Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, October 2017 The October gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:00 PM October 14, 2017 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 13 members (9 ARRL) and 0 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: (none) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave reports we have $1467.78 in the general fund plus $202.17 in the repeater savings fund, in addition to $5 in the old account. The new balance is now in the new business account, however we need to add a few more authorized users so we don't land in the same situation as before where the bank only allows the (often past) treasurer to access the account. Treasurer's report accepted (AE0TB/KA0DBC) REPEATERS --------- no updates OLD BUSINESS ------------ Christmas dinner is around the corner, November 11. (which happens to be Vetran's Day as well) We will begin seating for dinner at 5:30 pm, at which time the waiters will begin taking orders, so plan to be there and ready to order at 5:30. Harold has an update on Salvation Army bell ringing. We will be participating on the first Saturday in December (that's DEC 2) on the same hours as last year. That was a morning and afternoon shift, 10-12 and 12-2. (12-3?) They're not too picky about Waterloo or CF Walmart but we'll probably just be consistent and stick with the one in Waterloo. (there were no objections) Harold is taking volunteers now to sign up for times. He'll have the sign-up sheet next month though we will probably be sending out a request via email prior to that as well. Discussed some sort of W0MG/NIRAA banner at the ringing, maybe a small and tasteful little poster or something similar in the background to give our club a little more visibility. Harold will be checking to see what sort of guidelines they'd like followed with respect to that, but it sounds like this is fairly common with groups that volunteer so no objections are anticipated, although a few members were concerned about the idea of "commercializing" this activity. Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) is next weekend. Mark will be getting a list of frequencies together and will probably do one last meet-up with the members participating to get arrangements finalized. (we still do not have a list of scouts that will be participating) NEW BUSINESS ------------ Our next testing session is Feb 17 at the CF Community Library. Talk with Al if you're interested in getting on his schedule. There's also a general class test sometime next week (Nov 25?) though Tom doesn't have more specific information at this time. The group discussed Dave's concerns about getting additional members signed on as access for the club's bank account. Chris Conklin was suggested as he is the club call's trustee, which is a stable position that doesn't change from year to year. Other ideas include passing a backup access to the latest elected director. (which would be up to three years of access if transferring it got neglected) We will probalby need to hold a board meeting to come up with a proposal for the club to vote on, as this would involve an addition to the by-laws. Nominations for the board of 2018 were solicited. K0CQH nominates N0ZYC to retain the position of Secretary. K0CQH nominates himself to retain the position of Treasurer. N0ZYC nominates N0TKC for the position of Director. (AE0TB does not wish to remain on the board as he has other obligations) KD0DK was nominated for position of Director. NK0T nominates himself to retain the position of Vice President. We can continue to accept nominations until we vote next month. Nominations closed for tonight (N0ZYC/HAROLD) Motion to adjourn (N0ZYC/JAN) PRESENTATION ------------ Tonight's presentation was by Mark Colby on emergency communications UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- There will be no November presentation in leu of the christmas dinner and elections. December's presentation TBD 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 - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- - ongoing tech-to-general class - 2017/11/25 VE testing contact Tom (AE0TB) dir3@w0mg.net UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- (nothing in the immediate future, should be a WinterFest coming up?) OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ - JOTA (Jambori On The Air) coming up on Oct 21 - NIRAA Christmas Dinner at TJs in Reinbeck, Nov 11 at 5:00 pm 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/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IowaDMR/ =============================================================================== The NIRAA club meets on the 2nd Saturday of most months 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. Many members are also monitoring channel 3119 on DMR. 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 This month's meeting attendance: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher K0CQH Dave Knittel AE0TB Tom Bicket W0SJ Stan Johnson KA0DBC Lois Johnson W0VJB Vicki Bicket KE0IWP Janice Fitkin KE0IWQ James Fitkin KE0MFY Gene Stanbrough KD0DK David Kelly WA0QXF Willoughby Clark N4HRL Harold Lucas N8TWO Mark Colby Guests: none! Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact Dave Knittel. 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 these emails, please reply requesting removal from one or both distribution lists. - Nathan Fisher Secretary, W0MG