HCRA Board of Directors Meeting
January 7th, 2014
Location: West Springfield, MA. The meeting was called to order at 7:16PM
Present: KK1W, KB1NWH, AA1YW, K1YO, N1FJ, N1KXR
OFFICER REPORTS
Vice President – KB1NWH
Finished helping Dan/KB1VWQ with his tower project. Also helped Bob/K1YO and Eric/W1MOR with tower/antenna installations
Treasurer – AA1YW
Current financial report: $8410.03
Status of WRTC Sales: $4875.00 sold to date
Status of FT857 raffle: 112 tickets sold to date
Secretary – Open – KK1W will take notes
Ed is handling USPS PO Box pickup. All mail is up to date
DIRECTOR REPORTS
Technical – K1YO
January’s “Tech Corner” about mobile installations was well received. There won’t be a Tech Corner in March because of Show & Tell. Bob is considering many topics for future presentations including SWR, Test Equipment and Yagi theory.
Zero Beat, N1FJ
Discussion about a better (less time consuming) method to handle USPS distribution of Zero Beat. Discussion focused on finding a service that can take the electronic version and mailing list, then print and mail. Frandy will investigate possible vendors to provide the service. Motion made, seconded and approved to allow a $25/month maximum budget.
Membership – N1KXR
Current Membership: 71 Regular, 9 Family, 3 Life and 4 Prospects
Members joining after March 1 will have an expiration date of 8/31/2015
Membership has dropped about 10% from last year. Rich will be using database queries to generate a list of 2013 members that haven’t renewed and will contact them directly
Rich gave a short report of the January 4th ARRL Cabinet meeting.
At Large – Not present
Technician, General and Extra classes are on track. The first class is scheduled for January 13th. HMC and Mercy have also been contacted about the schedule and the hope is they have interested personnel.
Program – W1MSW – Not present
January: Fred/K1VR presentation was well received. The audience learned a lot and posed many questions.
February: Fred/AB1OC on Dxpedition to Bora Bora
March: Show & Tell
April: – OPEN
May: Chuck/ARRL on the ARRL’s “Intruder Watch” program
June: Field Day planning, N1MM workshop, elections
OLD BUSINESS
The HCRA/MTARA 2013 Holiday Party was successful. The total cost to HCRA for the party, after ticket sales and MTARA’s portion was $786.08 ($15.72/person). All monies have been received and bills paid. We have reserved the Steaming Tender for December 8th, 2014.
The ‘cloud database’ project is nearing completion according to Jeff/NT1K. Estimated completion: 30 to 60 days.
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NEW BUSINESS
Request from John/Kx1x for funding of Venture Crew 510 (Crew DX) of $67. Motion made and approved unanimously.
We are still searching for an interim Secretary. Jim/KK1W will contact a few candidates over the next month.
According to Matt/W1MSW Show & Tell planning is done and promotion will begin near the end of January.
Ed has approached the Agawam Park & Rec department to reserve School Street Park for Field Day 2014 Ed is also putting out media announcements for the event.
There is still some confusion over PayPal accounting. Jim/KK1W and Dave/AA1YW will get this resolved.
There was much discussion over the future makeup of the board of directors. With the announcement of KK1W’s retirement and the possibility of a few other long time board members departing in June there is concern over the future of HCRA. K1YO made some suggestions pertaining to BOD planning and KK1W will work on getting the word out to our members. The board encourages all our members to consider volunteering to insure the future health of HCRA.
2013/2014 Board Meeting Dates
March 11th
May 6th
June 10th
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM
Respectfully submitted by Jim Mullen/KK1W