MEETING MINUTES FOR UPSHUR COUNTY

AMATEUR RADIO CLUB FORMATION

August 11, 2020

June 9, 2020 

Election Schedule for UAARC Officers.  The 2020 UAARC Officer election schedule is;     

• Nominations will be accepted from June 10 until July 1, 2020.   

• Ballots will be mailed July 7, 2020.   

• Ballots must be received back by August 7, 2020.   

• William KG5SVM will announce election results at the August 11, 2020 club meeting.  Ballots will be mailed with return postage paid, so please vote!  Tommy KG5ZSU upgraded to Extra Class last week.  Not only did he score 90% on the test, but he also faced the tedious and intimidating on-line testing process. Congratulations to Tommy! If you hear him on the air, be sure to congratulate him.

May 12, 2020Meeting Summary

The meeting started at 7:00 PM local, called by W5BWC. 

Announced club name is Upshur Area Amateur Radio Club with 10 votes cast for it.  The other two names had 8 and 6 votes.  86% of the ballots mailed were returned with a vote.

This evenings meeting is to approve the constitution and By-Laws by a simple yes or no answer when called by the NCS.

There were 18 stations present.  17 voted yes for both and 1 voted no for both. The committee asked for a 2/3 approval of the entire membership which is 19 yes votes.  After the meeting, the absent members were called or emailed which produced 8 additional yes votes for both.  Totals then are; 26 of 28 members voted for 93% and 25 of 28 voted yes for 89% and well beyond the 67% minimum.  

The constitution and By-Laws are approved!!

The results are to be posted on the club’s web page (and hopefully on groups.io)

K5GDM made a SKYWARN announcement and I ask everyone to check into ARES net Thur. evening.

Announcements were made, particularly cancellations and Kelly KD5S told us Shreveport Ham fest in Aug. has been canceled.    

Footnote: Seems the repeater is suffering from some de-sens. 

Apr 14, 2020 Meeting

The club had its first on-the-air club meeting on the Upshur County Repeater this evening. The virus prevents us from our normal in-person meeting at the Upshur Rural Electric Coop auditorium.  There were 18 stations participating with all but a couple having solid signals into the repeater.  W5BWC called the net and each station checking in gave a short report on how they are doing in this insane time as well as reporting storm and rain damage from Easter Sunday storms. The net went very smoothly and was a good exercise for all of us. 

The Club Formation Committee has decided on three club names on which the members need to vote.  Ballots were mailed out the first of April and need to be returned by April 30.  The club name will be announced May 1, 2020 and put on the club’s home page.

The committee will continue to work, at a distance, on the constitution and By-Laws.  Progress will be posted here or on the home page.  If you have any input to this process, please contact one of the board members (listed below).  

Dayton Hamvention, LeTourneau VE Testing and LETARC meetings have been canceled.  As well the 7290 Traffic Net Picnic has been moved to October 23,24.  Our next club meeting will be on-the-air as well and then we will see about June.

March 10, 2020 Club Meeting

We had much nicer WX this month for the meeting with 15 in attendance and 3 new folks; AE5ZA - Cliff, W5CLA - Chet and W5UAA - Guy.   

The summary, on this web page, of the first Formation Committee Meeting was discussed and in particular some time spent on the suggestions for the club name.  No new suggestions were made at the meeting so the Committee will spend more time studying the suggestions in hand.  Plan is to present a choice of names at the meeting April 14th Club Meeting for a vote. 

The URECC is preemptively closing the auditorium for the foreseeable future due to concerns of the spreading virus.  A unanimous vote determined we should continue to meet and proceed with the name, Constitution and By-Laws.  The decision was made, by vote, to meet at John and Jo Ann’s place, in his shop.  This allows us to continue to meet, but avoids unnecessary exposure to a publicly used facility. URECC is holding our deposit and has agreed to allow us to once again use their auditorium, when it re-opens for public use. 

Jerry Ritchie WA5OKO presented our first program.  He demonstrated the use of a low cost VNA (Vector Network Analyzer) to determine VHF (2M) antenna and feed-line performance.  He also presented the short falls of using a common SWR bridge in the VHF range. 

We had refreshments, including Jo Ann’s home made ultimate chocolate-chip cookies and eyeball QSO time.    

2-18-20 Club Formation Committee Meeting Minutes

7 pm

John and JoAnn Keith's House

Present: John W5BWC; JoAnn KA5AZK; Jana NJ5S; Matt W5MSM; Kelly KD5S

John designated as chairman (unanimous)

Robert's Rules of Order will be used

Minutes will be written by Jana, who will email the minutes to formation

committee members.

John will post minutes on club web page.

Discussion of constitution and bylaws

*Voting for club names will be postponed until future meetings.*

ARRL Affiliation will be considered later.

We will use groups.io.com once club name is decided.

Send MARC Constitution and Bylaws to group.

Next meeting will be 3/17 at Paul Steelman's House @ 7 pm.

Jo Ann tasked with contacting W. Gulf Division Director on his recommendation for legal assistance with club formation (which she has done and is awaiting reply),

We agreed to hold two committee meetings per month on the first and third Tuesdays (but schedules prevent another Feb. meeting),  We agreed to investigate incorporation as part of writing constitution and By-Laws.

The committee voted on the club name suggestions and narrowed it to two (ARCONET and NETARK) for a membership vote (but further investigation suggests the committee revisit the name suggestions).

*John emailed Paul and he suggested we consider the name Upshur County Amateur Radio Association, UCARA.  

*All committee members need to give more thought to and present additional name suggestions at our next committee meeting. 

February 11, 2020 Meeting News

Weather was not conducive for attending a club meeting; however, we had a good turnout including two new Hams. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and Jo Ann’s home made oatmeal cookies.  Her cookies pretty much made up for the inclement weather. 

The big news from February’s meeting is the selection of the Club Formation Committee.  The committee is task with producing a club Constitution and By-laws as well as articles of incorporation. The elected members are;

John Keith, W5BWC

Jo Ann Keith, KA5AZK

Matt McIntosh, W5MSM

Kelly Spencer, KD5S

Paul Steelman,  KG5SAV

Jana Spencer NJ5S (Recording Secretary, non-voting).

We had one upgrade - John Hagler KI5GRV to General Class.  Congratulations to John on his upgrade and if you hear him on the air or see him at the meeting be sure to ask about his latest equipment upgrade. 

We also had suggestions for upcoming meeting programs and club name.

The first Upshur County Amateur Radio Club Formation Meeting was held January 14, 2020 in the URECC auditorium.  Twenty-two attended and introduced themselves with a standing role call and short bio.  

W5BWC, John Keith and KA5AZK, Jo Ann introduced the meeting, welcomed the attendees and explained the meeting purpose. Sufficient interest has been shown in the Upshur County and surrounding area Amateur Radio communities to explore the formation of an Amateur Radio Club. The attendees filled out information cards that will allow the group's interests to be used as the basis for the club.  As well some members filled out an application to serve on the Club Formation Committee.  

The meeting then concluded with refreshments and eyeball QSOs, helping us get acquainted. 

Many Thanks to those that added something to the kitty.

The Club Formation Committee applicants will be voted on in the February 2020 meeting.  The candidate profiles are in the center of this page.  No absentee votes allowed for this election.

Until the group decides whether or not to incorporate and passes the Constitution & By Laws, there will be no dues or officers.

A kitty will be available for those that wish to help with refreshments, postage, printing, etc..  All Hams and interested non-Hams are welcome to attend the meetings.

Committee work and meeting notices will be published on this page.