The October 18, 2003 meeting was held at Red Coach Restaurant in Newton. The meeting was called to order at 9:15am by President Kent Harder. Present were Ko Bartel, Lon Buller, David Duerksen, David Godshall, Bob Harder, Kent Harder, Robin McDaniel, Kent Stutzman, and Roger Wilson.

Minutes: The September minutes were read.

Treasurer's Report: Checking balance $567.41, Petty Cash balance $155, total balance $722.41.

Hesston Repeater: The 2m 145.21 repeater is working great now, switched to separate send/receive antennas, good coverage. Also cleaned some old junk off the tower. Receive is around 100', transmit around 70'. Repeater is an Icom commercial running at 25 watts.

Bob Harder: Gave an update on his Worked All States with Nelson Kilmer, flew to NC, rented a car and drove to VA, side jog to WV, then to MD, DE, and NJ. Dropped Lorna off in Philadelphia so she could fly home, then drove through New York and the Bronx to CT and to the ARRL headquarters in Newington. Got a tour of the ARRL, the QSL bureau, QST magazine, testing center, and then worked Nelson and Nash in Florida from W1AW, getting stuck in a pileup afterwards, and talked to QST about writing an article on the single-op WAS for QST. Drove to RI for the 49th contact, spent a little time in RI, and then flew home from Boston. Planning trip to the last state, Hawaii, for May 2004. Started the WAS in August 1993.

Field Day: Discussion on Field Day locations. Kent observed that the primary goal of meeting at Military Park was being a public place and that goal was not met in the two years we met there. In addition, recombining the Field Day efforts of the Newton club and the Hesston club would increase the number of operators; split up both clubs saw a reduced number of operators.

Bicycle Rides: Rodger reported on the MS Ride, had ham operators at the rest stops as well as roaming. One incident of a rider running into another rider, but otherwise no incidents. The MCC Ride on the same day was manned by Kent Stutzman and David Godshall. There were around 60-70 riders and $6,000 was raised for MCC.

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course: Kent Stutzman completed an online ARRL course and received his Level 1 ARECC certificate. Spent about 40 hours on the course. Cost is $45, but if you complete the course, you get your money back. This and other courses on ARRL's website.

Sweepstakes: Bob reported the November sweepstakes will be November 1-3 for CW and 15-17 for Phone.

Meeting adjourned 10:16am.