Minutes of March Membership Meeting March 9th, 2010 SOCIAL PROGRAM Introductions, welcome and opening remarks: A record-breaking attendance of 46 people filled in the sign-in sheet. Kim Loebert N8KAL sends his thanks for everyone's prayers and support during this difficult time. Program: “Fox Hunting” - Presented by Tom Bosscher, K8TB, Laryn Lohman K8TVZ, Mike Hill, W8DER and Charles Nowak AJ8W Refreshments: Sue Seidelman, KC8RQS baked a variety of homemade cookies that disappeared even before our refreshment break! Thanks Sue! BUSINESS MEETING Call to Order: 8:30pm. 50/50 Raffle: Winners: HARC $17.00, placed in Projector Fund, and Mike, W8DER won $17, which he donated to the Projector Fund in exchange for a Yaesu ballcap! President's Remarks: Megan, WO0MEG Our fox-hunting "dream team" will be putting together a class on tape measure antenna building. Watch for this announcement soon. There will be a nominal cost to cover materials. There are other ideas for make and take / mini classes in the works... watch the website and newsletter for this information. Meg again thanked Jim KC8KE for his excellent service in keeping the parking area plowed for us, even though the February meeting was canceled due to weather conditions. If anyone is interested in Morse Code classes, let us know. A few have already inquired. Contact Ed, KF8EV, kf8ev@arrl.net and let him know that you wish to sign up. Jim Miller and Jason McKay will be our speakers on April 13th. The topic will be : OCEC - who they are, what they do, how YOU can help! Don't miss this meeting... they will show you what is available to HAMS in Ottawa County, and how you can put your radio skills to work. There will also be a short presentation on “Go Bags.” March 2, 2010 Board Meeting: The Board discussed options for remodeling the clubhouse. Interior walls must be removed to make room for more seating, and since these are “load bearing” walls such remodeling will be difficult and expensive for an increase of about 10-12 seats. The Board learned that the City has no funds for maintenance or remodeling of the clubhouse, and that the lease is on a month-to-month basis. Given the potential expense for remodeling, and the temporary nature of the lease the Board feels that any remodeling would far outweigh the small gain in seating capacity and thus recommended that the club not spend any funds to modify the clubhouse. With the ever-increasing numbers attending our meetings, and the realization that some of our paid members and guests already have to stand in the hallway during the presentations and the meeting, the Board discussed alternate meeting places, and after learning that the Kollen Park Fire Station conference room would be available for our use free of charge, decided to move the Membership Meetings to this new location. The Board opened a discussion on what to do with the many surplus items in the clubhouse, such as the copy machine in the conference room that does not work, old computers that are "out of date" along with some odds and ends and desks in the basement. The Board recommended that our members be given the opportunity to purchase any of these items for a nominal donation to the club. Eventually, if nobody wishes to purchase these items they will be donated. The specific items to be sold, and the sales method, will be discussed at a future Board Meeting. Other Announcements and Club Business: Weather Cancellations: Last month we canceled the meeting due to the snow storm. The information was put on the 3 local TV stations, 3 radio stations, the reflector, the repeater, the web page and on the Repeater. We had only ONE member show up! Calendar Changes: Memorial Day Parade officials have informed us that they do not need our assistance for this event. HARC Banquet November 9, 2010: The Board recommended that the Banquet be held once again at the Beechwood Inn. The cost would remain the same at $20 per person, the menu will be equally extensive, including the fried mushrooms and onion rings! Rick N8GGO made a Motion that the club reserve the Beechwood Inn for the 2010 Banquet. Motion supported by Dave N8UJH. Motion was approved and the 2010 Banquet will be at Beechwood Inn. Date Change for June and July Meetings Due to the popularity of the American Legion Band concerts at the park bandshell, our June and July Meetings will be held on Monday June 7 and July 12. 50/50 raffle donations: If anyone has items they would like to donate for the raffle, please do so! We received a great box from ICOM and a few awesome ball caps from Yaesu. Thanks to those who have already donated to this. Tulip Time: Jim Miller (OCEC), Steve Vanderhill N8UJD and Dave Lamer WA8RSA will be our liaisons for this event. Watch for more information shortly. Members may choose to help Dave with parade line up or the Jim with OCEC and Red Cross. Communication Committee: If you are not signed up on the k8daa Yahoo group then you are not getting email from this reflector, so sign up on Yahoo today! At the last Board meeting there was discussion about formalizing a policy for use of the reflector, and the Board recommended that a statement be added to the reflector stating that the purpose of this group is to promote amateur radio and radio related activities, and that no business related activity will be allowed including advertising in signature lines, logos, banners, and website links, and that only computers and other radio-related items may be listed for sale. The March RST newsletter is available to download now. Jim N8QMD is looking for people to submit short stories about their most memorable HAM experience and he will get them published as room allows, so send in your manuscripts soon! Monday 2m Net – We are looking for HAMS to take a turn at the helm for April. See Meg, WO0MEG or send her an email with dates that fit your schedule. Remember, if you have never run the net, it takes about 30 minutes of your time, the script is available for download on the website, and everyone is there to help and have fun. So give it a shot.. step out of the box and take a turn at the mic. ARRL - if you want to join ARRL, or if it is time to renew your membership, please consider joining or renewing thru HARC. When you go through our club the ARRL sends us a “kickback” of some of your dues. To pay through our club, please make your check for the amount payable to Holland Amateur Radio Club and get it to Phil, K8PVH. He will collect the dues, fill in the forms and submit them at the end of each month. Vice-president: Jim, KC8KE - Nothing to report. Secretary: - Nothing to report. Treasurer: Phil, K8PHV Main account balance $1878.65 and the Swap account balance $2500.00. Motion to approve the report by Rick N8GGO, supported by Jim KC8KE, motion approved.. Phil also reported that have about $350 of the $500 needed for the purchase of the projector. Club Station: Dave, WA8RSA - Nothing to report. Emergency: Steve N8UJH, announced a Skywarn training class March 25, 2010 in the Main Conference Room of the Fillmore Complex Education: Ed, KF8EV, is in Florida catching rays and trying his hand at not catching boats. In his absence Meg, WO0MEG presented the following: The club would like to acquire at least one book for each license class to keep in the library to help our instructors, any student who forgets his book on class night, and anyone who might be a hardship case or otherwise can't afford a book. If anyone has a book they would like to donate, we would greatly appreciate it. If no books come forth, then the Board will authorize the purchase one book for each class - Technician, General, Extra. VE testing for the current General class and all walk-ins will be held on March 29th, at 7 p.m. at the Kollen Park fire station. You will need 2 pieces of ID (one with photo) and $15 to take the test. All license levels will be available so try your hand at upgrading at the end of the month! Other amateur groups in our area will be informed of this testing, so hopefully we will have a few visitors for the test. Any VE's who want to help with testing should contact Rick Elushik, N8GGO richarde_97@yahoo.com This fall Technician and Extra classes will be offered. Tom K8TB will head up the Extra Class, and Jim N8QMD will head up the Tech classes. Building & Facilities: Kim, N8KAL was absent, no report New Business: 2010 Swap Chair needed: Steve Vanderhill N8UJH took the floor and explained that we are in need of a swap Chairman. He said that others have already said that they would be available to assist, but that we need someone to take the Chair position. After several calls for volunteers for this position but with none forthcoming, it appears that we have no Chair and thus we cannot host a Hamfest this year. Should a volunteer come forward after this meeting, we have until mid-April to pay a $350 partial deposit to hold the school and the space. If nobody steps up before our April meeting it is clear that there will be no Swap in 2010. Clubhouse expenses: We passed out a financial analysis that shows our clubhouse expenses for electric and gas were about $1,800 last years, and the telephone line at the repeater was about $900 last year. Since we have terminated telephone service at the repeater, utility expenses for the clubhouse are projected remain the same as last year at about $1,800. As reported on the financial analysis sheet the Swap netted about $1,350 last year after expenses, so even a successful Swap does not generate enough income to offset the clubhouse expenses. There was a suggestion from the floor to use the $2500 in the Swap fund to pay for the clubhouse utilities. The Board will take this idea under consideration, will monitor finances and, advise the membership if the General Fund begins to run short, and may then ask for approval for this use of Swap funds. The Board will continue to monitor expenses and search for ways to generate additional revenue. Club meeting: It appears that we have outgrown the clubhouse building. Over the past several months we have had an increase in attendance, and found that there is not enough room for all to be seated, with some members and guests alike spilling into the hallway where it is impossible to see the presentation. With that in mine, the Board wanted to find a facility with room to accommodate us comfortably. The Holland Fire Department has generously allowed us the use of their conference room at no charge. We plan to take advantage of this larger room to hold our next classes, since with a dozen students we are tight for space at the clubhouse. Our VE will also hold their testing in this room, so that those being tested can spread out with plenty of room between. Open Mic night and the Mini Swap and Breakfasts will continue to be scheduled at the clubhouse for the time being. There was no further business. Adjourned: 9:30 pm Respectfully submitted Jim Heyl, N8QMD, Secretary secretary@hollandarc.org Please contact the Secretary with comments or corrections.