Monthly Members Meeting
June 12, 2024 – Meeting Minutes
This month we were unable to secure a room at the Comstock Center of Wilton. A virtual meeting was held.
Called to order by the president, Hugo AA1XV, at 1930 hours.
Attending: Officer members – Hugo AA1XV, President; Dave N1DPD, Treasurer. Other members and guests in attendance: Pete, KC1PWH; Paul, W1PPL; Jon, AI1V; Toy, K1WYQ; Steve, W1SMS; Dan (callsign?); Jim, KC1FB; Steve, K1RF; Johnny,W1DYN; Andre,W2ART.
Treasurer’s report: Our club is solvent. No changes since last meeting. No new paid members nor new expenses.
Committee Reports:A committee previously appointed on the matter of club assets, credentials, and technological evaluation of the repeaters and GNARC licenses and coordination, integrated by Steve W1SMS, Paul W1PPL, and Peter KC1PWH, presented a report on the current state of GNARC’s repeaters. This is a first step towards ensuring continuous availability of VHF communication by creating enough redundancy to address power loss, hardware failure, site inaccessibility, or any other unforeseen situation.
Peter KC1PWH put forward a motion for the Board of Directors (B.O.D.) to consider, and if adopted, authorize the expenditure of funds to cover the purchase of a new Yaesu Fusion repeater, a new collinear antenna, and other necessary hardware complemented with donated material to be installed at the Norwalk Hospital.
Subsequent steps for the broader scope of this committee will include:
- Installing an Echolink node
- Securing access to the current 2-meter repeater site
- Creating necessary maintenance documentation
- Ensuring rights to access the locations of the equipment
- Assuring the club’s rights over these locations.
Old Business:
Johnny, W1DYN, and Dave, W1DPD, provided a brief overview of the Bloomin Metric Bike race held this past month. Firstly, there were no injuries or accidents among the participants. However, it was noted that some areas on the route do not have reliable cell phone coverage, highlighting the convenience and reliability of radio communications to support the event.
New Business:
Toy, K1WYQ, expressed concern about the gnarc.org website. His concerns included outdated information and the vulnerability of membership email addresses to spam and exploitation by malicious actors. In this vein, I’d like to ask again for help: We’d like to have a permanent webmaster or someone willing to take care of our webpage on a more permanent basis.” Jon, AI1V, stepped in to help when Paul, W1IP, stepped down as webmaster after many years of dedicated service, for which we are very grateful. We are looking for volunteers who can dedicate a few hours a month to keep the website current and secure. If you are interested, please step forward and let us know.
Announcements:
This June 22 and 23 is the annual ARRL Field Day. GNARC will not participate as a club, but some members will join the event at the Westport Astronomical Society, collaborating with two other clubs. Setup will be on Friday, June 21st. If you want to reserve an operation slot, please visit: Field Day Signup Form.
The meeting was adjourned at 2100 hours.
We passed four (4) new Technician class hams at our session on May 11
Steve K1RF gave a very interesting presentation of the design and building of 80-10 meter delta loops. Please click here to view. Thank you Steve.
Monthly Members Meeting
March 12,2024 – Meeting Minutes
Meeting held at Comstock Community Center, Wilton, CT. 7:30PM
Attending: Officer members – Hugo AA1XV, President; Dave N1DPD, Treasurer; Tom – KB1FBX, Secretary. Other members and guests in attendance included: Steve K1RF, Jim KC1FB, Peter KC1PWH, Jon AI1V, Jonathan K1RFD
New Business:
David N1DPD gave an update: There are 54 paid members. We have adequate funds in the Treasury.
A new ham radio coordinator is needed for the Bloomin Metric coverage.
We discussed our repeaters. Steve W1SMS and Peter KC1PWH are going to pull together better information on the location of our repeaters and their conditions. Paul W1PPL is expected to help them.
We have 3 older radios to sell or let new members use.
We expect to combine with the Housatonic Amateur Radio Club and Greater Fairfield Amateur Radio Club to hold Field Day at the Westport Observatory on June 22-23.
At our March VE session, we had 4 people earn their Technician license. Next VE session will be May 11 at the Norwalk Public Library.
Dave, Hugo, and Martin (K1MGD) moved an assortment of radio gear and parts donated from Silent Key Joe WJ1M to the trailer.
The meeting closed at 8:10PM.
A presentation was made by Paul N1II regarding test equipment based on digital circuits. It was a well done presentation and we thank Paul.
Our next meeting will be April 10 at the Comstock Community Center.
Monthly Members Meeting
February 15,2024 – Meeting Minutes
Meeting at Comstock Community Center, Wilton, CT. 7:30PM.
Attending: Officer members – Hugo AA1XV, President; Dave N1DPD, Treasurer; Tom – KB1FBX, Secretary. Other members and guests in attendance included: Steve K1RF, Sam W1SMF, Mark N1MG, Pete KC1PWH, Andre, W2ART, Jon AI1V, Steve W1SMS, Jonathan K1RFD
Old Business:
A suggestion was made to cut off non-paying members and non-members from the email reflector. The overall question is: What is the benefit of membership if non-paying members and non-members get the same access to the reflector. A decision was not made.
New Business:
March 9, VE exam to be held at the Norwalk Public Library at 10am. Help needed.
A new ham radio coordinator is needed for the Bloomin Metric coverage.
The meeting closed at 8:15PM.
A presentation was made by Steve Dick regarding the 2024 Winter field day at the Westport radio shack. Well done presentation.
Our next meeting will be March 13 at the Comstock Community Center.
Monthly Members Meeting
January 10, 2024 – Meeting Minutes
Attending: Officer members –Jon AI1V, President; Dave N1DPD, Treasurer; Tom W1TEG, Secretary. Other members & guests in attendance included; Hugo AA1XV; Joe KC1AUH; Tom KB1FBX; Toy K1WYQ; Steve W1SMS, Pete KC1PWH and Marty K1MGD.
Location: Comstock Community Center, 180 School Rd, Wilton CT
Minutes: Meeting called to order at 7:40 PM by Tom W1TEG; – all in-person, no Zoom link was offered..
Order of Business
- Nominating Committee: report for election of Board members: Nominated were Hugo AA1XV for President; Tom KB1FBX – Secretary, Dave N1DPD for Treasurer and Marty K1MGD for VP. Motion to waive By Laws requirement for a quorum to be present for the election was made, seconded and unanimously voted. Thanks were noted to outgoing officers Jon AI1V and Tom W1TEG. Brief comments from nominated individuals occurred. No nominations from the floor received. All nominated were effectively elected for new terms starting immediately.
- Open Discussions: Discussed activities ahead including POTA, HF activity due to good cycle conditions, Field Days, Nets, DXing and presentations planned.
- Classes: no new class is currently planned.
- Treasurer’s Report – Accounts remain strong with minimal spending during the prior period and future month; 65 members have paid their dues to date. Holiday Party expenses were minimal ($275). The treasurer will look into expanding the funding source from merchandise offered by the club. Dues for the coming year were voted (8 in favor, 2 opposed) to remain the same at $35 – after general discussion. Need to better define the benefits of club membership to all in the upcoming dues solicitation.
- Meeting Presentation – none planned for this meeting.
- VE Session: next session is March 9 at Norwalk Library. Extra VEs are needed.
- Future meetings – Seeking ideas for future presentations and discussions.
- Club Dues — Annual Dues of $35 are due and payable January 1, 2023. Please PAY VIA PAYPAL. A link is on our website. http://gnarc.org/join/
Next meeting will be February 15th a THURSDAY. IN-Person at Comstock Community Center, 180 School Rd, Wilton
Meeting adjourned 9:00 PM.
W1TEG, Secretary.
