General Membership Meeting Minutes April 14, 2014 The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Tom, K8TB. Secretary's Report: Minutes of the March 2014 meeting were accepted as published on the website. Treasurer's Report: General Fund: $5999.35 Membership: $386.76 Total: $6386.11 Treasurer's report was accepted as read. Opening Remarks: North Ottawa Amateur Radio Club (http://www.w8cso.org/) is looking for help with events. Allegan County Amateur Radio Club (http://ac8rc.org/) needs help with the TRI Allegan Triathalon (http://triallegan.com). The event takes place on Tuesday, July 22nd. A full schedule is posted at http://triallegan.com/schedule.html. The Red Cross needs 15 operators for the Wednesday and Thursday parades, and 25 for the Saturday parade. If you are interested in volunteering for these events, please contact Tom, K8TB (k8tb@bosscher.org). Upcoming events: Programs: April: 4/28 E.A.T.: Bryan, KD8LDX will continue the discussion on Broadband-Hamnet. May: 5/12 Monthly Meeting: TBD 5/26 E.A.T: We will be starting a CW class. ARRL Centennial QSO Party: From the ARRL Website (http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party): "The ARRL Centennial QSO Party is a year-long operating event that celebrates hams making contacts. In the end you will have accumulated points, worked new stations and made new friends all over the world. The Centennial QSO Party is made-up of two main activities: (1) W1AW operating portable in each state and most territories; and (2) The Centennial Points Challenge which is the accumulation of points from qualifying contacts made throughout 2014. To have a score listed online in the Points Challenge competition, logs must be submitted through the Logbook of the World (LoTW) system. W1AW will be on the air from every state and most territories, and it will be easy to work WAS working only W1AW portable operations. This is the first ARRL-sponsored operating event where every member is worth at least one point, so work as many points as you can during 2014! Earn awards based upon points, working all states or working W1AW portable in every state and territory. This is an on-the-air event like no other." The W1AW/8 contact for Michigan is Randy Hatt, AA8R. Michigan's slots begin on 2/19/2014 and 10/15/2014. The full schedule is available at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf The Kalamazoo Amateur Radio Club is organizing a bus trip to Dayton. The cost for this trip is $100. Further details are available at http://www.k8kzo.com/Dayton/dayton.pdf. Old Business: Michigan QSO Party: The 2014 Michigan QSO party will be held from 16z on 4/19/14 to 04z on 4/20/14. More information is available at http://www.miqp.org/ We will be meeting in the Red Cross conference room from noon until 10pm (or midnight) on Saturday, focusing on phone, and allowing techs and those without HF equipment at home. One station will be operating locally, plus one remote station. Logging equipment will be supplied. Looking for General and Extra class control operators to take 2-hour slots. HF Antenna for Club Station: The pulley has been mounted on the tower. Tom and Nick will install the antenna this week in time for the MI QSO Party. Tom, K8TB made a motion to reimburse himself $346.75 for cables, antenna tuner, and control box. Motion passed. Club Repeater: The new batteries have been installed. Each should provide 2-3 days of uptime. Field Day (http://www.arrl.org/field-day): This year’s Field Day event will be held on June 28th-29th, 2014. John, AC8HZ will serve as the 2014 Field Day chairman. John would like to have another meeting next week. We still need more operators and band captains. We need to secure funding or the dinner and generator fuel. There was a motion to allocate $150 each for fuel and food. Motion passed. Ham in a Day: 10 students, all passed 3 walk ins, all passed. 1 Extra upgrade. passed. The migration from Yahoo Groups to the email list software is on hold until we can resolve an issue that is preventing us from publishing the archives. Tom is working with Pete, N9SSA. Tom has given up on liability insurance via the ARRL. He has had a difficult time getting responses to his queries. He will continue to shop outside. It will probably cost $300-400 per year. New Business: "Spark in the Park": This would be a multi-club event. Tom, K8TB already has buy-in from the Allegan and Lowell clubs. Each club would split the cost of putting on the event; admission would be free. Activities would include foxhunts, project demos, etc. Currently considering Douglas Walker Park (https://www.accesskent.com/Parks/Directory/walker.htm) as the venue. The park is available on August 30th. Tom made a motion to approve $80 for the event and that the Holland club will lead this event for the first year. Motion passed. Jonathan, W8QPP made a motion to allow him to collect and analyze sign-in and check-in data on the club’s behalf. Motion passed. Phil, K8PVH is looking for more people to help with OCARA. Phil, KD8TEW would like to institute a post-net ragchew on 146.430. The business meeting was adjourned at 8:01pm, followed by a presentation on ARRL Logbook of the World (LoTW): http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world Submitted: Todd Boss, W8YHF Holland ARC Secretary secretary@hollandarc.org Please contact the Secretary with comments or corrections.