Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, June 2018 The June gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:40 PM June 9, 2018 by Harold Lucas (N4HRL). There were 16 members (14 ARRL) and 2 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: N0TWO was present at last month's meeting but was not listed on the roll call Minutes accepted with adjustments (N0TKC/KE0IWQ) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave reports we have $1,863.46 in the general fund plus $210.18 in the repeater savings fund. Dave also reports that our banking electronic download signup has been completed, and he will be turning in our ARRL membership data shortly Report accepted (K0CQH/N0TKC) REPEATERS --------- NK0T reports 224.9 is alive and well 94 and 82 are also both working COMMITTEES ---------- Field Day 2018 (W0GEN/AE0TB) (will discuss after the meeting) NIRAA Swap Meet 2018 (N0ZYC/KZ0MBI/N8TWO) Given the low turnout last summer and low expectations of a winter event, we're looking at doing our next swap meet next spring. Exploring venues now. STEM (W0VJB) (no report) OLD BUSINESS ------------ Our August picnic is coming up, we'll be at Lookout Park (shelter 1 this year, bring food! We may also be firing up an HF station or two while we're there. Shelter rental is $20, Dave will be taking care of that. Taryn (N0TKC) reported on our christmas dinner. Our previous venue in Reinbeck unfortunately has closed, so the board has decided to relocate to Nana Rose's, also in Reinbeck. There is a gluten-free menu available, but you may want to bring dough depending on what you want to eat. They are used to handling parties of 20-30 so our size should not be an issue. (last year was a bit cramped) Dessert will also be available, and their pizza is excellent. They will need a headcount by Sept, or Oct at the latest. NEW BUSINESS ------------ Tom (AE0TB): ARRL Midwest Contention is moving to Central Fity (Lynn County Fairgraounds) for 2018. Last year they had 4,500 people in attenance. Jan (KE0IWQ): the Belvidere (Illinois) swapmeet is coming up on Sept 22 Harold (N4HRL) recapped the schedule for our upcoming presentations: Lee is coming over from Walker IA to do our July presentation, on the new formats for traffic passing (he was recently presenting at Grundy Center) Tom (AE0TB) will be doing our September presentation on ARES, with emphasis on introducing new hams to ARES. October's presentation is scheuled for Dick (N0HHF) on CW. November of course is our christmas dimmer and elections. Mark (N0TWO): JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) is coming up on Sat/Sun Oct 20-21, they're going to try to get at least a couple troops involved this year. (no plans on a venue have been made yet) Randy (KB0RSW): the Rural Iowa Amateur Radio Club in Fayette will be hosting a picnic/potluck/foxhunt on July 8 in Fayette, bring your own food. Event starts around 1-2pm. Visit WWW.W0OEL.COM for details. Stan (W0SJ) has requested that we refrain from posting photos and data concerning his 9:1 Un-Uns (the ones using the Stewart layered cores) until it hits QST. (his submission has been accepted by the ARRL, it should appear in QST in the nest month or two) Motion to adjourn at 7:56 (N0ZYC/N0TKC) PRESENTATION ------------ There was no June presentation in leu of Field Day preparations FIELD DAY --------- This year we wil be at the truck stop at the intersection of highways 20 and 14. We're going to try to keep three stations running close to 24/7, one in a camper, one outside the camper, and one inside the building. Although we should have good station separation, Stan will be bringing his filters in case we need them. We will also be bringing the club's FT-897 in case it's needed. Curt will be bringing the solar truck. Bill anbd Curt have been spending time renovating the solar truck, switching power from 12v to 24v distribution so we can run the 24-to-13.8 converters right by the radios for maximum efficiency. Our 6M beam is at Michael's house, along with the rotor and controller, Michael will be dropping that off at Bill's house. Stan will be bringing a 40M full-size vertical, fan dipoles are probably going to be what gets set up at both ends. Wendel will be bringing his dual headphone boxes to help with opertor and logger sound balancing. He could use some more 10 ohm pots to make more if anyone has some available. Mark has installed new logging software on the laptops, ("N3FJP ARRL Field Day Contest Logger) - it's more user-friendly than what we've used in the past. We'll be using a pair of linked wireless access points to network the two ends together. The software is licensed, but we will be using Grundy's license this year since we're working with them. (might want to get out own?) Our schedule is to arrive late Saturday afternoon and do what prep we can, and return Sunday morning to finish setup. Operations will be as usual from 1pm Sat to 1pm Sun, then breaking things down Sunday afternoon. We may be needing some more fiberglass poles, we'd like to get a count of what we have available. Nathan has a few bags of poles in case we run short. UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- July: Lee is coming over from Walker IA to present on the new formats for traffic passing (he was resently presenting at Grundy Center) August: There will be no presentation in August as we will be meeting at Lookout Park shelter #1 (at 5pm) for a Potluck picnic September: Tom (AE0TB) will be presenting on ARES, with emphasis on introducing new hams to ARES. October: Dick (N0HHF) will be presenting on CW November: christmas dinner, no presentation 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 Ansborough 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 ----------------- - CVARC Midwest TechFest: Sat/Sun August 4-5 Linn County Fairgrounds, 201 Central City Rd, Central City IA http://w0gq.org/hamfest-2016/ - NIRAA August picnic/potluck, August 11 at 5pm Lookout Park shelter #1 - Peoria Superfest 2018: Sat/Sun Sept 15-16 Exposition Gardens 1601 W. Northmoor Rd. Peoria IL http://www.w9uvi.org/?page_id=2715 - 2018 Radio Expo in Belvidere IL: Sat Sept 22 Boone County Fairgrounds http://www.chicagofmclub.org 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 repeaters: http://w0mg.net/repeaters/ =============================================================================== This month's meeting attendance: Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N4HRL Harold Lucas KB0RSW Randy McClain K0CQH Dave Knittel W0SJ Stan Johnson AE0TB Tom Bicket NK0T Curt Wilson KE0IWQ James Fitkin WA0QXF Clark Willoughby KD0DK David Kelly N8TWO Mark Colby KE0IWP Janice Fitkin W0VJB Vicki Bicket N0TKC Taryn Colby KA0DBC Lois Johnson N0RXB Wendell Wagner Guests: K0TRY Tyler Tryon K0DV Doug Vernier Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact 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 the month at 7:30 pm, please note the change im time. 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 club secretary Nathan at sec(a)w0mg.net 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 (N0ZYC) Secretary, W0MG