August 2019 Meeting Minutes
Snoqualmie Valley Radio Club
Meeting Minutes for August 1, 2019
Business Meeting called to order 6:15 p.m. Duvall Fire Station 45 by Tom, WA7TBP.
19 members and guests present for business and meeting: Robin Amundson, Athena Ayres, Kevin Ayres, Rowland Brasch, Lynn Burlingame, Paul Butzi, David Faires, Lindy Friedlander, Louis Giliberto, Ken Koch, Ken Kosters, Ralph Lease, Howard Mahran, Mark McClain, Jim Myers, Tom Needham, Robert Noonan, Kirt White, Chuck Woolfolk.
Secretary Report—No corrections or additions to the July Minutes were requested. Tom, WA7TBP, moved and Lindy, KG7IFA, seconded approval. Approved by voice vote.
Treasurer Report—Lindy, KG7IFA, reported the current balance is $5,794.49, not yet approved by CDCCC board. This amount includes one new $20 membership at the meeting. There are 41 dues paid members as of this meeting. There were 49 members at this time last year. Our improved balance is in large part due to Microsoft matching donations for employee volunteer time. Thank you Microsoft employee Kirt, KI7KDW for your volunteer hours. Dues checks can be made out to CDCCC and new short form applications are available on Groups.io and the website.
Committee and Task Force Reports
Repeater task force—Jim, W7ABD, purchased a $25 replacement chip for the repeater. There have been four chip changes in two years. Paul, W7PFB, suggested considering purchasing extras to keep in inventory. The repeat-back function is no longer garbled sounding. The rack is still in storage until an adequate work party can be assembled to lift it into and out of a truck to get it installed at the Cougar site. Bell repeater is at Jim’s house and working reasonably well until it can be returned to the Bell site after their construction project is completed.
Emergency planning and mobilization task force— Joe, KI7EMB, sent written resignation prior to the meeting. The task force chair position is now open.
Education & community outreach task force—Kirt, K7KDW, gave the report on the Big Rock weekly gatherings. They continue to draw interest although there is a little bit of a communication issue with the on air folks and the gathering folks. The previous week included Robin’s portable FT8 setup. Finding available weekend days for a ham breakfast continues to be a challenge.
Carnation space—Paul, W7PFB and Jim, W7ABD. The loop is down (clamps remain on the roof) and J-Pole is ready to go up, which Paul will do.There was discussion regarding the club’s portable repeater and challenges of antenna and radio on Evac Hill. 5Ghz Internet connectivity is possible. An enclosure for gear and antenna can be set up. Power is the stumbling block.
Old Business—Carnation July 4th report was given by Tom WA7TBP, noting new member Ryan, KJ7GIE, was net control and he did very well. A single frequency, 446.100 MHz was used and worked well. In addition, commercial VHF was used to communicate with the event organizers. FRS frequencies were included in the comm plan but were not used. Approximately ten SnoVARC members attended an after-action barbecue at Ben’s house.
Tom also provided a Field Day highlights report. Club goals were met. Every contact was made on batteries. There were approximately 16 members and 10 community guests attending. There were 2 first contacts made. The barbecue was well-attended.
New Business—
September Elmer: Topic and presenter TBD. Rowland, K7RWB, indicated he could get a speaker from his speaker list if needed.
Repeater donation: Thank you to Marc, N6TJQ for donating repeaters to the club. Rowland, K7RWB, will facilitate transfers of the UHF repeaters and frequency pair provided by Marc, N6TJQ. Some of the repeaters could end up with other organizations as well as SNOVARC. Rowland will go through the process of transferring the frequency pair to SNOVARC.
Elmer Session: Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO, was our guest speaker on the topic of Anderson Power Poles connectors and configurations.
Upcoming Events
8/8/19 Gathering at Big Rock Ball Fields, 6 p.m. New ham net at 7 p.m. with Kirt, KI7KDW, as net control. 8 p.m. is the SnoVARC check-in net. 441.825+
8/15/19 Gathering at Big Rock Ball Fields, 6 p.m. New ham net at 7 p.m. with Kirt, KI7KDW, as net control. 8 p.m. is the SnoVARC check-in net. 441.825+
8/22/19 Gathering at Big Rock Ball Fields, 6 p.m. New ham net at 7 p.m. with Kirt, KI7KDW, as net control. 8 p.m. is the SnoVARC check-in net. 441.825+
8/29/19 Gathering at Big Rock Ball Fields, 6 p.m. New ham net at 7 p.m. with Kirt, KI7KDW, as net control. 8 p.m. is the SnoVARC check-in net. 441.825+
9/5/19 September SnoVARC meeting, 7p.m. Duvall FS, Elmer Topic TBD (6:15 p.m. Business meeting)
9/11/19 7-9 p.m.: CDCCC Bimonthly Meeting (for CERTs, Hams, and MRCs), Carnation Fire Station, Topic TBD
9/13-15/2019: PLAIN 100 ultra marathon; Volunteers needed; See https://sites.google.com/site/plain100st (contact Tom or Rowland)
9/16/19 Fall CERT classes begin, More information and sign up on Eventbrite: https://fallcertclass.eventbrite.com/?aff=groupsio
9/28/19 Carnation EQ Evacuation Drill: 9 a.m. city residents meet at Tolt Middle School; 10 a.m. they will walk to Evac Hill.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Robin, WA7CPA
