Lower Columbia Amateur
Radio Association
Minutes of the 3/15/06 Membership Meeting
Call
to Order:
President
Wally, WM7U, called the meeting to order at 7:30pm (pst).
There
were 15 members in attendance.
The Pledge of
Allegiance
was made by all.
None present.
Minutes of March 1, 2006 were approved as read.
Bob
distributed copies of the Treasurer's Report.
Ray,
K7AA, questioned the
jump in electricity costs. Bob answered that billing is now done
monthly, and
it was down.
Motion
to accept the Report
approved.
Bob
also had a printout of the investments
available for all to see.
(All from Bob)
The
Club received a
stateside QSL card from a FIST member.
The
annual post office box
fee is $80.
We
received a letter from
the Jefferson Amateur Radio Club in Harvey, LA saying that they're
sending
notices to all "Special Services clubs" throughout the country
indicating they lost all in the hurricane, and they need to rebuild.
They're
soliciting funds to achieve their goal of $100,000.
Judi
responded to an email
from Kevin Poirier near Vernonia, OR saying he was wanting to get his
ham
license and asking if we give exams here so he didn't have to drive to
Portland.
Brian's
phone call from Rob indicated that the
"26" should be ready next month. Rob will sell the Club his
"220" machine and a good-quality antenna to replace the one Earl was
working on. <Discussion followed on the "26" and freequency
coordination and on the "220">
Butch
inquired about the
"30" repeater. Bob replied that he discussed it with Larry, K7LJ,
that it's not responding on its own and someone has to do a power reset
on it.
<Discussion followed>
Wally
indicated that if we
have major flooding, etc., we only have one repeater to run a Net.
Trying to
maintain communications with Clark County in a Homeland Security
Exercise would
have to take local traffic to Simplex, but this might be alright if
there were
a different set of circumstances. The "220" is less likely to be
scanned and seems more secure when passing Health & Welfare
traffic. Randy's
"220" is a regional backbone between EOCs for Cowlitz, Columbia,
Clark and maybe Wahkiakum counties. His repeater would not be available
when
power fails; he has no backup power.
Ray
suggested we should get the "26" going
before spending money on anything else.
Brian
said the Icom
dual-bander isn't working, that it needs replacing.
Bob
said we could go with a
2m mobile as a replacement and cost about $325, or an all-mode rig that
Norm,
KB6KQ, has for sale: a Yaesu FT-736R 2m, 220, 440, and 1.2gHz costing
$1400,
which is about 3 times more than a dual-bander. His radio is about 11
years
old. <Discussion followed>
Motion
to buy the Yaesu made
by Brian. Seconded by Frank. Motion carried 14 to 1.
Brian
said the Short Tower
has 3 isopoles that probably aren't going back up. We should invest in
a
tri-bander to save space on the tower and for safety and maintenance
issues.
Bob indicated that there's one in Woodland.
Wally
said that Mike (who
hadn't arrived yet) wanted to bring up the Field Day and location
discussion.
Should it be at Cow Creek , the Clubhouse, or another location? Any
preferences? <Discussion followed>
A
show of hands indicated
that the majority would like to have it here at the Clubhouse.
Butch
suggested that to have
non-Club members within the County come, we should advertise.
<Discussion
followed on logging program
software for Field Day>
Butch
suggested talking to
Ray, NB7Y, for the engraving information.
Brian
indicated there's resistance to bringing new
things to the Club and spending money to do so.
Diana
said that we don't get
things finished before moving on to new ones.
Steve
said some of us don't
know the other radio modes. <Discussion followed>
Stu
said his repeater
doesn't have his callsign on it, and he's been paying the dues on it.
He'd like
to know where it is. <Discussion followed with Bob saying he'd find
out>
Rick
asked if we have a way
to replenish Club funds with any fundraisers that are coming up?
Research
showed we have two Coffeestops this year: Sept. 20-22 and Dec. 20-22.
Motion
made to adjourn. Majority carried.
Meeting
adjourned at 9:02pm (pst).
Respectfully
submitted:
Judi--KD7GZR,
Secretary