The CRES Amateur Radio Club held its first general membership meeting of the year on Wednesday, 18 February 2009, at the New Albany library. The following members and guests were in attendance: Bill Erwin / N9CX (President) Al Mecozzi / WA8LBZ Dave Brown / K8AX Mike Mickelson / KD8DZ Steven Katz / N8WL Fred Saas / WA8PGE Len Hayes / KD8FZK (guest) Gordon Lashley / WD8CZG Mike Stansbery / WD8EBS George Foy / N4DLR Tom Foy / N4HAI Wally Blackburn / AA8DX Kevin Lewis / KD8JWD Dave Woolf / K8RSP Art Grandle / KD8ZG John Lawson / W8AGS Rob Stampfli / KD8WK (Secretary) Andy Elliott / K8LE Doug Gibbs / W8NFT Dan Merrick III / K8TX The meeting was called to order by President Bill Erwin at 7:00 PM. Len Hayes introduced himself as a visitor to the club. The minutes from the December meeting were approved. Bill Erwin gave the following Treasurer's report in Treasurer Bob Cartwright's absence: $ 7,554.03 in Telhio CDs $ 854.08 in Telhio Share Savings $ 533.14 in Telhio Share Draft Checking $ 31.65 in our cash account ---------- $ 8,972.90 Total Art Grandle reported for the VE Team that our next VE exams will be held on Saturday, April 4th, at the Parkview Presbyterian Church in Reynoldsburg. We understand that a ham class may be attending to all take exams at this session, so this may be an busy day. Bill announced the audit committee had finalized the audit of the Treasurer's books and signed off on it. Gordon Lashley motions that a $25 donation be made to qsl.net for hosting our club web site. Rob Stampfli pointed out that the previous donation check was never cashed. Gordon pointed out that the site was under new management. By voice vote, the motion carries. Bill discussed a proposal first raised at our previous Excomm meeting, that people at our VE exam sessions who earn a ham license or upgrade be granted a free year's membership in our club. The consensus view among those present was that this was a good idea, but it should only apply to those who are not already members of the club. The Excomm will take the feedback under advisement in formulating a policy. Bill announced that the Excomm had filled three of the five appointed positions: Dave Woolf will retain his position as Station Trustee and Repeater Manager, and Art Grandle was reappointed as VE Liaison. The positions of Contest Coordinator and Internet Manager have not been filled. We are still looking for a volunteer for the Contest Coordinator position, and have three people who are interested in the position of Internet Manager, so the Excomm will wait until our Treasurer returns to Columbus to vote on that position. While we deal with our lack of a Contest Coordinator, the Excomm is exploring dividing up the job. Bob Kenyon / K8LJ, our Vice President, has reserved Infirmary Mound park for Field Day weekend on speculation. We can release it without penalty, but we must make up our mind in two weeks. The rent would be $150, the same as last year, and the park would give us a key to get in and out Saturday evening. Al Mecozzi expressed concerns about the facilities there and recommended exploring the possibility of operating from a Metro Park, but overnight accommodations at one of these might be tricky. There was also some concern about the CW accommodations at Indian Mound park, although the CW ops present stated they had no problem with it. Steve Katz suggested perhaps using the OSPOTA Buckeye lake site again. The general consensus, though, seemed to favor Infirmary Mound for the coming year. Bill suggested that if people would like to pursue a different location for next year, it should perhaps be something we address this Fall. Dave Brown called for a decision, and as no one was opposed to Infirmary Mound, it was decided to go with this site again for our 2009 Field Day. Mike Stansbery requested a membership list. Rob Stampfli pointed out the list is on our website. [ http://w8zpf.cboh.org/member-paid ] Dan Merrick pointed out that a long-lost friend had found him via the website. Bill showed off the certificate we had received for participating in the Ohio State Parks on the Air (OSPOTA) contest last September. We scored 5th place among the Multi-Op participants. Steve Katz announced that he has been appointed by the ARRL to lead the effort to get a PRB-1 bill passed by the Ohio Legislature. He asked if anyone knew a representative well enough to approach them about introducing the bill. Steve would like to talk with them about it if they do. The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 PM. Following a short break, Al Mecozzi gave a thorough detailed presentation of the history and use of QSL cards, including how they are disseminated today. He also gave a second presentation on the Logbook of the World online contact confirmation website offered by the ARRL. Following that, those present perused interesting QSL cards that had been brought to the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Rob Stampfli / KD8WK CRES-ARC Secretary