SnoVARC

Snoqualmie Valley Amateur Radio Club

May 2015 Meeting Minutes

by · May 7, 2015

Meeting Minutes May 7, 2015

Meeting called to order at 7:01 pm at the Duvall Fire Station by Pres. Ken Kosters (W7ECK).

Members Present:   Larry Backstrom, Sam Baker, Kathy Brasch, Rowland Brasch, Bob Decker, Ken Dempsey, Dick Freiheit, Lindy Friedlander, Peter Haigh, Michael Jacob, David Jam, Jeremiah Judd, Jerry Konoske, Ken Kosters, Ralph Lease, Jeannette Mandanas, Mel Ming, Irvina Mizell, Tom Needham, Bengt-Erik Norum, Dan Pflugrath, Barb Powrie, Chuck Powrie, Gerard Repko, Chuck Woolfolk.

Guests Present:  Glendon Pflugrath, Debbi Lermond, Jim Haviland, Jackson Beard

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report – Lindy (KG7IFA)

  • Minutes from April meeting were reviewed electronically prior to the meeting and approved at the meeting.
  • SnoVARC bank account balance is $3,018.04 (as approved at the April CDCCC Board Meeting).
  • The member roster with pictures has been posted, although many pictures are needed.  Members were asked to send any corrections to Lindy and the roster will be kept up to date.  (Look at the as of date on the roster to see if your edits have been made.)
  • 2015 Club dues:  32 members have paid their dues donation to date, including one new payment at the meeting.  Checks for all those remaining who still wish to be members should be made out to CDCCC and brought to the next meeting or mailed with membership application to: CDCCC, PO Box 644, Carnation WA 98014. PLEASE USE THE NEW MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION ON THE YAHOO SITE.
  • A question was asked if we had received a donation from AmazonSmile yet.  We have not.  Payment will be made directly to the CDCCC Bank of America account and will be apportioned to SnoVARC based on the percentage of SnoVARC funds out of the total for CDCCC.

Committee Reports

  • Repeater Task Force / Technical Committee – Dan (KA7GPP)   
      • Can’t get software to communicate with Bell’s repeater.  so still working with it.
      • Spent six hours last weekend preparing Mike’s house for painting this coming weekend.  We’ll paint the house, but leave window frames for another time.
  • THANKS TO MEL MING FOR MANY YEARS OF SUPPORT.  WE WISH HIM WELL!
  • Emergency Planning & Mobilization – Rowland (K7RWB)   
    • Grant status: The grant application to the Tribe was simplified after review by Jeff Madden (an experienced grant writer).  It will be resubmitted prior to the deadline of the end of May.  The PSE grant application is on hold while we wait to hear back from the Tribe.
    • Wild Fire Drill – Ralph Lease (KC7QXD) was thanked for a job well done and was asked to provide a brief review.  He indicated we learned some things:
      • the cross-band repeater (brought by Ken K.) was needed.  Since he may not always be available, the club should purchase a portable radio capable of cross-band and a battery for the GoBox.
      • We need to change the message forms to include more information, such as sending and receiving station.
      • We need more practice with communications, such as 15 minute table exercise at the end of Elmers.  Rowland recommended an Elmer from A to Z, not just messaging.
      • Need adapters for antennas would have been nice.
  • Education & Community Outreach – Bengt (K7ADD)  
    • License class update: 22 registered, 17 showed up, 13 took the test and 12 passed.  They had a few minor glitches, but all worked out.  It is recommended that they reorder material to have available.  We also received $7 from each $15 fee paid, or $91. This was for ‘reasonable and prudent expenses’.  We also earned a donation of $26.16 from Amazon for the books purchased.
    • Community Outreach: Postcard mailing to area hams and all new hams in target zip codes (508 hams in 5 zip codes, less approximately 50 that we already know about).  Cost is about $60 for 500 cards with 2-sided printing, plus 34¢ each for postage.  And around $6 for labels.
    • VE sessions: Proposal to schedule and host quarterly VE session affiliated with club (preceding our meetings)
    • Website hosting: update on new proposal for a subsidized account in the club’s name, saving money.  This would be free for non-profits.  Bengt will work with Rowland on this and eventually will need Lindy to write a letter about CDCCC being our umbrella organization as the 501(c)(3) non-profit. It was moved, seconded, and approved to proceed.  Rowland is using new software (WordPress), which is very easy to use in case he isn’t available to make a change.  It is in the cloud and therefore can be updated remotely.

Old Business

  • The KE7GFZ Weekly Net (Thursdays, except club night, at 8 pm) is on our 441.825 MHz repeater, positive offset and tone of 103.5 MHz.
  • Fun Run – Barb (K7XIT).  The date for the event is June 7th.  Barb said the instructional meeting for course marshals is June 3rd.  If a veteran marshal would like to miss the meeting they can get their assignment from Barb directly.   And if there are any others who would like to volunteer to be a course marshal, please let Barb know.

New Business

  • Field Day at Camp Korey — Dan (KA7GPP) / Rowland (K7RWB)
  • LEADS: Safety – Chuck P., Equipment – Gerard; Property Management – Ken K., Food – Jeremiah, & Ovens – Ralph;  And Martin will camp up there over night.  
  • There will be a separate session to put things together and plan.  More to follow.
  • Carnation Space — Rowland (K7RWB) At a cost of only $1/year Carnation has agreed to give us an upstairs office on Tolt Ave (City Hall).  It has fiber optics high speed internet, and there won’t be an issue with our antennas with Sprint/Verizon cell towers.  The door is coded to get in, so no issue with keys.  And we can have meetings in the room where the City Council meets at no charge.

Meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm.

ELMER SESSION:   Windshield Surveys — Dr. Alan Jones presenting  

A very informative (and entertaining) presentation was given.  NOTE that Emergency Response Guide (ERG) books are available on Amazon or from JJKeller.com for under $10.  There are free versions for iPhone and Android.

Respectfully submitted,

Lindy Friedlander, Secretary

Upcoming Events

  • 05/19/15 – CDCCC Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Duvall Engineering
  • 06/03/15 – Duvall Fun Run Course Marshal Instructional Meeting, SAVE THE DATE
  • 06/04/15 – SnoVARC Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Duvall FS (ELMER: Emergency Communications Hub plan – Cindi Barker, Seattle Hubs)
  • 06/07/15 – Duvall Fun Run traffic control – SAVE THE DATE
  • 06/07/15 – Duvall Days (CDCCC Booth) Pancake Breakfast
  • 06/12/15 – 46th Annual Wenatchee Hamfest, (June 12-14) Dryden Gun Club, Dryden, WA (See flyer posted on Yahoo Site)
  • 06/27/15 – FIELD DAY AT CAMP KOREY, Saturday June 27 to Sunday June 28 (More details to follow)

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