March 2023 Meeting Minutes

Snoqualmie Valley Radio Club

Monthly Meeting Minutes

 March 2nd, 2023

I. Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m. at the Carnation City Hall

Members in attendance were:

Tom (WA7TBP) – President, Kirt (K7KDW) – Vice President, Lindy (KG7IFA) – Treasurer, Mike (KJ7JNG) – Secretary, Ralph (KC7QXD), Bob (KI7RMO), Ken (W7ECK), Rowland (K7RWB), Jon (W7ENT), Shawn (K7ATA), Paul (W7PFB), Bill (AI7PL), Colin (W2COL), Larry (AF7RW) and Howard (WA1HEM)

II. Approval of Board Meeting Minutes

The meeting minutes from the meeting that occurred on February 2nd 2022 were approved.

III. Treasury Report and Financials

Lindy presented the January 2023 financials to the members in attendance. Currently there is $10,142.51 in the treasury and SNOVARC has 23 paying members.  For those members who have not paid their yearly dues yet, please complete the annual membership form and write a check for $20 made out to: CDCCC. The mail your check to CDCCC PO Box 644 Carnation, WA 98014. Or pay via Zelle from your bank account.   

IV. Committee and Task Force Reports

Repeater Task Force:

Cougar Mountain Repeater – Waiting on new repeater software fix before installing the new repeater. The repeater supplier’s representative (John) had to cancel the planned meeting with Tom and the meeting with the rep is currently on-hold.

Myers Repeater – Needs to be monitored and tested. Mike will perform some coverage tests on the Myers repeater.

Carnation Repeater – Operating very well with better coverage than the original repeater design.

Emergency Planning and Mobilization:

Rowland is still in the process of standardizing the language that will be used during EYEWARN drills and events. After all the edits are completed, the EYEWARD information will be moved to the SNOVARC io space.

Education and Community Outreach:

Ham Tech class – The physical space at the Carnation Fire Station is still under construction. Some ideas were discussed on how to attract additional ham radio operators to join SNOVARC. One idea was to send GMRS license holders in the area a postcard to invite GMRS license holders to take a class to obtain a Tech license. No decision was reached.

Ham Development and Rookie Roundtable – No changes.

Carnation Space:

Status of Carnation space equipment move – No contact, no change.

Status of Equipment Inventory Project – One rack of gear was inventoried and a lot of equipment was found in good and working condition.

V. Old Business

King County Badging – Moving along nicely.

Marketing – Discussion around having a table at the Farmer’s Market location. This year, the Farmer’s Market will be held in the barn at Tolt MacDonald Park.

Mini Drill – (EYEWARN) There were 6 participants during the 2/16 exercise. Some confusion on depth of reporting information (what is seen from the front porch vs. what is happening at a distant location), who should report first (nothing to report vs an emergency situation) and the type of verbiage that will need to be used during a drill and/or an actual event.

VI. New Business

Field Day at Evacuation Hill – A discussion was held regarding how many members of the SNOVARC team would participate in a 2 day exercise to set-up radio equipment, unload emergency equipment and camp overnight on top of Evacuation Hill.

ACES Classes will be help on 3/25 and 26 at Everett, WA and will be taught by Scott Honaker, N7SS. If you sign-up for the classes, please bring your handheld radio because you will be learning how to set-up your handheld to prepare you for an emergency. Sign up at: www.oregonaces.org

Tonight’s SNOVARC face-to-face monthly meeting ELMER Session – Rowland will go over the latest information regarding the progress he has made transitioning the Clark County EYEWARN format into a format that can be utilized by participants during a SNOVARC EYEWARN exercise.

Meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m.