Join us (next meeting is Saturday November 8 at 5pm) at Cedar Falls Family Restaurant. (2627 Center St, Cedar Falls) This evening we will be holding a brief club meeting and elections prior to dinner. Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, October 2025 The October gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 6:00 PM October 11, 2025 at the Waterloo Airport. There were 17 members (15 ARRL) and no guests in attendance (locally and remotely) this evening, listed below. This evening's presentation was by Randy (KF0JPR) on Raspberry Pi MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: (none) Report accepted with no adjustments ( N0ZYC / K0CQH ) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ activity and balances for period: 9/1/2025 - 9/30/2025: Savings (repeater fund) account: $2,809.26 starting balance ---------- -------------------------------------------------- (no changes) --------- -------------------------------------------------- $2,809.26 ending balance checking (share-draft) account: $1,797.96 starting balance ---------- -------------------------------------------------- -$ 224.98 check to Bill (W0GEN) for domain registration renewal (10yr) ---------- -------------------------------------------------- $1,572.98 ending balance upcoming deposits and expenses: Going to cut a replacement check to Al (KB0VGG) to replace a lost check. I have decades of old financial documents, should I be keeping these? (we should be okay to shred anything more than 7 years old) Report accepted ( W3STS / K0CQH ) Please contact our treasurer Dave (KD0DK) if you would like to get your dues paid for the year. Club dues can be paid in person at the meeting or online on our club website at https://www.w0mg.net/ REPEATERS --------- Al (KB0VGG): chuck's, mine, and DMR are all doing great 444.975 is offline until tomorrow, using Al's repeater The repeater we bought that's up right now can fusion locally (not over the internet) One upgrade route is to send it back to Yaesu for a firmware update. Upgrading that way (from version 1,00B) will cost about $100 to ship it there, (return shipping is "free"), not sure what Yaesu will charge for the firmware update. (could be free) That will add fusion, and provide more information. Another option is to get a brand new repeater, that'll be around $1,800. We'll have more exact numbers for the next meeting. Mark (N8TWO): will also be getting an ethernet drop ran tomorrow (it's currently using WiFi) Stan (W0SJ): What happened to Bill (W0GEN)'s repeater? Someone else already bought it. COMMITTEES ---------- Presentation Committee (Curt/NK0T, John/WB0MAR): (no report) OLD BUSINESS ------------ Taryn (N0TKC): Election dinner meeting is Saturday Nov 8 at 5pm at the Cedar Falls Family Restaurant. They've undergone a bit of a remodel though prices are still reasonable. Can serve special-needs like gluten-free. Dave (K0CQH): elections coming up, our 2023 director Jan (KE0IWP) is up and she's not interested in running again so we need someone new to serve as director. Dave (KD0DK) would like to take a break from treasurer. He'll do it for one more year if there are no takers this year. Al (KB0VGG) would also like to step down from president. There were no nominations made tonight, but we will be accepting nominations before the election next month NEW BUSINESS ------------ Al (KB0VGG): Curt (NK0T) was admitted to the ER earlier this week with kidney stones on the other side. He's currently at home waiting on the infection to clear before surgery. Stan (W0SJ): The ReStore on Hammond is selling used solar panels cheap, 6 amp for $40, 9 amp for $60 The ReStore is open Tuesday through Saturday. Mark (N8TWO): We've got JOTA next weekend. They currently have 20 scouts registered, with four more expected. Saturday's first event will start at 8:45 AM, building fox-hunting antennas. (the scouts will be assembling partially pre-built tape-measure beams) We would like to set up a station with digital mode showing contacts coming in from around the world. Will need help with both digital mode and CW. Nathan (N0ZYC) will be handling the fox-hunt. JOTI will also be going, but the scouts will be handling that separately without our assistance. Come dressed for the possibility for cold or rain. Nathan (N0ZYC) has several morse code keys that were donated to the club that the scouts can use for the event. (discussion of who can come and help) Taryn (N0TKC): JOTA will also feed the volunteers well. Mark (N8TWO) will be cooking ribs. Volunteers please report to the dining hall when you arrive. No vehicle registration is required for this event. Dave (KD0DK) will bring some pre-made sheets for name coding. Al (KB0VGG) gave a quick recap of ARRL positions. He's currently the AEC and has been nominated for DEC. Chuck (W0ALO) is the EC. We'll discuss drills more at an upcoming meeting. For the purposes of the drills, we'll probably be using the 9-4, 444.75, and 8-2 as the "three repeaters". Motion to adjourn at 7:10 PM ( W3STS / KE0IWP ) UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- presentation ideas: electronics history, radio bug-out bag, alternate power, solar power, spotting electronics scams, mag-loop antennas, broadband blocking filters, Denver/cf robotics club, sodering, new director at FEMA, EOC? Contact Al (KB0VGG) if you'd be interested in giving a presentation. Tentative presentation schedule: NOV 8 : (elections/dinner) DEC 13 : JAN 10 : FEB 14 : MAR 14 : APR 11 : REGULAR EVENTS -------------- - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - Iowa Digital Net runs every Tuesday night at 7pm, 3.5885 MHz USB / 1500 Hz WF (Olivia 8-500) - Iowa 75 Meter Evening Net runs Mon-Sat at 6:00 pm on 3.970 MHz / LSB Also meets at 12:30 pm on same. - Iowa 160 Meter Net runs Sunday night at 9:30 pm on 1.9745 MHz / LSB - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 - Ham Radio Fellowship / Breakfast every Wednesday morning at 9AM at the Wendy's at Love's Travel Stop in Waterloo. (3301 Greyhound Drive) VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- contact Mark (N8TWO) for current information at classes@w0mg.net or Al (KB0VGG) on class/test day at 319-243-8819 UPCOMING HAMFESTS AND EVENTS ---------------------------- (let me know) ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- Randy (KF0JPR) has a pair of HyGain yagi new in box for sale, asking $100 ea Doug (K0DV) has a 6m beam new in box also that's looking for a new home Don (W0DT) has a number of radios for sale Don (KD0WGB) has a Zero Fire ground plane vertical (10-80m, 43ft) for sale W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: https://www.w0mg.net/ - Membership form: https://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform.pdf - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/waterloo.hams/community/ - Cedar Valley area repeaters list: https://w0mg.net/?page_id=1736 - additional club media and resources: https://vftp.net/N0ZYC/W0MG/index.html - Amateur Radio Practice Site (tests and code): https://www.aa9pw.com/ - Discord server (current invitation link at top of minutes) ATTENDANCE ---------- Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N8TWO Mark Colby KF0JPR Randy Albright K9DCR David Roberts W3STS Scott West KE0IWP Janice Fitkin KE0IWQ Jim Fitkin WB0MAR John Humpal KB0RSW Randy McClain K0CQH David Knittel KD0DK David Kelly K0DV Doug Vernier KD0WGB Don Hesseling N0TKC Taryn Colby KB0VGG Al Jones W0SJ Stan Johnson KA0DBC Lois Johnson Guests: (NONE) Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact our Treasurer in person at our monthly meeting or by email at treas(a)w0mg.net Members of the board may be contacted over the air or via email: President Al Jones (KB0VGG) pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President David Roberts (K9DCR) vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer Dave Kelly (KD0DK) treas(a)w0mg.net Director 2023 Jan Fitkin (KE0IWP) dir3(a)w0mg.net Director 2024 John Humpal (WB0MAR) dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2025 Randy Albright (KF0JPR) dir2(a)w0mg.net ABOUT ----- NIRAA meets most months on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 6:00 pm, at the Waterloo Airport, in the old restaurant. Parking is available at no cost in the short-term lot. (3 hr free limit) Our primary club repeater is on 146.94 mhz, negative offset, with a PL tone of 136.5 hz, with coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Many members are also monitoring channel 3119 on DMR. Our club website is at https://www.w0mg.net/ and the club's primary email contact is sec(a)w0mg.net You're receiving these meeting minutes because you have given the NIRAA club your email address for minutes and announcements. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply requesting removal from one or both distribution lists. - Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) Secretary, W0MG