June 2019 Meeting Minutes

Snoqualmie Valley Radio Club

Meeting Minutes for June 6, 2019

Business Meeting called to order 6:15 p.m. Duvall Fire Station 45 by Tom, WA7TBP.

27 members and guests present for business and meeting: Robin Amundson, Jesse Brasch, Rowland Brasch, Rick Burns, Paul Butzi, Paula Butzi, Joe Carpenter, Nancy Carpenter, Bill Condon, David Faires,  Lindy Friedlander, Linda Hanson, Milt Hanson, Jennifer Hargrove, Raun Hargrove, Brad Hazeltine, Ken Kosters, Howard Mahran, Mark McClain, Ryan McClune, Irvina Mizell, Tom Needham,  Robert Noonan, Dale Smith, Shawn Somers, Kirt White, Chuck Woolfolk.

Secretary Report—No corrections or additions to the May Minutes were requested. Approved by voice vote.

Treasurer Report—Lindy, KG7IFA, reported the May ending balance is $4,602.06, not yet approved by CDCCC board.  The waiver on the new member form has been eliminated because it is no longer necessary because SnoVARC carries ARRL liability insurance.  Five new members signed up during the meeting, totaling 40 new members. Welcome to Ryan McClure, Jenn Hargrove and Raun Hargrove and welcome back to Linda and Milt Hanson. Last year at this time 51 members had paid their dues and signed the renewal form.  The new abbreviated form is available at groups.io. Shawn, K7ATA, moved and Linda, KI7NWT, seconded a motion to approve Treasurer report. Motion carried. (New application forms with dues check are due every January. Please take care of it. Downloadable off SnoVARC website.)

Committee and Task Force Reports

Repeater task force—Shawn, K7ATA. The Bell Repeater worked over the Duvall Days weekend. It is entirely on solar now and seems to be fine.  

Emergency planning and mobilization task force— Joe, KI7EMB, has forms for badges.  No other report. 

Education & community outreach task force—Irvina, W7IRM, asked the newly licensed hams present what brought them to the meeting. She wants to know which strategies of outreach are most effective.

Jenn, KJ7IRM, reported on Duvall Days with comment from Paul, W7PFB. There were gaps in coverage by the Bell Repeater so some used the crossband repeater. Jenn observed next year a clear plan for bathroom breaks for the volunteers out on the trail is needed. The roundabout was busy and used a lot of volunteer resources. Irvina and Jim were net control.

Kirt, K7KDW, continues to run a growing new ham net at 7 p.m. on Thursdays except for meeting nights. Kirt, K7KDW, and Robin, WA7CPA, will start the weekly summer radio and social gathering at Big Rock Ball Fields beginning Thursday, June 13 at 6 p.m.

Robin, WA7CPA, reported 5 YLs attended the Area 7QP operating event at her QTH on the first weekend in May. Four YLs had their first-ever HF experience, making SSB contacts all over the continental US and Alaska, as well as N1MM logging.

Carnation space Paul, W7PFB, reported the loop antenna has been taken down off Carnation City Hall. A new J-Pole needs holes drilled before it goes up.  No new information on Evac Hill as a potential remote antenna site. Tom indicated he would like the portable repeater up in Carnation Space soon so it can be used for the 4th.  He said we should used it regularly to make sure it keeps working.

Old Business—Tom, WA7TBP reported on the Tolt Dam Failure exercise attended by himself and Kathy, K7KJB.  Tom represented SnoVARC and Kathy represented CERT and Red Cross, passing messages to the county EOC and various local governments using the 800 MHz radios. They recommended to Duvall FD the need for 2 CERTs and 2 Hams to be trained to support future exercises and actual emergencies. There will be a follow-up weekend exercise in September to include the public, familiarizing parents with the route school children practice walking up to Evac Hill.

New Business­— Robin, WA7CPA, made motion to skip July meeting. Motion carried. Therefore, no July Elmer is needed. We still need an August topic and Elmer.

Rowland, W7RWB, asked again if there is a club volunteer or relative of club member with graphic design expertise to re-design a club trifold flyer.  No takers.  We were asked to post the current brochure on groups.io for review.

Tom, WA7TBP, introduced discussion of whether to adopt a new flyer logo provided by Bill, K7WJC. Consensus was to keep the current logo because it is recognized and very simple and inexpensive for reproducing on a T-shirt. During the general club meeting a motion was made by Irvina and seconded by Linda to keep the current logo. Motion carried. Tom, WA7TBP, expressed appreciation to Bill for offering the use of his beautiful logo design.  Tom also asked if we could bring up tee shirts at the next meeting since there are many new members since we last ordered shirts.

Elmer Session: Field Day planning was led by Tom, WA7TBP, with whiteboard scribing by Rowland, W7RWB. Rowland posted a photo of the whiteboard schema on our groups.io.

Upcoming Events

6/13/2019 Big Rock Ball Fields weekly radio and social outing begins, 6 p.m. We meet every Thursday when it is not raining for portable setups, HF opportunities, and getting on the air together during our Thursday evening nets. Newcomers especially welcomed! Wa7cpa@gmail.com for questions. Check SnoVARC website for late-breaking announcements.

6/22/2019 Field Day.  Field Day officially begins at 11 am local, running to 11 a.m. Sunday, June 23. SnoVARC will be at Big Rock Park, Duvall. Setup begins prior to that time. Setup begins Friday June 21 at 6 p.m. All welcome.

7/4/2019 Carnation July 4 celebration. SnoVARC volunteers will provide radio/traffic control. Tom Needham, WA7TBP, will be net control. Please volunteer and be paired with an experienced volunteer.

7/10/2019 Bi-monthly meeting at Carnation FS, 7-9 p.m. Training on sheltering and incident command.

Weekly Reminder: New ham net Thursdays at 7 p.m., except for first Thursday meeting nights. This is followed by 8 p.m. equipment check-in nets except for first Thursday meeting nights.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Robin, WA7CPA



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