Taos Amateur Radio Club Minutes of the Meeting on 06-08-22 OPD, 107 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos, NM 87571
Sign in. Meeting began at 6:10 pm
Roll Call. 24 members attended, 19 in person and 5 on Zoom.
Approval of Prior Months Minutes held on 05-11-22 and published on 05-20-22.
a) Motion for approval was by Greg (KF5TTO) and seconded by Don (KI5ODX) Minutes were approved unanimously.
Treasurer's Report. In Glen's (KF5OSB) absence, Tim (W5TNM) announced that Glen texted him reporting a bank balance of $11,828.28. Received Frost Foundation Grant check for $3000.00. Received the Civil Air Patrol check for $500.00.
President's Remarks. Tim (W5TNM)
a) Wildfire response by 15 members totaling 128 hours volunteered. "Thank You" certificate was left at OPD by Comms Commander, Brent Harberer and signed by the Incident Commander. Certificate was passed around for all to see. It said thanks for helping at the radio shop.
b) SAM and Picuris equipment to insure was brought up by Tim. Tim stated fire burns uphill and stressed the importance for insurance. Tim called for a motion to approve insurance to the amount of $200.00-$300.00. Brian (NB5R) pointed out that we had three other sites but was tabled by Tim for the meantime. Tim stated we have about $43,000.00 worth of equipment minimum. Tim again called for a vote to insure SAM and Picuris. Motion called for by Brian (NB5R), seconded by Kiri (K7KAH). Motion unanimously approved with no objections.
c) FCC June 4th testing at OPD. Results: 2 generals and 2 Extras tested. Ed (N6RFG), Craig (KI5HKU) passed the General. Donovan (KI5SNX) and Keith (KI5TZD) passed the Extra.
New Business.
a) Deferred as guest speaker, was running late, but expected soon.
b) Summer music signup. Matt (KN8X) has the official list. Tim announced that we have quality vests in. Tim said he ordered on with his call sign for $16.99.
c) Field Day. Tom (KF5RKM) scheduled Field Day for Taos ARC at Kit Carson Park, 8:00-5:00, June 25th. Craig will bring solar equipment, according to Tim. Tim said he will bring his rinky-dink 5-watt solar rig, and the club generator. Tom (KF5RKM) displayed the banner for Field Day. Tom said it was 4'x6'.
d) Bicycle Rodeo. Tim requested 4-5 radio operators on June 12. Tom said he had himself and three other people and it will be held at the town hall. It will be a safety course for the kids and approximately 30 bicycles will be given away, according to Tom. Tim requested one more volunteer for the event. Don (KI5ODX) asked about coordination. Tom said communications will be via OPD analog. Tim mentioned rotating the batteries of the HT’s.
e) TARC is registered for federal grants. Tom (KF5RKM) wanted to let everyone know that the grants for government are now set up with a unique identifier that allows us to go after US Government grants. He said he hasn't had a chance to look too much, but stated many are available. Tim went on to speak about small grants we won to-date where we did not budget a management fee. Tim discussed you can add a management fee for a grant, in advance, with a budget with 7% being low and 20% is high, with 10% being an average allowed to cover grant management.
f) Picuris battery capacity to double. Brian (NB5R) Brian stated that we can't access Picuris due to forest closures. Upon opening, Brian stated he plans to install a second battery and we already have the additional battery in our possession.
g) KF5PFO QSL card update. Cheap QSL cards does only reprints, but updated and printed 200 cards for TARC with the correct new address, email and website.
*) Off agenda. Sheila reported she has a friend needing some antennas removed, and requested help.
7) Old Business.
*) Off Agenda. Dale (KB5NFT) chimed in that he would be in Angel Fire around the 26th-27th and would be working with Matt (KN8X) on July 10th on a radio project. Specifics are unknown.
a) Taos High School Radio Club update- Sherri (KI5TLA) Sherri announced five students are interested.
b) Arroyos del Norte Elementary planned demonstrations, K-5th Grade STEAM (STEM?) June 6th-9th, 2022, 1-3pm, W5TNM and W5ZAC. Tim said we'll see how that goes.
c) Hold on FirePad purchase from 5/11 vote, due to an Amazon policy issue. Tim stated we voted to order 5 FirePad units from Amazon. Apparently, they want to tie a person to the purchase. They wanted an Amazon business account, which Tom has. Amazon refused to sell otherwise.
*) Off agenda. Matt chimed in about Donovan (KI5SNX) doing online testing with him as a VE on (HARC). He suggested Donovan as a second CEV for the club due to Matt's business schedule causing him to be absent at times. Donovan could substitute on those occasions. Matt would like to see more online participation within the club for giving tests. Matt stated it would help get the word out there for Taos ARC worldwide. He further stated testing being done in Italy, Antarctica, etc., and the youngest test taker was eight, passing with a 34 out of 35. Matt called for generals and extras within the club to contact him or Donovan to join the VE team. Matt said Taos ARC can set their own schedule for testing.
d) 20 vests for events arrived, 5-M, 10-L, 5-XL, 13 mesh (W5TNM).
e) OPD shack facilities update. Tim jested the toilet was now fixed. He asked for any other shack needs.
*) Secretary's remarks- Agenda versus segments e) through f) are unaligned with the agenda and will be reported as they occurred without a reference number.Per agenda, Donovan (KI5SNX) for shack updates and Wayne (W5GWR) for new 600 watt amplifier installation, were not recognized, Though they were agenda items.
Mike chimed in about the amplifier that has been on backorder. He announced the frequencies available, but before using it, members would require an orientation on its use. Mike announced that we have seven key holders to the shack as opposed to one (We only had the one key to the EOC). He mentioned Wayne (W5GWR) being just down the street who could allow access. He also suggested that a renovation on the rest of the building would give space to future emergency operations such as Comms Command. Tim suggested a training course on the operation of various radios, one at a time.
Don (KI5ODX) was asked for a wish list for the shack by Tim. Don announced a wish list proposal for tools to add to the shack. Wrenches for fixing the toilet, to electrical tape, to test equipment and said the list is being added to. He specified multiple antenna analyzers as part of the test equipment. other equipment could be considered as money is available and the appropriate test equipment is determined, we could act with purchases at that time. He ended by saying you can't do it unless you have tools. Matt chimed in with talking about CreatePoint, a simcard thing in the event of power failure. Brian said it would be good for a comms trailer. He stated he can have 300 people on it on his own private cellular setup.
f) SAM power supply on worklist as announced by Tim. The electric meter on the repeater shack is still an issue. Tim mentioned that Larry (KG5KYP) will help when the time is right. Tim expressed that he would like to get the meter swap done this year.
g) Fiesta support, July 22nd-24th. Agenda called for Glen (KF5OSB) to speak, but in his absence, Tim is unsure of the Fiesta event happening or not. Regardless he asked members to pace themselves for events to avoid overdoing it.
Tim reported (out of agenda sequence) that the nets are doing good. He thanked Wayne (W5GWR) and George (K5GEO).
ARES update-HF 3.939, 1st Sunday of the month.
a) Brian (NB5R) ARES debrief notes below. Tim specified that we had never had drills before. he welcomed volunteers. Brian then took over comments, saying around 4-23, 128 man hours were provided. He stated Comms (Fire) wanted 12 hour shifts. He said we are unpaid volunteers, so you get what you get. Tim chimed in with talking about 6 hours working well for us. Kiri said that everyone who wants to work with any ICS event should have 100, 200, 700, and 800, FEMA training. She said she would send out a list for information. Brian Chimed in about the forms to be used. Brian gave a brief history in ICS going back to California fires in the ‘70s. he also expressed the need for a unified command system as to many people from different agencies think they're in charge. Brian announced that Kiri would be our ARES assistant emergency district coordinator (AEDC).
Deferred item 6.a) Mitch (KE6CNG) town representative. Mitch arrived and began to speak of summer music events assistance needed from the club for emergency radio communications. Mitch announced that he would be the emergency management coordinator. Discussion was of taking baby steps in learning about emergency procedures. There is a differentiation between the two types of ICS responses. One is an event which is planned, and the other is an incident which is unexpected. By doing events, all will sharpen our skills for when an incident should occur. The importance of knowing our job as the community may not know TARC ARES exist yet, but they will expect performance in an emergency.
Future events requiring TARC volunteer assistance, including the Bicycle Rodeo, ZZ top concert, and more. Discussion went on to give examples of emergencies we may encounter, with examples such as lightning, etc. For the events we will be under security and under the town. We discussed past lightning evacuations. Discussion led to future development of TARC ARES and other emergency entities based upon FEMA, ICS procedures.
Matt chimed in about offering general emergency training. He went into more detail about certification and his history of events. It was a very impressive compilation of his experiences.
Motion to close the meeting was called for by Sherri and seconded by Don.
Meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm.
Repeater report/update. - N5TSV, NB5R, W5JHW. Picuris Echolink UP! KF5PFO. Credits not acknowledged. Not acknowledged during meeting.
HF Report-NM5MK. Not acknowledged during meeting.
Net Report-W5GWR & K5GEO (14 and 8 attended) Tim said nets are doing good and thanked Wayne and George.
ARES update-HF3.939 1st Sunday