Mile High DX Association
Meeting Minutes, March 9, 2008
By Michael Ferguson K0MF, Secretary / Treasurer
The winter meeting of the MHDXA was held on Sunday March 9 at the Gordon Biersch restaurant in Broomfield Co. Thirteen members and non-member hams attended, a good turnout considering some were laying low due to the elections!
Old Business:
Minutes of the prior meeting were accepted as read by the secretary
The treasurer’s report was accepted as read by the treasurer. The MHDXA bank balance as of 3/5/08 was about $1259. <Sec’y note: as of May 1, the bank balance is $1359.79.>
$150 was sent for support of the 3B7 St.
The CCARC was taking nominations for officers, due 3/15.
New Business:
No raffle was conducted as two absent minded club officers both forgot to bring the tickets. Please plan on buying twice as many tickets at the next meeting!
K0MF mentioned the status of the membership. At present, 43 members had renewed or joined, but 14 existing members had not yet renewed. Please get those funds in folks. New members include:
Craig Thighe, W0CLT – Parker Lee Berkes,
K0ALB –
James Reisert, AD1C, Brighton Mack Thompson, N0VY,
Ken Long, N0QO –
<Sec’y note: as of May 1, we have 51 current members, still some renewals coming!>
Several commented on the great newsletter created by Jack WM0G. Many thanks to him for that. He re-iterated his request for material. Please get writing! Bio, trip experiences, anything pertaining.
K0MF mentioned new funding requests received – ZS8 Marion
Island, and 4W6
<Sec’y note: subsequent to the meeting, per an online vote, $100 was sent to fund equipment for Petrus, who will be on Marion Is. for a year. I understand he is now there, and setting up his station. No action taken on 4W at this time>
MHDXA meeting March 9, 2008, minutes, cont.
Don, W0DM, started a lively and productive discussion on how we determine funding levels for various DXpedition requests. He accurately points out that we don’t have enough $ to fund every operation at requested levels. Mike K0COM explained how, with the funds we typically provide, we don’t always get top recognition by the operation, such as logos on QSL’s and LoTW uploads.
Jack WM0G just happened to re-publish the guideline that K0MF and the board has been attempting to adhere to in the most recent MHDXA newsletter, and it was suggested that each member read that over, it will explain a lot of the thought process. It was agreed that we would use $100 as a baseline donation amount for expeditions that meet the basic criteria, and adjust up or down based on key parameters such as rarity, expense, focus of operation, or other relevant factors. K0MF commented that if you look back at the funding levels for operations in the last couple of years, they seem fairly in line with the current guideline and variables. The most we have sent to any one operation was $300 for the VU7. Of course, there were two operations within 6 weeks, and despite that, a lot of us still need them.
Nominations for new MHDXA club officers were made and accepted. They were: President – Mike Sell, K0COM, vice President, Ryan Dahlberg, N0OJ, and Secretary / treasurer, Mike Ferguson K0MF. A vote was conducted, and these three were elected as the new officers for a two year term. Congratulations!
A big thank you was expressed to Larry Arndt, KI0RH, for his services as VP for the last two years! – and for setting up another great meeting and location.
The possibility of a club Field Day operation was discussed. No one expressed a desire to ramrod an effort, although some mentioned the desire to assist or participate. It was mentioned that even if no club funds were available, that the club call sign K0AB could be used if MHDXA members did their own informal operation. If you have an interest in getting club members together for an operation, please post a notice on the MHDXA reflector.
The formal business meeting was closed. The program was a video of the Scarborough Reef BS7H operation, graciously provided by Tom W0GLG. This is a great video – if you’ve not seen it yet, make sure you find a way to see this sometime.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Ferguson K0MF
Secretary / treasurer, MHDXA