RARC Meeting Minutes – March 2008

The March meeting of the Rochester Amateur Radio Club was called to order by President KariAnn Wiles, KCØWIP, at 7:02 p.m., March 11^th, 2008. at the American Red Cross. There were 40 members present.

KariAnn began the round the room introductions.

Stan KDØBQ announced that the program would be provided by Scott KØMD and Jay Bellows KØQB. Scott was there to present on his DXpedition in the Caribbean, and Jay Bellows was there to talk about the RARExpo Dakota Division Convention and how he and the ARRL can help.

Treasurer's Report:  Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Checking	$2038.60
Savings	$1485.76
CD @ 3.39% (note 1)	$4354.41
Cash	$20.00
	----------
Total	$7898.77

Transactions this period:

2008 Dues	+$150.00
2009-11 Dues	+$75.00
Donations	+$32.40
Interest	+$110.21
Qwest	-$16.26
Web Server	-$149.00

Notes: 1 - CD is repeater reserve funds

IRS Form 990-N (e-Postcard) filed March 11, 2008  

Membership status:   118 club members (66 paid for 2008)  

Submitted by RARC Treasurer, Bob Hart, KCØGND.

Meeting Minutes:

RARC Secretary, Daryl ACØID, presented the old and new business from the February 2008 meeting minutes.

• A suggention was made in regards to the upcoming SKYWARN training session being held on March 19th. Someone recommended that the club should have a booth setup to recruit potential new ham radio operators as we have had in years past. Bill KØRGR said that someone will take care of putting up a display at the spotter training session.

The February 2008 meeting minutes were approved.

Committee reports:

• Repeater maintenance on the 82 repeater is planned for sometime in April.
• Planning to perform repeater maintenance on the 625 repeater later in the year.
• The 440 UHF repeater will be evaluated in the near future by Dave KCØUCN.
• John NØHZN has the service monitor. Dave KCØUCN will recalibrate it.
• Rob KCØFOW will be taking inventory of the club equipment stored at Pat NØADQ's farm.
• The Technical Committee needs to evalute the tower trailers and determine if they are in good working condition of if they might need to be salvaged or replaced.
• The generator needs to be tested when the temperatures are consistently warmer.
• The Techincal Committee is planning to perform some testing of APRS communications out of the Rushford area later this year in conjunction with the ARES drills that are being planned.

• Bob has more ARES badges to pass out. The current badges are good through the end of 2008.
• The 2008 ARES NCS schedule will be posted on the web site by the end of the week.
• We would like to do some drills later this year to test our communications capabilities in the Rushford area. We would like to see if we can use HF, possibly 80 meters, to communicate with the Red Cross in Rochester from the Rushford area.
• We still need to come up with a solution for communicating health and welfare reports during emergencies.

• Jon Turk is taking over the documentation responsibilities for the emergency preparedness plan for Rochester.
• Deputy Mike Bromberg has taken over Jon Turk's position at the County EOC. Mike is also taking the Technician class to become a ham radio operator.

• Schaeffer Academy station is coming along good. Bill, Bobby KCØNXB, and a couple of other students have been using the equipment at the school and have recently made a few contacts.
• Scott KØMD picked up the borrowed radio from Schaeffer to return it to Pat NØADQ.
• No activity planned at the Schaeffer school station this week since Bobby is up at the state capital being a page.
• Trying to get the Century school station started. Several club members are meeting Friday March 14th at Century to assess the site there.
• Also have contacted the principal at Lincoln at Mann choice school about joining our group.
• Scott KØMD reported that they are trying to get a project going at Schaeffer where interested students can purchase a kit radio. Niel WØVLZ has helped with ideas for that project.
• Scott also plans to do a parent/child education program on how to get your ham radio license at Schaeffer later this spring, perhaps in April.
• Bob KCØGND asked that we obtain a document of understanding with Schaeffer, and any other schools that have stations sponsored by RARC, and he will hold that document for the club.

• KariAnn annoounced that Dave KØVH would be taking the lead on the Field Day committee.
• Scott KØMD mentioned that he and Pat NØADQ had already done a fair amount of planning for the event, which they had planned to hold at Pat's farm again.
• Dave asked that club members communicate ideas and comments to him before the April club meeting. The sooner the better so that he can get plans in place.
• Dave will come back at the April club meeting with a Field Day plan presentation, and the club will vote on where it should be held this year.

• There has been a "walk through" with the food service and a good menu has been planned.
• There are still concerns about classroom space.
• Our biggest concern remaining is the vendors. We currently have approximately 12 vendors committed, but would like to have closer to twenty for the space we have.
• Dave KCØUCN is investigating the possibilty of vendors getting a 3 day temporary tax permit for the expo. This would help bring in more out of state vendors that are concerned about the state sales tax requirements.
• If anyone has connections to any vendors, please communciate the need to have them attend the RARExpo. If they can't attend then ask them to donate prizes, or gift certificates for prizes. We need more vendor involvement.
• Charlie WØTAX and Jay Bellows are helping with the 501(c)(3) application.

• Just had the ARRL SSB DX contest.
• Currently have the 2008 Clipperton DXpedition. They want 100000 contacts.
• Two weeks ago we had Goose Island. The 15 operators running 8 hour shifts made 183686 contacts on 160 - 6 meters. That's a record for any DXpedition so far.
• St. Bart in the Caribbean is coming online shortly
• 10 meters is opening up nicely now.
• CQ Worldwide is the end of March

• Had the Frozen Goose Event February 2.
• The Med-City Marathon will be held May 25th. Eric KFØS is running it. It is the largest event the club does so Eric is looking for lots of people to help.
• The following week is the Diabetes Tour de Cure.
• The Rochestefest Parade is held the day before Field Day. Steve WØSTV is heading up that event.
• There is a new triathlon event for RochesterFest this year too. More to come later.
• There is a new event May 16th called the SOS (Stay Out of the Sun) Run. It is a Friday night event, starting at 4:00 pm, or 5:00 pm, and it will last roughly 1 to 2 hours. We still need a volunteer to coordinate the event. See John NØHZN if you would like to help.
• More public service event information will be on the event calendar soon.

Old Business:

• There is a group of club members headed up by KCØGND currently reviewing and updating the club bylaws to make them more current. Nothing is happening currently on that front. One thing being considered is proxy voting for the annual club elections. The bylaws should be updated before the end of the year.

New Business:

• Bob ABØBW talked about his interest in IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project). It is only available on Linux, and is radio to radio. Bob may be using the 440 repeater later this year to experiment with it. He is also looking for funding for any equipment that may be needed.

 

• Stan KDØBQ handed out flyers containing information on the proposed new club meeting location at the RCTC campus. Stan has booked two rooms for us to consider.
  • SH210 - seats 108 people. Located on the 2nd floor near the elevator
  • EH109 - seats 50 people. Located on the 1st floor near the door at the west lot
  Both rooms are "smart rooms". Plenty of parking is available in the evenings. KariAnn proposed that the club meet at the college for the April club meeting as a trial. The club will then vote on whether we should continue to use the college location for club meetings. VE exam sessions and classes will continue to be held at the Red Cross. A motion to hold the April club meeting at the college was approved. Signs will be posted at the college and at the Red Cross.

 

• Dave KCØUCN announced that his store, The Spy Shop Direct located in the Soldier's Field Plaza, is now affiliated with Radio City. He offers a wide variety of ham equipment and accessories and also provides ham equipment service. Dave passed out flyers and business cards at the meeting as well.

The business meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Daryl Mowrer, ACØID

Program:

Jay Bellows (KØQB) talked about the RARExpo and Dakota Division Convention and how he and the ARRL can help us with that event. He thanked the club for taking on the challenge of holding such a large convention, expo, and hamfest. He also offered suggestions for the event, and offered to lend his services to help where ever he could.

Following Jay's presentation, Scott KØMD gave a delightful presentation on his recent DXpedition in the Caribbean. Scott's presentation, as always, was very interesting and informative, as well as very fun to watch. What a wonderful break from our Minnesota winter that must have been. Thank you Scott for sharing your experiences with us!

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