Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, March 2018 The March gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:31 PM March 10, 2018 by Harold Lucas (N4HRL). There were 15 members (14 ARRL) and 2 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: Meeting time is 7:30 now not 7:00. Time was correct on minutes but not email notice. Minutes accepted with adjustments (N0TKC/N8TWO) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave reports we have $2,031.46 in the general fund plus $210.18 in the repeater savings fund. We also have two new members with dues paid. Report accepted (N0ZYC/N8TWO) REPEATERS --------- Chris (N0CF): YUP ("all good") Curt (NK0T): YUP ("all good") Iowa City repeater is currently under repair, and the Grundy VHF is still down. Scott (WATPN) is working on a code plug update also to add talk groups etc. COMMITTEES ---------- Bylaw Changes (N0TKC/W0VJVB/KE0IWP/NK0T) Taryn (N0TKC) reports the bylaw changes wer emailed, and recapped all the changes made. Motion to approve new bylaws (N0ZYC/N8TWO) Tom (AE0TB) requested to update the bylaws on the club website (committee dissolved) Field Day 2018 (W0GEN/AE0TB) Considering poor turnout recently do we realy want to hold one this year? Last year suffered from poor advertising and lack of sellers. Another angle: possibly holding it in the winter instead of summer, when people have their weekends not so booked with summer activities? Exploring 2nd week of October, possibly Sat/Sun Nov 3/4? Locations were also discussed: uaw hall, school gymnasium, national guard (jerome?) NIRAA Swap Meet 2018 (N0ZYC/KZ0MBI/N8TWO) Met briefly before the meeting, still researching options STIM (W0VJB) no report OLD BUSINESS ------------ Harold (N4HRL) discused field day "joining forces" with Grundy Center. They've just started planning so it will be a few months before we start hearing anything concrete. No details at this time. Chuck (W0ALO) reminds us storm-spotter training coming up Monday March 26, 6:30pm at Tama Hall Mark (N8TWO) is still looking for volunteers for the upcoming scouts camporee. (he'd like to have 10 club members participate) NEW BUSINESS ------------ The board met earlier to discuss an urgent relation. (two flights of slippery stairs had become intolerable at Red Cross) Windcove was selected for the March meeting, with a larger discussion to follow regarding long-term plans. The board also convened briefly before the March meeting but got kicked out of the dining room due to a scheduling snafu and so we had to meet in another alternate room. Curt (NK0T) says the dining room should be available for April's meeting, and you can hit "42" on the keypad to get in if no one is at the door. (that will ring his phone) We may be able to return to 7:00 as the meeting time also. Taryn (N0TKC) recapped the other optins considered: Windcove's dining room offers a projector screen, sound system, and most importantly, no stairs, the main question is it is less centrally located. Other options that had been considered with Mill Race (free but bad parking), St Johns Lutheran (stairs, but with elevator), Countryside Vineyard. (too far out) Windcove is the best alternative we have at this time. Club hardware at the Red Cross was discussed. Possibly taking radio gear out and create a Go-Box? Tower and beam probably shoudl stay. Red Cross actually owns most of what's in the room downstairs, we only own the radio. Chris (N0CF) suggested we start tracking who hold club property such as a Go-Box, as "things tend to disappear over time". Nathan (N0ZYC) will begin tracking club property. Chuck (W0ALO) atended the state ARES meeting recently. One thing they were focusing on was updating the area ARES plan. They're trying to standardize on FLDIGI 1.25 on 60M, and encouragoing users to use the digital format and forms. Forms are being set up as "fill-in-the-blank" so operators just plug in the information and cite the form, so the entire form itself doesn't have to be sent. This also will help make them very consistent. There was also a brief discussion regarding a possible presentation on sending communications forms over digital mode. We might be able to get a presenter for that in June from Chuck's ARES contact. (WA0UIG? AEC Director?) Dave (K0CQH) reports the Bremer County ARES met, they're going to try to get regular quarterly meetings going. (meeting at the fire station) There is a tower at the Boy Scouts camp over there that is currently devoid of antennas, maybe a good place for a Bremer County repeater? The coax is probably still up but the building was destroyed by fire? Kip Ladge is looking into getting a grant to fund a replacement repeater. Resuming the regular monthly club meeting in August was discussed. The reasons for not meeting in August don't apply to any of us anymore, so there were no objections. (does this require a change in bylaws?) Dick (W0HHF) is in contact with a guy in Omaha that's a propogation expert and is willing to help hams with their CW. He's been featured in CQ magazine and is on facebook. (Thomas David Hood, though we will need to get his page as there's a few of them) He does podcasts and we may play one of those as a club presentation. TECH CLASSES AND TESTING ------------------------ Al (KB0VGG) reports we have NO sign-ups for new tech classes as of this time Motion to adjourn (N0CF/KZ0MBI) PRESENTATION ------------ (none this month amid the location-changing chaos) UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- April's presentation will be by Maureen on The Emergency Operations Center. We will NOT be meeting at the EOC, this time she will come to us. 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 Taco Johns on University Ave - hams meet informally at 12pm every Tuesday at Taco Johns on University Ave - Iowa Digital Net runs every Tuesday night at 7pm, 3.5885 MHz USB / 1500 Hz WF (Olivia 8-500) << NOTE! FREQENCY HAS CHANGED EFFECTIVE FEB 2018 >> - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- - ongoing tech-to-general class usually meets at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Tuesdays at 6:00 pm contact is Al (KB0VGG) UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- - Dayton Hamvention: May 18-20 Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center, 210 Fairground Road, Xenia OH http://hamvention.org - Cedar Rapids Junk in the Trunk: Saturday May 12 - CVARC Midwest TechFest: August 4-5 Linn County Fairgrounds, 201 Central City Rd, Central City IA http://w0gq.org/hamfest-2016/ OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ (none) W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: http://w0mg.net/ - 2018 membership form: http://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform2018.pdf - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/waterloo.hams/community/ - Cedar Valley area repeater list: http://w0mg.net/repeaters/ =============================================================================== This month's meeting attendance: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N4HRL Harold Lucas KD0DK David Kelly WA0QXF Clark Willoughby KB0RSW Randy McClain N0TKC Taryn Colby W0HHF Dick Nelson KE0IWP Janice Fitkin K0CQH Dave Knittel KB0VGG Al Jones N8TWO Mark Colby N0CF Chris Conklin WB0UFU John Mills W0ALO Chuck Angel KE0IWQ James Fitkin Guests: KZ0MBI Michael Chapman Skyler Garbes Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact treasurer Dave Knittel. 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 Kelly, KD0DK, dir3(a)w0mg.net The NIRAA club has changed meeting and location time as of March 2018. Please join us at Windcove (Western Home Communities) apartments at 5300 South Main St in Cedar Falls. We are meeting on the 2nd Saturday of every month at 7:00 pm, please note the change im time. (AGAIN!) 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 The NIRAA Board is meeting (at least) quarterly starting 30 minutes before the regular meeting times, this includes January, April, July, and October. 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. Anyone is welcome to be on the list, if you know someone that would like to receive the minutes or that isn't receiving them that should, contact Nathan (N0ZYC). - Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) Secretary, W0MG