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NPARC Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

 December 8, 2005

Present were the 2006 Officers-elect: President K2AL, Vice President KB2FCV, Secretary-Treasurer KC2RLM & Activities Manager WA2DKJ
 

  • 1. How are We Doing?

    The Committee first discussed whether or not the club was fulfilling its purpose. Were we successful in attracting and retaining members? Were we offering topics and activities that are in tune with present day amateur radio? It was the sense of the committee that the diversity of club programs and special events has made us a generally successful club. Club members are invited to comment on this.

    In particular, we feel we have benefited greatly from the initiatives of outgoing Treasurer, Barry Cohen K2JV, who has been the driving force behind several public activities that demonstrate the vitality of the club, among them, the Salt Brook School Club and ISS Contact Project; the school summer camp ham demonstrations; the Liberty Science Center demonstration; the upcoming Technician level licensing classes targeted at grade-school students; and outreach activities to local emergency response officials.

    To help make sure we attract and retain members, te Committee further resolved to greet all quests and inquirers at club meetings and make them feel welcome. We will ask all club members to help with this goal. (We may try to designate someone to serve as the official club greeter). We also may attempt a poll of the membership by email to ask what the club is doing right (and wrong) and what programs and activities they would like to see .
     
  • 2. Meeting Programs
     
    • January: WA2DKJ, KB2FCV and perhaps other club members will present a program on regenerative receivers. The program will be a good introduction for the regen receiver kits that many club members have said they would like to build at project meetings on the fourth Mondays this winter.
       
    • Other potential topics for the following months are:
      • Transmission lines
      • Radio direction finding
      • The upcoming ISS school contact (Spring)
      • History of the club
      • Logging Programs (might be a good pre-Field Day subject)
      • Antenna short takes: K0LBYs FM antenna conversion, W2ZKEs loop antenna, and one other (WA2DKJ may have something if no one else in the club does) (Note: This became the Feb. 2006 program)
      • Software Defined Radios
      • CQ Magazine speaker
      • Power Night: power supplies, generators, and 12 volt connectors
      • Cell Phone Technology
      • FM: what is it; measuring deviation
         
    • WA2DKJ, with help from the committee, will work on lining up presenters. The committee is also interested in hearing topic ideas from club members. If they can speak on the topic themselves, so much the better!
       
  • 3. Special Event Schedule for 2006 - will roughly parallel that of 2005:
     
    • We will set up a January Kids Day station in Berkeley Heights on January 8th, but because of low turnout on past Kids Days, we will re-evaluate in the Spring whether we will host a station for the June Kids Day and beyond.
       
    • We will hold the Tech licensing class for students on Tuesday afternoons in January, February, and March. We hope members who are available at that time of day will volunteer to help instruct. Contact K2JV
       
    • We will support the Salt Brook School Statics club, especially as the club approaches its actual ISS contact, tentatively set for April 2006.
       
    • The NPARC auction is tentatively scheduled for Friday April 7th.(Since confirmed.) KC2RLM will initiate ARRL and online publicity as soon as the date is fixed.In the coming months, we will ask for club members to work on an auction committee. One issue to be resolved is the need for a portable Public Address system for the auctioneer (Addendum: W2YEZ has a solution for this.)
       
    • Several members are planning to go to the Dayton Hamfest in May and have already reserved their hotel rooms (including K2JV, KB2FCV, K2AL). Other members wishing to join that group for travel or accommodations are urged to contact them as soon as possible.
       
    • The club will again march in the New Providence Memorial Day parade, if we can get enough volunteers to make a good showing. We have a new club banner that can be used for that purpose. Regardless, we will also provide radio communication services for parade officials.
       
    • We will again be participating in Field Day on the last weekend in June. In the Spring, we will ask for volunteers for a Field Day Planning Committee. One issue for the committee is a concern about adequately staffing two separate stations (regular and Class F).
       
    • If asked, we will setup radio stations for the Berkeley Heights and New Providence summer recreation camps.
       
    • We will continue to hold our Holiday Luncheon in December. "When" and "where" will be decided in the Fall. OConnors is closing, so it cant be there.
       
    • We will explore setting up one Field Trip. WA2DKJ suggested a visit to the historical Armstrong tower in Alpine NJ, perhaps in the late Spring or early Fall when the weather is nice.


       
  • 4. Administrative Items
     
    • Spark Gaps We need to find a volunteer to be the newsletter publisher. The committee felt it was important to continue sending out a regular notice of club activities. At minimum, that could be a short and simple email, although it is desirable to retain the professional look the newsletter now has.
       
    • Publicity We could use a volunteer to handle publicity for the club. That would include taking or getting pictures and writing press releases, particularly for special events, such as the lead-up to the ISS contact. For that event we hope to have significant news coverage, as well as visits by local, and perhaps, state dignitaries.
       
    • Membership and Dues WB2EDO has kindly volunteered to handle Membership for 2006. That includes dues notices and follow-ups; maintaining the roster (and email addresses!); and having membership info available at club meetings for any guests or inquirers. The 2006 dues notice will go out shortly. There will be an option for members to pay their 2007 dues at the same time. This would save both the member and the Membership coordinator some effort next year. Pre-payment of dues will not, however, be discounted (we need the money).
       
    • Email Reflector KC2RLM will again invite and encourage members who are not yet participating in the reflector to join. The reflector is a simple way for club officers to send out notices without having to obtain the latest list of email addresses.
       
    • KC2RLM also asked for and received permission to send a donation of $25.00 in 2006 to QTH.net which hosts the reflector.
       
    • Website KC2RLM asked for and got permission to renew the contract with ISQ Solutions to host the club website for $72 a year (payable in May). Previously, the site was hosted on QSL.Net at no charge, but QSL service had been poor (no service, slow service). Also, KC2RLM reiterated that he remains ready to cede webmaster responsibilities to any member who would like to try a hand at it.
       
    • Constitution and Bylaws Some aspects of the Clubs Constitution and Bylaws may be out of synch with current club practices. The Exec. Committee will review those documents and discuss this concern at the next Executive Committee meeting.
       

The Next Committee meeting is targeted for early Spring.
 


Submitted by KC2RLM
2006 Secretary/Treasurer


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