February 15, 2024 OPD, 107 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos, NM 87571
Sign in. Meeting began at 6:10 pm
Guest and member introductions, 15 members & guests attending. There were no virtual attendees.
Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes held on 1/10/2024. Motion for approval by Don (K2WQ) and seconded by Tim (W5TNM), vote was unanimous with no objections.
Treasurer's Report. Don (K2WQ) sent out reports prior to the meeting.
Mike (KI6KGC) president's remarks & discussion topics:
a. Tech Fest is Feb 25 in Albuquerque. This is sponsored by Rocky Mountain Ham Radio and is ARRL-sanctioned event. Mike and Tim (W5TNM) have signed up.
b. Mike participated in a 10m contest early in the month and made many contacts on a wide open 10m band.
c. The club has completed its IRS 990 filing and annual ARRL Membership report. Mike indicated that is important to be an ARRL member and TARC club member for ARRL affiliation and liability benefits. Club Dues are due during March.
d. Mike talked at length about Teenage Engineering, an audio/AI company that manufactures “Rabbit R1” an AI appliance. He indicated there must be some ham radio/AI connection that could be exploited. He also indicated that the inventor of the Rabbit R1 is an amateur radio operator.
e. Patrick (KJ5DGO) emailed TARC membership with a problem/observation about grounding. Many members shared suggestions, information, and experiences about this topic. Mike gave a good shout out to all who helped Patrick.
- New Business:
a. Standing - New Member(s) Vote for acceptance. This is part of the bylaws. Possibly change to a “Vote Out” type of membership.
b. Keith (K5FS) informed the club that LANL had accepted our grant. LANL will announce our standing on April 15, 2024. Keith has worked very hard on this.
c. David (KJ5DFQ) presented another STEM opportunity for members of TARC. Every Wednesday between 3 and 3:15pm, Keith lets the students listen to the traffic on the Picuris repeater. It was mentioned that he is able to let the kids talk on the radio as long as he follows the ARRL regs. David also mentioned the annual “Invent-Event” at the Enos Garcia school held on April 13, 2024.
d. Inventory / Asset Tags, Don (K2WQ) and Mike (KI6KGC) are working on ways to track and inventory equipment. They bought the asset tags have started this slow process. Assets are located at OPD, SAM, Holy Cross, Picuris and other places.
Old Business a. Darien (NM5DF) has put TARC on Facebook and Instagram. He is now looking for content and followers.
b. ARES Update – no update. However, with winter ending and the winds starting to blow, it may be good to set up a “Safe Alert”. c. OPD Shack facilities update - no update.There was much discussion during the Repeater Report. The AF repeater works in AF only. I am not sure of the repeaters in TSV and Red River. The Picuris repeater works fine. They may all work but possibly do not connect with each other. John (W5JHW) talked about TSV repeaters and stuff needed at Holy Cross and to be sure that the old “Phone Patch” hardware works. Holy Cross is a very important asset.
MEGALINK and its monthly meeting were discussed in detail. Some links are not working. Gary (W5TAO) tunes in monthly and is only able to reach Megalink via link at Sandia Peak (Albuquerque).
Net Report: UHF Net occurs every 4th Thursday @7pm on the Picuris Repeater. HF Net occurs every 4th Friday @8pm on 7257khz. February Nets have not met yet.
Business Meeting Close. Motion by Tim (W5TNM) and seconded by Don( K2WQ) was unanimous with no objections. Meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm