BOARD MEETING MINUTES – February 19, 2015
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, MN 55082
President – Joe KCØOIO
Meeting was called to order at 6:05 PM
Attendance – Six officers were present. Two new guests attended – Marty from Coon Rapids and Tony from New Hope – both were interested in the upcoming Technician classes.
Secretary’s Report – Steve KAØOBI
Minutes for January 15, 2015 Board Meeting were approved as published.
Treasurer’s Report – John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance 1/1/2015 $3,865.81
Income: $60.00
Expenses: $1,016.52
Ending Balance 1/31/2015 $2,909.29
Activities/Events – Dave WØOXB
Ice Shack Portable – 2/14 to 2/16 –Frozen Goose Lake event recap. There were about 450 QSOs using a 115’ center fed Zepp antenna, Kenwood 570D transceiver, and MFJ 969 antenna tuner.
Field Day – 6/27 & 6/28 – the field day packet indicates no rules changes from last year.
White Rock, SD – considering this event for mid-September. We would travel there on Friday and operate on Saturday and Sunday. Participants would be staying at the Dakota Magic Casino in Hankinson, ND.
MAP & HEARTS – Dave WØOXB
Outdoor maintenance projects are on hold until the end of winter except for emergencies.
Meeting Programs – Joe KCØOIO
March – Greg KØGW will talk about the latest ARRL activities and the benefits of ARRL membership.
April – Lyle KØLR will discuss SDR (Software Defined Radio).
May – Dick NØUC & Mike KCØIQW are tentatively scheduled to talk about Broadband HamNet and re-purposing Linksys routers.
Fall ideas – ‘Fun with DX’ (Mike NØODK), Smartphones and tablets in the shack, Digital SSTV – Easy Pal (Mike WAØKKE & Keith AGØH), APRS (John Dean KØJDD)
Education and Training – Bob WØGAF
Skywarn Weather Spotter Class – Online registration is currently active on The Metro Skywarn website for signing up for the Feb 28th event at 10:30AM to 3:30 PM at Stillwater Public Library.
Technician Class – Mar 5th – Apr 23rd 6-8 PM, new manuals are on hand and ready to be loaned to instructors.
VE Session – April 30th at Boutwells.
Newsletter Content – Dave WØOXB said the deadline for submitting content for the March issue is February 28th. The issue will be published by March 6th.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS said the equipment is still working OK with some desensing being experienced which is to be expected with the cold weather.
Unfinished Business:
Coffee Mug with Club Logo – Keith AGØH is continuing to check on several options by going back to the mug supplier. He would still welcome any suggestions or graphic design help with this project.
Suggested ‘Eyeball Session’ topics – Bring the event computers to a Thursday night meeting and go over the logging program in detail so we can all familiarize ourselves with how it operates on Windows 8. Bring the MFJ 969 antenna tuner in and go over a “hands on” tuner procedure in detail.
New Business
Storage and maintenance of the three new event computers –Joe KCØOIO agreed to store and maintain them.
Post-Technician Class “What’s next” – it was generally agreed that this should occur 2 to 3 weeks after the classes end. A Mentor Program was proposed that would have club volunteers bring a newly licensed amateur to their home shacks to give them up-close exposure to the equipment and how it is used.
Slow Speed CW Net Revival – members will listen on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters between 7 & 9 PM to find a good frequency to possibly use for this net.
A motion was made, seconded and approved to purchase two 12 volt battery chargers.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:36 PM.