September 2023 Meeting Minutes
Snoqualmie Valley Radio Club
Monthly Meeting Minutes
September 5th, 2023
I. Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:pm over Zoom
Members in attendance were:
Tom (WA7TBP) – President, Kirt (K7KDW) – Vice President, Lindy (KG7IFA) – Treasurer, Mike (KJ7JNG) – Secretary, Ralph (KC7QXD), Rowland (K7RWB), Shawn (K7ATA), Colin (W2COL), Larry (AF7RW), Bob (KI7RMO), Konstantin (KK7GCN),
II. Approval of Board Meeting Minutes
The meeting minutes from the meeting that occurred on August 3rd, 2023 were approved.
III. Treasury Report and Financials
Lindy presented the August 2023 financials to the members in attendance. Currently there is $10,503.00 in the treasury and SNOVARC has 38 paying members. Tom, in the spirit of transparency, floated the idea that before a large purchase was made (example: new repeater) should there be a vote among all members to obtain a majority in agreement with the Board? A lot of discussion took place and it was decided that a purchase is not something all members need to vote upon before the purchase is made. The decision can be determined from a majority vote at the Business Meeting (where a quorum of officers attend), but feedback from the entire membership would be solicited. And someone said that a vote online could easily be obtained from the members. (NOTE: What wasn’t said at the meeting was that for amounts greater than $500, CDCCC board would also have to approve.)
IV. Committee and Task Force Reports
Repeater Task Force:
Cougar Mountain Repeater – New repeater is ready to be installed. Just need to schedule a date/time. Ralph mentioned that he can hear the KBARA repeater transmitting their ID when they should not be heard on Echo Link outside their normal crossband schedule.
Myers Repeater – Tom asked members to monitor the Myers repeater because he has heard some strange transmissions from the repeater. Possibly caused by solar activity?
Cross Band Repeater – No change.
Carnation Repeater – No change.
Emergency Planning and Mobilization:
EYEWARN – Rowland is creating new communication forms, like the 203 forms used in WINLINK, to be used in case EYEWARN information needs to be relayed to an EOC. The Duvall EOC has SNOVARC volunteers via the Disaster Service Volunteer Group. In case of an unusual or wide area event, SNOVARC members are to monitor the Cougar repeater frequency.
Education and Community Outreach:
Ham Tech class – Partnering with Issaquah – Some people would prefer the “weekend warrior” style class where in two days the “HAM student” receives several condensed radio courses in preparation for the HAM exam. This structure and schedule would be less intrusive that taking classes over several evenings. Some of the members that took the HAM exam mentioned that they did not see any benefit from the preparation classes and they greatly benefitted by using the software HAMTESTONLINE.COM to easily pass the test. Basically, study how to pass the test first and then investigate what you desire to learn by yourself or using a local “Elmer” to teach you what you need to know.
Ham Development and Rookie Roundtable – During summer months, we are meeting at McCormick Park in Duvall, and where the park is located it is hard to reach the Cougar Mtn. repeater.
Carnation Space:
Status of Carnation space equipment move – Delayed due to planning and funding issues for the new Carnation City Hall. The club’s equipment will not be moving any time soon. Maybe 2025.
Status of Equipment Inventory Project – 75% completed, working on 100% completion. No change.
V. Old Business
Mini Drill on August 24th went well. Good response over WINLINK.
Mini Drill on September 21st – An EYEWARN drill with info sent over WINLINK exercise is planned.
Field Day Review – Went well. 65KW generator was great, people had a good time and many contacts were made over HF.
Club Shirts – Tom will have more info by the next meeting.
VI. New Business
September 23rd there will be a CDCCC drill will take place and CERT’s, HAM’s will be there for a rapid impact survey drill that will encompass Carnation.
September 11th CERT classes will begin in Carnation City Hall, and only allowing only Carnation and Duvall residents.
Thursday, 9/7 is the SNOVARC soldering class – So far, 9 people have registered for the class. For the small fee they will be paying, they will get to keep the tools they will be using in class (soldering iron, solder, solder sucker, etc.).
Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
