ATTENTION! We will be meeting at Pfeiffer Springs Park for the next (August 13) club meeting. The park is a few blocks NorthEast of Waterloo Rd and 18th St, in Cedar Falls. (910 Grand Blvd, Cedar Falls) We have the South shelter (#1) reserved, it's right by the restrooms, just off the main parking lot. Plan to arrive around 4:30, with dinner at 5. Please bring something to grill and share. Family and guests are welcome to attend. We'll be holding a brief club meeting as well, with the board meeting postponed to September. Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association (NIRAA/W0MG) Meeting Minutes, July 2022 The July gathering of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur's Association (NIRAA) was called to order at 7:00 PM, Saturday July 9, 2022 by Curt (NK0T). There were 17 members (12 ARRL) and 1 guests in attendance this evening, listed below. MINUTES ------- Adjustments to last month's minutes: Don (KF0EG) suggested adding more detailed information for the next meeting agt the top of the minutes. Dave (KD0DK) had a misspelled name correction. Report accepted with 2 adjustments (N8TWO/N0TKC) TREASURER'S REPORT ------------------ Dave (KD0DK) reports we have $1,090.18 in the savings/repeater fund and $1,723.53 in checking. This includes $20 in dues and a deposit correction. (some funds had been deposited to the wrong account) Report accepted (N0ZYC/KB0VGG) Please contact Dave if you would like to get your dues paid for the year. Our club membership form is also available on our club website at https://www.w0mg.net/ REPEATERS --------- Curt (NK0T): no issues with my repeater. We're considering replacing the existing 94 controller with the one from Ingawanis (it's a dual band and is better suited, could re-establish dual site operation), and install a single band controller at Ingawanis. Chuck (W0ALO): Mine's working Al (KB0VGG): mine still needs about 25ft more height COMMITTEES ---------- Presentation Committee (Curt/NK0T, John/WB0MAR): (no report) OLD BUSINESS ------------ FIELD DAY EVALUATION - the new EMI filters were effective at eliminating interference from the solar controller and laptop chargers - power was not a problem, solar kept things charged although the Northernmost station needed a battery swap - food was excellent as always - some attendees had difficulty finding the shelter once they got to the park, we could use some road signs - there was general agreement that overall attendance was impacted by being located outside of town - site amenities such as flush toilets and refrigerator were appreciated, though maybe a bit too "soft" - we set up several stations spaced apart under portable shelters, which worked well under scattered showers - the GOTA radio got very little use - setting up multiple "satelite" stations had both benefits and drawbacks, we will need to give this concept some additional thought NEW BUSINESS ------------ Dave (K0CQH) is selling his Icom 746 Pro, $600 firm Curt (NK0T): We're looking at doing our next Railroad Depots on the Air at the Vinton Depot in Gilbertville. The depot was converted into a museum / bicycle path stop. Weather was good, and we set up Mark's antenna, Curt's Yaesu 991A, and Stan's battery pack. We got 30+ contacts involving multiple operators and loggers on 20m, although conditions started dropping out as the event was winding down. Next week we'd like to do a depot in Cedar Falls, although the company that owns the building doesn't own the parking lot. (5th & Main) Curt (NK0T): the club's remote station continues to work well although it does need an occasional reset. Reminder, all club members may use the station, just contact Mark (N8TWO) for information and access. Bill (W0GEN): the tree the remote station's antenna goes to is totally dean, it needs to be moved before the tree takes it down. Mark (N8TWO): The next VE test session is Sept 17 at the Waterloo Airport. We might be arranging a training session in a few weeks. Contact Mark at classes@w0mg.net for training and testing information. Taryn (N0TKC): we need to plan a board meeting soon, we need to start the audit plus review the bylaws. Dave (K0CQH) has a program suggestion. With the FCC having changed their CORES registration process, maybe someone could do a presentation on CORES? Tom (AE0TB): the "new system" went online in 2015, the change at this point is that the old system is being taken offline. Tom (AE0TB): Tom Creesey (ham operator, manager at CFU) may be able to do a presentation similar to rocket club, or even a tour of the utilities. Taryn (N0TKC): we need to decide what we're doing for a meeting next month. Wide discussion followed. - maybe lookout park? that location has worked well in the past - lookout lacks AC for crock pots, which will be a problem for a potluck - other options are Island park, Birdsall park, George Wyth? - or we could do lookout and skip the crock pots and just grill everything lookout park was agreed on, bring your own meat to grill and a dish to pass around Nathan (N0ZYC) will get a shelter reserved at club cost (KD0DK/N0TKC) Washington Park will be the backup. We'll do a 4:30 board meeting, club meet at 5, eat at 5:15 Motion to adjourn at 7:36 PM (N0ZYC/N0TKC) There was no presentation tonight in leu of Field Day evaluation Further Field Day evaluation: - Harold picked out a nice location, there was plenty of space and great facilities - we made an effort to get the stations separated to avoid interference - spacing out the stations meant we had quite a few drop cords running around for power, and two of the stations were too far to connect to the main DC / solar grid - the digital station's computer control needed to be battery powered, and that accelerated battery use, requiring a swap for a fresh battery halfway through the event. not really a bad thing, we had the battery to spare. Maybe next time place the digital station close to the main grid? - there was still some interference, we didn't get all the laptop chargers isolated immediately, and the digital station was causing interference with other stations - stations with DC filters didn't experience any noise from laptop chargers or solar controller - we were a bit short on operators for all the satelite stations. Most stations ran with just one operator/ logger the entire event. notes for future: - the keeper of the restroom key needs to stick around and be the last person to leave - if we do satelite stations again we need to hand out radios for communications, we did a lot of running - the location had a very low noise floor, but was in a bit of a "hole", we had an especially difficult time checking in on the net. Hilly areas are problematic, especially with a shelter by the lake. (low point) If we do this site again we should evaluate other shelters for better propagation. - satelite stations may be better powered if we have more than one solar set to split among them. Others should consider getting involved with solar so it's not all on Nathan to provide the solar power. (maybe Nathan can do a presentation on solar?) - we should look into getting a handful of "feather flags" that we can place at intersections leading up to our site, those would have been very helpful in guiding guests at the park intersections leading to our shelter. - a basic "Field Day planning spreadsheet" was shown and discussed. We might use this next year for planning UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS ---------------------- presentation ideas: electronics history, radio bug-out bag, alternate power, solar power, spotting electronics scams, mag-loop antennas, broadband blocking filters Contact Al (KB0VGG) if you'd be interested in giving a presentation. REGULAR EVENTS -------------- - ARES net check-in is at 9pm every Sunday night, on 146.94/34 - Iowa Digital Net runs every Tuesday night at 7pm, 3.5885 MHz USB / 1500 Hz WF (Olivia 8-500) - Iowa 75 Meter Evening Net runs Mon-Sat at 6:00 pm on 3.970 MHz / LSB Also meets at 12:30 pm on same. - Iowa 160 Meter Net runs Sunday night at 9:30 pm on 1.9745 MHz / LSB - DMR checkin 7:30 pm Sunday night on talk group 3119 - Ham Radio Fellowship / Breakfast every Wednesday morning at 9AM at the Wendy's at Love's Travel Stop in Waterloo. (3301 Greyhound Drive) VE TESTING AND TRAINING ----------------------- contact Mark (N8TWO) for current information at classes@w0mg.net UPCOMING HAMFESTS ----------------- (let me know) OTHER EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------ (let me know) W0MG/NIRAA LINKS ---------------- - Club Website: https://www.w0mg.net/ - Membership form: https://www.w0mg.net/contact/membershipform.pdf - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/waterloo.hams/community/ - Cedar Valley area repeaters list: https://www.w0mg.net/repeaters/ - additional club media: https://vftp.net/N0ZYC/W0MG/index.html MEETING ATTENDANCE ------------------ Members: N0ZYC Nathan Fisher NK0T Curt Wilson KB0VGG Al Jones N8TWO Mark Colby KE0IWQ James Fitkin KE0IWP Janice Fitkin WA0QXF Clark Willoughby KD0DK David Kelly WB0MAR John Humpal K0CQH Dave Knittel KF0EGO Don Utley N4HRL Harold Lucas N0TKC Taryn Colby W0VJB Vicki Bicket AE0TB Tom Bicket W0GEN Bill Dedic KF0HRF Richard Marsh Guests: W0ALO Chuck Angel Members wishing to pay club dues (or have paid and are not indicated above) please contact our Treasurer in person at our monthly meeting or by email at treas(a)w0mg.net Officers may be contacted over the air or via email: President: Al Jones (KB0VGG) - pres(a)w0mg.net Vice President: Curt Wilson (NK0T) - vp(a)w0mg.net Secretary: Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) - sec(a)w0mg.net Treasurer: Dave Kelly (KD0DK) - treas(a)w0mg.net Director 2020: Jan Fitkin (KE0IWP) - dir3(a)w0mg.net Director 2021: John Humpal (WB0MAR) - dir1(a)w0mg.net Director 2022: Taryn Colby (N0TKC) - dir2(a)w0mg.net NIRAA meets most months on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 7:00 pm, at the Waterloo Airport, in the old restaurant. Parking is available at no cost in the short-term lot. (3 hr free limit) Our primary club repeater is on 146.94 mhz, negative offset, with a PL tone of 136.5 hz, with coverage centered in Black Hawk County. Many members are also monitoring channel 3119 on DMR. Our club website is at https://www.w0mg.net/ and the club's primary email contact is sec(a)w0mg.net You're receiving these meeting minutes because you have given the NIRAA club your email address for minutes and announcements. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply requesting removal from one or both distribution lists. - Nathan Fisher (N0ZYC) Secretary, W0MG