1. We regret to announce the resignation of K4LEW (Lew) from the Board. He has been an 18 year veteran on the Board or as an officer. He will be missed but not forgotten and he retains his position as Repeater Trustee. W4AEQ (Jeff) has accepted Lew’s vacant positon on the Board.
2. We had a post FD17 wrap up debriefing, going over what we did right and wrong as well as ways to improve future FDs.
3. Speaking of future FDs, we will be participating in the Annual Winter Field Day 27/28 Jan 18. It is a good primer for the ARRL FD. A lot of the same rules, but also some differences. It is a good way to get ready and practice our skills as well as give our Snow-Birds an opportunity to participate in Field Day Florida-Style and for us full time residents to learn from them (and visa-versa).
4. Obtaining a Wi-Fi link was discussed (again). N1QFH (John C) and N4BFL (Jerry Z) are pursing this round of efforts.
5. We will be running a 50/50 raffle to assist in future expenses. Ticket as a Buck-A-Piece. W4AEQ will be running the BRARA 50/50 raffle.
6. We have a pretty busy schedule the next two months:
a. John Cole has already begun inventory Management that will continue the next two week with the consolidation, categorization and organization of BRARA inventory in both the Shack and the Shed. Plan on Work Parties this Saturday and next (8/15 Jul)
b. W4AEQ, KM4MFW, and KG4FUR will be conducting DMR training the afternoon of the following two Saturdays (22/29 Jul). This goes with our theme of “Teaching the ham to fish rather than relying on the Fisherman.” We will start with the basics to include programming and writing your own code plug. Although we will concentrate on the Connect Systems and Tytera MD series of Radios, the basics are the same for all DMR radios (HTs and Mobile Radios). It is essential that attendees bring your PC lap-tops to get maximum benefit from the training. We then progress into specific add-on programs like Contact Manager (used with both CS and MD series) and Oracle VM Virtual Box (MD series). Time permitting, closing brief discussions may include DV series, Shark Open Spot, and Blue Stack as well as future offerings.
c. KO4XL (Bruce) will be organizing our Technician Training Testing the weekend of 5/6 Aug.
d. W4BFL (Jerry Z) will organize testing on Sunday 6 Aug following Tech Class Training and Thursday 10Aug.