May 8, 2024 OPD, 107 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos, NM 87571
Potluck started at 5:30. Donovan (K2AH) thanked everybody who contributed to the meal.
Sign in. Meeting began at 6:13 pm
Guest and member introductions, 11 members attended. There was one guest.
Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes held on 4/10/2024. Motion for approval by John (W5JHW) and seconded by Tim (W5TNM), vote was unanimous with no objections.
Treasurer's Report. Don (K2WQ) reported our bank balance of $12489.65 with some of expenses for the month. He also mentioned that there were small donations from members, Kroger, and $900 from a LANL cyber grant. He also indicated that he has created a “Month to Meeting” report which shows current activity. This and other reports are posted in the club. He also thanked the members for donations and membership. Motion for approval by Tim (W5TNM) and seconded by Mike (NM5MK), vote was unanimous with no objections.
Donovan(K2AH) is still acting president and made the president's remarks:
a. No updates for new, full time president, we are still looking!
b. Donovan discussed how Mike (NM5MK) had done some research on Business Cards for TARC. These would be “universal” where our contact information could be put on the back, if desired. Several people mentioned that is an easy way to “spread the word” about the club and that we could do this by having some cards in our vests when we are doing an event for the town. There was a motion to spend around $100.00 for the cards by Donovan (K2AH), approved by Don (K2WQ) and seconded by Tim, vote was unanimous with no objections.
New Business:
a. David (KJ5DFQ) completed and sent in the application for the ARRL training in Connecticut. The club is hopeful and really trying to help David get accepted. He is a great candidate and has much enthusiasm that he shares with his students on a daily basis. ARRL will pay for the training and a motion was made by Don and seconded by Ed to cover $1000- 1500 of the other expenses, vote was unanimous with no objections.
b. Keith (K5FS) gave us the latest on our LANL grant. Unfortunately, we did not receive any money. It appears that this year’s focus on grant award was continuing operations vs projects. The Taos schools did not receive any grant money. Keith put a ton of effort into this LANL grant and he still has some hope securing grants from the Frost Foundation, ARDC, or ARRL. He had some ideas like repeater infrastructure, commonality of components, coherent plan for connection the “Enchanted Circle”, etc. that could be presented to these entities.
c. Donovan mentioned that there is another science fair taking place at Arroyo del Norte Elementary school on 5/15 and 5/17. Tim, Karen (KI5AXU), and Keith plan on attending. They may bring the “Radio in the Box” on Friday, 5/17.
d. There will be a license test on Saturday, June 8 at OPD. We will try to get the news to “Tempo” and “Spark”.
Old Business:
a. Twirl Invent Event, Saturday April 13, 12pm – 4pm. Event was held at Enos Garcia Elementary School. Tim, Donovan, and David (KJ5DFQ) were there. David was there in an official capacity as STEM teacher. Tim and Donovan brought a table and banner and were equipped with 2m radios. About 1100 people attended and most activity was inside.
b. NM QSO Party, Saturday April 13, 8am – 8pm. Gary (W5TAO) and Ed (KF5EIG) manned KF5PFO (OPD Station) transmitters. Gary got one of the HF verticals working and we participated in the contest. We stayed on 20m for the most part and heard a lot of stations and made over 30 QSOs. We tried 10, 15, and 40 but 20m gave us the most success. We also worked 2m. We have forwarded our results to the NM QSO Party organizers.
c. Brian and Tim are working on signs for our shacks on SAM and Picuris. This is a work in progress. Don (K2WQ) is doing research and using his other technical skills to get the “Google Phone” number operational.
d. No update on TARC’s presence on Facebook and Instagram.
e. ARES Update – no update.
f. Field Day, June 22-23: Donovan is working with the Family and Youth Center on securing Kit Carson Park for our Field Day.
The “Enchanted Circle” repeaters, Red River, Angel Fire, HC Hospital, TSV(?) were discussed at length. Ed asked a question about connectivity and there was much discussion about linking/unlinking repeaters, special radios involved etc. Mike (NM5MK) had a lot of knowledge about this. Megalink, the ISS, other amateur satellites, “egg beaters”, and satellite radios were all part of this very good discussion. The feeling was that we should do an “Enchanted Circle” test. Particulars, dates, etc were not determined. Gary (W5TAO) brought up some issues with Megalink connectivity that kind of fit into the repeater discussion.
TARC will be involved in city events on July 3 and 4, 2024.
Net Report: UHF Net occurs every 4th Wednesday @7pm on the Picuris Repeater. HF Net occurs every 4th Friday @8pm on 80M. May Nets have not met yet.
Reminder – Statewide ARES Net – HF 3939, 1st Sunday, 7pm
Business Meeting Close. Motion by Ed (KF5EIG) and seconded by Don (K2WQ), was unanimous with no objections. Meeting adjourned at 7:05 pm