Call to order
A meeting of Bay Area Amateur Radio Club was held on February 9th, 2023, at the Salvation Army building, Bay City, MI. Board members in attendance: president Steve Covieo (ke8nko), vice president Loren Curtis (kf8f), and secretary Bill Baylis (ke8nkn). The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
Reports
Treasurer’s report: A motion was made to accept the treasurer’s report into record. The motion was seconded, and approved.
Secretary’s report: notes from January’s meeting were read into record. A motion was made to accept these notes. The motion was seconded, and passed.
Old Business
President discussed the current status of the 145.310 repeater. Due to equipment age and weather related issues the repeater has become unusable for normal amateur radio use. Cost factors have made it difficult to maintain.
During January’s meeting Central Michigan Emergency network (C.M.E.N.) representative Jeff kb8swr stated their organization would be interested in bringing the 31 back to an operational status, with the primary goal of keeping it a district 3 asset. Their proposal would involve relinquishing all ownership of the repeater and its equipment. The proposal was tabled at January’s meeting to give the board time to weigh the pros and cons of their offer.
New Business
President spoke about the pending vote to turn ownership of 145.310 repeater to CMEN organization. He stated the board felt it was in the best interest of the club and district to turn the repeater over to CMEN.
Steve made a motion that B.A.A.R.C. turn over all assets and vested interest in 145.310 repeater to CMEN provided the repeater continued to support analog communications. Member Joe (ka8fhw) seconded the motion. CMEN representative and club member Jeff (kb8swr) abstained from voting. Motion passed.
President gave an update to the club’s application for 501(c)(3) status. He stated the club had received a fourth letter from the IRS on January 10th. The letter indicated the club needed to include “adequate purpose and dissolution clauses”. Steve stated these requirements have been added to our clubs By-laws, and a copy of these updates mailed back to the IRS. He further stated a copy of these updates would also have to be sent to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affair (L.A.R.A.).
President stated there has been no further movement on finding a new location for summer Field Day.
President talked about getting the club’s sanction Net back on the air. The Net will begin Tuesday February 21st, at 8pm on 147.360 repeater and will run for one month. At that time a decision will be made either to continue it, or move to an informal format. Steve (ke8nko) will host the 1st Net. The following members have volunteered to be Net controllers: Steve (ke8tsj), Loren (kf8f), Bill (ke8nkn).
President asks members what they would like to see from the club. Members responded with the following suggestions: Elmer’s willing to help members, more club activities (P.O.T.A. & Fox Hunt), kit builds, training for Winlink and other digital modes, establishing a G.M.R.S. Repeater in the near future, equipment resources for member use, involvement in community services like ARES and Satern, guest speakers, providing VEC’s for testing purposes. Most members agreed club activities would be a great way to grow the club membership.
Announcements
Michigan QSO Party will be held on Saturday, April 15th. Additional information can be found on the Mad River Radio Clubs website: www.miqp.org
Skywarn Spotter Training will be available on March 2nd in Midland from 7pm – 8:30pm. Additional information can be found at Midland club website: www.w8kea.org/WP/
For members interested in working with Winlink go to: www.winlink.org and setup an account then download software. See Loren for additional info.
Adjournment
The president made a motion to adjourn, motion was seconded, and motion passed, meeting ended at 8:15 pm. There were 10 members in attendance. There were an additional 3 people who joined the meeting via Zoom.
| William C. Baylis | ||
| Secretary | Date of approval |