Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, April 2015 The April 2015 meeting of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:04 pm on April 11, 2015 by Mark Colby (N8TWO). We had another good turnout tonight, with 14 members (11 ARRL) and 13 guests, for a total of 27 in attendance. Last month's meeting minutes were approved as emailed, W9DRR / W0HHF Treasurer's report was $992.16 in the general account, accepted N0CF / W0ALO Several club members attended the recent scouts meeting to discuss the camporee and gather information. Specific times, expected attendance, locations, and schedule were collected. This is the last club meeting before the scouts camporee bicycle ride. volunteers as of today: N0ZYC Nate Fisher base mobile KE0AIX Jerome Palacs base - NK0T Curtis Wilson base mobile K0CQH Dave Knitel base mobile WA0TPN Scott Lowe base - N0CF Chris Conklin base mobile W0HHF Dick Nelson base ? K0EVS Everett Siddell base ? N0TKC Taryn Colby base - W0VIB Vicki Bicket ? ? KE0DBR Alice Palas base - N8TWO Mark Colby base mobile? Volunteers will be meeting this Friday at Mark/Taryn Colby's place for planning. Required positions TBD: start 1: start 2: 10E 1: 10E 2: 15E 1: 15E 2: 25E 1: 25E 2: mobile 1: N0ZYC mobile 2: mobile 3: sweep 1: sweep 2: Disaster planning was discussed at length, the concensus is we know what we need to do but the club has no specific disaster plans other than members waiting for activation. ARES members and others assisting in emergency events are reminded to not "self-activate" - ie don't just hop in the car and show up somewhere unannounced and jump right into the emergency - prepare yourself and be available, and wait for activation by one of the coordinators. (normally Chuck or Chris) Due to the presence of emergency response teams in the Black Hawk county area, the likelyhood of individuals being directly involved with the EMS are very low. However, requests for assistance from other smaller groups is something we should be prepared for. Motion was made to set up a meeting (outside regular club time) for disaster planning, target time sometime in July/Oct, WA0TPN / NK0T. Field day was also touched on, but it's difficult to make plans without a representative from the other groups we are looking to participate with. We NEED to coordinate with someone from their group that is one of their field-day planners, ideally have someone come and attend our next club meeting. Some ideas for upcoming meeting presentations included ARES emergency message traffic passing / NIMS, HF net partitipation and check-ins. The HF beam at the Red Cross has not been repaired yet. We are looking for someone with access to a lift platform ("cherry picker") to get up above the antenna to repair it in-place. Otherwise we'll need to take it down (gin pole) and fix it on the ground, which will be a larger undertaking. Stan is also looking into replacing the HF longwire on the roof, possibly with one of his new un-un endfed designs. Motion to adjourn, N0CF / N0TKC Several small "door prizes" were handed out, chosen by random drawing from the attendance list. This month's presentation was by Stan Johnson (W0SJ) on antenna construction. Stan discussed end-fed antennas that transformed imedance using a tapped coil on an iron core (yellow/blue mix) and a small trimmer cap instead of a transmission line transformer, with the goal to improve efficiency over the transmission line method. Testing was somewhat limited given the conditions in the basement, we look forward to doing more science outdoors and in the clear. The May meeting presentation will be on Foxhunting. The sign-up sheet for Intermission Snacks is currently empty. We're looking for volunteers for upcoming meetings, to provide a small snack if the tradition is to continue. Please contact Mark (N8TWO) if you'd like to help out. Regular amateur events: - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - hams meet informally at 9am every Monday morning at HyVee on University Ave - hams meet informally at 12pm every Tuesday for Taco Tuesday at Taco Johns - upper iowa ARES digital net runs every Tues night at 7pm on 3572.5 / 3574 ctr USB Upcoming Events: - Sunday April 19 the ARRL is sponsoring the Rookie Roundup Club station at red cross open 12-6. - ARRL ecomm course will be held in the Curtis Business Building on UNI campus, April 24-26. That's Friday 7-10pm, Sat 8am-9pm (with two breaks) and Sun 8am-4pm. Cost is $17.50, and includes parming. Attendees need to have completed EC001, and register in advance. This class does NOT currently have adequate attendance to be held, and will be CANCELLED if there aren't enough sign-ups by Wednesday. Call Joe at 319-215-9709 or email aj0hh@arrl.net to register. This is a good deal, online classes normally cost between $50-85. - Advanced SkyWarn Training will be held at 6:30 pm on Thursday April 23, at Latham Hall Room 125 on UNI campus. Prior completion of SkyWarn basic training is recommended. Anyone that is interested in participation in the weathernet is encouraged to attend. - Boy Scouts Camporee Trail Ride will be held on Saturday May 2 on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, starting at 9:00am in MacFarlane Park. Volunteers should have received an email to meet on Friday to finalize plans. If you did not receive an email and would like to volunteer, please contact Mark (N8TWO) asap. - VE Testing will be held at 10 AM on Saturday May 30, at the Curris business building on UNI campus. Please contact Chris (N0CF) in advance to make sure sufficient materials are available for the day of the test. - W0MG Swap Meet will be held again at the University Ave HyVee parking lot, Saturday July 11, 8am-noon. Spread the word! http://www.w0mg.net/presentations/SwapMeet2015.pdf ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NIRAA club meets on the 2nd Saturday of every month in the basement of the Red Cross building (2530 University Ave) in Waterloo. Anyone interested in ham radio is welcome to attend. Our primary club repeater is on 146.94 mhz, negative offset, PL tone of 136.5 hz, with coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Officers may be contacted over the air or via email: President, Mark Colby, N8TWO, pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President, Curtis Wilson, NKØT, vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary, Nathan Fisher, NØZYC, sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer, Scott Lowe, WAØTPN, treas(a)w0mg.net Director, Chris Conklin, NØCF, dir1(a)w0mg.net Director, Stan Johnson, WØSJ, dir2(a)w0mg.net Director, Tom Bicket, AEØTB, dir3(a)w0mg.net - Nathan Fisher Secretary, W0MG