====================== IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ====================== For the time being, we will be using Zoom for our meetings. The following meeting link is persistent and will be used until we can resume our in-person meetings. The zoom room opens at 7pm, with the club meeting starting at 7:30 pm. Zoom monthly meeting: (2nd Saturday of the month) Web URL, includes meeting ID and passcode: https://zoom.us/j/99863201285?pwd=cWUyQWxrRk81OEcwN1Q0dzF1UTBLUT09 or on your mobile or with the Zoom app directly: Meeting ID: 998 6320 1285 Passcode: 955710 or call in from any phone: (312) 626-6799 (Chicago) (929) 205-6099 (New York) (301) 715-8592 (Germantown) (346) 248-7799 (Houston) (669) 900-6833 (San Jose) (253) 215-8782 (Tacoma) -------------------------- Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, Jan 2021 The January gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:31 PM, January 9, 2020 on Zoom by Curt Wilson (NK0T) There were 25 in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: VE testing contact is now Mark (N8TWO) Report accepted with 1 adjustment (N0ZYC/N0TKC) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave (KD0DK) reports we have $1,090.18 (unchanged) in savings/repeater fund and $1,551.86 + $160 in dues, for a new total of $1,711.86 in checking. Nathan (N0ZYC): Do we have an alternate way to pay, online? Paypal or some other electronic payment, rather than mailing a check? Curt (NK0T): If you have a Veridian account, you can do a transfer to the club's account. Members wanting to pay dues this way should contact the treasurer (TREAS@W0MG.NET) for the account number to transfer to, and to verify the source of the payment since Veridian will not name the source of the transfer, only the account number will be provided by Veridian. Report accepted (W0GEN/N0TKC) 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/ REPEATERS --------- Curt (NK0T): 220 is of the air due to interference, we're going to add PL on the input Chuck (W0ALO): all up and running, 94 is ok Al (KB0VGG): 440 is up, and my repeater is fine, just need to get the antenna up a little higher to improve coverage Dwayne (N0XUT): Vinton repeater is up COMMITTEES ---------- Repeater Swap Committee (Jan/KE0RKO, John/WB0MAR, Curt/NK0T): (no report) Presentation Committee (Curt/NK0T, John/WB0MAR): (no report) OLD BUSINESS ------------ Mark (N8TWO): mark and bill rebuilt the club remote computer, it's ready to be returned to the shop to bring the club remote back into service. No updates on the linking of the fusion repeater in Waterloo Nathan (N0ZYC) will be making discrete inquiries as to the status of the Kimball site. (should at least be able to look at property tax records, which are public) Mark (N8TWO): VE testing - next Saturday they're going to Mason City to administer the VE test there, doing a 1-day class. Need to schedule 3+ more test sessions, coordinate with Tom to see what VE's are available, talk with the Hudson library. Tech class is starting on Wednesday over Zoom. (Al will be talking with Bill about that) Also looking forward, to doing an extra and a general class. (Al may try to do those back-to-back) Mark (N8TWO): Winter Field Day - social distancing is just causing too many problems, the sites considered were looking at $400 in costs. Al (KB0VGG): a Hickory Hills pair of cabins will run around $800, it's just not really feasible to do at this time. Lodge or boy scouts (not at Ingawanis) are under consideration as alternates. Nathan (N0ZYC): why isn't Ingawanis available? Taryn (N0TKC): all the lodges are closed and they can't really just open up one for us. There's a huge overhead to that with the sanitizing required. Al (KB0VGG): will forward Nathan a link to send out to the club, for event on Jan 30-31 NEW BUSINESS ------------ Al (KB0VGG) would like to make a form to send to all the club members, asking what sort of field day activities we can do and how we can participate from home, as well as get an inventory of what resources (generators, antennas, radios, etc) the members have available for deployment. We've suffered a little recently from too much of one thing and not enough of another. Bill (W0GEN): we could use a google document for shared editing? Can someone make up a form? Cory (NC0N) can work with Al to draft something up. Dave (KD0DK): having to mail out receipts for club membership dues, have ran out of stamps, request approval to get two books for $22. (N8TWO/KBOVGG) Curt (NK0T): not everyone needs a receipt, maybe add a check box on the membership form to decline getting a receipt? Dave (KD0DK): looking at the bylaws, the treasurer's finances require a periodic audit, and I haven't ever seen one happen? Dave Barry may have been the last treasurer to coordinate an audit. Mark (N8TWO): speaking of finances, how's our "501-C3" non-profit form status? Curt (NK0T): we had a current one awhile ago but it's lapsed. We will need a tax ID number (we have that) and then fill out an application for reinstatement. Dave had applied for and obtained that tax ID number, we need to track it down. We will also need to know the name used for the club on the original form to reinstate it, they need to match exactly. (there have been a few subtle variations on the name of the club) "NORTHEAST IOWA RADIO AMATEUR ASSOCIATION" appears to be what was originally filed on May 4, 1956 by Dave Barry. Found instructions online for reinstatement, looks like $35/yr to set up LLC, $45 every 2 years to maintain. It's possible they may want us to play catch-up from 1956, but there's no benefit to doing that, so if they're going to want that it would make more sense to just file a new application. Lois will do a little research and see what our options are. This would allow companies to donate gear to the club, some companies have a policy that their donations have to go to non-proffits, so not having this could block a donation. Nick (KD0WVN): wondering what sort of "outreach" the club is currently involved in? Sounds like we don't really have a specific plan for that, maybe something worth organizing a committee to mobilize. Good for getting new members. Chuck (W0ALO): ARRL lobbied and got the FCC's proposed fee dropped from $50 to $35, effective June 2021. (upgraded and callsign changes) They will want an up-to-date email address on-file as well. They're threatening to nullify licenses of members they cannot reach by email, so make sure your account is up-to-date. Take your web browser to their License Management Site. Motion to adjourn (W0ALO/N0TKC) No presentation this evening UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- (TBD) REGULAR EVENTS -------------- - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - 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 temporarily suspended: - 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 - W0MG Virtual Breakfast, now meeting every Monday morning 8:45am – 12:45pm https://zoom.us/j/94876565904?pwd=RnlhMzBkMWhCaEkzRUc0YW4yaDMxUT09 or open the Zoom app and join with meeting ID 948 7656 5904 passcode 592204 or dial in by phone, 312-626-6799 (Chicago) VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- contact Mark (N8TWO) for current information classes@W0MG.NET UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- (none) 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 NC0N Cory Hill N8TWO Mark Colby W0GEN Bill Dedic NK0T Curt Wilson W0ALO Chuck Angel N4HRL Harold Lucas KD0DK David Kelly KE0RKO Jane Buck KD0WVN Nick Miller N0TKC Taryn Colby KE0IWP Janice Fitkin KE0IWQ James Fitkin KE0GTF Wayne Buck AE0TB Tom Bicket W0VJB Vicki Bicket WB0MAR John Humpal K0DV Doug Vernier N0AJS Andrew Schneider KD0DK David Kelly KA0DBC Lois Johnson Robert Stwalley KB0VGG Al Jones W0SJ Stan Johnson N0XUT Dwayne Collingwood 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: Curt Wilson (NK0T) - pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President: Al Jones (KB0VGG) - vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary: Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) - sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer: Dave Kelly (KD0DK) - treas(a)w0mg.net Director 2019: Stan Johnson (W0SJ) - dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 2020: Jan Fitkin (KE0IWP) - dir3(a)w0mg.net Director 2021: John Humpal (WB0MAR) - dir1(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 Our meeting has been temporarily moved to Zoom due to covid-19, see announcement at the top of these minutes for meeting information. 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