BOARD MEETING MINUTES – January 19, 2017
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
Roll Call of Officers – All officers were in attendance except Bob WØGAF.
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM.
Secretary’s Report – Steve KAØOBI
Minutes from the Board Meeting on December 29th, 2016 have been posted on the website. No additional comments from the group.
Treasurers Report – John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance 12/1/2016 $3,271.91
Income $166.00
Expenses $288.27
Ending Balance 12/31/2016 $3,149.64 (Not including HELP income/expenses)
$14,401.62 (Including HELP income/expenses)
Reports of Committees:
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB
Ice Station WØJH – the event will be held Feb 18th– 20th, 2017. Dave KØAIF will be hosting again just across from his house on Lake Elmo. An announcement appears at the bottom of page 105 of the February issue of QST under the Special Event Stations section. A fixed antenna will be erected prior to the event. John N5JLZ will be operating another station in Dave’s driveway from his well- equipped van.
John N5JLZ recently reserved the Autumn Hills Park for Field Day 2017 & 2018. A damage deposit check was issued but will not be cashed unless there is damage to the property.
MAP: Dave WØOXB
No new projects were scheduled for last week.
Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO
February – DMR (Digital Mobile Radio with MNDMR) – Trygee Svärd KDØPNQ
March – Reconditioning Vintage Radios – Randy Olson KDØVKB
April – ARRL Update and This is LOTW – Greg KØGW
May – SDR: Icom IC-7300 and Flex 1500
Additional ideas for future programs: Arduinos & Raspberry PIs, Microcomputers for Ham Radio; 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.
Eyeball Sessions – Skills Night
February 2nd – Antenna Analyzer Builders Group
February 9th – N3FJP ACLog Primer
February 23rd – FLDIGI Hands-On
Radios in the Park again this summer? – The board response was a unanimous yes. We will try to schedule this year about every 3 weeks rotation.
Mike NØODK has volunteered to do a presentation on the contest logging programs – Logger32 and N1MM (for CW, SSB, & RTTY).
Education & Training Report – Bob WØGAF (not present)
The SkyWarn 2017 Training – Feb 25th at the Stillwater Library.
Technician Class 2017 & the Extra Class Study Group will both begin March 2nd at the Stillwater Library. The April sessions will be held at the Lake Elmo Library.
The VE Session is scheduled for April 27th at Boutwells Landing.
New Ham Night will take place on May 18th.
Newsletter & Websites – Pat Tice WAØTDA (not present), Dave WØOXB
The February issue deadline is January 28th with a publishing date by February 4th.
The March issue deadline is February 25th with a publishing date by March 4th.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS & Shel NØDRX
We need to get a second credentialed person who will have access to the repeater site.
Remote Bases Committee – Pat WAØTDA, Keith AGØH, Eliot KEØN, Bill NØCIC, and Henry KØHAS.
Previously there was a problem with the transceiver at the WØZSW site which prevented it from being able to transmit. An Icom 7200 has since been hooked up in its place. We may be able to let Doug troubleshoot the Kenwood 480HX to determine if it makes financial sense to repair it.
KCØOIC has a possible location idea for WØZSW that he will be exploring with KEØIYN.
Unfinished Business
HELP Project
Last week several items were dropped off at Radio City to be placed for consignment sale. It appears that the Icom PW-1 Amplifier may have been sold. Joe KCØOIO received a call from Radio City Tuesday (Jan 17th) with an offer of $2,500 and countered with $2,700. The other three items are currently priced as follows: Yaesu FT-847 All-mode Transceiver – $699, Ten-Tec Pegasus SDR Transceiver – $500, and Ten-Tec Orion – $450.
Equipment Trailer – We will wait to form a planning group for outfitting the trailer once the weather gets warm.
SARA’s 25th Year in 2017 – Bob WØGAF will get pricing information for a members cruise from Andiamo Enterprises of Stillwater and other Riverboat cruise providers. Another idea that was brought up was the possibility of an August Special Event Weekend or an Event with a picnic or dinner afterwards. Bob WØGAF had previously recommended using an online member survey resource like Survey Monkey to determine the membership’s preference for a recognition event.
501C3 Application – It is suggested that the Board members take time to view the video of the 501C3 seminar from NEARfest available through ARRL. We can then schedule a working session for the Board that would take place outside of the Eyeball night to review this topic and determine the path we want the club to take.
Nets & Ragchews – The Tuesday Round Robin Net has been working well on 12 meters and 6 meter SSB. As propagation conditions change we may go back and re-evaluate 15 meters as an alternative band.
Meeting Locations – we have had some meeting space issues with Stillwater Library so we should keep in mind that Lake Elmo Library would make a good alternate space when needed.
New Business
Appointment of Club Trustee – Shel NØDRX was nominated, seconded, and by acclamation appointed as Club Trustee.
New Antenna Tuner – Dave WØOXB suggested that we need to purchase a new antenna tuner MFJ 986. This tuner retails for about $370 plus tax. Because this amount exceeds the allowable purchase guidelines, it will be brought up at the next General Meeting for a vote. Since Radio City is listed as a SARA sponsor we should try to purchase the tuner locally from them.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:41 PM.