[FPARC] MINUTES OF JANUARY MEETING

[kd4spw at aol.com]

      FORT PIERCE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB - MINUTES -  1/13/2010
 
      The regular monthly meeting of the Fort Pierce Amateur Radio Club was chaired by President, Art Lindell, W4ZEF.  Attendance was 18, all members.
 
      MINUTES: The minutes of the November meeting, after correction, and Treasurer Carl, KF4KCI’s reports for December and January were approved, after motion by Roger, K4RS. The motion was seconded by John, W8RAT, and it passed.
            
      Carl, KF4KCI, said that the new PNC Bank owner’s have made some checking account changes. He suggested that the FPARC still require 2 club officer signatures on all club checks. Carl made a motion for same. Steve, N4SGL, seconded the motion and it passed.
 
      ELECTIONS: President Art, W4ZEF, re-opened nominations for club officers. He said that so far, the only nominations have been for the present office holders. He asked for additional nominations from the floor. There were none. He asked for a show of hands to accept the slate of present officers for re-election, for a term of one year, until next January. It passed.
 
      HAMFEST: We can’t use the Public Safety Training Complex again for our Hamfest. We will be back in the KSU cafeteria. Re-modeling has changed the KSU some and the upper lounge area doesn’t exist anymore. 
 
      FIELD DAY: Joe, KD4BTD, said that there is no answer yet about holding Field Day at the back of the Public Safety Training Complex. He said that he has reserved the Baseball Field parking area as a back-up.
 
      IRSC DONATIONS: Art, W4ZEF, told about he and Carl, KF4KCI, presenting the club donations of $250 to WQCS and $250 to the President’s Scholarship Fund to Dr. Massey. Art said Dr. Massey said that IRSC is glad to offer support to our club, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the College activities.
 
      Art, W4ZEF, started a discussion about raising club dues to $25. He suggested that the extra $5 dollars be set aside for donation to IRSC. He said this will help insure we have funds to donate to the College. Art mentioned all the benefit our club gets from IRSC, including tower space, meeting space, Hamfest and Field Day locations and support from Joe, KD4BTD. Kevin, W4KKW, suggested the new dues amount start for year 2011, since we have already been collecting dues for this year. Art asked that everyone please give an extra donation this year for IRSC. Steve, N4SGL, made the motion to raise dues starting with membership year 2011, to $25, of which $5 will be donated to IRSC. John, W8RAT, seconded the motion and it passed.
 
      We discussed the NWS SKYWARN TRAINING session held at the new SLC EOC in November.
 
      Art, W4ZEF, asked Ted, W4ZE, to tell about the ARRL SET that took place in December. Ted did and said that the event exposed some issues that need work.
 
      Art, W4ZEF, said the Club Social in December was great. He said that Carl, KF4KCI, and Betty were great hosts. He said he was surprised that more members didn’t attend.
 
      FIELD DAY: President Art, W4ZEF, said that by next meeting he would like 2 volunteers for Field Day Co-Chairmen. Carl, KF4KCI, said that he needs someone to commit as full time cooking help this year for Field Day. He said this will include shopping, menus, cooking, and cleaning, etc. 
 
      HAMFEST: Art, W4ZEF, started a big Hamfest discussion. He said that we need someone to step up and commit to running the Hamfest. He said that he and Jenny, K4ZEF, will not be in the area too much longer, as Jenny will be retiring at some point. He also said that our biggest need is to line up vendors in advance. He also said that not having someone committed to attracting commercial vendors has been a big issue for our club for awhile. He said that committed vendors each year would bring more profit. John, W8RAT, said that he has been telling vendors about our Hamfest and will continue. Pete, KD4SPW, said that we may continue to have trouble filling tables with commercial vendors. He said that we just need the tables full of sellers, commercial or otherwise. He suggested giving free tables to all clubs. Kevin, W4KKW, suggested that tables be free to anyone, first come, first served. He said they would have to still buy an admission ticket. Pete said that we might still charge a fee for those wanting electricity at a table. Art said it would be helpful to have a break-down of ticket sales versus table sales. He said that we would have to make up the profit difference some way, and said that this is our only means of raising funds for the year. Pete said it would be difficult to coordinate free tables, as some hams might reserve many tables and may not show or may end up not needing so many. And some reserve tables for their friends. Ted, W4ZE, suggested that only the first table be free. We discussed giving tables to larger organizations, such as AMSAT, NWS, SKYWARN, etc. Art said he doesn't feel that the table price is a deterrent that keeps people from getting tables. He said that we charge less than anyone else. He said he thinks the problem is that we are not promoting our Hamfest to vendors. Art said we need someone to approach the commercial vendors. Many agreed that free tables for clubs might be a good idea. Carl, KF4KCI, suggested that we leave everything the same again for this year. Steve, N4SGL, said that if he goes to the Huntsville Hamfest he will collect vendor info. Art reminded us that vendors can stay overnight Friday in the parking lot. That might be an incentive to vendors to be able to set up Friday night and stay in their RV’s Friday night. 
      We also discussed some changes, such as better and more signs, sending members to other club meetings, getting e-mail lists, etc.
 
      V.E. TEST SESSION: Art, W4ZEF, said that we need more members to upgrade to extra class and become V.E. Examiners so that they can help with the test sessions, including at the Hamfest.
 
      We discussed having live Skype sessions during our club meetings for Dock and others.
 
      ATTENDANCE:        KD4SPW, W4RPE, W4ZEF, K1TS, K4RS, W4ZE, N4SGL,      KA9COD, KA2ELX, KI4RXQ, WB4NOZ, KD4BTD, W4KKW, KF4KCI, W8RAT, K4LOL, KD4BTG, KCØKAC.
 
                              Submitted by Secretary Peter Amar, KD4SPW.