FEBRUARY 2018 BAARC SECRETARY’S REPORT

THURSDAY-February 22, 2018 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD Chamber of Commerce

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: TBD

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

Secretary’s Report: 

  • Membership roster: 65 members with 21 unpaid for 2018. The Club roster can be found on the Club website under the“Resources/Members Only”  Current paid members can request an individual password for access via the “Contact Us” form.
  • Minutes: The January 2018 meeting minutes were posted to the“Baarcer” area. There were no business meetings for December.
  • Correspondence: Thank you letter sent to Bob Feuer WØZPE for recent donations made to the Club.
  • Documents: Updated Club membership roster and Gmail contacts database.
    • Draft of Community & Special Events Coordinator Will refine and submit to Board for approval.
  • Membership ID’s: Will develop 1-year “Complimentary Membership” card for new Hams.
  • Motion to accept: Al WØRC, SecondJohn WØWY,  

Treasurer’s Report: The President presented the Treasurer’s report that was forwarded to the board showing all month’s account transactions and balances to date.

  • Motion to accept: John WØWY, SecondAl WØRC, Passed

Membership Meeting Programs: The President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. Moved to the March 29 meeting: a half-hour program on the New CWC EOC, with tours of the 911 Center to follow. John will follow up on this with John Bowen. April 26 meeting: Paul KEØPBR will present a program on Satellite UHF/VHF Communications.

Upcoming Events: The following events were discussed:

CQ WPX SSB Contest March 24-25, 2018

BAARC Hamfest April 7, 2018

  • $400.00 usage fee for Brainerd Armory
  • Plus extra janitor fee? Was waived in past, Al WØRC will check on this as we get closer.

Brainerd Jaycees Run for the Lakes Marathon

  • Saturday, April 28, 2018
  • John WØWY will arrange for use of CWC Sherriff’s Trailer. Al WØRC noted that the CO detector triggered several times during the Dog Sled Race. The trailer generator was installed and run inside it’s on-board compartment by the Sherriff’s Department. John will advise them of this anomaly.

Digital & Emergency Communications: 

ARES Connect Update:

  • John has applied and will bring more information to the Club after we have been registered.

Duluth SKYWARN meeting:

  • Last year’s meeting was held on March 11, but no word on this year’s; John will contact the NWS-Duluth for 2018 meeting date.

Old Business: 

Repeater Sites:

  • Gull Lake:
    • Mitch ADØHJ presented a detailed upgrade plan, adding APRS to the VHF Repeater and providing for future expansion. Mitch was able to find a duplexer at the St. Cloud Hamfest this year and purchased it at a discounted price due to his active involvement with their club members.
    • Motion to Purchase the Club duplexer for $300: John WØWY, Second Al WØRC, Passed.
  • Crosby:
    • No new items.
  • Crow Wing Power:
    • No new items.
  • Cross Lake:
    • No new items.
  • High-rise Site:
    • No new items.

New Business:

American Red Cross

  • Ken Vertin KEØLOX, an ARC volunteer from Crosslake requested a short meeting with the Board to discuss the possibility of Club operator support for future exercises and relief efforts. Mr. Vertin discussed the current MOU between the ARC and ARRL, and various scenarios of possible involvement

Active 911

  • The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Department has allowed us to use their Active 911 E-Paging Alert System to alert us of Skywarn events or other needs.
  • Need to reestablish and review our Club status using this system.
  • John will ask Mark KEØLFQ to contact John Bowen to resolve.

Upgrade Club IC-746 HF Transceiver to a second TS-590S

  • One of our Club objectives that was agreed upon with our Board and Technology Group was to standardize our infrastructure and equipment as to achieve a higher level of performance and operating skills.
  • Over this past year we have scheduled more HF Special Event activities using our current HF equipment and was found that our Kenwood TS-590S HF Transceiver performed much better than our ICOM IC-746; it has been recommended by our Technology Team that we upgrade our IC-746 HF Transceiver to another Kenwood TS-590S Transceiver.
  • The cost of this upgrade would not exceed $275.00. Selling our IC-746 and purchasing another used Kenwood TS-590S would provide 2 identical HF Rigs and meet the goal of standardizing our HF equipment, thereby requiring familiarization of just one HF radio model.
  • Current Club HF Transceiver inventory:
    • Kenwood TS-480SAT HF Transceiver: in operation as our HF Remote Base.
    • Kenwood TS-590S HF Transceiver
    • ICOM IC-746 PRO HF Transceiver
    • Yaesu FT-991 HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver
  • Proposal made by email to the Board by Lyle KØLFV, and voted for approval. Passed.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.

THURSDAY-February 22, 2018 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD Chamber of Commerce

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 27 members and guests present. Ron KØGOP gave a presentation on Civil Air Patrol – MN Wing’s missions for Super Bowl VII in Minneapolis. CAP worked with the Department of Homeland Security, the ANG 148th Tactical Fighter Wing in Duluth, and other agencies in a week of comms-intensive intercept missions over Minnesota skies.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary

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