Board Meeting Minutes – September 17, 2015
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
Roll Call of Officers – All officers were present.
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 6:12 PM.
Secretary’s Report – Steve KAØOBI
Minutes from the Board Meeting on August 20th, 2015 have been posted on the website.
Treasurers Report – John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance 8/1/2015 $2,766.76
Income Zero
Expenses $384.76
Ending Balance 8/31/2015 $2,382.00
Handiham Program & MAP Report – Dave WØOXB
There is a possibility of receiving an antenna donation from SEMARC.
Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO
No changes to the current schedule for meeting programs:
October – Fun with DX – Mike NØODK
November – APRS – John Dean KØJDD
December – Amateur Radio Trivia Challenge (including history of SARA)
January – S.W.E.E.P. (SARA White Elephant Exchange Party)
February – SSTV & DSSTV – Keith AGØH & Mike WAØKKE
Additional ideas for possible programs – Mobile installations – tips, tricks, and pratfalls; Maidenhead Grid Squares; Foxhunting; and Ham Radio Roundtable. Other ideas could be on analyzers & antennas (around springtime) and grounding your shack properly.
Education & Training Report – Bob WØGAF
General Class – There are eight in this class and three of those do not have any license. Two future class dates don’t have a location yet – 9/24 and 11/5. It was suggested that we let them use the regular conference room in the library and then the eyeball session can find a vacant space elsewhere in the library.
Amateur Extra study group – There hasn’t been much interest expressed so far for this.
Newsletter & Websites – Pat Tice WAØTDA (not present) & Dave WØOXB
The deadline for submitting content for the October issue of the newsletter is September 26th. The October issue will be published by October 3rd.
Repeater – Henry KØHAS(not present) & Shel NØDRX
The repeater council is having its meeting coming up in October and it will be held in Maple Grove.
Activities & Events – Dave WØOXB
White Rock – Sept 18th-20th – So far we have 8 confirmed participants (including Mayor Rudy) that will be attending this event. Two have said they will be camping out and the rest will be staying at the nearby casino. John will most likely set up his mobile van rig at the marker.
Split Rock – Oct 30th– Nov 1st – Participants may want to make reservations soon with Wes at the Mariner Motel. We expect about twenty people to be attending this year. We discussed inviting W8VS (Richard Barker, Brighton, MI) since he was the one that initially got our club started on this special event.
Unfinished Business
50/50 Drawing – This newly adopted practice went extremely well at the general membership meeting since the winner donated his half of the proceeds back to the club. This resulted in $57 of income from the drawing.
SARA Oval Stickers/Decal – The club sold these for $1 apiece and at the September 12th meeting and several members received one for paying to renew their membership.
Wearables Refund – It was agreed to send a $35 refund to Gerald KBØJER to correct an order mixup.
Radios in the Park – August 27th – The second time meeting at Pioneer Park allowed us to do some more portable transmitting and testing of a new antenna. Unfortunately, solar storms made propagation less than ideal.
Boutwells Landing Meeting Room Fees –Boutwells has been paid $250 for 10 meetings (9 general meetings Sept thru May and 1 VE sessions) at $25 for each meeting.
Potential purchase of equipment from Handihams – This idea was put on hold until we know more about who will be Pat’s replacement at Handiham and what their policy will be regarding our use of the radios.
New Business
Honorary Membership – A motion was made, seconded and carried to extend an honorary club membership to Mayor Rudy for 2016 and to present him with one of our coffee cups and a club decal.
Alternate meeting location consideration – a suggestion was made to check out the FamilyMeans building located at 1875 Northwestern Ave. in Stillwater as a future meeting location. It was thought that since they receive public funding; the use of one of their meeting rooms would be at no charge.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:57 PM.