January 2021 Meeting Minutes

SnoVARC January 7, 2021

Business Meeting Minutes

Attendees:

Tom (WA7TBP) 

Howard (WA1HEM) 

Lindy (KG7IFA) 

Irvina (W7IRM) 

Ralph (KC7QXD) 

Paul (W7PFB) 

Lynn (N7CFO) 

Robin (WA7CPA) 

Shawn (K7ATA) 

Kirt (K7KDW) 

Rowland (K7RWB) 

Tom (WA7TBP) called the meeting to Order @ 18:17 

Tom made a motion to accept 11/2020 minutes -Members approved unanimously. 

Lindy (KG7IFA) presented the opening balance for the new year of $10989. She described setting up Zelle™ for Members to pay dues electronically from their bank to info@snovarc.org.  The website was updated by Kirt to reflect the change. To improve clarity the website dropdown link for “Join” was changed to “Membership” with a new Annual Membership Information Form to replace the old Annual Member Application – $80 in dues were collected to date from Members. Robin asked about the strategy to spend funds supporting EmComm and Tech Committee. A conversation ensued. Tom made a motion to accept the Treasurers report. Shawn (K7ATA) moved to approve – seconded by Kirt (K7KDW). Motion passed unanimously. 

Shawn (K7ATA) gave the Repeater Task Force report. There were no changes – IRLP still down and Raspberry Pi node not hardened enough (too much RF leakage). He will address with Tech Committee. All other systems operating nominally. Tom asked about why shack in Carnation is only 1 watt out. Shawn explained it is very old and might need diagnostics to understand why only 1 Watt. Conversation ensued. No motions were made.  

Howard (WA1HEM) gave the EmComm report:  No updates to report as the scheduled meeting was moved to the following week. The EmComm meeting will be changed in 2021 to a joint EmComm and Tech Committee joint meeting, intended to improve communication and efficiencies between the groups. January’s meeting will be on Tuesday on the 12th and then will regularly on the 1st Tuesday of every month thereafter. Conversation ensued. No motions were made.  

Irvina (W7IRM) gave the Education report: No updates. Irvina suggested that we should no longer hold classes since we are unable to provide online testing due to the pandemic. She suggested that we refer all inquiring Hams to Lake Washington for education and testing. She suggested that we consider setting up a mentoring program for Technicians that want to upgrade from Tech. Tom would like to try something like a roundtable test preparation for license upgrade, but then refer to Lake Washington to take the test. Rowland said he found improved material for technicians’ class and will forward. Conversation ensued. No motions were made 

Kirt – Rookie Roundtable – no new updates. It’s still going on with 4-8 participants. No motions made.  

Paul (W7PFB)l – Carnation Space – no new updates. No motions made.  

Tom made a call for nominations for the Secretary and VP positions. No new nominations were brought forward. Tom called for a vote for new 2-year terms for current Secretary (Howard) and VP (Kirt).  Shawn moved to approve – seconded by Robin. Motion passed unanimously. 

Rowland (K7RWB) – discussed tee shirts and Name Badges.  Club would pay for the basic tee shirt for ‘active’ members, but a member can upgrade and pay the difference. The definition of ‘active’ TBD. Rowland will put on Groups.io site. Conversation ensued. No Motions were made. 

Comm Academy 2021 will be online. Seaside will be cancelled. Possibly online. Lynn N7CFO – said there will be a bunch of online events. 

No new business. 

Other Notes:  

January 21st will be the next mini exercise, likely a messaging exercise. 

Tom’s 220 repeater is working.  

Mini Drill recommendations were requested 

  • Larger Drill – do emergency net 
  • Bunny Hunt 
  • FLDIGI drill 
  • Situational reports using Winlink 

Tom called to close the regular business meeting at 18:54