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RARC meeting for February 11, 2014 Meeting was called to order by President, Peter W0LLNJim, KD0ORO, treasurer was not present. Financial report was displayed on projector by NZ0S.
Motion to approve January minutes was made. Dan, N0KZO, motioned to amend motion to include all currently unapproved minutes. Motion was voted and passed. It was also noted that Jim, KD0ORO, had reported that we had a refund of past premiums paid from overpayment from insurance after adjustments were made to policy. Refunded premiums amounted to $273.79. Due to this change, our premium is now lower also. Technical Committee Report – Steve, W0STV, reported that there are issues with wind on the .82 repeater. These issues are being investigated. Public Service - John, N0HZN was absent. The Frozen Goose Run was on the 1st. This was the first event of the season. The next public service event in in April and it is the March of Dimes Run. Sign up in on the website. Date has not been updated but will be soon. Other events sign-up sheets and dates are also now listed on the website. It was also mention about the Med City Marathon and beginning to think about getting more help with that event. We need about 18-20 people for that event to run smooth and cover all areas that need to be covered. If people would like to come out to see what it is all about, we can pair you with another person. ARES Update – SkyWarn training will be on April 1st at the Event Center by the airport. Red Cross go teams are being assembled and are trying to get as many people as possible on the call list. There are not going to be new ARES badges this year as they are not recognized by officials. All ARES members are urged to be Red Cross registered to be able to get into disaster areas. Membership – Looking at why numbers are dwindling. Looking at the things we do well and the things we need work on. (The program was about this and was to give feedback on what we want to see/do going forward and also to see what we have done or planned that was no longer effective.) Contesting – We are past the major contesting season. January VHF contest logs are due by Feb. 18th. Field Day is June 28-29 and will be at Gamehaven once again this year. ARRL is celebrating 100 years and is looking for W1AW/0 operators. More information can be found on the ARRL website. Introductions were done - We had 14 members in attendance. Education - It was discussed about gaining more attention and visibility to the classes that Bill, K0RGR, teaches and the testing sessions that are held here. The last test session was held on Feb 6th and had 9 attendees. Everyone either passed their initial, or upgraded one or two levels. It was discussed since there have been objections to becoming licensed due to costs that we start a “library” of Technician Books that Bill can maintain for his classes that students may borrow. A motion was brought to the table to allocate $150 to education. $80 would be for 4 Technician Books once the new ones are out in July, and the rest would be at Bill’s discretion for other supplies he has been paying out of pocket for in his past sessions. Social Gatherings - Last Friday of the month informal dinner has been changed again. It is still at Rooster's off of W. Circle Rd (CR-22) by Cinemagic Theater, except it will now be on the last THURSDAY of the month. Meeting time is at 5:30. Every Saturday morning is breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen on N. Broadway in the Silver Lake Shopping Center next to Burger King @ 7am. Also, each month before the RARC meeting we have a dinner at John Hardy's South on S. Broadway. We gather around 5:30pm then head to the meeting afterward. Our presentation was by John, NZ0S, and dealt with the club and what we do well and where we can improve. The things we do well were agreed upon as Public Service, ARES/SkyWarn, Repeaters & Infrastructure, Field Day, Education, and Socializing (?). Some of the points where we discussed needed work were: Recruitment; Marketing of the club and Amateur Radio; More Club Events; Fundraising(?); More balance between VHF and HF as a club focus. For Recruitment - Steve W0STV and Elise W0CAY are going to work on a logo that can be put on apparel for the club. Lou KB0RZU will looking to pricing for patches for such stuff also. Marketing – Bob AB0BW knows someone who would be willing to help with this. They are not affiliated with the club, but Bob could be the Public Information Officer for the club for authentication. Social media, Facebook and Twitter, along with other media are all potentials. The club does have 2 different Facebook pages, one as a Non-profit Organization and the other as a group. More Club Events – Possibility of a club station at the KOA campsite. No purchasing of equipment would all be by donation. Equipment would be stored there and signed out to operators visiting. More to come on this when W0KOA & KB0KOA return to the area in spring. Possibility of doing mobile fox hunts was discussed. Details to be worked out on that one. Fundraising – Seeing about corporate fundraising opportunities. Applebee’s was given as an example. John, NZ0S will be researching this one. John, NZ0S, made a callout for anyone who as any input as to something they would like to see as a program for one of the meetings to drop him a line. Suggestions gain interest! Meeting was adjourned at 20:30 by Peter, W0LLN. Minutes recorded and reported by Dan, N0KZO, Secretary. |