General Membership Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Nick, KD8JBG. Secretary's Report (Todd, W8YHF): Minutes of the August 2016 meeting were accepted as published on the website. Treasurer's Report (Rich, WA8MTI): General Fund: $3,147.59 Membership: $126.76 Total: $3,274.35 Treasurer's report was accepted as read. Upcoming events: HARC Programs: September: 9/26 E.A.T.: Instructional electronics videos, and a presentation on more advanced topics by Jeff, KD8THX. October: 10/10 Monthly Meeting: TBD 10/24 E.A.T.: Instructional electronics videos, and a presentation on more advanced topics by Jeff, KD8THX. VE Testing: VE Testing is conducted at the Holland Red Cross on the second Saturdays of March, July, November, and December at 6pm. “Ham in a Day” events will be held at 1pm on October 8th in Lowell, and on December 10th in Holland. VE Testing follows each event at 6pm. 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 Michigan State Parks on the Air (MSPOTA): From the MSPOTA Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MSPOTA2017/): “The NORTHERN MICHIGAN AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE TEAM (NM8RT) is working directly with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation Division to operate a three year HAM Radio event "Michigan State Parks On The Air". MSPOTA is slated to kick-off in June of 2017.” Old Business: 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. Our account is set up in Amazon, but we’re having trouble getting set up to receive the donations. 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: Dave, WA8RSA: The VictoryPoint Ministries youth building is available on Mondays and Saturdays per Art, K0TWB. The church won’t ask for a rental fee, but the club should consider making a regular donation. The building is available next month. Tom, K8TB: Motion to begin meeting at the VictoryPoint Ministries youth building starting next month. Motion passed. The VictoryPoint youth building is located behind the main church building at 11530 Ransom St, Holland, MI 49424 [map]. The HARC Monday night net will provide talk-in. Nick, KD8JBG will post the updated meeting information on the door of the Red Cross building. Dave, WA8RSA will be serving brats at 6:30pm in advance of the 7pm meeting. Park2Park: Todd, W8YHF: We have a full crew to staff the event, but will still take a couple of extra operators to handle any last-minute conflicts that arise. If you are interested in joining the event, please email Todd (todd@w8yhf.org) or post a message to the reflector. The race will be held on Saturday, September 24th. More information about the Park2Park race is available at http://www.park2parkrace.com/ The HARC team will meet at 7am behind the grandstands at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds. Spark in the Park: Tom, K8TB: attendance was not what we hoped, but there was a tornado moving through the area near the beginning of the event. Next year’s event will be held on August 19th, 2017 from 9am to 1pm at the Home School Building. We may have three more clubs join the effort next year, which would bring the cost down to around $50 per club. We are going to do some PR to try to increase next year’s attendance. Jeff, KD8THX passed out 63 information cards to this year’s attendees. New Business: American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure: Several HARC members worked this event yesterday. They worked through some challenges with DMR and dead spots on the course. New Member “Welcome Wagon”: Jack, KE8CIO would like to help in welcoming new hams to the club. Tom will get him the list of Ham in a Day graduates. Jack suggested compiling a list of club members’ technical strengths to aid in elmering the new hams. He will post an invitation to share this information on the reflector. The business meeting was adjourned at 7:58pm, followed by a presentation from Jeff, KB8QAP about the Jamestown EF-1 tornado that occurred on 8/20/2016. Submitted: Todd Boss, W8YHF Holland ARC Secretary secretary@hollandarc.org Please contact the Secretary with comments or corrections.