Call to order

A meeting of the Bay Area Amateur Radio Club was held on Jan 11th, 2024 at the Salvation Army building, Bay City, MI. Board members in attendance: president Steve Covieo (ke8nko), vice president Loren Curtis (kf8f), Dusty Trisch (k1dlt), and secretary Bill Baylis (ke8nkn). The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Reports

Treasurer’s report: treasure gave financial update.

Secretary’s report: notes from the December meeting were read into record. A motion was made to accept these notes. The motion was seconded, and passed.

Old Business

No old business.

New Business

President asked members for feedback on the club’s Christmas Potluck held at the Salvation Army. Member feedback was good. Members stated they had enjoyed the food, location, and fellowship. Consensus was to hold this year’s Christmas gathering at the same venue.

President reminded members there would be no club meetings for the months of July and August.

The Vice President informed members there would be a Skywarn training session on Thursday March 21st, at 7pm. This training will be held at the Thomas Township Fire Station #1, 355 N Miller Rd. He reminded members to have a valid certificate they must have attending training every two years.

President talked about the decline in membership and suggested sending out a mailer to local Ham operators in the area. He felt that this might generate some interest in the club by potential members attending a meeting. Club member Paul (KC8ELQ) offered to compile a list of Hams in the Bay area.

President updated members on the recent antenna installation on the 145.31. The Central Michigan Emergency Network (CMEN) had a Sinclair antenna installed on 1/6/24. Steve stated it took the installers a number of hours to climb the tower with the new antenna in-tow. Club member Paul stated they had also discovered a damaged connector that will need to be replaced at a later date. He went on to say that CMEN will be linking the 31 to a number of other repeaters, Saginaw, Lansing, and Fenton to name a few.

Vice President, and Emergency Coordinator for the Bay County state the District Three Area would be undergoing a number of changes. There are plans to merge with Saginaw and Midland counties, link repeaters, and a possible name change. Additional information will be forthcoming.

The president said he would be pursuing a guest speaker for one of our monthly meetings, possibly Fred Moses from CMEN.

The president also spoke about setting up a class on programing DMR radios.

Club Member Jon Dee (KC8USU) spoke on the following topics:

Stated he was working on getting the Salvation Army’s canteen trailer operational for Field Day.
Spoke about the need to get more member involvement for Field Day. He suggested the club advertise through Facebook, radio spots, mailing fliers to local Hams, and posters.
He suggested the club use their 501c (3) stats for mailing fliers for the coming presentation Steve is working on. Steve stated he would work on getting local radio/TV stations to advertise Field Day.
Jon suggested a club member could be an Informational officer, coordinating information to the public.

Dusty suggested members gather for a coffee hour on the 4th week of month. Our first gathering will be on Wednesday the 24th at 9am location to be determined. Information will be posted on the clubs website.

The Vice President asked what members will be running a station at this year’s Field Day. The following members committed to setting a station: George (ke8tsl), Gary (wb8icu), Rob (kc8sdl), Loren (kf8f), Dusty (k1dlt), Bill (ke8nkn), Steve (ke8tsj). Paul (kc8elq) volunteered to be technical support.

The Vice President asked if the Salvation Army would be holding the Kettle Kruse this year. Jon Dee stated he would get information and share with the club.

Presentations

None.

Announcements

None.

Adjournment

Steve (ke8nko) made a motion to end the meeting, and Paul (kc8telq) second the motion. Motion passed and the meeting ended at 8:21pm. There were 11 members and 1 guest in attendance.