SARA MEETING MINUTES - July 12, 2006 (amended and approved August 9,
2006. See minutes of 8/9/06 for changes)
Call to Order: The meeting was called
to order by President Vern Leavitt at 7:31 PM in the clubhouse.
General Announcements: We have received the letter from the ARRL
informing us that our hamfest will be an officially sanctioned event. Our own
newsletter put out by Dave Johnson has been mailed and was well received. Jon
Spargo announced that there will be a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) in October;
no details available yet. Glenn Mauger was thanked for his help. The New Mexico
State Convention will be the Albuquerque Hamfest, August 25-26.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the previous meeting (June 14) were
accepted.
Treasurer’s report: (Bill Brundage) as of June 4 the bank
account stood at $3895.35 and is currently $3676.38.
Report on Incorporation: No news from Rick Penner.
ARES/LEPC report, Jon Spargo:
Weather alert receiver is installed at 911 dispatch, with the help of a
preamp donated by Paul Choc. We have received two Wednesday test tones
successfully, from the Ruidoso transmitter; Keith Hayes at the Weather
Service would rather we used the Albuquerque signal, but it does not have
useable signal strength at the dispatch center.. Saturday night Jim Oty
heard an alert for Socorro (on Ruidoso). We are ready with PR and will
proceed with publicity as soon as we are notified that Socorro is officially
"on the map" again for alert broadcasts.
ARES: Have only time enough to keep up with sending the monthly logs, and
need someone to take over the position of District Emergency Coordinator
(DEC).
Recently spoke at a Rotary Club meeting about LEPC, ARES, and the trailer;
Rosie Tripp is giving $1500 for a generator. Shopping around, the Honda
sells for $1800 and the Yamaha for $1599; a motion was made to empower Glenn
to get the Yamaha when the check arrives, and that the club will make up the
difference. Motion was seconded and passed.
Discussion on 501(c)(3): the purpose of it is to enable people to make
tax-deductible donations, and the consensus is that we need to prod as
necessary to get the IRS filing done.
Ed Wood asked what is involved with the ARES work; Spargo enumerated the
three committees that he is supposed to be on, in which he has been unable
to participate.
Field Day discussions and actions:
Al Braun reported that the station at Clarke Field, KC5ORO, made 160 CW
and 124 SSB contacts.
Jim Oty reported that the station at Datil Well Campground, W5AQA, made
249 SSB contacts.
A good time was had by all.
Hamfest:
The date is set, we're ARRL sanctioned, and the state ARES coordinator has
scheduled 11 AM for the state ARES meeting.
Transmitter hunt: Last year we didn't have one since nobody entered. There
seems to be some interest by people in and around the Albuquerque RDF club
listserve, though there is a conflict with an Orienteering event.
Prizes: Bill Brundage volunteered to captain that task.
Dinner: Sammy's Deli is on for the Friday evening dinner; they need to be
notified of the time, 7 PM as has been customary.
Coffee: Expense last year seemed a bit higher than we need to be spending
on it. There is one 50-cup coffee urn at the Academy that we can use (per Ed
Wood); it would be good to have another, and a motion was made to spend up
to $50 which would then enable us to have two available, and not have to be
intermittently coffee-less throughout the day.
Donuts: Vern Leavitt has that in order.
VE session: Kalman has that all set up - registration starts at 11, tests
at noon.
Tables: Dave Johnson is to see about getting tables from Tech. There are
plenty of chairs available at the academy.
Flyer and subsidy thereof: Brundage reported that the person to work with
at the town is Debra Dean of the Tourism Bureau. If the city is an
advertiser on the flyer they can go beyond $500. If they are a "Limited
Sponsor" there's more money available, along with various requirements.
Lodgers' Tax money allocation has already been bdfore the Council for this
year. (Noted that the ARRL letter mentions the City as being a cosponsor.)
The application for support by the City takes a new form, with the same
basic parameters and more terminology. Spargo asked if there is insurance
through ARRL. Mauger said that part of the City's budget was a line item for
out postage, though this year it's not explicit. Bill Brundage and Dave
Finley will pursue the matter of mailing funding.
New Business:
Ed Wood: The Annual Fire School is the end of July and the first week of
August. This year it will include CPR classes open to the public, Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. The BNSF Safety Car will be there Monday,
Tuesday, and Friday and there will be HazMat classes, and a HazMat drill on
Thusday. Wednesday is Family Day, includes extinguisher training. We might
want to take the trailer up.
The Treasurer has a receipt for newsletter expenses from Dave Johnson,
There was a motion, seconded and passed, to pay for the monthly mailings;
the current month ran $11.
Brundage: Striders and Riders requests at least four radi operators for
the 2006 Chile Harvest Triathlon, Saturday August 12 7 to 11 AM. They expect
300 entrants. Brundage will coordinate for this event.
Dave Johnson has old newsletters back as far as 2003 scanned in and on the
website (somewhat large files); and he informs us that we should read an
editorial from and old newsletter that he has on the website (http://www.socorroara.org).
Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:38 PM.
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Submitted by Eric Bear Albrecht, W5VZB, Secretary
