The monthly meeting of the KARC Board was held at the Kalamazoo Red Cross on January 3, 2006 and called to order by Vice President Dave Schneider AB8DS.
Treasurer: John Chapman KB8UWA
Members at Large: Don Average KC8OQM and Don Eikhoff WD8IDJ
Trustee: Al Lewis W8JCY
Technical Committee Chair: Art Snapper NK8X
Others: Jim KeeslerK8EXF, Ron Schubot N8CML, John Tucker WB8ZVV
Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were approved (Al Lewis moved and John Chapman second)
Treasurers Report: The treasurers’ report was approved. The current balance is 2,614.24. (Don Verhage moved and Al Lewis second)
Membership: We have 6 new members since the last meeting but we are still below previous year levels.
The annual meeting notices will be mailed by Dave Schneider before the end of the week. We have 3 openings for the board, two 3-year terms and a 1-year term (the remainder of Jim Gorka’s term). Ron Schubot was nominated at the last membership meeting. Dave Nawatny KC8WLD has expressed an interest in being nominated and serving. We will have a silent auction at the end of the meeting.
Since we can’t find a Chirps & Clicks publisher the board decided the best way to disseminate information is via the Kalamazoohamradio Yahoo Group email (meeting times, etc)
John Tucker reported on the upcoming classes. Rooms have been reserved at the Red Cross. Classes will begin Mon Jan 23 for Technician and Tue Jan 24 for General. They will begin at 7:00 PM EST and last from 8 to 10 weeks. John Tucker will be the primary instructor for the Technician class and Joe Borello W8UH will be the primary instructor for the General class. Jim Wades WB8SIW has agreed to help with teaching code for the General class. Don Verhage has agreed to be available with keys to open up the building. He will talk to the Red Cross people about getting a key for Ron Schubot who has volunteered to assist with the classes. For class information you can contact John Tucker at 324-9085 (H) or John.Tucker@wmich.edu. We discussed several means of advertising. Jim Keesler will put together a press release/flyer to send around to local media.
Field Day 2006: Dave Schneider has contacted the Kalamazoo Parks Department about reserving space at Prairie View Park again this year. There are new people and policies at the Parks Dept. A Special Event Request form is now required and a fee may be required. It was agreed that if the fee is excessive we should investigate alternative sites. Fort Custer was suggested as a possibility.
The board had a lengthy discussion on how to make the club more viable and interesting to attract more members. An email from Jim Buchanan K8QWPI was read and discussed about the possibility of combining the clubs in the area and some of the possible pit falls that may be encountered. Members are always saying they want things to do but when offered an opportunity to do something volunteers are hard to find. The club is involved in many things that require help: Public service events, field day, ham fest, Chirps & Clicks, club library, meeting refreshments, web page design and maintenance, Big Project help, etc. There are plenty of things to do for those who wish to help.
Two new multi-band antennas have been installed on the tower at the Red Cross. A work party is scheduled for Wed Jan 4 to run the feed line into the radio room and to install polyphasers.
RACES: Art Snapper reported that we will be having a joint Skywarn training session with the Portage Police and Fire at the Portage central fire station on Shaver Rd in March.
AED training is being planned for the next RACES meeting on Wed, Jan 11,
There was some discussion about upgrading the computers at the Red Cross and obtaining a computer for the mini command post. Ron Schubot discussed upgrading the current packet station to a software-based system that is linked to the Internet.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM EST (John Chapman moved Al Lewis second)
Don Eikhoff WD8IDJ