BOARD MEETING MINUTES – August 17, 2017
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
Roll Call of Officers – All officers were in attendance.
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 6:02 PM.
Secretary’s Report – Steve KAØOBI
Minutes from the Board Meeting on April 20, 2017 have been posted on the website. No additional comments from the group.
Treasurers Report – John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance 7/1/2017 $2,628.51
Income $80.00
Expenses $307.52
Ending Balance 7/31/2017 $2,400.99 (Not including RBP income/expenses)
$17,492.81 (Including RBP income/expenses)
Reports of Committees:
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB (Not present)
Radios in the Park – last one is scheduled for August 31st. The location will be the Valley View Park in Oak Park Heights.
Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald – will be held in the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park on November 3, 4 & 5. It is not too early to make your reservations for the event.
MAP: Dave WØOXB (Not present)
A spreadsheet has been created to track projects and volunteers. This year there are many requests for help and a couple of installs are pending. As a MAP 2.0 initiative, Joe would like to emphasize that this is not just an antenna installation program. It is about everybody helping everyone else –whether it be computer software, grounding issue, RFI, or electrical problems. Ideally, we would like to establish two different crews that could help members with antenna installs. This would effectively take some of the workload from Dave who is currently at every install.
Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO
September – FT8 – What’s all the excitement about? (KCØOIO and others)
October – Last chance bargain sale of remaining Handiham gear
November – Microcomputers & Raspberry Pi – Collin KEØIYN
December – Stump the Elmer Round 2
January – SWEEP
February – Radio Scouting – What is it and how can I help?
March –
April –
May –
Additional ideas for future programs: ARISS School Contact with John Dean KØJDD, Special Interest Clubs: SKCC, County Hunters, QCWA, 070, OMISS, YLRL; Operating Portable Roundtable, Diagnostic Tools: Analyzers, DMMs and Diagnostic Gizmos; Tuners: Manual vs. Automatic + Care & Feeding; Setting up your Shack; New Technicians: Here’s what you can do now; Show us your Shack-Supersize, AK4WQ Satellite Operations.
Eyeball Sessions – Skills Night
Other projects being considered include: Baluns, SWR Bridge Calibration (KØGW), building coax cables, exploring JT modes and software, programming HTs, DX Labs Suite, Logger32 & N1MM (NØODK), putting together a radio ‘Go Kit’.
Education & Training Report – Bob WØGAF
General Class 2017 begins Sept 14th – John has rooms lined up at the libraries in Oakdale, Lake Elmo, and Stillwater. Draft calendars will go out to instructors this weekend.
Morse Code practice and mentoring – there appears to be a large interest in adding this service for the members. The topic will be brought up at the first Membership Meeting in September.
VE Team – Shel NØDRX
VE session on Nov 9th. New submission forms will take effect soon.
Newsletter & Websites – Pat Tice WAØTDA (Not present) & Dave WØOXB (Not present)
The September issue deadline is August 26th with a publishing date by September 3rd.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS & Shel NØDRX
Shel was unable to attend the Spring Repeater Council meeting. He said that after reading the meeting minutes there didn’t appear to be anything new.
APRS Digipeater – A plastic NEMA 1 Cabinet has been given to SARA by ISC Companies. The cabinet is lockable, vent holes may be added for air movement, and Henry will approve the box. Next we need to transfer the D700 to the new box and prep it for digipeater use. It should be brought to the next Thursday night meeting so we can test the digipeater mode and make plans to install the completed system at the stack.
Remote Bases Committee – Pat WAØTDA, Keith AGØH, Eliot KEØN, Bill NØCIC, and Henry KØHAS.
The remote stations are both functioning; however, the audio seems to be a little low. Pat needs to make the appropriate adjustment to correct the issue.
Field Day – June 24th & 25th – Field day went well and the results have been submitted to ARRL by KCØOIO and a confirmation was received. The dinner was a big success, much thanks to Collin KEØIYN. The WØTBC Memorial Award was presented to Dave WØOXB. The Simonet family has been notified of the award presentation.
Builders Group – The Bitx40 7 watt transceiver from India will be the next group project. The kit can be ordered from HFsigs.com for $59. Because shipping is from India you must allow at least 30 days.
Unfinished Business
Remote Base Project – There are still two items that are at Radio City on consignment that have not yet been sold – the Kenwood TS570 and the Kenwood TS480 200-watt transceivers.
Equipment Trailer – shelving has been purchased from Lowe’s that includes: two 48” wide x 24” deep x 72” high with 5 wire shelves which will go on roadside and two 36” wide x 18” deep x 72” high with 5 wood shelves will go on curbside. A work day is planned for Saturday, Sept 16th at Joe’s house to install these shelves and to build the desk/bench. A notice will be in the next newsletter with all the details.
SARA’s 25th Year in 2017 – What is next to mark this celebration?
Nets & Ragchews – the Digital Net will resume in October.
New Business:
There will no longer be a Stillwater Diabetes Walk. It will be combined with the Bike Tour to Cure this year and is scheduled for the Saturday after Memorial Day.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:01 PM.