Meeting Held at OPD, 107 Plaza Drive, Taos, NM 87571
Sign in. Meeting begins at 6:00 pm.
Roll call. Members attending announced call sign and first name. 23 members attended, 5 were on zoom.
Approval of prior months minutes, held on April 13th and published on the Taos ARC website on April 22nd, 2022, had a motion for approval by Mickey (N5TSV) and second by Brian (NB5R). Unanimously approved with no objections.
Treasurers report: Wayne (W5GWR) reported on behalf of officer Glen (KF5OSB), that Glen reported to Wayne via phone call, the club balance was $9,167.43. (Glen was not present due to his burdened workload at Kit Carson Electric Coop caused by the wildfires approaching our area.) LANL Grant of $5,000.00 was deposited by Wayne.
a) Bills: Monthly SAM electric +/- 60.00; Taos ARC event vests, 5 medium, 10 large and 5 xl totaling $380.19; Grant response and postage $28.57 and $6.11 respectively; Programming cable $25.41; OPD antenna pole $29.00; Can Crusher $25.25.
b) Deposits for April were $5,620.31.
Presidents remarks.
a) Wildfire response- Town of Taos support was four people with 4 hours, 16 hours public service.
b) Smile Amazon and Smith's signup for .05% Taos ARC contributions was discussed. Instructions on signup were in an email from Tim.
c) ARRL teacher Institute acceptance of Sherri (KI5TLA) to go to Dayton, OH from July 18-22 via LANL grant was announced. Sherri expressed extreme enthusiasm.
d) Grant Roundup.
i) 2021 LANL Foundation grant closeout report was completed 05-01-22, Tim reported.
e) Arroyos del Norte, K-5th grade STEM, Tim and Zac will meet in July around the 1st-5th grade to talk to the kids. Zac talked about a demo on FT8. Tim mentioned they do not know where Ecuador is located.
f) Tim talked about the liability policy due on 06-10-22 which calls for a $200.00 premium annually. Put up for vote, motion by Gabe (WB5CSO) and seconded by Don (KI5OBX). Vote was unanimous.
g) Fiesta support on July 22nd- 24th was brought up by Tim expressing concern about exhausting club members providing radio support. No other comments were said other than ZZ top was the most popular sign up for volunteer members.
New Business.
a) TBA- On agenda, but not addressed.
b) Summer Music signup, Matt (KN8X) is in charge of the signup list and OPD analog will be the channel commonly used for events.
c) Tim announced the installation of two new public service radios at the OPD that are programmed for Taos PD and Taos Fire. These radios are for authorized use only. Brian (NB5R) elaborated on their location in the radio room and which agencies they were programmed. He stated their use was in the event that we got activated for an emergency for those who have been approved. On a side note, Tim said that if Picuris was taken down by fire, OPD analog will be used. Brian talked about tree trimming if given the chance. Tim asked Brian for specific info on repeater equipment for insurance purposes and Brian said he would supply it. Tim announced that insurance on SAM would be addressed when no risk of fire would allow access. Tim called for a $250.00 max insurance policy for both repeaters. Motion by Don and seconded by John (W5JHW). Vote was unanimous.
d) Vests on agenda but not addressed.
e) Tim called for a vote on purchasing roof coating for repeater shack two at SAM in the amount of $200.00. John made the motion. It was seconded by Jane. Vote was unanimous.
f) Tim called for a vote on the following for the LANL 2022 Earmarked STEM grant:
i) Teacher Institute travel to Dayton, OH with a $2,000.00 cap. Motion by Don and second by Gabe. Vote was unanimous.
ii) Amazon Firepads 10", keyboard, 64G, for 5 units totaling $1,300.00 + tax and shipping for use on June 4th testing and THS. Motion by Gabe and seconded by Mickey. Vote was unanimous.
g) Field Day to be held on June 25th-26th was on agenda, but was tables for the next meeting, due to dryness and fire concerns, not knowing what would be open.
Old Business- indirectly discussed, per agenda, but the ARRL test in person June 4, 2022, 10:00 am at OPD.
Repeater Report- not discussed, per agenda
HF Report- Wayne (W5GWR) reported 40 and 80 meters have been ok, but lighting crashes have hampered propagation in isolated sections of the U.S. Solar winds seem calm. Zac reported downed antenna from wind has kept him from HF use.
Tim reported both nets are doing great. (18-Analog, 9-Digital)
Tim announced a reminder of ARES update on 3.919 on the first Sunday. Brian announced that if the Town of Taos requested our services, they would let us know, we would get volunteers and man the radios. Tim spoke of scheduling shifts if needed. Tim announced the keyholders to the shack, which were officers Tim, Greg, Wayne, Glen, Tom, and Mike. Though not officers, Brian and Donovan also have keys based on need of access.
Brian asked if anyone knew what ICS was. With some of the members knowing, he revealed to the rest that it was Incident Command System which is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response providing a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective. He further said it was part of the basic training for ARES. Brian went into detail about using login sheets, etc. He said he would send out info on ARES. Unknown member asked about ARES on SAM. Brian said he obtained a binder to take the repeater from the State Police building and move it to our SAM shack.
Zac chimed in with what he described as an interesting analogy. While in Minnesota, he ran into a friend who invented a way to make antennas 2000 times smaller. It uses high permeability to increase gain, according to Zac.
Wayne reported Echolink, Picuris is still down. Wanye got Brian’s signature on the license and sent it to Mick on a download. No word from Mick, but upon talking to Mike (NM5MK), Wayne reported he was advised to create a whole new Echolink under KF5PFO. Craig (KI5HKU) asked about Field Day.
Other business. Not addressed during meeting.
Notice. Not addressed during meeting.
Adjournment of meeting. Motion by Mickey (N5TSV), seconded by Gabe (WB5CSO). Unanimous approval for closure. Meeting adjourned at 6:38 pm.
Post Business Meeting Show & Tell: Donovan led a discussion on how to use the event DMR’s for training. Mickey showed a device to program a Baofeng radio from your cell phone via Bluetooth. A lot of interest in programming without a PC. Search for: TIDRADIO Ham Radio Wireless Programmer Adapter Phone APP Programming for Baofeng uv-5r No Driver Issues Adapt to Multiple Models 2 Way Radio uv-5r Series Instead of Program Cable 1 Pack on Smile.Amazon at: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B098SM9FVL/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_KMFMJNH3TDKYXCJ4CJRQ