The meeting was called to order at 19:30
The club officers and board members in attendance were:
- NY4I – Tom (President)
- AB4YI – Carol (Vice President)
- W7WMS – Will (Treasurer)
- K2BHS – Bruce (Secretary/Newsletter Editor)
- N4GD – Dee (Board Member/Repeater Maintenance Manager)
- KR4U – Dave (Club Station W4GAC Trustee)
- KI4UIP – John (Board Member)
All members introduced themselves.
President, Tom, NY4I opened up the floor for any club member to report any significant achievements, awards and other notable accomplishments (e.g.: working rare DX, POTA activations, etc.)
The minutes from the December 2024 meeting were posted on the website and have been approved as distributed, by a majority vote.
Club Treasurer, Will, W7WMS gave the monthly Treasurer’s Report. He reported the balances for the month. <Balances omitted from online minutes – See Treasurer for details>
Currently, the membership numbers (which only accounts for those who have paid their dues for 2025 stands at 66 with 37 of those also being ARRL members. Tom reiterated that no club was ever unaffiliated with the ARRL due to membership numbers.
Secretary/SPARC Gap Editor, Bruce, K2BHS reported that the December 2024 meeting minutes are posted. He reported that the 2024 Year in Review Special Edition of the SPARC Gap Newsletter is still a work in process. He also mentioned that he is always looking for articles and equipment reviews from the membership.
David, KR4U, Club Station – W4GAC Trustee – reported that there is a broken element on the club’s beam antenna. That broken element is the 15-meter element to the beam. The element is showing a high SWR at this time and is slated for repair. He also reported there has been some intermittent repair issues specifically with the imported angle connectors that are being used. The imported connectors were intermittent due to the bad contacts. He suggested that we use higher quality angle connectors. He replaced the imported ones with Amphenol connectors.
Dee, N4GD reported that both the 2-meter and 440 repeaters are working at this time. He further stated that the 220 MHz repeater is still slated for repair, with no projected ETR.
Pat, AAØO gave the VE Report for December 2024. The VE Session on 12/17/2924 yielded one new Technician and one new General.
Paul, KA4IOX – Events/Activities Coordinator, spoke about the ARRL RTTY Roundup from 1/4/25 – 1/5/25. He further stated that the sign-up sheet was now available and that anyone may come.
Ed, NZ1Q gave the Net Manager’s Report for both the 2 meter and 440 nets. The totals for both nets were as follows: Total sessions: 34 sessions, Total check-ins (QNI): 596, Total traffic passed (QTC): 32 messages, Total time (QND): 980 minutes (approximately 16.33 hours)
Ed also stated that Alex, KO4CEE came in 1st & 3rd place with the most check-ins averaging 17-18 check-ins per month.
Tom, W4CU has resigned his board member position. The position is open, and anyone may be nominated to fill that vacancy. There will be nominations/elections for this position at the February 7 meeting.
Club Treasurer, Will, W7WMS in his Membership Report, reported that there are two new members, and both were approved by a majority vote from the membership. Currently the membership stands at 136 members with 74 of them being ARRL members.
Club President, Tom, NY4I briefly discussed a few other items:
- Asked for volunteers to assist with setup/cleanup on meeting nights and then all would leave together.
- After Holiday party is is scheduled for Sunday, 2/23/25 @ 14:00 at Kristina’s. There will be separate tabs, and ordering will be done from their menu.
- He also gave what the upcoming programs would be for the next few meetings.
- February 2025 – Homebrew Night – He further stated that kits will be considered.
- March 2025 – Pat, AAØO will do a presentation on Logging
- Club Shirts – Need six more people to get an order done. The cost of the shirts will be in the low 30’s. The shirts will have the new club logo.
- The club has new brochures. The new brochure will be posted to the website on 1/4/25
This meeting’s program was about Winter Field Day, taking place from 1/25/25 – 1/26/25 at the Clearwater Fire Training Center. Tom, NY4I facilitated that presentation with a Powerpoint presentation and answered any questions from the membership.
The Meeting was adjourned at 21:05
