Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, March 2019 PRESENTATION ------------ Tonight’s presentation (done prior to the meeting) was by Lee Garner doing a followup on Joe's digital presentation The March gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 8:00 PM March 16, 2019 by Harold Lucas (N4HRL). (this month's meeting was postponed one week due to winter weather on March 9) There were 13 members (11 ARRL) and 1 guest in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: - savings and general fund amounts were swapped - Dave (KD0DK) was the one that suggested we change our meeting schedule if we have a guest speaker Minutes accepted with 2 adjustments (N0ZYC/K0CQH) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave (K0CQH) reports we have $1090.18 in the general fund and $2231.60 in savings / repeater fund. Please contact Dave if you would like to get your dues paid for the year. Dave received a request for our membership's email mailing list. Although club officer addresses are on the club web page, there is no member list (even by name or callsign) on the club web page. (there is a list of club members attending meetings at the bottom of the minutes however) Motion to approve giving mailing list to other club members upon request (NK0T/WB0MAR) Report accepted (N0ZYC/N0TKC) REPEATERS --------- Curt (NK0T) all up that I know of COMMITTEES ---------- NIRAA Swap Meet 2018 (N0ZYC/KZ0MBI/N8TWO) (no report) STEM (W0VJB) (no report) Field Day (WA0ILD/W0VJB/N0TKC/etc) Taryn (N0TKC) gave an update from the Field Day committee, this year we will be operating at Lookout Park, working only a single day event. (no overnight or following morning operation) If that location cannot be reserved, we will fall back to Big Woods Lake (south side / southern shelter) Dave (KD0DK) will get booking taken care of. The Salvation Army will cater us again this year also. (as long as there are no activations for them to attend of course) We may also see a better turnout this year because it's one of the rare times Field Day does not coincide with the weekend of Sturgis Falls. We're going to extend an invitation to the Mayor of Cedar Falls as well, who may be more interested in visiting us since there won't be such a competing demand for attention. Now that this year's venue and mode have been sorted out, the field day committee will be shifting it's attention to organizing the actual hardware, operators, and other logistics of the event. Since we won't be operating in the shadow of Sturgis Falls this year, we should try to contact some local stars with an invitation to drop by. Mark (N8TWO) will be forwarding a list to our secretary (N0ZYC) to extend an invitation. OLD BUSINESS ------------ Mark (N8TWO) reports the scouts Spring Camporee is still in need of club volunteers for the event on May 4. (need to get the actual street address for the archery location, should have that by Apr 11) There's also a "Scout-o-Rama" coming up around August/Sept at the Cattle Congress grounds. We may want to have a club presense there to increase our visibility with the scouts. Additionally, JOTA is later this year, on the 3rd week in October. He and Curt (NK0T) will be stopping by the location shortly to do a "walk-through" to prepare for the event. (to scout antenna setup etc) Harold (N4HRL) reminds us that storm-spotter training is right around the corner, at the usual place. (March 20 at 6:30 pm, Tama Hall, Hawkeye Campus - the last Wednesday in March) NEW BUSINESS ------------ Vicki (W0VJB) announced there will be VE testing at the Latter Day Saints church on March 30 at 10am. April's testing at the Hudson Library has changed to April 20 due to a date conflict with the Des Moines Hamfest. Harold (N4HRL) also discussed the possibility of reimbursing our presenters for their gas (and time?) since we've been having presenters traveling from Cedar Rapids and other distant locations without other compensation. Motion to send a thank-you card and $10-20 to reimburse future presenters that travel for us. (N4HRL/KA0DBC) Also congrats to Stan (W0SJ) for getting yet ANOTHER article published in QST, this time on his 9:1 un-un. Motion to adjourn AT 8:26 PM UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- APR: Nathan (N0ZYC) presents on quads MAY: CURT (NK0T) presents on QRP JUN: (FIELD DAY PLANNING) JUL: TBD AUG: (FAMILY PICNIC) SEP: TBD OCT: TBD NOV: (XMAS PARTY) DEC: 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 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) 319-243-8819 2ND FLOOR CF LIBRARY 10AM next class: March 30 at 10am - scheduled club testing for 2019 will be held at the Hudson Library, at 401 5th St in Hudson, from 9:45 am - 1:00 pm on the following dates: -April 20 -Sept 21 additional testing dates may be added as needed UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- - 2019 DMRAA Hamfest April 27, 8:00 am - 1:00 pm 3000 E Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50317 (Elwell Family Center) Admission (adults): $10 Talk-in: 146.94 tone 114.8 Tables: $20 (http://dmraa.com/hamfest) VE testing: YES (check-in by 9:15) Door prizes: Kenwood TM‐281A, Anytone AT‐D868UV Flyer: http://dmraa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-Hamfest-Flyer.pdf OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ Storms-potter Training is coming up on Wednesday March 27 at 6:30 pm in Tama Hall at Hawkeye College. See the NOAA website for more information: https://www.weather.gov/dmx/stormspotting W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: http://w0mg.net/ - 2019 membership form: http://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform2019.pdf - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/waterloo.hams/community/ - Cedar Valley area repeaters list: http://w0mg.net/repeaters/ MEETING ATTENDANCE ------------------ Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher W0VJB Vicki Bicket KA0DBC Lois Johnson W0SJ Stan Johnson KE0IWP Janice Fitkin N0TKC Taryn Colby N8TWO Mark Colby WB0MAR John Humpal WA0QXF Clark Willoughby KE0IWQ James Fitkin NK0T Curt Wilson N4HRL Harold Lucas K0CQH Dave Knittel Guests: KE0RKO Jane Buck Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact Dave Knittel in person at our monthly meeting or by email at treas(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 Kelly (KD0DK) : dir3(a)w0mg.net NIRAA meets every month 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, anyone interested in ham radio is welcome to attend. Our primary club repeater is on 146.94 mhz, negative offset, with a PL tone of 136.5 hz, coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Many members are also monitoring channel 3119 on DMR. Our club website is at http://www.w0mg.net/ and the club's primary email contact is sec(a)w0mg.net You're receiving these meeting minutes because you have given the NIRAA club your email address for minutes and 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