THURSDAY-October 26, 2017 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

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, Shirley KØDCW, Mitch ADØHJ, Roger W0WUG, and John W3MQD. The President opened the Board Meeting at 4 PM.

Secretary’s Report: 

• Membership roster: 91 members with 63 paid for 2017. 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 September 2017 meeting minutes will be posted to the “Club Blog” area.
• Correspondence:
• Motion to accept: Al WØRC, SecondMitch ADØHJ,  

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

• Submitted Payables: John W0WY $90 reimbursement for portable rental from Blakeman’s Septic for CQ contest. Ron K0GOP $27.97 reimbursement for FTDI chipset programming cable for Club Motorola portable radios.
• Motion to place a minimum bank balance cap of $2000 for Club spending; not to include the $2000 Hamfest account: Steve NØCRM, SecondJohn WØWY,  
• Motion to accept: Mitch ADØHJ, SecondAl WØRC, Passed

Membership Meeting Programs: The Vice President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. At the November meeting, Lyle and Mitch will present a program on the new digital mode, FT8.

Upcoming Events: 

CQ WW SSB contest October 28th-29th

• Crow Wing County Fairgrounds
• Friday 7:00PM Central to Sunday 7:00PM Central
• The CQ WW is the largest Amateur Radio competition in the world. Over 35,000 participants take to the airwaves on the last weekend of October (SSB) and November (CW) with the goal of making as many contacts with as many different DXCC entities and CQ Zones as possible.

Digital & Emergency Communications: 

UPDATE: 10/25

• Duluth SKYWARN link is still working: N0EO
• EOC refit: no update from John Bowen; John W0WY will get an update.
• Can perhaps use their training room as well. John/Lyle will check into this.

Old Business: 

New Club Storage container

• Need to determine Key Holders: Lyle, Ron, Al
• Need to Put Key Holder names and phone number on a plate to attach to storage container. Working with Tom KT0MMYnow to get this engraved.

New Business:

Expenditures requests/discussions

• Club will donate 50′ of LMR-400 to Mark Persons as a goodwill gesture for getting us into the Gull Lake site and access to our own entry keys.
• Shelving purchase for the club storage container was already approved at our last meeting
• DR2X upgrade: Motion to trade in DR1X for $300.00: Steve NØCRM, Second, John WØWY, Passed. 
• Provide a check to Crow Wing County Fairgrounds for $200? (Goodwill gesture; We held 3 events there this year; Field Day, Tailgate Hamfest, Trailer exercise/WW CQ event. Motion to give $200 donation to CWC Fairgrounds: John WØWY, Second, Al W0RC, Passed. 

• Hardline connectors for Gull Lake. ~$35-45 7/8″ Ask Mark if he has?
• Cabinet/Enclosure for Gull Lake Repeater equipment. (Rack mount DR1/2X, Rackmount controllers, rack mount computer, rackmount webserver) ~$900.
  • Can possibly save on shipping if we are able to pick up and deliver? (need to investigate that)
  • Motion to purchase a cabinet for Gull Lake not to exceed $1000.00: Steve NØCRM, Second John W0WY.

• Excess inventory of 10 Motorola HT-750 transceivers. Less popular as they require Motorola proprietary programming software and lack digital channel display.
  • Motion to list and sell on ebay: Ron K0GOP, Second John W0WY, Passed.
• The 2018 BAARC officer ballot was discussed, and will be finalized by the secretary for distribution to the membership at the November meeting election.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 5:20 PM.

THURSDAY-October 26, 2017 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 23 members and guests present. A “Show and Tell” program was presented with several members showing various rigs and items of interest in amateur radio. Presenting were Al W0RC: unusual vacuum tubes and hand-built rigs, Ron K0GOP: classic tube breadboard QRP-rigs built by Jim K0VAN, Nick W0NY: 3D printing for HAM radio, and Mitch AD0HJ: new technology in SDR and micro-computer applications.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary