Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, December 2017 The December gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:01 PM December 9, 2017 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). There were 12 members (8 ARRL) and 8 guests in attendance (per 2018 dues) this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- minutes accepted as emailed with no adjustments (N0ZYC/N0TKC) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave reports we have $1467.86 in the general fund plus $210.18 in the repeater fund. Recently collected dues for 2018 will be reflected in next month's report. Report accepted (N0TKC/W0GEN) REPEATERS --------- W0GEN (Bill) reports that another DMR repeater went live in Winnona recently, with coverage extending out near Prairie du Chien/Elkater/South of Lamont. One of his stations has also been placed at a better elevation which should improve coverage. NK0T (Curt) reports the 220 is back up and running fine. AE0TB (Tom) reports the RBK repeater controller (a full-size Dell box) died, and plans to replace it with a Raspberry Pi. The "cold weather noise" problem seems to be creeping in on the 136.94 repeater again, we're hoping the gremlin that has been so resistant to troubleshooting in the past doesn't make too much of a comeback this season. OLD BUSINESS ------------ none NEW BUSINESS ------------ KE0CH (Chris Goeller) is back from Iowa City, though visitation is restricted due to a weakened immune system resulting from his leukemia treatment. N4HRL (Harold) reports we collected in excess of $600 for the Salvation Army with this year's ringing, which is an improvement over last year. (although we did well last year also) N8TWO (Mark) is looking ahead to JOTA, will continue our efforts to get information from the scouts in advance so we have time to plan and prepare. Ideas were solicited for 2018 meeting programs - logbook of the world - contesting - basic tx/rx usage for the new hams in the area - assemble a team to develop a new-ham educational program - message handling / traffic passing / ICS213 - DMR refresher - vector network analyzer demo - remote station operation - WebSDR W0GEN volunteered to do January's presentation on remote station operation Motion to adjourn (N0ZYC/N0TKC) PRESENTATION ------------ Tonight's presentation was by Stan (WOSJ) on homemade 2m beams UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- January's presentation will be by Bill Dedic (W0GEN) on remote station operation 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 UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- (none?) OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ none 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 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. 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, Harold Lucas, N4HRL, 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 2016, Taryn Colby, N0TKC, dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2017, Stan Johnson, W0SJ, dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 2018, Dave XXXX, KD0DK, 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 these emails, please reply requesting removal from one or both distribution lists. This month's meeting attendance: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher K0RTE Gary Korte KD0DK David Kelly W0SJ Stan Johnson KB0VGG Al Jones W0VJB Vicki Bicket KA0DBC Lois Johnson KB0RSW Randall McClain AE0TB Tom Bicket W0GEN Bill Dedic KE0PEL Roy Hardy N0RXB Wendell Wagner Guests: WA0QXF Clark Willoughby NK0T Curt Wilson KB0MGH John Carstensen N0TKC Taryn Colby KD0WVN Nick Miller KE0OMN Darci Hartke N8TWO Mark Colby K0CQH Dave Knittel Members wishing to pay 2018 club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact Dave Knittel.