MEETING TO ORDER:

     President, Jeff KSØJD, called to order the October, 2023, business meeting of the SFTARC at 08:05 AM CDT. A total of 21 members attended, 17 joining in person at the Gardner Perkins and 4 joining via Zoom. (Quorum is 13.) There was one guest.

SECRETARY-TREASURER REPORT: 

     Marty, KEØPEZ, reported the current bank balance. There were no expenditures during the past month.  The club received one dues payment.

Repeater Update [Jim - KØNK]

     Conversations with the City of Olathe are ongoing. The Gardner repeater on 147.195 MHz has fairly decent coverage of Olathe and is available for club members to use. It uses the standard +600 kHz offset. At the moment no CTCSS tone is required, however it would be wise to program your radio to transmit a 151.4 Hz tone in case the CTCSS requirement is implemented later.

SFTARC Officer Elections [Jeff - KSØJD]

     George WBØCNK, Larry KDØRIU, and Marty KEØPEZ were nominated for President, Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively. The election will be held during the SFTARC Annual Business Meeting Saturday, November 11, 2023.

2024 Ham Class

     The 2024 SFTARC Ham Class (Technician) will begin on January 6, 2024. There was discussion about whether to also have a CW class. Marty will post an announcement to LarrysList. 

OTHER BUSINESS:

      The SFTARC Year-End pot-luck party will take place at the Gardner Senior Center on Saturday, December 16, 2023. Tony KDØKLD will provide BBQ, coffee, water, plates, and utensils. If you would like to sign-up for a pot-luck item, send an email to Marty. Party starts at 6 PM.

     Watch for Rick's article "Hams and Eggs" in Issue 6, "Landmarks," of 105 Meadowlark Reader. Thanks, Rick, for continuing to tell the Ensor story.

     The club ICOM 746 needs a case and foam cushion material. Please contact Jim KØNK if you have you have any cushion material to donate to this project.

     There will be a trunk sale and campfire on Friday, October 27, at Ensor. This is the day before the JCRAC Auction.

     There are things in the trailer that we are not using. Items to be disposed of include big tubs, charge controllers, and tie-downs for trailer.

     Marty is coordinating the VOTA Kansas event, which will take place November 8-14. Operators (who must be members of ARRL) will use callsign W1AW/Ø. Please contact Marty for details and a link to the sign-up sheet.

     Tech night this month will be on Thursday, October 26th, at 7:30 PM CDT. The topic is radio noise, and Ralph promises to tell a “shaggy dog story.”

ADJOURN:

     After a motion to adjourn and a unanimous vote, President Jeff adjourned the meeting.

Howard Cripe, NØAZ, with LeEtta Felter in the Peg Barn     Olathe City Councilwoman LeEtta Felter, who is challenging Mayor John Bacon for his job, was given a personal tour of Ensor Park and Museum the morning of Thursday, September 28, with SFTARC Secretary-Treasurer Marty Peters, KE0PEZ, Howard Cripe, NØAZ, Peg Nichols, KDØVQO, and myself doing the honors.

     LeEtta, who represents Ward 3 on the City Council, spent about an hour and a half at the eight-acre site owned and operated by the city and used the opportunity to take several pictures, ask a few questions and otherwise become much better acquainted with the place. She also announced that the Felter Family Trust would be making a $500 donation to The Olathe Ensor Foundation.

     "It's a treasure," LeEtta remarked in the parking lot before the tour commenced as she steadily looked in the direction of the Ensor home and the outbuildings to the east and south of it. Struck by the tranquility of her surroundings on a pleasant fall day, and apparently not really expecting anything in the way of affirmation, she then asked, "It's so peaceful isn't it?"

     The councilwoman proceeded to add, "It's important to preserve our history."

     The tour concluded, and back in the parking lot, a very-much-impressed LeEtta said, "We want to make sure to preserve and protect this. This is beautiful ... unbelievable ... unbelievable."

     Park Services Manager Paul Krueger and John Gray, KDØVRS, also were on hand for the tour, which started with the two-story Italianate house where amateur radio pioneers Marshall and Loretta Ensor were raised and ended with the Peg Barn.

     The current mayor got a first-hand look at Ensor Park and Museum in 2021. 

     Among the many interesting items on display at Ensor Park and Museum is "The Radio Hymnal" that proverbially rests in peace atop the Victrola Radio in the master bedroom at the Ensor home, a tribute to a time when America as a whole was a country where organized religion enjoyed a prominent place in society and regular attendance at a Sunday morning worship service was basically expected.

     Visitors will see two metal towers connected by what amounts to a musical antenna on the front cover of this relatively small book. The antenna consists of a three-measure treble clef with 10 notes, under which appear the words "I will sing of my Redeemer."

     The title page declares that the hymnal is "For All Those Folks Who Love the Good Old Songs of Praise and Peace," and goes on to report that its contents were compiled by radio station KFNF of Shenandoah, Iowa and Henry Field Seed Company, also of Shenandoah, with the assistance of the Rodeheaver Company of Chicago.

     Pictured on the preface page are Henry Field, who is identified as being KFNF's manager and announcer, and LuEtta Armstrong, soloist.

     The page reads in part as follows:

     "We have no idea of profit in this book. It is not gotten out with that idea. We do hope to get enough for it to pay the expense of getting it out, and we believe we will, for I know that there are hundreds of thousands of you people who have wished for something of the sort.

     "We hope that hereafter, when you hear these good old songs from KFNF, you will be able to turn to your own song book and sing with us. Yours for the Master, Henry Field."

     Published in February of 1927, the hymnal includes 326 songs, including "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," "In The Garden," "Are You Washed In the Blood?" "Shall We Meet?" "Onward, Christian Soldiers," "The Unclouded Day," "This World Is Not My Home," "Throw Out The Life-Line," "I Love to Tell the Story," "Bringing in the Sheaves," "The Old Rugged Cross," "Savior, Like a Shepherd," "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah," "The Old Time Religion," "Shall We Gather At the River," and "Standing On The Promises."

     Preceded by an index, the songs are followed by The Lord's Prayer and then the Doxology.

     A single copy of the hymnal, be the cover a full cloth board cover or a high grade manila cover, could be purchased for $1. But if you wanted to buy 25 or more hymnals (i.e., enough to outfit every adult and teenager in a small country church), you could get the full cloth board hymnals for 80 cents apiece and the high grade manila hymnals for only 40 cents apiece.

"Turn Your Radio On"

Don't you know that everybody is a radio receiver/And all you got to do is listen for the call/Turn your radio on/Turn your radio on/If you listen in you will be a believer/Leaning on the tune that will never fall/Get in touch with God/Turn your radio on --- composed by Albert E. Brumley Sr. in 1939