Saratoga Amateur Radio Association » Meeting Minutes 2020/03/04

Minutes for the SARA Meeting on March 4, 2020

Attendees:

(19:30) Meeting called to order by Peter Melhus

Introduction of all members

(19:37) Guest speaker: Mike Flowers

(20:28) Officer Reports

Vice President (Peter Melhus)
- April meeting
  - Emergency communications
  - County Credentialing (Level 4 sign-off)
  - Groups.io
Secretary (Jeff Walker)
- Minutes just published a few days ago
- PayPal integration is ongoing
Treasurers report (Don Steinbach)
- Solvent
- ~ $6,000 in the bank
- $108 outbound for P. O. Box rental
- 49 members
Other:
- Packet issue at the EOC
  - Likely lithium battery (internal to the Kantronics TNC)

(20:35) Other business:

Paul commented that the anniversary party was great
Peter indicated that SARA badges are available. Need to contact Jeff with your request
Discussion of the last quarterly drill:
- Marriage of CERT & ARES/RACES worked well
- Generated ‘real-world’ traffic and locations to operate from
Somewhat ‘off-topic’ items:
- Meeting attendance
  - In the past, meeting attendance was in the 6-8 members range
  - Now, 12 to 16 members present
  - A fair amount of club growth is from CERT
  - Could have the impact of driving off non-emergency communications types or HF operators
  - We, as a club, need to maintain a good balance
- A future meeting will have to be a ‘Intro into HF’
- Paul Wesling is involved with scouting and sees some renewed interest in teaching radio communications to the scouting community
- There was a comment that hamtestonline.com is a great site to learn and develop your skills (something lie $20 for two years)

(20:57) Meeting adjourned