MANCORAD

 December, 2005 Meeting Minutes

    President Fred (W6BSF) called the meeting to order at 1946 CDT, December 21, 2005.  The November, 2005 meeting minutes as e-mail distributed by Fred were accepted by motion from Walt (K9WL) and second by Theresa (KB9KXE).  Dick (N9QFY) gave the Treasurer’s report, which was accepted by motion from Steve (KB9GPN) and second by Ken (K9HAG).

  This year’s Christmas Party, January 6, 2006, will be held again at Cedar Ridge.  The member and guest meal cost is $11.00 per person.  The minimum attendees required is 40, same as last year; at the conclusion of this meeting, the paid attendance head count stands at 22; this means the club will have to eat the dinner cost for 18 people, so please get your reservations in to Treasurer N9QFY ASAP.  Meeting discussion included that at the January, 2006, meeting the club membership attending will critique this year’s service from Cedar Ridge and decide if a different location should be considered for 2007.

  Club dues for 2006 are also due.  Please get your dues in to Treasurer N9QFY.

  Carl (KA9WYK) has brought up a request for donation to QSL.net which hosts our club and ARES/RACES websites.  The members in attendance concurred with a BOD recommendation of $25.00 to www.QSL.net ; the last donation was made >2 years ago in an amount of $15.00.

  Mancorad will sponsor 3 Cobia submarine operating events in 2006; 4/29-30, 7/15-16, and a 3^rd date to be determined in either September or October.  Events will be tied to Boy Scout sleepovers.

  Mancorad will sponsor 3 Brat Fry fund raisers in 2006. The Brat Fry committee is requested to identify and reserve dates at the locations they want hold the events.

  The Technician license course will be deferred until Spring, 2006, on date(s) to be determined.  Fred requested that at least a 2 month prior announcement be made through the press to solicit trainees.  Carl, John (NZ9Z), Walt (K9WL) and Steve (KB9GPN) were requested to identify the date(s) that will be used.  Mancorad presently has 3 VE‘s.

  Dan (N9NCU) gave an update on Manitowoc County ARES/RACES activities. 

• The Lakeshore Technical College training EOC building construction is nearly complete.  Fred, John and Travis from Manitowoc and Mike (K9SJ) from Sheboygan ARES/RACES will be at LTC this week again to do some antenna erecting work and begin assembly of the polyphaser and coax cable switch backboard.   There will be a work party required to support the installation of the ham radio equipment, including soldering of many N and UHF connectors. 
• The Kewaunee Power Plant new Emergency Operations Facility and Joint Public Information Center is complete in the Green Bay I43 industrial park. Dan routed around photos to the group. There are 2 punch list items for Spring; shortening of the antenna coaxial cable to the polyphaser, and Yagi beam orientation alignment.
• The WI Section Hospital Bio-terrorism amateur radio support communications initiative continues.  Dan has met with Holy Family hospital and the Aurora Hospital to establish the basis for memorandums of agreement with ARES. The final phase will be installation of antenna, feed line, grounding and power supplies at both hospitals.  Permanent 2M FM transceivers may be provided through ARES/RACES (see bottom item below).
• The ARES/RACES roster and list of event dates for 2006 will be distributed shortly after the 1^st of the year.  8 ARES/RACES 2005 roster members will not be carried over into 2006 due to not being able to participate at the minimum activity expectation level.
• Finally, there was discussion about the recent receipt of grant moneys from the Chuck Scholten Foundation and also the Manitowoc EM. A working group has been formed to determine how to best expend these moneys for improved emergency amateur radio communications in Manitowoc County. 

Steve will e-mail Fred a list of date (s) that he will be available to conduct an introductory digital communications class at the Mancorad club shack

  Future meeting topics suggested at this meeting were severe weather, contesting, wire antennas, grounding and Plumb method DX QSL’ing. Fred will forward these on to Denise (N4WGK) who was not present at the meeting.

  Dan will check with the Two Rivers Park District and reserve either 9/16/06 (preferred) or 9/23/06 at Neshotah Park for the 2006 family picnic.

  After discussion about making  a Mancorad Silent Key plaque, Dick agreed to check out the pricing of same and report back at the January, 2006, meeting.

  Steve is working on setting up both the W9DK and N9BQV (Cobia submarine) call signs on eQSL.

  Weekly Sunday morning (10:00 a.m.) nets need to have more Net Control Station volunteers; anybody can do this, and a standard net script is available for reference.  This net is not a directed net, and should be used for weekly socializing. Step up to bat!!!

  The monthly 50/50 raffle was conducted.  $27.50 was collected, and the winner of the drawing was Mary (KB9GOY). The treasury will increase by $13.75 due to tonight’s raffle.  Carl brought in complimentary ICOM logo hats and t-shirts to also raffle off also.  Hats were won by Walt, Winston (KC9FVR) and Mary; t-shirts were won by Dan and Fred.

  The meeting was adjourned at 2058 CDT.

  Lunch was served; thanks to Gene and Theresa for again bringing in the treats!!! Fellowship and socializing broke out spontaneously.

Respectfully submitted,

Dan (N9NCU), Secretary

Meeting Attendance (18):

  Winston (KC9FVR)    Fred (W6BSF)            Theresa (KB9KXE)     Gene (KB9KXF)

Dan (N9NCU)           Chris (KB9VLS)           Travis (KB9YRC)       TJ (KC9HYD)

Ken (K9HAG)            Mary (KB9GOY)          Dick (N9QFY)           N9FVZ (Dan)

Walt (K9WL)             Bob (KC9HBA)            Carl (KA9WYK)        Bob (KB9INK)

Steve (KB9GPN)        Mike (guest)