SARA MEETING MINUTES - April 11, 2007 (approved
May 9, 2007)
Call to Order:
Meeting was held in the County Annex Building, 198 Neel Avenue, in Socorro, and
called to order at 7:31 PM by President Vern Leavitt.
Welcome to new member Erwin Haynes, KI4TBD.
Announcements:
Bill Brundage reported on the emergency
communications trailer demo by Avaya; it includes its own power source and a
self-aiming satellite system, and can have any desired combination of a cell
phone site, VHF and UHF radio systems, trunked or not, internet access,
etc., etc., for a mere quarter of a million bucks.
Vern Leavitt presented a letter sent to Jon Spargo
from Ralph Clark NM5RC thanking us for helping with the simulated emergency
test on March 17; Bill Brundage checked in (per script) from the EOC.
There will be a VE session on April 28th at 5 PM in
MSEC room 195. (MSEC building is on the Tech campus, on Bullock opposite the
end of Lopezville Road.)
Al Braun read a blurb from Alabama about a hamfest
that is also a computer show, and charges a small fee for admission but kids
under 12 get in free. With so much of ham radio getting computerized and
net-connected, this is good food for thought.
The Cerrllos del Coyote bike race materials (maps
etc.) were passed out to those who will be helping. The events are (1) the
South Baldy hillclimb on Saturday the 22nd, and (2) the actual Cerrllos del
Coyote race on Sunday the 23rd.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes
of the March meeting were read and accepted.
Treasurer’s report: Treasurer's
report for the month through today: Beginning balance was $3652.66, minus one
check to Dave Johnson for the newsletter, $9.36, and plus two $15.00 checks for
dues. The ending balance is $3673.30 of which $280.08 is earmarked for TARA;
SARA's own balance is $3393.22.
Reports and related discussions:
Various parties are encouraging us to get set up
with Telpac (more info is available at http://www.arrl.net) for linking
local packet traffic through the internet to Santa Fe or any arbitrary
destination running the same system.
LEPC report, Paula Riley and Bear Albrecht: Most of
the annexes are ready or nearly so. We need letters from the LEPC to NRAO to
ask for participation by James Sullivan and Dave Finley.
Network connection options were discussed - New
Mexico Tech now has optical fiber connecting to the internet both north and
south of Socorro (Denver and El Paso), and is believed to be putting in an
alternate fiber from the campus to the connection point in town. The EOC has
at present only a single connection, through Qwest DSL.
Old business:
Glenn Mauger reported on the
state of the state backbone network project. Out of the $500,000
appropriated, about $5000 has been spent for modeling software. The rest is
mainly going to be used for repeaters at sites where the state microwave
network appears. Socorro Peak is one such site, and a repeater installation
is likely there.
New Business:
Field Day: The Knothole Gang plans to do it again at
the Datil Well Campground, and we have a new recruit, Erwin KI4TBD. As for
the in-town station, now that we have an Emergency Operation Center we might
wish to operate in that class; this was discussed but no decision made on it
yet.
Hamfest '07 - Socorro City's Convention and Visitors
Bureau reminded us that application for city Lodgers' Tax money is due soon.
Bill Brundage will request last year's amount plus 5 percent for the
imminent postage increase. To justify using Lodgers' Tax funds we need to
demonstrate that people are staying overnight in Socorro; we know that some
do but we need to keep that requirement in mind.
The Mountain Mail and Steppin' Out already have the
hamfest in their calendars.
The next meeting, May 9, will feature election of
officers. Proxies may be dropped off at Radio Shack.
