Present In Person (7): Hugo AA1XV (President), Steve K1RF, Toy K1WYQ), Rusty K4SAA, Jeff KB1C (Recording Secretary) , Dave N1DPD (Treasurer), Steve W1SMS (Vice President)
Present Virtually (5): Jon AI1V, Peter KC1PWH, Bill W1BKR, Jonathan W1DYN, Paul W1PPL
Social Preamble: 7-7:30 – Early technology and social discussions revolved around the upcoming change of call sign of our repeater trustee, the joys of portable bluetooth speakers, help for DMR programming, and general issues related to the repeaters which became old business.
General Meeting: called to order by President Hugo AA1XV at 7:30
A motion to accept minutes of the November meeting was approved unanimously.
Some discussion and generation of ideas for club activities became folded into New Business (see below).
Treasurers Report:
Dave shared results and finances from the Holiday party which had 25 attendees. All agreed that although costs were higher than last year, the food this year was an improvement.
To date we have 8 paid members. Last year paid membership was 65. Notification and membership renewal instructions will be sent out very soon. A review of 2025 club finances revealed we were once again in the black for the year.
2026 expenses so far include payment for a Zoom account that was implemented successfully for this meeting.
In the upcoming months we will need to file a form 990, and renew our mailbox at the UPS store. GNARC will host the Blooming Metric event in May; Dave will be this year’s point person, he will need help and member participation.
Election of New Officers:
Toy, representing the nominating committee, put forth the slate of officers who served in 2025 to be elected for another year. Club by-laws state that only members who attend in person may vote on new officers. Due to sparse attendance at this meeting, a motion was put forth to temporarily suspend this and allow everyone in attendance, both in-person and virtual, to participate in the voting. This was unanimously agreed upon.
As the club by-laws stipulate, prior to the vote new nominations from the floor were sought three times, none were offered. The current officers were unanimously re-elected.
Old Business:
Some discussion of issues related to the clubs repeaters centered around two issues: the 2 m repeater currently in use whose antenna is located in the tower on Strawberry Hill ave, and the new repeater and antenna to be installed at Norwalk Hospital. Steve says there is a plan in place to get full access to the tower in the event maintenance or problem-solving is needed, but the system is functioning now and there’s no immediate urgency. The new repeater at the Hospital site needs to be fully operational before he can move forward on the tower access project. If we do end up with a calamitous failure, he should be able to fix it, but in the meantime we should view it as a working system and not disturb it. There’s a lot of work involved and he is getting to it as he can make progress. Some members reported sporadic failure during last summer’s Bloomin Metric and at other warm weather times, we should involve “Repeater Steve” if and when this happens.
Some noted that activity on the 2 m repeater has declined, that it isn’t being used much. However we must be able to rely on it when we need to, and as of now that is the case.
New Business:
Hugo noted that the club will be replacing Tom Gunther, W1TEG, as former trustee of the club’s W1NLK call sign, with Hugo AA1XV as the new trustee.
Toy suggested that during the winter months (cold times), we should consider holding meetings entirely on Zoom as was done during the pandemic. Starting earlier might be beneficial for some, the idea that we could postpone the traditional “social” portion of the meeting until later and start the old/new business side of the meeting first at 7:00 has merit. Yet,there are clear advantages to gathering in person. When there is a presentation, it can be done over Zoom but might be better in person.
A larger discussion issue began with the idea that meetings in person enhance the health of the club, but we need a reason to attend. Some challenging questions were posed for us to think about…. Why do people come to meetings? What can each of us do to make the club better?
A review of current club activities includes Saturday morning breakfasts, the Holiday party, summer picnic, field days, service activities (Blooming metric), weekly nighttime nets, POTA exercises. What else are we doing? What else could we be doing to engage our members?
It was noted that much of the core participation group is an aging population. How can we attract more (younger) people and keep them interested? Possibly reaching out to the ARRL periodically for a list of newly licensed hams in the area would be a start.
We must keep reminding ourselves and each other that we are all volunteers!
Hugo reminded us of the list of events and initiatives outlined by The ARRL Connecticut Section Manager in his email to members dated 12/30/25.
Toy reminded us of the profound role Tim W1GIG, now a silent key, played in the club during his years of involvement. He proposed we should do something in memory of W1GIG. We will be working to formulate ideas for memorializing him, perhaps something at the ARRL site in Newington.
Meeting was adjourned at 8;34
Respectfully submitted, Jeff KB1C, Recording Secretary
