Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, July 2016 The July 2016 meeting of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:03 pm on July 9, 2016 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 20 members (17 ARRL) and no guests in attendance this evening, listed below. Meeting minutes from last month with NO revisionS, accepted as emailed, (N0TKC/W0ALO) Treasurer's Report: We have $934.34 in the general fund. (includes one recent club donation and two new club members) Treasurer's report accepted, (N0TKC/K0DV) NEW BUSINESS ------------ Testing is coming up soon (Sept 17), contact Mark Colby for details Another technician class is also being discussed for the near future. Dick gave a report on the status of our upcoming hamfest, including handouts, registration table, repeater talk-in, cleanup, and signage. Club members are encouraged to wear their club tshirts if they have one. Duties for the various jobs were worked out. Taryn gave us an update on this year's christmas party/meeting. We need committments for attendance, and a main course selection from those that will be attending. In addition to sandwiches, here is the dinner selection RIBEYE STAKE $17 BAKED SALMON $15 PORK CHOPS $13 CHICKEN POT PIE 10 /VEG $9 THREE CHEESE PIZZA Again this is in addition to the sandwiches that they will have available in quantity. Taryn will be collecting meal choices soon, probably at the Sept meeting. Again this is Nov 12 at the Waverly Bremer Diner. OLD BUSINESS ------------ A thank-you card for their partitipation and services they provuded at this year's W0MG Field Day was passed around at breakfast recently, and was passed around again at the July meeting for additional signatures. Taryn also passed a hat to collect donations for them to help reimburse their costs. Motion made to cover difference to $100 (N0ZYC/W0SJ) - $86 collected, club funds will contribute the additional $14, Dave will cut them a check for $100. Field Day Report: It turns out the scouts double-booked us this year - although we didn't see much in the way of scouts, they were nearby at the same location. Since the scouts naturally will get priority over other bookings at this location, we may not be able to return there next year. (there's a yearly event at the same time as field day, and they may choose that location to be at) So we will need to think about a different location for next year unfortunately. Dick has an open offer for the "north 40" on his property, though if we want "facillities" (porta-potty) that will be an additional $300 cost. Thanks go out to several club members or assisting scouts that stopped in to participate in field day. We logged over 300 contacts, which was excellent for us, many of them were GOTA (Get On The Air) Batteries and power were in plentiful supply this time, Chris's solar AND bucket truck antenna hanger were both appreciated. Since batteries were in surplus, more 24->12v converters would be useful in the future. Improvements for next year were discussed: - get together a "field day tote" for the club - roll of caution tape to mark coax and other cables on the ground, trip hazard - laminate more bandplan sheets - spare keys in case people that brought their keys leave for the day - splitter for headphones - perferably with independent volume adjustment Misses: - we did not copy the W1AW broadcast. Maybe next year we have someone specifically charged with making sure that gets caught. - we did not report to our division leader. this also need to be scheduled (6pm on Saturday when there's a net?) to make sure it happens PROBLEMS WITH OPERATORS NOT YIELDING TO NEXT SHIFT PROBLEMS WITH LIMITED BANDS RUNNING TO GET BOTH RADIOS ON THE AIR OVER 300 CONTACTS OVERALL, QUITE A FEW GOTA MARK RUNS THE LIST OF SUGGESTIONS APRS OBJECT BREADCRUMBS TO LEAD OPERATORS TO FIELD DAY? JEROME IS EXPERIMENTING WITH HELIUM BALLOONS AND LONGWIRES MIGHT MAKE A GOOD LOCATION MARKER, NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST 200FT NOTIFY WATERLOO AIRPORT 1LB HELIUM WILL LIFT 1LB MOSQUITO CAGE WORKED OUT WELL ESPECIALLY FOR EATING IN PEACE FROM BUGS WE HAVE PUT IN A REQUEST FOR INGAWANUS FOR NEXT YEAR BUT DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP OTHER POSSIBLE OPTION IS POLICEMAN'S PARK IN CF (IS IT BIG ENOUGH?) GEORGE WYTH WOULD BE NICE BUT THERE ARE ISSUES, CLOSES AT 10 ETC BREMER COUTY CERT WAS ACTIVATED TUESDAY NIGHT JUNE 28 TO GO UP TO PLAINFIELD FOR A DIMENSIA WALKOFF KD0MBF K0CQH MET AT CITY HALL AND TO HOUSE TO START SEARCH USED 147.555 BREMER CTY CALL FREQ MAURINE ALSO CALLED FOR US TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE GAL ANYONE INVOLVED IN CERT RECOMMEND HAVING A GO-TO-BOX TO RAPIDLY ACTIVATE NO MEETING IN AUGUST GET TOGETHER IN LOOKOUT PARK OUT TO 6PM OR SO Motion to adjourn (N0ZC/N0TKC) This month's presentation was on mobile installation by N0ZYC. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX August's presentation will be by XXXXXXXX on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. CALENDAR: SEPT 17 VE TESTING (contact Mark N8TWO) 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 ---------------------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX HAMFESTS -------- Aug 7: CVARC HamFest 2016 8am-1pm, Teamster Hall - 5000 J St SW, Cedar Rapids tailgaiting, $7 adm, $10 tables, VE testing http://w0gq.org/ OTHER EVENTS ------------ - Christmas Dinner will be on Saturday Nov 12 at 5:30 pm at the Waverly Diner NOTES FROM CHECK-IN lookout park this week ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. This month's meeting attendance: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N4HRL Harold Lucas AE0TB Tom Bicket W0VJB Vicki Bicket N0TKC Taryn Colby N3CAH Craig Hoepfner AE5EI Joe Hoepfner KD0DK David Kelly W0SJ Stan Johnson K0DV Doug Vernier W0HHF Dick Nelson N0HHF Judi Nelson KE0IWO Chris Goeller KE0IWQ James Fitkin KE0IWP Janice Fitkin W0ALO Chuck Angel K0CQH Dave Knittel KZ0MBI Michael Chapman NK0T Curt Wilson N8TWO Mark Colby Guests: (none)