BCARS Meeting Minutes - November 6th, 2025

A meeting of the Bedford County Amateur Radio Society was called to order at 1930 hours at Bedford American Legion by President Zachary Pepple, KC3KHK and a quorum was declared.

In attendance were (10):

W3DRW Bernie, WB3JEK Kenny, KA3UDR Steve, KB3DFZ John, K3QNT Lloyd, KC3KHK Zach, KE3ZT Steve, K3IP Kip, KC3QOD Tony, KC3NAF Ed.

Meeting Minutes were presented by John KB3DFZ. Motion to approve was made by KA3UDR and seconded by K3QNT.

Treasurer’s report was given by K3QNT. Motion to approve was made by W3DRW, seconded by KA3UDR.

Old Business

Halloween Parade K3IP reported on the Halloween Parade, in which he operated the BCARS Emergency SpookMobile. It operated flawlessly through the entire route.

VE Session and Workshop was held October 8th. BCARS successfully upgraded WA2LYV from Tech to General Class license. For the workshop, members demonstrated meshtastic node usage and discussed DMR talk group bridging.

Repeater Update Repeaters are up and linked currently. On the 146.790 We still experience interference from operators in Washington County. KB3DFZ plans to change the CTCSS tone from 123hz to 167.9Hz on the 146.790 repeater later this month to see if that eliminates the issue.

WPA Set Exercise was held by BCARS. K3QNT operated as net control and passed 3 formal messages.

New Business

December Meeting Will be held at Hoss’s Steakhouse in Bedford, starting at 6:30PM. Please invite other hams, friends and family to attend. Elections are held at the meeting, but all other business is kept to a minimum, the rest of the time is set aside for socialization and celebration as we bring the year to a close.

Officer Nominations

There are 4 positions up for election this year: Secretary, Treasurer, 1-year Trustee, and 2-year Trustee. Nominations only require a nomination and a second, with voting to be held in December.

• Steve Wurm, KE3ZT, nominates John Hogenmiller, KB3DFZ for Secretary. Seconded by Lloyd Roach, K3QNT.
• John Hogenmiller, KB3DFZ, nominates Lloyd Roach, K3QNT for Treasurer. Seconded by Bernie McDonald, W3DRW.
• Steve Elliot, KA3UDR, nominates Bernie McDonald, W3DRW for 1-Year Trustee. Seconded by John Hogenmiller, KB3DFZ
• John Hogenmiller, KB3DFZ, nominates Ellis Bowser, KC3WMI for 2-Year Trustee. Seconded by Lloyd Roach, K3QNT.

With no further nominations, officer nominations were closed.

Special Event KE3ZT discussed planning having BCARS operate a special event station from the Old Coffee Pot at the Fairgrounds in October 2026. The club needs to select a good date. Lloyd will arrange to get access to the coffee pot for the event.

Grant Approved Lloyd, K3QNT reported that the Bedford County Endowments for the Arts has approved our grant application. The granted amount and check will be sent sometime in December.

New Promotional Cards With BCARS call sign change to W3ZC, K3QNT motioned to purchase new promotional cards with our updated net and meeting information. The cost would be around $250. KE3ZT seconds. Motion approved.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2020 hours.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Hogenmiller, KB3DFZ
BCARS Secretary