Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, Mar 2016 The March 2015 meeting of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:04 pm on March 12, 2016 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 9 members and 3 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. Treasurer's report was $561.67 in the general account. This is after receiving $68 in dues, a $200 anonymous donation toward reimbursing Chris's repeater work, and paying Chris $559 toward repeater upgrades made recently. ($359 previously approved plus the $200 donation) Chris's tab now stands at about $225. Tom is still owed $35 for the club website (previously approved to pay), and insurance (est $220) will be due in May. (previously approved to pay) Report accepted (N0TKC/KZ0MBI) Clarification to last month's minutes: NIRAA will NOT reimburse underwriters for our 2016 hamfest expenses beyond that which is collected at the hamfest. (we will not operate the hamfest at a loss to the club) Also, extra tests are on Thursday, not Tuesday. (see upcoming events calendar below) Motion made and passed to accept minutes as ammended (N0TKC/WA0ILD) OLD BUSINESS ------------ Field day was discussed, and there appears to be enough interest in running a station overnight but there weren't enough members in attendance that are expected to participate to get an accurate count. (at least three) MEMBERS THAT WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN AN OVERNIGHT STATION AT THIS YEAR'S FIELD DAY PLEASE REPLY TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT SO WE CAN PLAN ATTENDANCE. Even if you're not sure you're going to attend but are still interested in seeing the club man an overnight station, please let us know if this is something you'd like to see the club particpate in. We also need to work out what computers will be available for logging during field day. If we run a station overnight, someone will need to leave their logging laptop there. Upcoming hamfets were also touched on. Next month's presentation isn't settled on quite yet. Tom may be able to present on crimping for April's meeting. Discussion of getting a clear roadmap of upcoming presentations into the newsletter. Spotter training coming up on March 21, at Hawkeye College. New Business ------------ Contact members prior to next month's meeting regarding overnight station - get opinions on club participation as well as list of expected attendees. There wasn't a large crowd present for this month's meeting, and no further topics for discussion were raised at this time. Motion to adjourn (N0TKC/KZ0MBI) Tonight's presentation was on breadboarding, by Nathan (N0ZYC) Nathan brought a wide assortment of breadboards and accessories designed for breadboard use and gave a short presentation on their applications. Next meeting's presentation tennatively by Tom (AE0TB) on crimping. 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 Apr 28 and 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 is continuing every Thursday evening until April 28, at 6pm, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, corner of Garden and Pleasant in Cedar Falls. Contact Al Jones at 319-239-6772 to register or if you have any questions. - VE testing Sat, April 30, 10am–12pm, Cedar Falls Public Library, 524 Main St, Cedar Falls HAMFESTS -------- Apr 16: DMRAA Hamfest 2016 (Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines 8-1, $6 Adm) http://dmraa.com/hamfest May 12: Junk in the Trunk, Cedar Rapids, Collins North parking lot 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 Aug 7: CVARC HamFest 2016 8am-1pm, Teamster Hall - 5000 J St SW, Cedar Rapids tailgaiting, $7 adm, $10 tables, VE testing OTHER EVENTS ------------ - 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 1, Chris Conklin, NØCF, dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2, Stan Johnson, WØSJ, dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 3, 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: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N8TWO Mark Colby K0CQH Dave Knittel WD0BWQ David Brandon KD0DK David Kelly N3CAH Craig Hoepfner KE0DIG Harold Lucas N0TKC Taryn Colby N0RXB Wendell Wagner Guests: KZ0MBI Michael Chapman KE0DXH Steve Clark WA0ILD Kermit Kittleson