MEETING TO ORDER:
President George, WBØCNK, called to order the March 2024 business meeting of the SFTARC at 8:00 AM CST. A total of 27 members attended, 20 joining in person at the Gardner Perkins and 7 joining via Zoom. There was one guest.
SECRETARY-TREASURER REPORT:
Marty, KEØPEZ, reported the current bank balance, the expenditures, and the receipts for the past month. There were no major expenditures.
Membership Chair Jason, KFØISL, reported that the club now has 67 members in good standing, of which 39 are ARRL members.
Jeff moved to accept the financial report of the Secretary-Treasurer. The motion was seconded, and it passed unanimously.
OTHER BUSINESS:
ENSORFEST
Marty gave an update on the 2024 Ensorfest. There will be a variety of vehicles on display, possibly including Corvettes, bluegrass music, food truck, BioBlitz, quilts, 1911 Cushman engine, corn-shelling machine, tree cookies, and other activities. The Ensor farmhouse will be open for tours.
It was moved and seconded for SFTARC to donate $300 to the Olathe Ensor Foundation to be used at the discretion of the OEF Board of Directors to promote Ensorfest 24. The motion passed, with two dissenting votes.
Repeater Update
Jim KØNK reported that after not hearing from Olathe for over 2 months he learned that responsibility for this project had passed to the Fire Department. Perhaps the City is passing a hot potato. However, it may be good to have the FD handling this issue since the repeater would be located at the Fire Station. Jim continues to work on this project.
Tech Night Program
Greg KIØKK will give the March Tech Night program featuring two segments. First he will describe and demonstrate Ham Clock, and he will follow that with a tutorial on navigating the SFTARC website focusing on publishing articles (i.e. Newsletter, Tech Blog and Club Events) on the web site.
Howard NØAZ will present the April program on the Ensor Park and Museum.
All Tech Night programs are held on the last Thursday of the month at 7:30 PM local time. You can always find the link to the Tech Night Zoom meeting under "Links" at the SFTARC website (YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN TO SEE IT!). Please contact any club officer if you would like to suggest a topic or theme for future Tech Night presentations. Marty will announce our Tech Night programs on Larry'sList.
2024 Ham Classes
Rob reported that the Tech Class, taught via video conference, continues to go well. Soon there will be 1 re-licensee and 3 new Tech licensees. There were several suggestions about testing sites, including some via Zoom, that are available.
Jim reported that about 1/2 of the original group of students completed the Morse Code course; they received certificates on the last class. Jim reported that students enthusiastically embraced the small-group extra practice sessions. Weekly Zoom practice sessions are continuing on Thursday evenings.
SFTARC Website
Greg, KIØKK, gave an update on the club website. New software had become necessary, and the work to implement it is almost complete.
Club Merchandise
Howard gave a status update on the merchandise order. He will send the order to Deborah by Wednesday, March 13.
TALLGRASS POTA EVENT
Jim, KØNK, and Ranger Heather have set April 27 as the date of this operating event. Participants can travel on their own to the site near Strong City or travel with a caravan starting from a gas station at the Gardner Rd exit on I-35. The caravan will depart about 6 AM and have breakfast in BETO Junction. Set up will start about 9 AM; operations start about 10 AM. Park staff will provide a pizza lunch for our group. Tear down will be complete about 3PM, and then the event debriefing will take place at Braum's Ice Cream in Emporia.
Ararat Shrine HAMbash
This annual event will take place on April 20, starting at 8 AM. Please bring anything you would like to sell. If you do, please take a turn manning the tables. This Hambash is probably the last one to be held in this location. There was a discussion of what the future holds for this event.
HAMVENTION
Joe briefed the club on the status of the trip to Xenia, Ohio, to attend Hamvention.
APPRECIATION
George thanked three club members for their significant contributions to the club. He thanked Howard, NØAZ, for coordinating the clothing merchandise order, for providing a Digital Measuring Setup so the Code Class Students could see their Dot and Dash lengths, for giving a Tech Night Presentation on digital modes, and for being the "Anchor" docent at the Ensor Park and Museum, where he coordinates volunteers and covers nearly all Saturdays and Sundays during the tour season.
He thanked Deborah, N2LZN, for her good work providing club logo embroidery on shirts and hats.
He thanked Greg, KIØKK, for spending numerous hours implementing recent upgrades to the club website and monitoring & fixing Issues behind the scenes.
Thank you Howard, Deborah, and Greg!!!!
OTHER
Del suggested the club get a paid subscription to Zoom for use with the various club meetings and activities. There was a discussion. Three members said they already have the subscriptions that allow meetings to run without limit. There was a consensus that a club subscription was not necessary.
Greg suggested that the club should designate a person to act as back-up WebMaster. That person would work with Greg to become familiar with the basic operation of the website and would know how to keep the website up and running in the event Greg is unable to do so.
Jim is preparing a travel case for the club IC-746. Ralph has material that may help with this project.
Greg has a 48" "non- smart" TV to give away. Please contact a club officer if you are interested.
Marty will update the list of club equipment to show where each piece of equipment is stored.
Jeff offered to remember SK Jim Anderson ACØOW. Jim was a great club member who really helped our club gain momentum. We remember with gratitude his friendliness, willingness to help, generosity, and humor. RIP Jim.
Finally, Gil WAØYCY announced the passing of Bob Heil K9EID. He told an anecdote that demonstrated Bob's extraordinary willingness to go the extra mile.
ADJOURN:
President George adjourned the meeting at 9:10 AM.
