Greater Norwalk Amateur Radio Club (GNARC) Meeting Minutes 01/09/2019
Present (19): K1TA, K1WYQ, K1DSG, W1PPL, KC1FB, K1RF, N1DPD, KB1FBX, KB1UOB, AI1V, WG1HM, W1TEG, KC1GGG, W1CAH, K4JCS, ND1L, KA1WBN, KC1KSL, K6VOR
Meeting opened 7:30 by K1TA Meeting minutes from November 2018 approved. We had the annual party in lieu of a meeting in December, so no minutes for December.
Department Reports:
Finance: Checking and savings both good. Checking higher than usual this time of year due to sale of donated equipment. A suggestion was made to put savings into a CD to get higher interest. Treasurer to investigate.
Communications: No communications of note.
Board: No board actions this month.
Technical Committee: Everything working properly. Fusion repeater disconnected from internet due to bad internet connection at the site. The owner of site is working on it.
ND1L is asking for a 2m regular analog base/mobile station to use for setting up an Echolink or IRLP connection to the Norwalk 2m repeater from Westchester. If anyone has a rig they could lend to ND1L, please contact him directly.
Comm center roof is still not complete. Until it is, we cannot re-install the low band HF antenna (30-80 meters).
Public Service: Nothing upcoming in the next month.
The major public service events for spring/summer have now finalized their dates: Fairfield Half Marathon – Sunday June 2 Bloomin Metric – Sunday June 9 (was formerly mid May) MS Ride – Sunday June 23 (was formerly early June). Conflicts with Field Day but we expect to be able to staff this.
Education Committee: Nothing planned. A number of people suggested a General class for the spring since there have been two or three Tech classes in the area recently. Education committee will discuss.
Special Events: N1F (Festivus Special Events station) had hundreds of contacts and was mentioned on Amateur Radio Newsline. A number of GNARC members participated.
No interest was shown for a Winter Field Day operation. Since we expect that people will be at the Comm Center that Saturday anyway, we may operate while we’re at the Comm Center. It is noted that WECA is doing Winter Field Day at the Westchester Fire Training Center (Dana Rd in Valhalla). Also, we understand that the Bridgeport club and the Westport club will be doing a Winter Field Day operation at the Westport Observatory.
Field Day: We need a Field Day Captain. K1TA will talk w/ Hugo. PPL recommended drafting W1IP for the job, which we all considered to be apt punishment for his not being at the meeting. (not a chance in hell -ed).
Nominating Committee: Conducted the annual vote for officers. The slate of officers put forth by the nominating committee was unanimously accepted. K1TA – President W1IP – Vice President W1PPL – Treasurer AI1V – Secretary
Bylaws: Some members mentioned a desire to formalize the status of those people who are given free membership due to taking an entry level class with us or due to earning their first amateur radio license with us. Our current policy is that they follow the rules of any other new member – they do have a vote and if they join Oct thru Dec they are members thru the end of the following year.
In addition, there was a discussion about adding on-line voting for officers. It was noted that we have a number of snowbirds, as well as others who are still members but have moved out of state (e.g., retirement). Others believe that voting should be done by those who are present in the area and are directly impacted by the results of votes. The Board will discuss this when all Board members are in the area.
The meeting was closed at 8:16 pm.
After the meeting, Jon AI1V gave a presentation on Grounding for Amateur Radio stations
