Taos ARC On-Air Meeting Minutes

2/10/2021

President Mike K called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM

Check ins: 15+

Business:

Mike told us we have several new people who are working on studies and will soon become members. Shout-out to Zac Helmberger and Greg from Carson. Good luck on your studies! Welcome Hal Marshall (KI5LWE).

Treasurer’s Report:

We have $2,980.40 in the bank. REMINDER: 2021 dues are due. So do take a minute and do your duty. Jump on PayPal (preferred) and sent us some digital clams.

New Business:

April 10, 2021 is the date. TARC is sponsoring the New Mexico QSO party. This is an ARRL sanctioned event. We will be trying to make contacts in all 50 states. Greg Medina asked if we could work the party at the EOC. Mike thinks that is a good possibility and we have a few members who are willing to work our rig. Email us (taosarc@live.com) with your interest and preferred approximate time and he will try to plan a sharing schedule for our HF rig, optimally pairing seasoned operators with less experienced members, with consideration to current COVID restrictions. .

We now have 8 or 9 members with digital radios. With continued interest, we may do a digital net. Wayne, among others is interested in digital although Picuris seems to shut down periodically in cloudy weather. We may want to explore moving to our own spot at Picuris and getting more battery power to carry us through inclement weather. We only need to move the 220 and digital repeater about 50”. More info on this as weather improves.

Matthew Conlan (KI5MVL) has completed all his studies and testing online. He used Hamstudy.org (free) for study and W5YI for testing ($14 per test). He explained the testing procedure and camera requirements etc. With all VE’s on Zoom, he said the process was simple and painless. Congrats Matthew!.

Old Business:

Tim Henson told us he is ready to submit his grant proposal to LANL for STEM education at Taos High School. LANL has about $2.5 million in grant money for 7 New Mexico counties. We are seeking $5,000 for our program. At this funding level, we might have a $700-$900 short-fall, but we should be able to make that up out of our general funds. Tim is targeting 2/17/2021 or thereabout for submission.

Brian W made a motion to adjourn, 2nd by Greg M and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 6:24PM.