Join us (next meeting is Saturday May 11 at 6pm) in person at the Waterloo Airport, or via Discord. Click this invitation link to add our server to your Discord app: https://discord.gg/hSPGhWxtZE There was no presentation this evening Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, April 2024 The April gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 6:01 pm April 13, 2024 at the Waterloo Airport by Al Jones (KB0VGG). There were 25 members (22 ARRL) and 1 guest in attendance (locally and remotely) this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: (NONE) Report accepted with no adjustments ( K0CQH / N0RXB ) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ balances for period: 3/1/2024 - 3/31/2024: $2,705.26 starting balance ---------- -------------------------------------------------- (no activity) ---------- -------------------------------------------------- $2,705.26 ending balance checking (share-draft) account: $1,600.10 starting balance ---------- -------------------------------------------------- $ 20.09 deposit (stripe) $ 20.00 deposit (dues) ---------- -------------------------------------------------- $1,640.19 ending balance Report accepted ( N0ZYC / KE0IWP ) Dave (KD0DK) has a $250 bill for insurance - motion to pay ( NK0T / WB0MAR ) 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 https://www.w0mg.net/ REPEATERS --------- Al (KB0VGG): mine's still deaf but can hit it with an HT from Ingawanis club's 94 is doing vert well, DMR is doing well also, 444.975 running good Chuck (W0ALO): 82 is up and running 900 is running, 440 is running with P25 and analog Curt (NK0T): 224.9 is doing well COMMITTEES ---------- Presentation Committee (Curt/NK0T, John/WB0MAR): (no report) OLD BUSINESS ------------ Al (KB0VGG): we have a fox-hunt next week starting at 10am at George Wyth park. Try to arrive early for check-in and prep. Al (KB0VGG) discussed pre-test study sessions done before today's testing. only two showed up early for the test but they preferred to study alone, so we're going to shelve the pre-test review until someone requests it. Dave (KD0DM): anyone wanting some pre-test review can put up a request online or contact one of us in advance if you'd like to do it. Al (KB0VGG) reviewed upcoming ham activities - george wyth fox-hunts, hamfest in Des Moines, scouts Spring Camporee, Cedar Rapids junk in the trunk Vicki (W0VJB): we can rent a porta-potty from Paul's Potties for Field Day at Dick's (W0HHF) - they'll drop it off on Friday and pick it up on Monday for $95 - motion ( N0ZYC / N8TWO ) Al (KB0GG): Mark's (N0TWO) church has allowed him to borrow a motor home for us to use at our Field Day event, so we'll have shelter if it rains Nathan (N0YC); has anyone volunteered to be the coordinator for this year's Field Day? no takers so far Al (KB0VGG) discussed upcoming solar presentation. Bill (W0GEN) will be presenting on home solar, and Nathan (N0ZYC) will cover emergency power solar. Probably will need to present outdoors to give Nathan more space to demonstrate and display hardware. Harold (N4HRL): maybe we can combine that with parks on the air then? Nathan will probably have his solar out there that day already. Curt (NK0T) reviewed morse code at the camporee. Tom (K0INR) would like to help with the code, we should be able to do two station, either close together or with some separation. Dave (KD0DK): any idea how many scouts we should expect? Mark (N8TWO): registration is still open, we may have as many as 100. No fox-hunt this year though, just code. The theme for this year is "Signs, Signals, and Codes" NEW BUSINESS ------------ Al (KB0GG) would like to do a parks on the Air event sometime in May, possibly at George Wyth. Stan (W0SJ): are there any other options for locations? it has to be a state park to count for POTA, which makes George Wyth one of the only / best options. (discussion of possible dates) No other ham events going on Saturday May 18. Nathan (N0ZYC) do we have a shelter in mind? Al (KB0VGG): there are several to choose from, lets try to reserve one with toilets nearby since some aren't as convenient. (willing to pay the $25 for the shelter reservation) Will make an announcement when a shelter has been selected/reserved. Al (KB0VGG) another thing we could be doing is starting license classes back up, or do Elmer sessions. Dennis (N0RWY) what sort of advertisement could we be doing for classes/elmering? One group we haven't reached out to yet are the "preppers", that might like the emergency radio angle. Curt (NK0T): what kind of response have we gotten from Facebook announcements? almost zero. Maybe remind the scouts? Randy (KB0RSW): have we tried advertising at the local universities? yes, UNI doesn't allow postin of fliers on campus, but Hawkeye is more accepting of on-campus advertisements. Dave (KD0DM): what other groups might be interested in radio? Electronics and tech students, emergency preparedness folks? Mark (N8TWO): getting a ham radio club going at a school would be great Chuck (W0ALO): How about working with the Rocket Club? didn't we donate to them? Al (KB0VGG): we need to put more effort into gathering elmers to help all the new hams we've been getting. There's a lot of interest in digital, is anyone willing to elmer on that? (lots of hands) Al might do a presentation soon on digital then. Stan (W0SJ) noticed what looks like new HT batteries for sale cheap at The Bin Store - they're on the North side. Dave (KD0DK): its time for an audit of the books. Al (KB0VGG): can Lois and Jan take a look at them? sure. Chuck (W0ALO) gave a heads-up for the new hams with the new radios - the baofeng radio software can't program many of their own radios, but CHRP can program just about any baofeng. Also some radios either don't ship with the cable, or ship with the WRONG cable. Cables are available cheap on eBay. Motion to adjourn at 7pm ( KD0DM / KE0IWP ) UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- presentation ideas: electronics history, radio bug-out bag, alternate power, solar power, spotting electronics scams, mag-loop antennas, broadband blocking filters, Denver/cf robotics club, new director at FEMA, EOC? Contact Al (KB0VGG) if you'd be interested in giving a presentation. Tentative presentation schedule: May 11 : June 8 : FIELD DAY PREP July 13 : AL (KB0BGG) PRESENTS ON DIGITAL AUG 10: SEPT 14: OCT 12: NOV 9: ELECTION DINNER DEC 14: REGULAR EVENTS -------------- - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - Iowa Digital Net runs every Tuesday night at 7pm, 3.5885 MHz USB / 1500 Hz WF (Olivia 8-500) - Iowa 75 Meter Evening Net runs Mon-Sat at 6:00 pm on 3.970 MHz / LSB Also meets at 12:30 pm on same. - Iowa 160 Meter Net runs Sunday night at 9:30 pm on 1.9745 MHz / LSB - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 - Ham Radio Fellowship / Breakfast every Wednesday morning at 9AM at the Wendy's at Love's Travel Stop in Waterloo. (3301 Greyhound Drive) VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- June 22: testing at Field Day Sept 14: testing at the Waterloo airport contact Mark (N8TWO) for current information at classes@w0mg.net or Al (KB0VGG) on class/test day at 319-243-8819 UPCOMING HAMFESTS AND EVENTS ---------------------------- May 4 - Spring Camporee at Ingawanis May 11 - Junk in the Trunk at Cedar Rapids (DAY OF MEETING) MAY 18 - Parks on the Air at George Wyth ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------- (let me know if you have an announcement to make) W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: https://www.w0mg.net/ - Membership form: https://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/ - additional club resources: https://vftp.net/N0ZYC/W0MG/index.html - Amateur Radio Practice Site (tests and code): https://www.aa9pw.com/ - Discord server (current invitation link at top of minutes) ATTENDANCE ---------- Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher KB0VGG Al Jones N4HRL Harold Lucas W0ALO Chuck Angel KE0IWP Janice Fitkin KE0IWQ Jim Fitkin W0SJ Stan Johnson KA0DBC Lois Johnson K0CQH David Knittel KB0JIT Paul Sipes KF0HRF Richard Marsh KF0NDD Miguel Chavez KF0JPR Randy Albright W0VJB Vicki Bicket NK0T Curtis Wilson N0RWY Dennis Orona KF0PDE Frank Bahit AE0TB Tom Bicket KB0RSW Randy McClain WB0MAR John Humpal KD0DM David Morrow KD0DK David Kelly N8TWO Mark Colby N0TKC Taryn Colby W0HHF Dick Nelson Guests: KF0PBS Noel Dietz 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 Members of the board may be contacted over the air or via email: President Al Jones (KB0VGG) pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President David Morrow (KD0DM) vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer Dave Kelly (KD0DK) treas(a)w0mg.net Director 2022 Taryn Colby (N0TKC) dir2(a)w0mg.net Director 2023 Jan Fitkin (KE0IWP) dir3(a)w0mg.net Director 2024 John Humpal (WB0MAR) dir1(a)w0mg.net ABOUT ----- NIRAA meets most months on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 6:00 pm, at the Waterloo Airport, in the old restaurant. Parking is available at no cost in the short-term lot. (3 hr free limit) 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