BOARD MEETING MINUTES – February 21, 2019

Stillwater Amateur Radio Association

1618 Pine Street West

Stillwater, Minnesota 55082

Roll Call of Officers – Doug N9TOW and Rich AD0SN were not present for this meeting.

President: Joe KCØOIO

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM.

Secretary’s Report – Notes are up on website.  A special note that the Special Services are bi-annual, not annual, as in the previous notes.

Treasurer’s Report – Rich ADØSN

Beginning Balance      2/01/2018                 $2,540.67

Income                                                               $214.00

Expenses                                                             $0.00

Ending Balance           2/21/2018                 $2,754.67 (Not including RBP income/expenses)

$17,387.27 (Including RBP income/expenses)

Reports of Committees:

Trustee’s Report:  Shel NØDRX

2019 Membership – Membership is up to 91.  Some arm twisting was done at the ice station.  Also working to check with Boutwell’s Landing about space from Sept-May for next year.

Activities & Events:  Dave WØOXB

Ice Station W0JH – This is the report from K0AIF and W0OXB: Wasn’t too much different on overall event this year, though there was one major difference – we had two stations going almost whole time. One on lake in shelter, and one in the trailer.  14 operators, with the long distance award going to Scott KB0HRM – came from Duluth.  3 visitors as well, and two neighbors of K0AIF showed up. There was a big W0JH in the snow made, that was a first.  Jim (KD0IPI) made a big snow shelter as well.  The trailer had a last minute idea with a ramp to it so people could get up easier.    Ramp worked real well.  Used the OXB antenna on shore for the shelter, and end-fed on the trailer, worked really well.  Also had flyovers and photography courtesy of Bob W0GAF and Shel N0DRX.  The pie was excellent, the dump cake was okay.  Bands were average, but having two stations really helped.  Total breakdown about 677 in the raw logs, there will be a few dupes but that’s pretty good.  387 last year.  511 from lake station, 166 from trailer.  66% of Q’s were on 20m.  About half a dozen of the operators were new.

White Rock 2019 – A date will be set by the end of March, preliminary options are Aug 16-17-18 or Sept 13-14-15. Leaning towards August.

Field Day 2019 – An investigation is being done for overnight operations.

MAP:  Dave WØOXB

A MAP update and review session is planned for March 7.

Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO

January – CANCELLED due to Norovirus outbreak at Boutwell’s.

February – S.W.E.E.P.

March – Operating Roundtable

April –Logging Programs for Mac and Linux OS – Collin KE0IYN and Bob W0GAF

May – Welcome to Amateur Radio – New Technician License, now I have questions?

September – Contesting 101 – Bill Mitchel AE0EE

October – SDR Dongles and SDR Software – Doug N9TLW and Collin KE0IYN

November – Baluns, Ununs, and Chokes – Dave WØOXB

Future Ideas:  Special interest clubs, SKCC (Straight Key Century Club), County Hunters, QCWA (Quarter Century Wireless Assoc.), 070, OMISS (Old Man International Sideband Society), YLRL (Young Ladies Radio League), Diagnostic tools – analyzers, DMMs, and other gizmos, Propagation-Can I get there from here?, Station grounding, Tuners-Manual vs. Automatic and Care & Feeding, Setting Up Your Shack, New Technicians – Here’s what you can do now.

Room/Park Reservations – John N5JLZ

5 Thursdays are sorted for the Tech class – no larger rooms are available at the Stillwater Public Library.  John is investigating, and looking for cancellations.  The board thanked John for his hard work on this.

Eyeball Sessions – Tech Nights

Future ideas – Using toroids to reduce noise and RFI, Learning CW and Building Speed (W0GAF), SWR Bridge calibration (KØGW); DX Labs Suite, Logger 32 & N1MM (NØODK); Diagnostic Tools – Using an Oscilloscope;  Hand tools for your workbench; How to read the Solar Reports; The “Tech” in Technician; Antenna Lab: Theory & Design Discussions; Tune a Duplexer (N9TOW); Capacitors and how they work (Dan KE0IYF)

Education & Training – Bob WØGAF

Skywarn Class 2019 – If severe weather warning on day of class, Skywarn folks may cancel it.   They will make a decision tonight based on weather forecast.  With a current forecast of freezing rain and snow the lean is towards cancelling and rescheduling.

Spring Tech Class 2019 – Feb 28 to Apr 18 – All scheduled and ready to start.  New slides need to be downloaded for instructors.

New Ham Night – New Ham Night will be held at Valley View Park on May 16.

VE Team – Shel NØDRX

Next session is April 25th, 2019.

Newsletter & Website – Pat WAØTDA & Dave WØOXB

The January deadline is February 23rd, with a publish date of March 2.

Repeater – Henry KØHAS & Shel NØDRX

There are some noise issues that are being troubleshooted.  Things seem better in the colder temps, and need to find if the elevator has been fixed and if we can go up to switch to the other antenna.

The APRS Digipeater will be tested just prior to installation at the stack.  It is currently on hold.

Remote Bases Technical Committee

All committee members – Pat WAØTDA, Keith AGØH, Eliot KDØOTB, Bill NØCIC, and Henry KØHAS.

The IC7200 at W0ZSW (Woodbury) needs repair.  A Kenwood TS-590 from the club will be used while the 7200 is out for repair.   The TS-590 is currently running with the W0ZSW. Pat is reaching out to a guy in Michigan to try and repair 7200 and get it other updates it needs whom is certified.

Builders Group

The club is considering a 2m slot antenna design that John N5JLZ is investigating, that was published in QST.

Portable antenna building is also considered here.  A design for 6m homebrew antennas are currently considered.

Unfinished Business

The equipment trailer is yet to be completed.  A heater install will happen in spring along with red LED lighting and a CO monitor.

The equipment inventory is being worked on.  Collin is coordinating with the final people to get the last bits of inventory.

The 501(c)3 application is being researched along with best forms of transition.  Three options, including dissolution and reformation, setting up the Remote Base Project as a fully independent org, and setting up the Remote Base Project as a child organization are being investigated.  The board will be emailed the details for consideration.

New Business

Trustee Appointment – Collin KE0IYN motions for Shel to be appointed Trustee, with Shel accepting and Dan KE0IYF seconding.  The vote passes unanimously.

The board meeting schedule for the next three months is set to be March 21, April 14, and May 23.

New Ham Initiative – A push is being made to help support new hams especially at the Technician level.  The club has always been heavy on the push to HF, but wants to support those who remain as Technicians better.  To this effect a ‘Tech Committee’ is desired to be formed.  As well will perform assistance in getting individuals on the air.  The committee was formed with members being Mark (KE0QQN), Holly (KE0RZZ), and Brian (N0BJE).  Mentors include the committee, with Keith (AG0H) and Collin (KE0IYN) offering to assist.  They will work on ideas and get notification in the latest newsletter.  This will help with outreach as well, and notifying about an Extra studying group.

Annual Membership Renewals – There is consideration of a push to require filling out a membership application each year, to aid in IRS accounting.  It may be necessary as well for 501(c3), and would allow for more up to date information on members.  The board will consider this to also help determine what other complications such a plan might entail.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:17 PM.