Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, Ltd.

On Saturday July 10th, 2010, Floyd Amateur Radio Society met at Floyd Professional Center in suite 9 of the Village Green--  Here are the notes from that meeting:

The meeting was opened and brought to order at 8:55am by the President, Tom King W4VZH.

The meeting was lively to say the least; there was a lot to discuss and to get done this morning. First on the agenda was the reading of the minutes by Russ Abbey KG4MAV along with the results from Kids Day and Field Day. Minutes were accepted as read and no corrections to the Kids Day and Field Day.

A time of introduction followed; 10 members plus 2 new members were present.  We welcomed Christine Behrens KI4FR and Mike Finch KJ4SNT to our local ham community.

Gaynell KK4WWW brought up that when we are logging contacts at N4USA we need to identify ourselves as operator for those contacts for recordation and as help when filling out QSL cards for the requests coming through the FAIRS office.  Dave KK4WW informed those gathered of the increased visibility for N4USA/FAIRS/FARS. More and more people are visiting the Floyd Community Amateur Radio Station to find out about our operation and with the intent of getting into ham radio.

Russ KG4MAV presented a Signalink USB to the Station-- this is for the digital modes that we hams can use, like PSK-31, RTTY, Helscriber, Fast and Slow Scan TV, and more.  The list is as long as my arm!

Tom W4VZH made a motion to have a $25.00 a year dues to FARS paid "per family" to help pay for various promotions and activities of the Society and for our QSL cards, etc.  Dee KG4VMI proposed an amendment that would stipulate if someone can’t pay due to lack of funds then they will not need to pay dues that year. Russ included that dues would be paid during a single month of the year.  So, the motion to have $25.00 a year dues, due in June of each year and if someone is not able to pay they will be forgiven their dues for that year was made by W4VZH Tom and seconded by Don Clemens KE4UGF and passed by a 100% yea vote.

Then we appointed a Treasurer, Kay Clemens KF4EKH, who was nominated by Tom W4VZH, which nomination was accepted by Kay. We voted and with a 100% yea vote, Kay is now our new Treasurer for FARS. She and Tom will be the co-signers on a checking/savings account for the Society at the Bank of Floyd.

For correspondence to the Society, we will use 201 East Main St. Suite 9 Village Green, Floyd, Virginia 24091.

The repeater is coming along nicely, Russ is doing the coordination with SERA and will report back on that. Dave KK4WW will be Trustee with Russ, Tom, and Kathleen as control operators for the repeaters per the FCC rules. Dave is going to take the repeater to Henry Henderson to have it checked out, he will report back next month on the condition of it and if it is worth the asking price. Again, Russ brought up that a repeater is a money hole! If we do put it up, it will not be a put up and forget it, it has to be maintained.

Gaynell reminded me that I need to get the paper logs to her for Field Day. We also decided that Russ would handle the N4USA EQSL and Log Book of the World sites for the Society. (and FAIRS?)

We passed the hat for the QSL cards. That money went directly to Dave KK4WW; he purchased those out of his pocket.

We tabled the web site name till next month; we need more time to find appropriate names for the new web site for FARS.

Dave, at the request of Woody Crenshaw and partners has put “guy wires” (in actuality a 75 meter modified Sturba curtain) on the tower on the roof across from the Community Ham Shack.

A reminder to all hands that the Roanoke Club is having it’s annual Ham Fest on July 31^st at William Bird Middle School. The doors will open for venders at 0500 and for guests at 0800, come down and join us for the fun, food, and buying of radio equipment! It’s always a blast to meet new and old friends at the Ham Fest.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am, this was the longest we have had a meeting yet, we had fun and also got a lot of work done.

The following members were present:

Russ Abbey KG4MAV

Kay Clemens KF4EKH

Don Clemens KE4UGF

Mike Finch KJ4SNT

John Anderson K4JKA

Gaynell Larson KK4WWW

Dave Larson KK4WW

Kathleen Becker WK4AB

Don Johnson KF4HDW

Tom King W4VZH

Dee Dannewitz Wallace KG4VMI

Christine Behrens KI4FR

Respectfully submitted

Russ AbbeyKG4MAV

Secretary; Floyd Amateur Radio Society

**Formatted for www.fairs.org