BOARD MEETING MINUTES – March 21, 2019

Stillwater Amateur Radio Association

1618 Pine Street West

Stillwater, Minnesota 55082

Roll Call of Officers – All offers were present for the meeting.

President: Joe KCØOIO

The meeting was called to order at 6:43 PM.  A delay was held to allow review and comment on Orion, KE0TPZ, and and magloop science project.

Secretary’s Report – Notes from the previous board meeting are up; the last club meeting needs to get up and will be done within the next few days.

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 94.  Same time last year was 87 members.  The IRS 990N has been filed as well as the Secretary of State renewal.  There wasn’t a chance to get a break on webhosting, so cost will be $107.40, with auto-renewal happening 06/04.  All ice station confirmations have gone out.

Activities & Events:  Dave WØOXB

White Rock 2019 – A date has been set for August 16-18, with confirmation from Mayor Rudy.

Field Day 2019 – An investigation is being done for overnight operations.  A letter drafted by Bob has been shared, as the city asked for one to take to the parks bureau.  They also would like to know those members of the club whom would operate/stay overnight.  Bob will sign the letter and send it off.

MAP:  Dave WØOXB

There is a list of a few folks interested in having antenna work done.  It is noted that those who want antenna work done need to push and advocate for themselves on it.

Meetings & Programs – Joe KCØOIO

March – Operating Roundtable – went extremely well, with a huge turnout.  A note is made that maybe want to dedicate 20 minutes of each meeting to questions and answers.

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

4 Thursdays are sorted for the Tech class – no larger rooms are available at the Stillwater Public Library.  The Summer Hill Meeting Room has been booked in Maplewood for the 28th of March.

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 – This was rescheduled to May 4th due to inclement weather on the original day.

Spring Tech Class 2019 – Feb 28 to Apr 18 – Ther have 27 techs on the roster so far.

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 March 30, with publishing by April 6th.

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 is being 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.  It just needs to be sent off at this time.

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 has been researched with proposals – see Appendix A for final review.  A discussion was held as to the benefits and if the effort would be worthwhile for SARA.  After more discussion, Dan KE0IYF motions to do nothing related to 501c3 status, and Rich AD0SN seconds.  The vote is unanimous, with no nays or abstention.  No further research or investigation will be done.

A note on the progress of the New Member welcome and outreach is received from members of the initiative.

New Business

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

There is a request to update to a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, which would allow the 3 SARA laptops and 2 editors to have the necessary software.  It is $99.95 a year for 5 devices.  This is laid over until next month.

It was suggested after the Ice Station event that an AH-4 Automatic Antenna Tuner be obtained for the trailer.  The cost would be about $300.  Collin KE0IYN makes the motion to purchase, with Shel N0DRX seconding.  A note is made this would be using Remote Base funds.  The motion carries unanimously.

An idea is brought forth by the New Ham Initiative to get a few HT’s and other gear to create a ‘Lending Library’ of radio equipment for new hams; only licensed club members allowed.  Some materials, and other items, maybe some SDR dongles as well. This topic is laid over until the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.