at a W.P.R.C. meeting.