SARA MEETING MINUTES - November 8, 2006 (approved January 10, 2006)
Call to Order: The meeting was called
to order at 7:30 PM in the SEC clubhouse by President Vern Leavitt. A quorum was
present. One new (or returning old) member in attendance was Glen Jones N5XDG,
whose son just got his Technician license at the Hamfest.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as
posted.
Treasurer’s report: As of October 3, the bank account had
$2267.23, and as of November 3, the checkbook balance was $3126.36 (bank
statement not available). In both cases $280.08 is TARA's. The Hamfest netted
$596. Expenses incurred in getting the 501(c)(3) totaled $1194.61. Details are
available from the Treasurer or the Secretary.
ARES/LEPC report: Alison Patrick, consulting for writing the Emergency
Operations Plan, is on board; she will be in Socorro the week of the 27th.
Weather radios:
FEMA is providing weather alert radios for all of the schools in the
country, although not all of them can receive a useable signal from any
Weather Service transmitter, as is the case with at least a quarter of the
800 or so schools in New Mexico. So the Weather Service will be storing the
radios designated for those schools, until such time as they can actually
become useful.
The Weather Service needs more transmitters to cover New Mexico
adequately, thus this is not just a local problem; also they have no budget
to install nor to operate any new facilities. Jon Spargo is looking for
current info on requirements for new installations; what we have is five
years old. Possible funding sources for a new transmitter here might include
the BNSF Foundation; the additional coverage would benefit the railroad as
well as the populace at large. One possible hitch has arisen as the idea of
putting up the new transmitter on M Mountain, which is a power limit of 30
watts for all new installations. Weather radio transmitters generally come
in two sizes, 300 and 1000.
Hamfest reports and discussion:
We apparently need a four-week lead time for mailing flyers; this year a
lot of people got theirs in the mail just after the Hamfest. Ticket prices
were again discussed; raising the price of the drawing tickets would seem to
make sense, given the increases in costs. The question was not resolved.
Kalman thanked the members of the VE team, Al & Sandy Braun, Seth
Price, Jim Harrison, and Luis Aguilar. He reported that 15 people took
exams, and that one failed.
Ed Wood estimated the attendance at 440 people.
We sent out 3767 flyers for $989 in postage. Dave Johnson suggested that
we add Springerville and Show Low next year.
It was noted that the Chamber of Commerce billed the City for
"planning assistance".
Further ARES: Glenn Mauger presented his ideas for equipment to be
requested as part of the $500,000 appropriation by the State of New Mexico for a
backbone network. There was lively discussion.
December Meeting: The December Christmas party/meeting will be
on the 13th, the normal meeting night, at Vern Leavitt's place on Route 408, by
the BNSF tracks.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9 PM.
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Submitted by Eric Bear Albrecht, W5VZB, Secretary
