Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, Feb 2017 The February gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:00 pm Feb 11, 2017 by Mark Colby (N8TWO) in the basement of the Red Cross in Waterloo. There were 18 members (14 ARRL) and 6 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to Febuary minutes: Nathan and Dave need to coordinate on the 2017 members, not all members were listed as such. Change "November" to "January". Minutes accepted as adjusted, (N0TKC / N0ZYC) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave reports we have $1,624.25 in the gneral fund and 35 members paid throgh 2017. (not including this evening's dues) Report accepted (N0TKC /N0ZYC) OLD BUSINESS ------------ REPEATERS: Chuck reports W0MG is doing well and his DMR repeater is on the internet now. There is a second repeater also runing, 444.925 is up. 146.82 is also doing fine. Curt's repeaters are not up at the moment. Tom's Reinbeck analog and DMR up. NEW BUSINESS ------------ Dave requests assistance with the online member spreadsheet so we can get an accounrate membership and ARRL count. Nathan will assist. Tech Classes: One-day tech classes (by Tim Busch) are coming up, probably in late April. Location TBD, probably another 8-5 all-day learn and test session. Saturday April 29 is likely, the location will need to have access to food. Expect $99 for testing fees, book, lunch, and a basic HT, with $100 possible upgrade to a TYT. Locations suggested for consideration: - Church of Laterday Saints? - Country Vinyard in Evansdale? (too far out?) - Orchard Hill Church Field Day 2017: Site hosting by Bill Dedic at his large lot, we have a wide variety of nice options there including facillities, shelter, parking, private land, trees for antenna options, existing antenna installations, off-grid power, etc. Sign-up sheet will be going around for operating and logging. Laptops are acquired, we need to check the batteries. Probably not a big concern considering Bill's available power. Harold wlll look into Salvation Army providing food again this year - everyone seems to be happy with the they-cater we-bellring arrangement we had last year. Scouts JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) 2017: Mark is keeping on top of the scouts and will have them signed up ahead of time this year. NIRAA Hamfest 2017: Gateway Park has been selected for this year's location. Park is rente. ($100 paid by check from Dave) Compared to NCC, this is cheaper, has better parking, and unrestricted nearby food. Also has facillities, room for tailgaiting. We will be charging $5 for tables, might also sell coffee etc. Dick is doing the flyers. Scouts Spring Camporee 2017: Boy Scouts will be camping out at Antique Acres which is near the railyard. We'd like to set up a station at both locations and the scouts can chat between the two locations to earn a badge. Starts around 11:30, see Mark/Taryn for more information and to sign on. Motion to adjourn (AE0TB / N0TKC) PRESENTATION ------------ Tonight's presentation was by Stan (W0SJ) on building antennas using loading coils. OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------- (none) UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- - March's presentation will be by Harold N4HRL on Salvation Army 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 ----------------------- - 2017/04/22 VE testing CANCELLED due to DMRA hamfest conflict - 2017/04/29 one day tech class, contact Tim (N0CKR) iowahamclasses@yahoo.com - 2017/09/16 VE testing, contact Tom (AE0TB) dir3@w0mg.net - 2017/11/25 VE testing contact Tom (AE0TB) dir3@w0mg.net HAMFESTS -------- - Mahaska Hamfest on March 18 at Oskaloosa's American Legion Hall http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/mahaska-hams-swapmeet - DMRAA Hamfest on Sat April 22 at Des Moines Iowa State Fairgrounds http://dmraa.com/hamfest - W0MG Swap Meet on Sat July 8 at Waterloo Gateway Park http://vftp.net/n0zyc/hamfests/W0MG_SwapMeet_2017.jpeg - CVARC Hamfest on Sun August 6 at Cedar Rapids http://w0gq.org/hamfest-2016/ OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ 2017/05/06 Boy Scout Spring Camporee (need four volunteers) W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: http://w0mg.net - 2017 NIRAA Membership form: http://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform2017.pdf - Cedar Valley area repeaters: http://w0mg.net/repeaters/ - W0MG 2017 Hamfest: http://vftp.net/n0zyc/hamfests/W0MG_SwapMeet_2017.jpeg =============================================================================== 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/ . Primary email contact is Nathan at sec(a)w0mg.net Officers may be contacted over the air or via email: President, Mark Colby, N8TWO, pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President, Curtis Wilson, NK0T, vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary, Nathan Fisher, N0ZYC, sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer, Dave Knittel, K0CQH, treas(a)w0mg.net Director 1, Harold Lucas, N4HRL, dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2, Stan Johnson, W0SJ, dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 3, Thom Bicket, AE0TB, 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 W0VJB Vicki Bicket N0TKC Taryn Colby W0SJ Stan Johnson W0ALO Chuck Angel NK0T Curt Wilson WB0UFU John Mills WA0TPN Scott Lowe K0CQH Dave Knittel AE0TB Tom Bicket W0GEN William Dedic K0RTE Gary Korte N0RWY Dennis Orona N4HRL Harold Lucas W0DTD Robert Trettin W0EL David Welch N8TWO Mark Colby N0RXB Wendell Wagner Guests: KE0IWP Janice Fitkin KE0IWQ James Fitkin KE0AGC Jim Hoover KB0MGH John Carstensen Susan Marsha Members wishing to pay their 2017 dues (or have paid and are not listed) please contact Dave Knittel.