General Membership Meeting Minutes July 11, 2016 The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Nick, KD8JBG. Secretary's Report (Todd, W8YHF): Minutes of the June 2016 meeting were accepted as published on the website. Treasurer's Report (Rich, WA8MTI): General Fund: $3,769.48 Membership: $126.76 Total: $3,896.24 Treasurer's report was accepted as read. Upcoming events: Programs: July: 7/25 E.A.T.: Instructional electronics videos, and a presentation on more advanced topics by Jeff, KD8THX. August: 8/8 Monthly Meeting: Dave DeVos, KF8QL talking about VHF/UHF roving/contesting. 8/22 E.A.T.: Instructional electronics videos, and a presentation on more advanced topics by Jeff, KD8THX. VE Testing: VE Testing is conducted at the Red Cross (schedule TBD) “Ham in a Day” events will be held at 1pm on October 8th in Lowell, and on August 13th and December 10th in Holland. For more information, or to register for the Ham in a Day class, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/holohiad National Parks on the Air (NPOTA): From the ARRL Website (http://www.arrl.org/NPOTA): “Throughout 2016, Amateur Radio will be helping the National Park Service celebrate their 100th anniversary. Hams from across the country will activate NPS units, promote the National Park Service and showcase Amateur Radio to the public.” You can follow NPOTA activity on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/NPOTA or on Twitter: @ARRL_NPOTA North Korea DXpedition: Polish ham Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX will be operating from North Korea this year on very short notice. More details available via ARRL at http://bit.ly/1txkcwB Lowell Amateur Radio Youth Club Hamfest: The Lowell Amateur Radio Youth Club will be holding a hamfest on Saturday, July 16th from 8am to noon. More information is available at http://www.k8lhs.club Field Day: John, AC8HZ: We are still gathering logs from Field Day operators. HARC completed roughly 800-1000 QSOs during the event. This year, we used Art’s (K0TWB) drone to set some of the antennas. HARC thanks John for coordinating our Field Day operation. Old Business: Hats/Banner: Phil, K8PVH: There has been interest in getting club hats; preferably made in USA. Phil took hat orders at the meeting. He posted color/size/pricing information on the reflector. The hats will be delivered at the next HARC meeting. Amazon Smile: HARC has set up an account on Amazon to receive a percentage of our members’ Amazon purchases if they choose to designate HARC as their selected charity. More information about the Amazon Smile program is available at http://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/ch/about. Nick, KD8JBG and Rich, WA8MTI are working through the approval process for the account. Ham in a Day / VE Testing: Kim, N8KAL: As a club, we are on the Laurel VEC (https://www.laurelvec.com/). We are having trouble getting emails through to Laurel to get our VEs credentialed. Outing for Scouting: Bob, K8RJB is looking for volunteers set up and help during the day at the Boy Scouts “Outing for Scouting” on October 15th: https://scoutingevent.com/?outingforscouting The event will be held at Berlin Raceway. This event runs concurrently with Jamboree on the Air. Kiwanis Shoe Drive: Hank, K8HLD mentioned that the Kiwanis Club of Holland is having a shoe drive. They are looking for old shoes in good condition; they will be sent to developing nations. You can bring your shoes to a club meeting and give them to Hank. More information on Kiwanis Holland can be found at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kiwnishollandmi/?fref=ts Red Cross Building: Tom, K8TB: Per the American Red Cross organization, the building will be listed for sale as of August 1st. HARC will need to find a new space to hold meetings. Hank: Kiwanis has offered their facility to HARC free of charge on a short-term basis. Phil: Dave RSA talked to Salvation Army. They don’t have room for us now, but after they expand in a year they may. We are checking with Davenport Holland. The Holland Township Fire Station may be available, but would require moving our meetings to Tuesdays. New Business: Website: Tom, K8TB: Our website was hacked this month, and malware was inserted into the site. We had the passwords changed, but the malware came back. As of this time, the website is back up and running. Park2Park: Todd, W8YHF: HARC provided communications assistance at this event for the first time in 2015. This year, we would like to have operators on the course in addition to the Ottawa County Fairgrounds. Todd will be meeting with the race director in early August to plan our involvement, and he will be asking for volunteers shortly thereafter. The race will be held on Saturday, September 24th. More information about the Park2Park race is available at http://www.park2parkrace.com/ Coast Guard Festival: John Fischer, KC8UNY has posted a call for volunteers on the reflector. The parade will be held Saturday, August 6th. Spark in the Park: Tom, K8TB: The event will be held on Saturday, August 20th from 3-8pm at the Home School Building, 5625 Burlingame Ave. SW, Wyoming, MI [map: https://goo.gl/maps/nxmia6gUyWN2]. Two new clubs have joined the effort: Muskegon and Ionia (Riverside); this brings the total to 7 sponsoring clubs. The Michigan VHF/UHF Society (http://mivus.org/) will hold a meeting at Spark in the Park. For more information on Spark in the Park, see http://www.k8tb.org/sitp.htm The business meeting was adjourned at 7:41pm. Our program was cancelled due to the presenters’ absence. Submitted: Todd Boss, W8YHF Holland ARC Secretary secretary@hollandarc.org Please contact the Secretary with comments or corrections.