Minutes - YRARC General Meeting 2017-02-07

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by John VA3JI. Total members and guests attending: 12. (Note: Freezing rain conditions)

1. Welcome & Introductions – John VA3JI
   
2. Adoption of the Minutes from the 2017/01/03 general meeting postponed until March.
   
3. Treasurer’s Report – John VA3JI
   
   • Opening Balance 2017/01/01 [Available to members on request to secretary]
     
   • Income: Membership dues $80.00
     
   • Markham Fair refund $1856.00
     
   • Total: $1936.00
     
   • Expenditures: None
     
   • Closing Balance [Available to members on request to secretary]
     
   • Moved the treasurer's report be adopted, by Barry VA3LLT, seconded GlenVA3AU. Carried
     
4. Membership – Barry VA3LLT. We have 37 regular members, 5 associate members, 17 family members and 9 life members. Total members 68.
   
5. Repeaters – John VA3JI for Steve VE3UT. All repeaters are OK.
   
6. Winter Field Day – John VA3JI for Steve VE3UT. Winter Field Day was held on January 28 and 29 in the parking lot (near the road) at Al's Tack Shop on Vandorf Rd. There were 3 stations with 5 antennae, and we operated as “3O” (3 transmitters Outdoors not in a regular location with generator power). We made 107 QSOs with a submitted score of 6348 which included 4500 bonus points. Charles VA3TTB made his first ever QSOs at WFD.
   
7. EmComm – No report. The February meeting will be cancelled.
   
8. Trailer – Barry VA3LLT. The trailer Hilomast has been temporarily fixed. The top section, which has a crack, has been locked to the second section, to prevent the top section from being extended.
   
9. Examinations – Doug VE3VS. Doug wanted to mention that Terry VA3TYB approached Doug in January, asking to take his basic exam, in which he received 99% (and knew the correct answer to his 1 mistake), then passed his advanced exam a few days later and received 100%.
   
10. Trillium Grant – No report
    
11. Other business
    
    • Question from Mike VA3MCT – Are we able to send emails to members if a meeting is to be cancelled? Answer from John VA3JI – The ability to send emails from the membership database does not currently exist. If requested by the board, John will investigate a means to send bulk emails to members.
      
    • Doug VE3VS has a projector available if needed.
      
    • We will need a new auditor, since Bob Rennie is no longer able to carry on.
      
    • There was no guest speaker. Steve VE3EZ who was scheduled to fill in at the last minute was unable to get to the meeting due to poor road conditions.
      

Minutes - YRARC Board of Directors Meeting 2017-01-17

Meeting held in the Magna Centre, Multi Purpose Room 1. Called to Order at 19:05 by Chris VE3NRT. Board members attending: Chris VE3NRT Pres, Geoff VA3GS, Eric VE3EB, Steve VE3UT, Doug VE3ATP, Rick VA3VO, David VA3DCY Secty. Absent: Barry VA3LLT, John VE3IPS V. Pres. John VA3JI Treasurer. Others attending: None

1. Approval of agenda and declaration of conflict of interest: Chris VE3NRT. Additions: None. Motion to adopt the agenda, moved Eric VE3EB, seconded Geoff VA3GS. Carried.
   
2. Minutes: David VA3DCY. Minutes of the 2016/12/20 meeting to be adopted at the February meeting.
   
3. Treasurer's Report: Geoff VA3GS for John VA3JI.
   
   • Opening Balance 2016/01/01 [Available to members on request to Secretary]
     
   • Income: Dues $80.00
     
   • Refund from Markham Fair $1,856.00
     
   • Total income $1,936.00
     
   • Expenditures: None $0.00
     
   • Closing Balance 2017/01/17 [Available to members on request to Secretary]
     
   • Note: The December statement received and balanced. JI
     
   • Moved by Geoff VA3GS, seconded by Steve VE3UT to adopt the treasurer's report. Carried.
     
4. Meetings: Geoff VA3GS. The speakers planned for the upcoming general meetings are: February - Steve VE3EZ, March - Mike VE3MKX, April - Bob VE3WY and May John VA3KOT.
   
5. Winter Field Day: Steve VE3UT. WFD will have 6 people attending. The proposed budget is $140 for food and $100 for gas. Rick VA3VO's trailer will be used for cooking and there will be 2 trailers for radios. Norma, the owner of Al's Tack Shop, enquired about the club's insurance, since the site may be icy. David VA3DCY will contact the insurance company to provide Norma with proof of our insurance.
   
6. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT
   
   • There have been some recent D-STAR outages, likely caused by a malfunctioning firewall.
     
   • The UPS at the site is being upgraded.
     
7. Trillium Grant Proposal
   
   • Eric VE3EB. Eric is waiting for proposals from EmComm. Steve VE3UT: There are no available pairs available in the GTA for a DMR repeater. We could use the UHF pair from the D-Star repeater. Chris VE3NRT asked is there DMR coverage or adequate coverage in the GTA? It was noted that a used Motorola DMR repeater costs approximately $850 US on E-Bay.
     
   • Should replacement of one or more existing analogue repeaters be included in the Trillium Grant proposal? The existing repeaters are older than 30 years and it is difficult to replace parts. Replacements could include: 2 VHF repeaters, 1 UHF repeater, 3 controllers and switching power supplies. The radios should be commercial frequency agile radios. The priority for replacement is the VE3YRC VHF repeater.
     
   • Chris VE3NRT proposed including a HamWan 'back-bone' data network.
     
   • Eric VE3EB suggested upgrading the club web site.
     
8. D-Rats: Although D-Rats works on D-Star, it can only send files 'point-to-point', ie from one radio to another. Files can not be sent through an intermediate station, ie from radio 1, via 2 to 3.
   

Minutes - YRARC Board of Directors Meeting 2016-12-20

Meeting held in the Magna Centre, Multipurpose Room 1. Called to Order at 19:03 by Chris VE3NRT. Board members attending: Chris VE3NRT Pres, John VA3JI Treasurer, John VE3IPS V. Pres., Geoff VA3GS, Eric VE3EB, Steve VE3UT, Doug VE3ATP, Rick VA3VO, David VA3DCY Secty. Absent: Barry VA3LLT. Others attending: None

1. Approval of agenda and declaration of conflict of interest: Chris VE3NRT
   
   • Additions: 7 Floral motion.
     
   • Motion to adopt the agenda, moved Eric VE3EB, seconded Rick VA3VO. Carried.
     
2. Minutes: David VA3DCY. Moved by Steve VE3UT, seconded by Rick VA3VO to adopt minutes of the Board Meeting. 2016/11/15. Carried.
   
3. Meetings: Geoff VA3GS
   
   • The January general meeting will consist of a short business meeting, with a mini “for sale” table, and following the break there will be 5 minute talks from members.
     
   • The speakers planned for March, April and May are Mike VE3MKX, Bob VE3WY and Cliff VE3KOP.
     
   • We need a February speaker, or the meeting may be devoted to the proposed Trillium grant.
     
4. Treasurer's Report: John VA3JI
   
   • Opening Balance 2016/12/01 [Available to members on request to secretary]
     
   • Income: Dues $25.00
     
   • Expenditures: Flowers for Barry's wife $45.20
     
   • Food for Christmas party $187.71
     
   • Total expenditures: $232.91
     
   • Closing Balance 2016/12/20 [Available to members on request to secretary]
     
   • Moved by Rick VA3VO, seconded by Eric VE3EB to adopt the treasurer's report. Carried.
     
   • John went on to explain why we need to control our expenses so that we do not deplete our bank balance, and also because of the recurring expenses that need to be paid throughout the year, before we receive any income from dues or the hamfest.
     
5. Repeaters: Steve VE3UT
   
   • All repeaters are working well.
     
   • Chris VE3NRT may have time to work on the hardware for the IRLP and Echolink. The software is OK.
     
6. Winter Field Day: Steve VE3UT
   
   • The WFD site is now confirmed – it will be the same site as used for Summer FD at Al's Tack Shop. The dates are January 28 and 29.
     
   • Steve proposed a budget assuming 20 people would attend: Food $350, Propane for cooking and heating $100, Toilet $125 and Gasoline $300.
     
   • Geoff suggested having members indicate at the January meeting if they would attend, and collect food money from each member wanting to attend.
     
   • Moved by Rick VA3VO, seconded by Eric VE3EB that the board postpone approval of any motion to fund WFD until the membership approved of any funding. (There was no motion made to fund WFD following John VA3JI's cautioning about club expenses.)
     
   • Of interest for Summer FD, the property (Al's Tack Shop) has been subdivided and a portion of the property has been sold. This means future SFD station layouts will be different from past years.
     
7. Hammond Museum: John VE3IPS. There are probably no fees for entrance to the museum. Hours are 09:00 to 12:00. April could be a possible time to visit. Car pooling was suggested.
   
8. Trillium Grant Proposal: Eric VE3EB. There may be a new structure for seeking a grant. June is the target date for submitting a proposal. A financial statement may be required in the proposal. We will need letters of support from served agencies. A Yahoo group has been set up to communicate with members of the committee. We need committee members and each will be assigned with a responsibility. he committee will report to the board and membership monthly. Eric is asking for a proposed list of what should be included in the application.
   
9. Floral Motion: John VA3JI. Motion 2016-12-20-7 to approve payment $45.20 for flowers sent to Barry's wife. Moved by Geoff VA3GS, seconded by Eric VE3EB. Carried
   Fox Hunts: John VE3IPS. A winter date will be chosen with possibly 4 events for the year, perhaps once per month, and participation could be opened to other clubs.
   
10. Other business:
    
    • John VA3JI. Will replacing batteries in the existing D-Star radios be a club expense or will it be included in a Trillium grant?
      
    • John VE3IPS would like to get a D-Star radio to be loaned to a new member.