General Membership Meeting Minutes July 14, 2014 The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Tom, K8TB. Secretary's Report: Minutes of the June 2014 meeting were accepted as published on the website. Treasurer's Report: General Fund: $4,527.54 Membership: $386.76 Total: $4914.30 Treasurer's report was accepted as read. Opening Remarks: From October 15 to October 22, Michigan will have its second slot in the W1AW portable operation. See http://k8tb.org/w1aw.htm for information on how to sign up for a time slot. The North Ottawa ARC is looking for additional communication help for the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival parade on Saturday, August 2. If you wish to help with medical communication, please meet up with the group at the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety parking lot located at 6th and Columbus at 9:45 AM. The parking lot is on the north side of Columbus, between 5th and 6th. Note that Columbus is one way, so you might want to try to enter the parking lot from 5th St. You will need an operational handheld on the Grand Haven repeater of 145.49 (negative offset, 94.8 tone) to work the parade. There is a group of Grand Haven amateurs who are involved with parade lineup; this need for additional pedestrian amateurs is for normal parade health and welfare traffic needs along the parade route. The Grand Parade starts at 11:45 AM. Please let John, KC8UNY if you can help; his email is kc8uny@arrl.net. The Holland ARC encourages all of its members who can help to do so. Upcoming events: Programs: July: E.A.T.: The CW Class continues each Monday at 7pm. August: 8/11 Monthly Meeting: TBD E.A.T.: The CW Class continues each Monday at 7pm. ARRL Centennial QSO Party: NOTE: Tom, K8TB has posted new info regarding the upcoming Michigan slot (10/15 to 10/22) at http://www.k8tb.org/w1aw.htm 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 now Dennis, KT8X. 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 Our next "Ham in a Day" event will take place on August 9th. 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. Tom, K8TB will teach a General License class, starting September 24th. The class runs for 8 weeks, with a testing session on the 9th week. The class will be held at the Grand Rapids Red Cross; the cost is $20. Old Business: Liability Insurance: Tom, K8TB has been investigating a liability insurance policy for the club. After obtaining a quote that only covered our meetings (i.e. not Field Day), he found a new contact at ARRL. The ARRL policy should be $200 for $1,000,000 liability coverage. Tom will follow up in August. Field Day Review: John, AC8HZ The event went well, even with the surprise venue change. Our club operated 5A. We are still reviewing the logs, but the tentative total is 1,124 QSOs: 359 CW 145 Digital 417 SSB The new location worked well as it provided plenty of space and friendly neighbors. We all enjoyed a hearty dinner. "Spark in the Park": Tom, K8TB 22 people are lined up to present; please see http://www.k8tb.org/sitp.htm for more details. Douglas-Walker Park may be too small! ARRL Michigan Section Manager Larry Camp, WB8R may visit. Please bring items for show-and-tell. Tom will be notifying all clubs within a 90 minute radius. Club Repeater: The new repeater controller arrived and Laryn, K8TVZ showed it off after the break. New Business: The FCC has made a change to the Part 97 rules: if you have been licensed in the past, you can regain your original license class by passing the technician exam. Please see http://www.arrl.org/news/changes-to-amateur-service-part-97-rules-go-into-effect-on-july-21 for more information. The rule change is recorded in the Federal Register here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-06-20/pdf/2014-14414.pdf Please talk to inactive hams to let them know about this new opportunity. The business meeting was adjourned at 7:35pm, followed by a short presentation on the new repeater controller by Laryn, K8TVZ. Submitted: Todd Boss, W8YHF Holland ARC Secretary secretary@hollandarc.org Please contact the Secretary with comments or corrections.