BOARD MEETING MINUTES – March 15 2018
BOARD MEETING MINUTES – March 15, 2018
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
Roll Call of Officers – All officers are present except for Doug N9TOW.
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 6:02 PM.
Secretary’s Report – Collin KEØIYN (Steve KAØOBI)
Minutes from the Board Meeting and Monthly Member’s Meeting of February 2018 have been posted on the website.
Treasurers Report – Rich ADØSN
Beginning Balance 2/1/2018 $2,867.32
Income $230.00
Expenses $174.95
Ending Balance 2/28/2018 $2,921.87 (Not including RBP income/expenses)
$17,589.80 (Including RBP income/expenses)
Reports of Committees:
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB
Ice Station WØJH – The event was successful. Certifications are going out. 22 were present during the event. QRZ page had 1450 hits. There were only 396 Q’s vs 680 last year, but conditions were worse this year. 135 confirmed so far, vs 228 last year.
White Rock 2018 – This has begun with early planning phases.
Field Day – Facility is reserved. Need to organize team in the next month or so to begin detailed planning. Looking into inviting dignitaries from Oak Park Heights. The club is looking for folks to lead this event.
Radios in the Park – June 14, July 5, July 26, August 16, Sept 6 are at Valley View Park with an Antenna Shootout July 26th.
MAP: Dave WØOXB
The project list has been updated. There is a desire to develop a list of SARA members skills and willingness to help with MAP projects.
Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO
April – WØAIH Contest Station – Paul Bittner WØAIH – Falls Creek, WI
May – BITX40 Builders Showcase. There is a plan to invite Matt Holden, Dakota division director for AARL, for Q&A. K0BBC.
Sept – FT8/WSJTX Deep Dive as an idea.
Additional ideas for future programs: 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, SSTV, ATV.
Eyeball Sessions – Skills Night
Projects include: Toroids to Reduce Noise, SWR Bridge Calibration (KØGW), exploring FT8 and WSJT-X software, programming HTs, DX Labs Suite, Logger32 & N1MM (NØODK). The next likely one is on FT8 and WSJT-X, some time in February.
Education & Training Report – Bob WØGAF (not present)
The SkyWarn class will be held Feb 24th and the Tech class started March 1st and will end April 19th with VE examination on April 26th. New Ham Night will be May 24th at Valley View Park. After the first classes, had 25-30 students. Very good numbers. New ham night needs to plan what is doing and pair people up when running the net. Focus on what was learned and what privileges they have.
VE Team – Shel NØDRX
The next VE session has been scheduled for April 26th. Shel has put out a call for VE Team volunteers. Boutwell room is reserved and the bill has been received.
Newsletter & Websites & Social Media – Pat Tice WAØTDA & Dave WØOXB
The March issue deadline is March 31st, with a publishing date by April 7th.
A new Facebook group was opened up by Joe. It is a closed group which requires people to request access. KCØOIO will confirm whether group is visible to general public. Admins are KCØOIO and AGØH, with moderator WØOXB. Facebook page is good and old one will come down at end of the month. Will open the group once rules are established. Bob will help with website posting.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS & Shel NØDRX
Dave’s credentials are in the mail.
APRS Digipeater – The final prep for use needs to be done, testing digipeater mode, and installing it at the stack.
Remote Bases Committee – Pat WAØTDA, Keith AGØH, Eliot KEØN, Bill NØCIC, and Henry KØHAS.
No new updates, Dave is still waiting to hear from XL Energy on the credentialing processNo report.
Builders Group – The Bitx40 project has an email list going with 14 people who will be building the kit..
Unfinished Business
Remote Base Project – Elecraft K3/10 and the Flex 1500 have been offered to members.
Equipment Trailer – The remainder of the wiring projects will be done in April 2018. Joe has the parts now to repair the roof vent lid. Also work on interior/exterior lighting, adding a coax pass through, and a broom and dust pan. A question was raised about getting a generator and it will be investigated.
Equipment Inventory – All data imported, and just getting into the data account for long term storage of the data before putting the form out to the public.
New Business:
Sara IGC Challenge – A number of SARA members are active. KE0N is the current leader, with Joe hot on his heels. A top chaser is suggested to get some recognition. Might wish to differentiate by mode and acknowledge for grids activated. Joe will put in some information on the top 5 periodically. IGC coordinator is Jim KD0IPI. Joe will send a club email on it.
New Antenna For Community – A new antenna has been put up at Hazelwood Park in Maplewood, and a question has gone out asking for funding for the antenna wire. Approximately 130′ of wire, and average 40 cents per foot. Shel motions to allow purchase of up to $200 worth of antenna wire. Bob seconds, unanimous approval.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.