Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, Feb 2016 The February 2015 meeting of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:01 pm on Feb 13, 2016 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 8 members and 3 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. Motion made and passed to accept minutes as emailed (W0HHF/N0TKC) Treasurer's report was $800.57 in the general account. Dave also noted we currently have 28 paid members for 2016, 16 of which are ARRL members. Major outstanding payments for Chris's work plus yearly insurance are estimated at $786. Dave needs to try to get himself and Chris (N0CF) to have co-access to the club bank account. (club call custodian makes sense for the alternate, that'd be Chris) Report accepted (N0TKC/NK0T) Motion made and passed to pay half ($359) of Chris's work down, (N0TKC/KE0DXX) Motion made and passed to pay Tom (AE0TB) the estimated ($30) web hosting for the year, (N0TKC/KE0DXX) OLD BUSINESS ------------ There was a thorough discussion of the upcoming W0MG hamfest, Dick (W0HHF) gave out details and flyers. The Pavillion at the NCC will be leased ($300), we will have tables available under the shelter as well as the entire lot available for tailgaiting. We will be offering free admission and charging $5 for tables, with donations solicited. (this may change in years to come, but we need to "make a name for ourselves" before people are going to be willing to pay for attendance) We will also be using this opportunity to collect names and email addresses for a drawing for a radio (Baofeng etc) that we can apply to our mailing list in an effort to increase club awareness and membership. We'll have a few people interacting with people as they arrive, to help insure all attendees get entered for the drawing. NCC will allow setup to start at 7am, and we will officially open at 8am. (NCC does not allow sales to occur on the grounds prior to 8am) We'll close at noon, and must be out by 1pm. (the reason the NCC fee was this cheap is because we were able to book a half-day instead of a full-day) Food and facillities will be abilable inside the main building. NCC does not permit outside food or drink and will probably get upset if they see much of it, so actively discourage it if you see it happening. Dick is requesting underwriting for the expense of the grounds rental. Money collected at the event (in tables and donations) will go toward reimbursing the underwriters, with any surplus going to the club treasury, but it's unlikely we will take in enough to fully cover the cost. Members are encouraged to advertise the hamfest as much as possible, flyers were handed out and are available to any that can use them. Take them to events and especially other hamfests if you can. New Business ------------ Field Day is coming up, we'll be assembling a committee. We'll need to get signups for people that are interested in going 24 hrs before deciding if we will be doing that. Camp Ingawanus and Lookout Park are probably the leading contenders for location. ARRL membership is dangerously close to our required 51% minimum. Please join if you can, our ARRL affiliation confers many benefits to the club and its members. Board meetings prior to club meetings continue to be a consideration on a month-by-month basis. No meeting is anticipated to be needed prior to the March club meeting. Next meeting's presentation will be by Tom (AE0TB) on coaxial crimping. Motion to adjourn (WD0BWQ/N0TKC) Tonight's presentation was on contact logging, by Mark (N8TWO) CALENDAR: REGULAR EVENTS -------------- - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - hams meet informally at 9am every Monday morning at HyVee on University Ave - hams meet informally at 12pm every Tuesday at Taco Johns on University Ave - Iowa Digital Net runs every Tues night at 7pm on 3572.5 / 3574 ctr USB VE TESTING AND TRAINING ---------------------------- - VE sessions from the Benton County Repeater Association are underway. Sessions are held at the Newhall City Park Pavilion located at the corner of 3rd Ave and 3rd street, in Newhall Iowa. Upcoming sessions are on March 24, Apr 28, May 26. Registration time for each event will begin at 5:00 PM, contact Butch, W0WDF on the 145.230 repeater. He can also be reached at bfaulk@fmtcs.com - Extra Class training starts March 24, continuing every Tuesday evening until April 28, at 6pm, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, corner of Garden and Pleasant in Cedar Falls - VE testing Sat, April 30, 10am–12pm, Cedar Falls Public Library, 524 Main St, Cedar Falls HAMFESTS -------- Mar 19: Mahaska ARC Swapmeet (302 High Ave E, Oskaloosa, 8-12? Free Adm) aka "Oskaloosa hamfest" http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/mahaska-arc-swapmeet-1 Apr 16: DMRAA Hamfest 2016 (Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines 8-1, $6 Adm) http://dmraa.com/hamfest Jul 16: W0MG Swap Meet (Natl Cattle Congress, NCC Pav, Wloo 8-12, Free Adm) http://vftp.net/w0mg/NIRAA_W0MG_Swap_Meet_2016.pdf OTHER EVENTS ------------ - March 12: State ARES meeting (same as our March NIRAA meeting) - March 21: Spotter training, 6:30 pm Tama Hall, Hawkeye Community College - June 27-28: Field Day ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NIRAA club meets on the 2nd Saturday of every month at 7pm in the basement of the Red Cross building (2530 University Ave) in Waterloo. Anyone interested in ham radio is welcome to attend. Our primary club repeater is on 146.94 mhz, negative offset, PL tone of 136.5 hz, with coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Officers may be contacted over the air or via email: President, Mark Colby, N8TWO, pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President, Curtis Wilson, NKØT, vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary, Nathan Fisher, NØZYC, sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer, Dave Knittel, K0CQH, treas(a)w0mg.net Director, Chris Conklin, NØCF, dir1(a)w0mg.net Director, Stan Johnson, WØSJ, dir2(a)w0mg.net Director, Tom Bicket, AEØTB, dir3(a)w0mg.net - Nathan Fisher Secretary, W0MG You're receiving these meeting minutes because you have given the NIRAA club your email address for minutes or announcements. If you no longer wish to receive email, please reply requesting removal from one or both distribution lists. Meeting attendance, per sign-in sheet: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N0TKC Taryn Colby NK0T Curt Wilson W0ALO Chuck Angel K0CQH Dave Knittel KE0DIG Harold Lucas WA0ILD Kermit Kittleson KE0DXX Michael Chapman KD0DK David Kelly N3CAH Craig Hoepfner N8TWO Mark Colby