RARC Meeting Minutes

RARC Meeting Minutes for March 10th, 2015

Meeting called to order by President, Dan N0KZO at 6:33pm
Treasurer's Report
- Read by Treasurer, Robert - see below for details
Minutes from last month's meeting
- Corrections from last month's minutes (Public Service events):
- - March of Dimes event listed as on April 5th is actually on April 25th
  - Skywarn training listed on April 5th is actually on March 31st
- Minutes were approved with the above corrections

Checking
Opening Balance	$4,528.66

Credits
United Way	$50.98
Dues	$170.00

Debits
Banner	$25.18
IBM Grant purchase	$268.50
Stamps	$5.88
RPU	$39.99
Frame for certificate	$7.49

Closing Balance	$4,399.60

Savings
Opening Balance	$4,692.23

Credits
Interest	$0.03

Debits

Closing Balance	$4,692.26

Cash on hand	$65.00

Total	$9,156.88

Reports:
- Technical Committee Report:
  - Did not meet this month
  - KTTC will be explored further as a potential repeater site
  - Reseating cables on repeater appeared to help as well
- Public Service:
  - Next event was semi cancelled - March of Dimes is at Mall Of America
  - Next event is Stay out of the Sun Run on May 15th at Lourdes High School
  - Med City Marathon May 24th
  - Tour de Cure September 19th
  - Rochesterfest Parade Route has drastically changed - out by Soldier's Field
- ARES:
  - Skywarn training will be good opportunity to fill out an ARES application if you have not already done so
  - March 31st Skywarn training - meet at Ground Round at 5pm for dinner than Rochester Event Center for event
  - RARC will have a table both before and after the training
  - Steve will do some recruiting at this event as well
  - Table and banners will be ready, handouts will be updated beforehand too
  - Check websites for additional training and webinar info
  - RMS Express messaging service being investigated as well for sending messages
- Contesting:
  - Next VHF contest is June - 2 weeks before Field Day
  - For HF WPX at the end of the month - SSB Phone contest
  - Last weekend was ARRL DX
- Education:
  - Class upcoming the end of April
  - Active recruiting is important
  - Skywarn training will probably result in some class attendance as well
  - Attendance at classes overall has dropped drastically over the last 6 months
  - Possibility for listing RARC classes in Community Education quarterly circulations as well as KTTC and KAAL TV stations
    - Still looking for public relations officer related to the above as well
    - Amy Ranson is now the new public relations officer after the motion passed
- Field Day:
  - Menards parking lot is not available as a location
  - Committee assignments will begin this week for assigned people
  - Should decide where we will be and how many stations we will do
  - Out at Pat's and 3A classification as we have done in the past?
  - CW operators - make sure we have enough for a half-dozen of these? Last year we were a bit thin on CW operators
  - Add Pat to club roster as honorary member
  - Two $50 gift cards for past field day hosts - 1 to KOAs and 1 to Pat
  - Money for Field Day - operating budget $500?
    - Motion passed for this
  - Money for Field Day part 2 - equipment budget $300 from last year, $300 accumulative this year?
    - Discussion of the need for this given the amount of equipment already available within the club
    - Discussion of cost-effectiveness of buying new equipment and then only using it for Field Day once a year
    - Idea for a quartermaster/inventory officer to keep track of all club equipment/Field Day equipment included
      - Get 2 separate lists - one for club general club equipment (Tech Committee will take care of this) and one for Field Day equipment (Field Day Committee will take care of this)
  - After the above 2 equipment lists are compiled next month the club will review additional equipment proposals
  - Method for tracking club equipment inventory in general is needed - check in and check out procedures
Old business:
- Banners
  - New banner was shown at the club meeting - looks great!
  - Used for public service events and Skywarn training on March 31st
- Certificate for Paul
  - Will go out in the mail tomorrow
- Patches
  - A to Z printing will get back to a couple of club members with prices
- Budgets
  - Club has never had a formal budget
  - Power bill/insurance/Field Day are all about the same amount of money ($500)
  - Right now we can either increase the dues, increase the members, or decrease costs
  - People can make a donation at any time
- IRLP node is back up and running
New business:
- Discussion of United Way donations
  - How they can include RARC in the employer charitable giving
  - See Robert with additional questions
- Additional ideas for outreach/club activities to increase exposure of the club
  - If you have ideas please contact Dan
- Winona ARC - asking if there were any problems using the 82 and 625 repeaters for their Boy Scout Radio Merit Badges on Saturday, March 21st from 11 to 1130a and 4 to 430p
  - These will be conducted at Gamehaven
  - HF and possibly VHF frequencies will be used for this
  - Possibility of getting RARC members to assist with contacts on both repeaters/simplex
  - More information on this event will be sent to the Yahoo Groups reflector from Dan
- EchoLink commands
  - Turn off #00
  - Turn on #11
  - For club use - EchoLink has been working great lately
  - EchoLink commands - lots of options here
- Free antenna available - talk to Jon
- Ron also has equipment listed in the newsletter as well - contact him if interested
- Radio Shack is not closing at this time, new manager who is an amateur radio operator
- New bill related to Amateur Radio proposed - would affect antennas on private land restrictions
Introductions were performed
Program for this month was by Mike Thompson AE0MT about Arduino and amateur radio projects that can be completed on this platform

Minutes recorded and reported by Drew, KC0CJP, Secretary.