Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, Apr 2016 The April 2016 meeting of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:02 pm on April 9, 2016 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 13 members and 2 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. OLD BUSINESS ------------ Minutes accepted (AE0TB/W0ALO) with one correction. (one member was counted as a guest) Treasurer's report, Dave reports that Chris (N0CF) has now been completely paid off for his repeater work and hardware. Our insurance appears to be trying to sneak through dubious riders/coverage such as "cyber security" on an opt-out basis, and may be considering us a "commercial" entity, which will result in increased rates. Dave will be looking into these issues before paying our yearly premium. Motion to decline "cyber security" (AE0TB/WHHF), motion to pay up to $250 for insurance. (N0ZYC/NK0T) Tom (AE0TB) also paid $34.99 for the year's web presence. We now have $527.27 in the general fund. Club membership is now at 35, 23 of them ARRL. Since our club gives free memebership to spouses, and many couples don't both have their own ARRL membership, this places our ARRL membership -to- club member ratio very close to the required 50% point. Please become an ARRL member if you can, you're helping the club as well as yourself. Treasurer's report approved, (KZ0MBI/W0ALO) W0MG/NIRAA hamfest was discussed in more detail. Facilities cost (Cattle Congress hall rental for the morning) will be $300. Admission will continue to be free but we will be soliciting donations, donations for underwriting are still invited. We will have an inexpensive HT as the grand door prize, and should also have some ARRL vouchers to be giving away. Submissions for the drawing will help us build email addresses for advertising of future hamfests as well as club promotion and membership. Drawing for the grand prize will be at 11am, must be present to win. We will need to pay for the grounds cost by June. We will need to have a handful of members dediated to watching the lot entry, as the cattle congress has a strong objection to anyone bringing in food or drink. (the club may get charged if we have a problem with this) Setup will begin at 7am, doors to the public opens at 8. All sales ending at noon when teardown begins, and we need to be out by 1pm. Field Day was next on the agenda, which is on Sat/Sun, June 25-26. Final discussion on venu was held, motion to hold at Camp Ingawanus. (W0HHF/N0ZYC) The options of going 1A, 2A, or 3A were also discussed again. (we get 2m and 6m "for free" so 1A or 2A makes the most sense unless we have a lot of dedicated brass bangers lined up) Committee for final field day organization was formed: N8TWO CHAIR W0HHF MEMBER KZ0MBI MEMBER W0SJ MEMBER "ANTENNA SETUP GENERAL" Stan will be providing the antennas again this year, thank you again Stan for your investment in time prior to Field Day. W0HHF will also be bringing a tuner. We usually have a good assortment of other backup equipment contributed by members but sometimes this can leave us with ten radios and one battery or some other unfavorable combination, so the committee will try to make sure we have balanced material support. Charge up your deep cycles and bring them in if you can. Coax may also be an area of need this year, as we are going to try to get our antennas spaced farther apart but share a shelter. We need to get our logging software sorted out and run through this year prior to field day. Stan is looking for a source for more of the Stuart type 28 torroids (1.5 - 2.0" OD) for his end-fed antennas, but the only source found has a large minimum order. If there's more interest in this we may be able to throw in for the minimum order. These antennas are multiband and require half the space of a traditional dipole to set up, and don't use lossy traps. New Business ------------ John Matthias (KD0JNZ) passed away recently, his funeral was held on March 2. At John's direction, his estate has made a $200 memorial donation to NIRAA. A card of condolance and thank you was passed around for signatures and notes and was also taken to breakfast for more contributions. The Boone hamfest was attended recently, and was reported to be maintianing its good quality. There was an ARES meeting there also, which discussed procedural updates, NMES courses, EC's for Iowa counties. (we only have 45 of 99, many ECs are having to double up) Reminder to those that registered for IDs at the EC recently, those are contingent on getting NIMS ceritified. Please get your level 1 ARES certers (100 an 700) and level 2 (200/800) if possible. NIMS tests are available online at no charge. Cedar Rapids "Junk in the Trunk" is coming up on the morning of the May meeting. Please bring flyers to distribute for the W0MG swap meet. We're trying to get an early jump on this fall's NIRAA November club dinner since CF Brown Bottle was looking unfavorable this year. Sites under consideration: BECKS ON UNI ZS ON AIRLINE HIGHWAY (TOO SMALL?) ISLE CASINO (FOOD POOR) CEDAR FALLS FAMILY RESTARAUNT BREMER DINER IN WAVERLY HIGHWAY 63 DINER (BAD SERVICE/TOO SMALL?) Taryn will be looking closer at the Becks option which has the best promise this year. Discussion of future meeting programs. Ideas: OLIVIA MODE ARES (W0ALO?) MOBILE INSTALLATIONS (N0ZYC) APRS REFRESHER (AE0TB?) STAN MAY BE ABLE TO DO A WORKSHOP PRESENTATION ON 9:1 END FED CONSTRUCTION (this would probably require getting the above mentioed torroids) Motion to adjourn (W0HHF/N0TKC) May's presentation will be by Joe Hoepfner on digital mode (Olivia) 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 session on 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 HAMFESTS -------- May 14: Junk in the Trunk, Cedar Rapids, Collins North parking lot considered by most to be one of the best hamfests of the year to attend Jul 16: W0MG Swap Meet Nat Cattle Congress, NCC Pav, Wloo 8-12, Free Admissions Aug 7: CVARC HamFest 2016 8am-1pm, Teamster Hall - 5000 J St SW, Cedar Rapids tailgaiting, $7 adm, $10 tables, VE testing W0MG Swap Meet 2016 flyer can be downloaded here, spread the word! http://www.w0mg.net/presentations/SwapMeet2016.pdf OTHER EVENTS ------------ - June 25-26: 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. Our club website is at http://www.w0mg.net/ 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: N8TWO Mark Colby W0VJB Vicki Bicket AE0TB Tom Bicket KE0DIG Harold Lucas W0ALO Chuck Angel NK0T Curt Wilson W0SJ Stan Johnson KD0DK David Kelly K0CQH Dave Knittel W0HHF Dick Nelson N0TKC Taryn Colby N0ZYC Nathan Fisher KZ0MBI Michael Chapman Guests: AD0KR Chris Thatcher KE0DXH Steve Clark