====================== IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ====================== April's NIRAA meeting will be held over the air this month (and possibly next month, TBD) on the 146.94 repeater, at the scheduled date and time, 7:30 pm on April 11. Lets show everybody how hams can effortlessly adapt to even a global pandemic! DO NOT come to Windcove for the April meeting! Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, March 2020 The March gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:32 pm PM March 14 2020 by Harold Lucas (N4HRL). There were 17 hams in attendance this evening, listed below. (I need to get a current copy of the Dues/Arrl list from Dave) MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: (NONE) Minutes accepted with no updates (N0ZYC / WB0MAR) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave (KD0DK) reports we have $1,090.18 (no change) in savings, and $2,300.20 (including $40 recently deposited for dues) in checking Please contact Dave if you would like to get your dues paid for the year. Our club membership form is also available on our club website at http://www.w0mg.net/ Report accepted (N0ZYC / WB0MAR) REPEATERS --------- MARK: Al's antenna is back up but only as high up as his coax will reach (needs longer coax) He's also in search of a new tower. COMMITTEES ---------- Repeater Swap Committee (Jan/KE0RKO, John/WB0MAR, Curt/NK0T): waiting for weather Presentation Committee (Curt/NK0T, John/WB0MAR): no report OLD BUSINESS ------------ AL (KB0VGG): We have selected May 2nd for the Iowa State Parks station (mainly to avoid some contesting going on during other weekends in May) Currently considering locations: Backbone, George Wyth, park near Cedar Rapids, park near Burlington. There is no central registry for what parks are participating and on what weekends. (Al is trying to coordinate things though) Unusually, the parks don't seem to be imposing any limitations on antennas for this event - they're interested in as much participation (and press) as possible so they're not as restrictive as usual. Colin has requested we run both voice and digital. Olivia would work, but they're taking interest in "FTCall" because it doesn't require as tight of a clock sync as Olivia, which is a good thing to keep in mind during emergency operations where radio is the only communication channel that may be available. Harold (N4HRL): Field Day discussion - location this year? Lookout Park? Mark (N8TWO) suggests the 63/Ridgeway new gas station. There's some concern about nearby power lines and of course those gas pumps that were so noisy a few years ago. A few volunteers are going to go check out the background noise level there to see if it's viable. We'll want the solar trailer out there too. Mark (N8TWO): Were we satisfied with the logging software or do we want to try something else? Also if George Wyth is flooded we will have a better chance at Big Woods Lake. The elevation at most of these sites (short of Lookout Park) is rather low, we won't be doing much nearby UHF/VHF. David (W0EL) owns the old skating rink building on Ansborough, we're free to use that although there are no working restrooms there. (though many nearby businesses that have them as well as food/drink) That location also has the benefit of a huge amount of traffic and good visibility. It's not a gas station, but we could still probably bring in some foot traffic from the public. NEW BUSINESS ------------ Open discussion of repeater coordination. Nathan (N0ZYC) is the new club call custodian, needs to get that taken care of. Repeater council dues (only $5) are also due. Despite technically they are only necessary if you are voting on issues there, the club should be contributing regardless. Nathan motioned to approve the ongoing yearly dues of $5 to the repeater council (KE0IWP / N8TWO) Chris will be forwarding materials to Nathan to get the coordination taken care of on time. (the deadline is April 1) MARK (N8TWO): Weatherspotter training at Hawkeye College has been cancelled due to covid-19. Curt (NK0T): Windcove is closed to groups until at least April 15. That date is likely to get extended, we should definitely make plans to meet elsewhere or in some other form for the next month or two. Harold (N4HRL) will see if he can continue to book the Salvation Army, but that's also likely to close up by next month as well. Nathan (N0ZYC): Meeting over the air seems like a very appropriate option for a ham radio club, given the circumstances, we should put some thought into that before next month's meeting gets too close. Al (KB0VGG): We had a test session today that has produced 3 new techs and 3 new generals. Congrats to you! Stan (W0SJ) has discovered a new way to wind the 9:1 UN:UNs using 75 ohm coax, if you have that in surplus. Talk to Stan for details. (anyone lacking 75 ohm coax to experiment with, ask just about anyone, that stuff's incredibly common considering it's used for cable tv) PRESENTATION ------------ Tonight's presentation was by Curt (NK0T) demonstrating the many uses for a vector network analyzer (VNA) UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- April: Cedar Falls High School Rocket Club (this is very likely to be covid'd) 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 Sunday night at 4pm, 3.5885 MHz USB / 1500 Hz WF (Olivia 8-500) (note new day and time as of Feb 2020) - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- Sat April 18, 10-12 at the Hudson Library (likely to be covid'd) contact Tom (AE0TB) for current information UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- (The 2020 DMRAA Hamfest has been cancelled. 2021 date to be announced) Sat April 25: DMRAA Hamfest Walnut Center, Iowa State Fairgrounds, 3000 E. Grand Avenue, Des Moines Talk-In: 146.940 (PL 114.8) info@dmraa.com Sat May 23: 3900 Club Hamboree Boone County Fair grounds, 1601 Industrial Park Road, Boon http://www.3900club.com Talk-In: 146.850 (no tone) w0fs@arrl.net Sat Aug 8: CVARC Hamfest, ARRL Iowa State Convention Linn County Fairgrounds, 201 Central City Road, Central City http://w0gq.org/hamfest/ Talk-In: 146.745 (PL 192.8) nm0s@nm0s.com Mason City hamfest (TBD) OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ (NONE) W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: https://www.w0mg.net/ - Membership form: http://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform.pdf - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/waterloo.hams/community/ - Cedar Valley area repeaters list: https://www.w0mg.net/repeaters/ MEETING ATTENDANCE ------------------ N0ZYC Nathan Fisher N4HRL Harold Lucas NK0T Curt Wilson W0EL David Welch N0RWY Dennis Orona W0ALO Chuck Angel K0CQH Dave Knittel WD0BWQ David Brandon WB0MAR John Humpal KE0IWP Janice Fitkin N8TWO Mark Colby KD0DK David Kelly W0SJ Stan Johnson KA0DBC Lois Johnson KE0IWQ James Fitkin KB0VGG Al Jones Erick Agbovi Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact our Treasurer 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 Kelly (KD0DK) - treas(a)w0mg.net Director 2018: John Humpal (WB0MAR) - dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2019: Stan Johnson (W0SJ) - dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 2020: Jan Fitkin (KE0IWQ) - dir3(a)w0mg.net NIRAA meets most months at Windcove (Western Home Communities) apartments at 300 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, with coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Many members are also monitoring channel 3119 on DMR. Our club website is at https://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