BOARD MEETING MINUTES- September 14, 2017
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
Roll Call of Officers – All officers were in attendance except John N5JLZ & Bob WØGAF
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 6:08 PM.
Secretary’s Report – Steve KAØOBI
Minutes from the Board Meeting on August 17, 2017 have been posted on the website. No additional comments from the group.
Treasurers Report – John N5JLZ (Not present)
Beginning Balance 8/1/2017 $2,400.99
Income $20.00
Expenses $19.27
Ending Balance 8/31/2017 $2,401.72 (Not including RBP income/expenses)
$17,299.34 (Including RBP income/expenses)
Reports of Committees:
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB
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 Mariner Motel reservations for the 13th consecutive running of this event. Please let Dave know as soon as possible what days you will be attending. There is a possibility that we will only be running one station in the Trail Center this year. We may do a portable station in the parking lot. A notice will be sent to ARRL announcing the event and it will appear in the ‘Special Events’ section.
MAP: Dave WØOXB
A number of antenna projects have already been completed with additional ones still on the schedule for this year. These include: WØDIK, KC9DEJ, WD9DNQ, KEØIYN, N5JLZ, KDØSIO, KDØVKV, NØODK, and a multiband vertical put up in the park.
Ideally we would like to have two teams for antenna installations. Team One would install the antenna and Team Two would tune it up and show the club member how to operate it.
Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO
September – Amateur Satellites with Soren AK4WQ
October – Microcomputers & Raspberry Pi – Collin KEØIYN
November – ARISS School Contact with John Dean KØJDD
December – Stump the Elmer Round 2 (possibly send out a quiz in advance to members)
January – SWEEP
February – Russian Woodpecker – Skip KSØJ
March – Radio Scouting – What is it and how can I help?
April – BITX40 Builders Showcase
May –
Additional ideas for future programs: ARISS School Contact with John Dean KØJDD, 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, SSTV, ATV.
Eyeball Sessions – Skills Night
Other projects being considered include: Baluns, SWR Bridge Calibration (KØGW), crimping coax cables, exploring FT8 and WSJT-X software, programming HTs, DX Labs Suite, Logger32 & N1MM (NØODK).
Education & Training Report – Bob WØGAF (Teaching General class at different location)
General Class 2017 begins Sept 14th – John has rooms lined up at the libraries in Oakdale, Lake Elmo, and Stillwater.
VE Team – Shel NØDRX
VE session scheduled for Nov 9th.
Newsletter & Websites – Pat Tice WAØTDA (Not present) & Dave WØOXB
The October issue deadline is September 30th with a publishing date by October 7th.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS (Not present) & Shel NØDRX
We are still looking for a second club member to be credentialed for digipeater access. The APRS Digipeater still needs for the D700 to be transferred to the new box and prepped for digipeater use, tested for digipeater mode, and finally installed at the stack.
Remote Bases Committee – Pat WAØTDA, Keith AGØH, Eliot KEØN, Bill NØCIC, and Henry KØHAS.
The remote stations are both functioning.
Builders Group – The Bitx40 7watt transceiver from India will be the next project. So far we know of five members who have ordered the kit.
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. In the coming weeks the Elecraft K3 and Flex-1500 will be initially offered to the club members and if they are not sold then these items will also go to Radio City on consignment.
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. Two work days are planned for Friday, Sept 15th and Saturday, September 16th at Joe’s house to install these shelves and to build the desk/bench. Please let Joe know what times you will be there.
Motion: Budget $1,000 of Remote Base Funds to pay for the equipment trailer build out and upgrades. Motion was seconded and passed.
Nets & Ragchews – the Digital Net will resume in October.
New Business:
SARA’s 25th Year in 2017 – What is next to mark this celebration? Dave suggested having a limited anniversary item, i.e. Swiss Army pocket knife that members could purchase as a remembrance.
The ‘Membership Application & Member Information Form’ has been revamped so that it is now one side of one page.
Motion: Use the revised one page Membership Application in place of the current two-sided application. Motion was seconded and passed.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 PM.