September 2018 Meeting Minutes
Snoqualmie Valley Radio Club
Meeting Minutes for September 6, 2018
Business Meeting called to order 6:15 p.m. Duvall Fire Station #66 by Tom Needham, WA7TBP.
17 members and guests present for business and/or Elmer session: Robin Amundson, Terry Beedle, Rowland Brasch, Kathy Brasch, Rick Burns, Paul Butzi, Bill Condon, Lindy Friedlander, Louis Giliberto, Ken Koch, Ken Kosters, Ralph Lease, Irvina Mizell, Tom Needham, Shawn Somers, Kirt White, Chuck Woolfolk
Secretary Report—Tom, WA7TBP, asked for motion for approval of July Minutes. Motion made by Lindy, KG7IFA, and seconded by Ralph, KC7QXD, approved by voice vote.
Treasurer Report—Lindy, KG7IFA, reported current balance is $2,831.30. The CDCCC board has not yet approved the August financial report.
There are 51 members, including one new licensee member with unpaid dues.
Member dues for 2018 and the annual written liability waiver need to be turned in. Please make the checks out to CDCCC and mail to PO Box 644, Carnation, WA 98014. The link to information on joining the club and the form is at http://snovarc.org/join/
Committee and Task Force Reports
Repeater task force—Shawn, K7ATA. Shawn fixed the Internet on 9/5. The IRLP machine needs to be taken back up to the mountain. The repeater sounds better after the move with loose connections fixed. The new rack leaves plenty of room to grow the station. We share the new building with five repeater groups.
Shawn offered to help design a shed and SnoVARC should offer to help construct the shed for the Bell site repeater, working with the new owners for mutual benefit.
Emergency planning and mobilization task force—Tom, WA7TBP, asked Battalion Chief Greg Bawden to consider purchasing a Kenwood D710G dual band transceiver, power supply, antenna and cable, (top priority) plus a new IC7300 transceiver with mounting bracket (second priority) to enhance emergency communications capabilities at the fire station.
Education & community outreach task force—Irvina, KC7YJK, volunteered to be the new Education & Community Outreach task force coordinator. The focus will be organizing the crew for presenting our annual technician licensing class and exam in the spring.
The future of our Radio Play gatherings going into the rainy season was discussed. There were positive comments toward continuing the gatherings at some regular interval, perhaps using the Carnation space during the winter. The purpose would be fun, networking, education, and encouraging newer hams. Various theme ideas were discussed. Also discussed was organizing Saturday breakfasts (coffee) and/or Friday evening dinners (beer). An effort will be made to reach all new hams in the area for these events.
Carnation space—Paul, W7PFB. The loop antenna is not currently connected. The tuner was not the source of the noise. The quest for the RFI in the shack continues. They will put up another feedline and put the tuner in a different location on the roof and see if that will help.
Old Business
Grant Update—Paul, W7PFB. The next round of grant decisions will be in October. We will keep submitting our request and eventually expect to be selected. Rowland, K7RWB, mentioned the KC Community Service Area Grant for unincorporated KC was available now. Paul indicated he’d put this grant request together for VHF/Winlink/RMS capability to be placed somewhere in unincorporated King County, perhaps his house. FRS radios in unincorporated KC fire stations was another idea for this grant per Kathy, K7KJB.
Upcoming Club Meetings—The October meeting will be a planning session for future meetings. Club members were asked to present their ideas at that meeting. The November elmer session will be presented by Gerard Repko, KG7REV, on building 72-hour go bags.
New Business
The September 22nd disaster readiness exercise was discussed by Kathy, K7KJB.
Tom, WA7TBP, thanked Paul, W7PFB, for his antenna donation to the Carnation shack.
Rowland received a request for a presentation to Girl Scouts, ages 5-8. He responded that they would likely be too young to pass the test required for licensing, but that perhaps someone could go to a meeting and talk to the girls and get them interested in pursuing when they were a little older.
Kathy mentioned that the CERT Bi-Monthly meetings will be changed later this year to include all program areas (SnoVARC, MRC, etc.).
Note: The business portion of the meeting was concluded timely at 6:50 p.m.
Elmer Session: Shawn, K7ATA, and Ken, W7ECK, showed us how to use various wire to add the second half of a dipole onto our handheld radios to improve reception and transmissions, Shawn gave us stickers for our radios with the lengths for various frequencies
Upcoming Events
September 11, 2018: Winter weather preparedness class: 7-9 p.m. Duvall F45.
September 12, 2018: CERT Bi-monthly meeting: 7-9 p.m. “Mystery” tabletop exercise to familiarize call out; Carnation Fire Station
September 17, 2018: CERT Classes begin. 6:30-9:00 pm, Carnation Fire Station
September 22, 2018: CDCCC Disaster readiness exercise. Organizers arrive at 8 am. Participants arrive at 9 for a 9:30 start of the exercise. Lunch will be provided at the end. Tolt McDonald County Park.
September 26, 2018: Riverview School District Exercise
October 4, 2018: Business meeting at 6:15. Planning session for future meeting Elmer sessions will follow at 7 p.m. Please bring your ideas and wish list.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Robin Amundson, WA7CPA
