December 3rd, 2013 General Meeting - Minutes

1. Meeting held at the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to order at 19:30. Chaired by Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Introductions completed. 39 members and 1 guest in attendance
   
3. Nick announced that former member Frank Storiman VE3PVJ had passed away
   
4. EMCOMM Update – Russell VE3WTR
   
   • Frequency list has been updated. All EMCOMM members are asked to update their radios
5. Repeater report – Steve VE3EZ
   
   • VE3YRA club repeater was relocated Friday Nov 22 to a new regional site. As a result, the coverage footprint has shifted to the East
     
   • Expect to be given the opportunity (subject to commercial agreement) to relocate back to the original site once renovations are completed
6. Hamfest – Geoff VA3GS
   
   • Geoff is looking for volunteers to store coffee pots from hamfest
7. Financial Update – John VA3JI
   
   • John reported on the current financial status (refer to treasurer’s report)
     
   • John reported on an analysis of the Hamfest income (refer to Hamfest Analysis 2013)
8. November General Meeting Minutes - Motion by Brad VE3HII to approve November meeting minutes seconded by Doug VE3VS. Motion carried.
   
9. Other business
   
   • Bob VE3WY reported that Rob Smith is at the Alexander Muir retirement home and would appreciate visitors
     
   • Doug VE3VS reported making CW, RTTY, and SSB contacts as far south as Chile on 10m, 12m, 15m and 17m. He found bands were open to the north and south.
10. Meeting adjourned at 21:00 following the break and Christmas Social
    

Welcome to the Splatter

Welcome to "The Splatter" on-line! The Splatter has been the mostly-monthly publication of the York Region Amateur Radio Club, Inc (YRARC) and the earliest known edition was published in January 1973, although the club was founded in 1959. The Splatter contains announcements and news of club activities, minutes of club meetings, and articles of interest to club members and other amateurs. Our club also has an official web site.

The Splatter ceased print publication several years ago while retaining its newsletter format. On December 17th I presented a proposal to the board that in January 2014 that the newsletter be retired and be replaced by this blog. The blog will be at least as easy to access as the newsletter but new information like meeting minutes will not necessarily have to wait until the end of the month to become available. Blogs also encourage interaction, networking, and work well with social media.

Speaking of interaction comments on the blog will be moderated. It should go without saying that all comments should be civil and constructive but the main purpose of moderation is to keep out spam. Most blogs have many more spam messages than real comments. With this in mind I encourage members, other amateurs and anyone interested in the club or amateur radio to comment on posted articles and to submit articles for publication. To use a radio analogy I hope we will be turning the squelch down on our communications.

It will take some time to figure out what information should be posted on our Yahoo Group vs. our web site vs. this blog. In many cases we'll need to use more than one method for the same item. Please feel free to provide feedback and advice if you think something can be done better.

I hope you like the new format and welcome to the 21st century!

73,

Chris, VE3NRT
President