Florida Repeater Council, Inc. Minutes of Business Meeting February 7, 2004 Miami, Florida The open forum was started at 1:09 PM on February 7, 2004 by President Ray Kassis, N4LEM. The following staff were in attendance: Directors in attendance were: District 1: Nilo A. Hernandez, W4HN District 2: Mark Filla, KS4VT (extremely late) District 3: District 4: Mike Fletcher, NI4M District 5: District 6: Dave Armbrust, AE4MR District 7: District 8: Frank Butler, W4RH Staff members in attendance were: President: Ray Kassis, N4LEM Vice President: Secretary/Treasurer: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Database Manager: Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK President Ray Kassis welcomed all in attendance. He explained that there are two meetings this year. At Miami we conduct an open forum. At Orlando we conduct an open forum and our annual business meeting. President Ray mentioned that there have been some recent events where staff members have been personally attacked. He mentioned that there are district directors and staff that are ready to help solve any problems you may have. Personal attacks on a volunteer are simply inappropriate. Orlando Rojas, KC4MZS, VP and other staff of the C3I Amateur Radio Group, presented documentation concerning the allocation of emergency repeater pairs on 440 MHz (441.725, 441.750, 441.775). They have been using these pairs for a voting repeater system in South Florida for the past 10 years and have been reporting them to the Council. They have also submitted other changes that have not been processed. They request that the Council cancel this allocation of emergency repeater pairs. President Ray commended the group for their working in constructing and maintaining their repeater system and assured them that creation of this problem was not intentional. These pairs are in use elsewhere in Florida. District 1 Director Nilo was not present when the vote was taken. The Directors have been bombarded with requests for emergency repeater pairs. Director Nilo would like this issue on the agenda for Orlando. Considerable discussion followed. This issue will be re-addressed at Orlando. Gerald Lichterman, KE4ISY requested clarification on applying for seven adjacent pairs on 1296 for a new analog & digital voice repeater. Considerable discussion about our policies and this new technology. The users of the West Palm Beach repeater 146.670, are experiencing interference from a sweeping dead carrier from down south. Director Nilo is worried that the new policy to deal with paper repeater will create new interference problems. Considerable discussion followed. Respectfully submitted Dana G. Rodakis, K4LK Secretary