ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Executive Board Meeting – October 20, 2021 – 7:30 pm

Platforms Utilized: Zoom.

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM

OFFICERS PRESENT: W4SAR David, (President); KR4UB Dan, (Treasurer); N8BR Bill, (Secretary); KD4YJZ Karen, (Board Member); N1LN Bruce, (Board Member); W4ORD Ladd, (Vice President); KU4GC Dee, (Board Member); W4BOH Wilson (Board Member).

W4SAR (Dave): President’s Report- Welcome. Call to order.

W4ORD (Lad): Vice President’s Report- There will be a state-wide AUXCOMM meeting at 10:30 this Saturday. It will be presented on WebEx. Unfortunately he is unable to use WebEx on his current computer.. He will try to get a copy for the club.

KR4UB (Dan): Treasurer’s Report– In the recent past Dan tallied our fixed expenses which are in fact indicators of how the club is doing financially. Fortunately our income is staying ahead of our expenses so in general, we are doing okay but not by much. At present all of our income is derived from dues. There have been no hamfests or donated equipment sales. We are down about $600 from repeater expenses in Chatham County. So, in sum we have to be careful with spending.

1. A key purpose of the club treasury balance is to have sufficient funds available to cover the costs of keeping OCRA repeaters on the air. Although the treasury balance is sufficient to buffer expenses, the present dues income level would not be enough to rebuild the balance as repair costs could be significant.
2. This opened a discussion about the current $12.00 per member, maximum $25.00 per family membership dues rate which have not been increased since the club’s inception in 1991. $12.00 in 1991 dollars would now be $24.17 in 2021 dollars per an inflation rate calculator.

That said, the big question facing us now is whether or not we should consider raising dues.

N1LN (Bruce) suggested that the issue of dues be discussed at the next club meeting. W4BOH (Wilson) suggested that dues be raised to $20.00.

N1LN (Bruce): Net Operations in OCRA. The club desperately needs to expand the number of people who are involved in managing its nets. For many folks these nets have become time proven essential components of our community’s emergency preparedness strategies. It was further recommended that we identify a reasonable number of folks who are willing and interested in doing the job and then develop an educational program to train them. Perhaps it would be useful for potential net leaders to visit the homes of experienced net operators in order to learn the ropes. Bruce hopes we can develop an action plan at the next meeting. Wilson recommended that we contact potential net operations people via email. Bruce will draft an email for that purpose.

W4ORD (Lad): Progress with Holiday Dinner – The Exchange Club we have used for this occasion in past years is closing down for renovation. There is no specific information on when they plan to reopen.

David will check on the availability of St. Matthews” Episcopal Church and the Baha’i Center. I am continuing to solicit responses from club members concerning their plans to attend. This will be discussed at our next meeting.

KR4UB (Dan): Announcements – Rosie from NASA has agreed to give her presentation. Dan has provided her with possible dates.

W4SAR (David):  Dave reported that Dick Boyton has passed away and his son Bob has donated a substantial amount of his equipment to the club for the purposes of either use or sale. I believe we should put as much as possible into our equipment loan program. We will provide final forms for that enterprise upon request as well as a final list of included items following a complete inventory. At this point the following items are included: Yaesu FT 450D HF and 6M transceiver, Yaesu 790 R-E UHF/VHF module, Yaesu 60-R VHF/UHF HT, 2 Samlex power supplies (7.5A and 5.5A), Realistic DX440 receiver, VHF/UHF mag mount antenna, Heil Pro-Set headphones, ARL morse code oscillator, Heathkit GR81 receiver, jumpers, insulators and various other hardware. Marketing these items was discussed. Dave will write a thank you letter to Bob.

W4SAR (David): Elections -Our election for club officers will be held in January. .

N1LN (Bruce): Bruce raised the question to Dan that since the combined Zoom/Radio Net/Meetings have become an integral part of OCRA social gatherings, what would it take for additional operators/stations to perform that task?

Dan replied that the combined radio net / zoom audio connection is being performed by equipment originally purchased for other use, much of it being commercial quality, including a Roland multiple sound input mixing/level control mini studio monitor and a W2IHY microphone/radio control & audio matching unit, external line impedance matching / level attenuators, audio isolation transformers worth over $800.00 to interface to the Zoom computer. He has searched the internet for more cost effective equipment to no avail. Bruce commented not to forget having a ham station with antennas sufficient to be able to hear and talk to all on UHF & HF is required.

“Plan B” would be to revert back to separate radio nets, followed by a separate Zoom social gathering conference if Dan is not available. More discussion with action items needs to occur at future meetings.

Further discussion followed with Dan adding that with club elections coming up, the alternate names on the club’s bank accounts, safety deposit and post office box key holders may need to be updated. G-Suite will be used to store this vital record information as well as names of alternate members who have administrative access to the club internet and website accounts.

Meeting adjourned at 9:12 PM

WLB/s