THURSDAY-FEBRUARY 23, 2017 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD PUBIC LIBRARY

President: Steve Mott NØCRM
Vice President: John Luce WØWY
Treasurer: Doug Bergsnev WØDWB
Secretary: Ron Finger KØGOP
Past Presidents: Charles Lane W5CCL, Al Doree WØRC
Director At Large: Lyle Amundson KØLFV
Director of Emergency Communications: Dave Schuldheisz KØISZ
Repeater Trustee: Mitch Ahrenstorff ADØHJ
Community & Special Events Coordinator: TJ Graves KØTEG 

Attendees: Steve NØCRM, Doug WØDWB, Ron KØGOP, Al WØRC, John WØWY, Mitch ADØHJ, and Dave KØISZ. The President opened the Board Meeting at 4:00 PM.

Secretary’s Report: Membership roster shows 84 members with 46 paid for 2017. The Club roster has been migrated to the Club website under the “Resources/Members Only” area. Current paid members can request an individual password for access via the “Contact Us” form. Other activities included making a fillable 2017 Club membership application form for the Club website. Member applicants are encouraged to fill and print/submit this online PDF form to provide more legible information than the handwritten method. The January 2017 meeting minutes were posted to the “Club Blog” area, as the new venue for the former “BAARCer” newsletter format. Motion to accept: Doug WØDWB, Second Mitch ADØHJ, Passed. 

Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer presented his report to the board showing all month’s account transactions and balances to date. The Secretary presented a $17.99 bill for reimbursement for a USB Programming cable for the Club Motorola HT’s. Motion to accept: John WØWY, Second Al WØRC, Passed. 

Membership Meeting Program: The President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. John WØWY reported the Brainerd FD has approved Club use of their training room for the upcoming March April, June, and July meeting dates. John will look into switching the June date to a week early to fall before the June 24-25 ARRL Field Day. The selection of a Spring Dinner speaker/program of more general interest to family members was discussed.

Upcoming Events: The annual NWS Skywarn Organizational meeting in Duluth: Saturday March 11th, Brainerd Hamfest: Saturday April 22nd, Brainerd Jaycees “Run For The Lakes” marathon: Saturday April 29, 2017, and the “Tour of the Lakes” bike ride: Saturday June 3rd were noted.

Digital & Emergency Communications: As in years past, John WØWY will send our new SKYWARN procedure card to Carol at NWS-Duluth in advance of the meeting for ‘mark up’ with any suggested changes for final member distribution at the March 30 Club meeting. The merits of the best radio communication mode with KØNWS at NWS-Duluth were discussed. Among the choices are Wires-X, Echolink, and cell phones.

Old Business: Old Club Repeaters: Discussed suggestion that we try to sell these older repeaters at our April Hamfest. Retain cavities for future use; perhaps sell Crosby repeater—tabled for now. Crosslake Tower site: The new high-rise equipment owner company, Vertical Bridge Inc, has asked for an insurance binder from the Club liability policy—forwarded to the Treasurer. Repeater linking: Peripheral/supporting equipment request was verbalized and shared with the board at January meeting. In a holding pattern until the Wires-X linking test between Crosby and Crow Wing power is set-up, run, and demonstrated for a sustained test-period. Waiting for Panda CPU equipment arrival. Storage unit discussion: POD container will be placed as weather permits. High-rise remote base antenna site: Club will install new HF antenna as weather permits. Gull lake Internet and tower site: Al WØRC is waiting for Hubbard Broadcasting to continue their progress towards making a space for us in the newer building. Granite City reprogramming of Club Motorola HT radios: Ron KØGOP was able to successfully reprogram the Club inventory with an updated codeplug for new repeater tones on 4 Club repeaters. This will allow the Club to make other programming changes going forward. Request to purchase a second USB programming cable with better chipset (FTDI) to work with newer Windows OS. Motion to purchase for $25: John WØWY, Second Al WØRC, Passed.

New Business: Kitchen Help for Club Hamfest: Charles W5CCL and XYL Kathy KD5EGN have offered to assume the kitchen coordination duties for the future, replacing longtime volunteers Al WØRC and XYL Shirley KØDCW. Additional workers are being sought to assist with the well-run food sales operation. Bouvet Island 3Y0Z DX-pedition support request: received from Ralf Fedor. Motion to have the Treasurer match the previous Club donation amount: John WØWY, Second Al WØRC, Passed. Broken email addresses: Several have been corrected with a few remaining without alternate contact information. If you are not getting Club email announcements let us know via the “Contact Us” form. Donation from Bob WØZPE: The Secretary will send a letter of thanks for a Vertex VX-150 HT and Makita 3/8” VSR drill and batteries received by the Club in December 2016.

The board meeting was adjourned at 5:07 PM.

THURSDAY-FEBRUARY 23, 2017 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD PUBIC LIBRARY

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 23 members and guests present. Following the welcome and introductions: John WØWY discussed upcoming public SKYWARN training at the CWC Land Services Building in Brainerd, and encouraged all interested members to attend. Al WØRC gave an update on the Forestview High Altitude Balloon Class. At a HABC parent open house, teachers Jim Reed and Cory Olson thanked parents for raising such an excellent group of young people. The students presented their preparations and experiment payloads to the group. They are now waiting for a good flight prediction report, putting the balloon in a desirable recovery path following its anticipated 125,000-foot altitude flight. The launch will likely take place around 9 AM on a weekday morning at the rear of the school. APRS beacons can be tracked at aprs.fi using Nick Reed’s W0NY-3 and W0NY-4 call signs. Following door prizes and refreshments, Andy Rangen of CTC gave an interesting presentation on some of the new technology vendors and products viewed at his annual visit to the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary