WELCOME to the

1. WELCOME to the Anne Arundel Radio Club’s 1st Membership Meeting of the new year !!!

2. FEATURING YOUR NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Keith Miller AE3D Vice President: Tim Nagel KB3YQK Secretary: Steven Grimaud W3SWG Treasurer: Willliam W. Muziera-Mooney KA3UQQ Director: Larry Booth AA3AU Director: Eric Berman KC3GDV Director: Bernarr Coletta NK3PS

3. GOALS FOR 2019 • Things we must accomplish • Things we’d like to accomplish • Things we only dream about And on top of my list is making the Committee System work properly

4. The Board of Directors has two main jobs To set goals for the organization, and to set up a system of Committees and other appointed personnel to achieve those goals. This is where the ‘directing’ part comes in, as each Committee should be given some direction by the Board. To check on the work of those Committees to insure that the needed work is being done, and the needed goals are being reached. If not they make adjustments as needed.

5. The Committee Chairpersons jobs To set up a committee with members as needed to achieve the goals set forth by the Board. To use the Chair as a way to keep the Committee focused on reaching those goals, and any personal goals they may set for their Committees as well. To report back to the Board with respect to any and all progress being made or not being made. You can also ask for help, in many forms.

6. The Committee Members Job Attend meetings, work parties, as best you can. Try to help out whenever you can. Offer any special expertise you might have that can help with the goals of the Committee. Let your ideas be known, but don’t expect all of them to be accepted by the Committee. However do expect to be treated fairly and with due process.

7. REMEMBER The real work of the club is done by Committee Members !!!

8. Dates Already On Our Plate • Winter Field Day, January 26 - 27 (23 Days) • Spring Technician Class, March 9 – April 13 • Club Sale and Auction, April 4th • General Class, April 27 – June 8 • Field Day, June 22 – 23 (Not the last rainy weekend in June) • Maryland-DC QSO Party, August 10th • Club Picnic, likely September 14th • (Note: The Emergency Preparedness Expo will likely be the 21st • Fall Technician Class, October 5 – November 9 • The Holiday Party, December 13th

9. Other Events • Fox Hunt(s), dates unknown • The Dayton Hamvention, May 17 - 19 Projects Already Approved or Underway • The Ham Shack Renovation Project • Creation of a workshop our storage building • A dummy load construction project • A new Silent Key plaque • Retrieving an additional Rocket Launcher • Bolt replacement on the north 40 foot tower • Base replacement on the south 40 foot tower • Charger replacement for the generator

10. Stuff We Wish We Had • A decent 160 meter antenna for the ham shack • Another beam antenna for the ham shack • An Az and El satellite antenna for the ham shack Stuff We Don’t Even Know We Need • A revision of Bylaws, rules and policies, and • storage of same both off line and online • Better operation of our committees • Continuing the club history from 1993 to present • Re-painting of the building’s exterior • Paper records scanned for the Google Drive

11. Finally, Stuff We Just Plain Should Have • A good statement of goals and priorities • A strong Elmer program • A better effort toward making new members into • permanent members • Better coordination with other organizations • Leaders training their own replacements • Better communication between our Committees • and the Board of Directors • We need volunteer jobs to be smaller not bigger • And most important we need more volunteers

12. I tend to believe in full disclosure, except in cases where the information involved is potentially embarrassing to an involved individual. Such issues are to be discussed at Executive Session meetings of the Board of Directors. Otherwise all Board meetings will remain open to the public. The Minutes of Executive Sessions will not be put on display for the general membership, however it is my intention to publish all other Board meeting Minutes where the entire membership can review them, which means online.

13. And while I am at this… it is my intention to make a change in the way the Board get’s its information. Like most organizations the Board waits to hear from the committees. This works fine for the committees who are represented at meetings. But I can tell you from my past experience here, a lot of our committees and appointed individuals don’t show up at all or even most meetings. I’d settle for some meetings. Some never show up, and haven’t been to a meeting in the past year.

14. Up to now we have been asking the mountain to come to Mohammed, with the obvious results. I want to reverse this process. The plan is simple. We assign each Board Member a number of committees to contact on a regular basis. That Board Member IS NOT in charge of those committees but…. That Board Member must be prepared to make the report for that committee if no committee member is present to make it themselves. If there is ‘no report’ we will report that, but at least we talked to them !!!

15. So…. At least 12 times a year SOMEONE WILL CONTACT EACH COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN and ask WHATS GOING ON And the Board becomes enlightened

16. SO WHAT DO WE NEEDRIGHT NOW

18. We will be competing in Winter Field Day from inside our heated club house, toasty warm from 2pm Saturday, January 26th till 2pm Sunday January 27th. Beware, sort of like its summer counterpart, this could be the last snowy weekend in January. But we are hopeful that won’t be the case. We will have control operators on hand so that everyone can operate using Extra class license privileges. It’s a great event for new Techs. We are also trying to arrange food for the event. But what we don’t have yet is a Winter Field Day Chairman!

19. Rick Steer (AB3XJ) has volunteered to be the Winter Field Day, Assistant Chairman. He has a family commitment which keeps him from being on-hand for the entire event. But he is willing to do the advance work, and to fill in the entry forms when it’s over as long as a Winter Field Day Chairman comes forward who can make sure things stay open and running all 24 hours of the contest. So with just over 3 weeks before the event, we need your help. Now! Please! You can even coordinate your time on site with Rick’s. If you have a sleeping bag and an air mattress you can make a night of it.

21. It Is 170 days till Field Day AND WE HAVE NO FIELD DAY CHAIRMAN YET! This job is not nearly as tough as you think. Sign up now before everyone else figures this out.

22. Field Day Chairman Requirements You DO NOT have to know everything about Field Day, antennas, rigs, ham radio or anything else to do this job. HINT: The Field Day Chairman does very little. Even Shultz could do it!

23. Worst Case Scenario: You meet once a month, and twice in June, that is 7 meetings you would have to chair. At 1 hour each that’s 7 hours and you are the one who gets to schedule them, not someone else. You get to hold them went it’s convenient for you. If you can say “What have you been doing since we last met.” you can chair one of these meetings. Take a few notes. Then next meeting you can ask how ‘whatever they were worried about’ is going. Looking for something to say at the first meeting, how about “I want you to come up with a plan and get back to me.”

24. Plus you get to decide things like shelter placement. On Field Day your main job is to be there, settle disputes, help match up workers with sub-committee chairmen, and make sure everyone else is doing their job. Handy phrases “How can I help you.” and “You got this right? PUT IT HERE Think of setup like cooking. You need all the food to be ready at the same time, for a 2pm meal.

25. If you can see that shelters are up, but antennas aren’t, you know what to do. Workers tend to want to help their closest friends first, and pay little attention to what needs done first. Its your job is to fix that. You will need to be there during setup on Friday, then from 8am Saturday till late, and Sunday till the last equipment is put away. You don’t have to do the work yourself. Just make sure someone does it, while you make decisions. But remember, you can’t make decisions if you aren’t there. And if nobody makes decisions, everything stops. Its your call and Its easy!

26. This does not mean you can’t go home Saturday night and sleep in your own bed. Few if any decisions are needed during the overnight hours. It’s the setup and tear down that require your presence. That being said it’s a great excuse to camp out, stay late, and work the folks out west. Not to mention Richard’s potato chips. So think about it. But don’t think too long. We need a Field Day Chairman yesterday. Think of yourself as the guy at Indianapolis who waves the green flag to start the race. Your first meeting is about getting everyone else started, and it needs to happen fairly soon. (Are you ready to volunteer yet?)

27. AVOID THE RUSH PUT UP YOUR HAND, VOLUNTEER AS FIELD DAY CHAIRMAN DO IT NOW! I double dog dare you!

28. Now Let Me Go From What We Need And Don’t Have To Some Jobs I’m Filling Right Now Presidential Appointments

29. First an explanation of the process. All persons serving in appointed positions serve at the pleasure of the President. The President appoints them to those positions, and can remove them from them too. The Board, may also remove an appointed person from their position and force the President to appoint someone else. So the President appoints, and the Board can over-ride the appointment. That being said, I believe the votes are there to let these appointments stand. However I hate to count chickens unless its at Ed Santilli’s.

30. Each Committee Chairman should receive instructions from the President, or the Board, or both as to the scope of their committee (IE what the committee is supposed to do), and any issues that should receive the Committees attention. After meeting each Committee should report back to the Board at a Membership Meeting as to their progress and activities. This allows the President or Board to issue any further instructions as needed. Committees are supposed to operate by majority vote or consensus of the members of the Committee. NOTE: Any member who wishes to do so can join any committee.

31. NOTE: When you think about rules, keep in mind that By-Laws trump board decisions. The four named officers of the club are assigned duties by the By-Laws. Those 4 are the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Thus the Board can’t change those duties. Any such change would have to be approved by a vote of the Membership.

32. That being said there are some appointed jobs where the individual appointed was in fact, put in charge. For instance, the Ham Arundel News editor, the Information Officer, and the Public Relations Officer were all appointed specifically to make all decisions within those areas, consistent with Board approval. ONE SPECIAL CASE: The Membership Secretary was appointed to make all decisions with respect to the roster with the approval of the Secretary, who is assigned by the By-Laws to manage the roster.

33. With the single exception of the Membership Secretary, all members in appointed positions are responsible to the Board AS A WHOLE, but not to individual Board members. Board Members should act as a group under normal situations. This assumes that the Board member is not appointed as the Committee Chairperson in addition to their duties as a Board Member. Obviously Emergency Situations will be handled differently.

34. Further if a person is appointed to head a non-existent committee, that Committee is thereby created and remains in existence at the pleasure of the President until dissolved by the President, or by majority vote of the Board. Committees which by Bylaws or Board vote are created as “Standing Committees” remain in existence. But as far as I know, we have not named any committees as “Standing Committees”, ever. I will be asking this Board to change that policy this year, again something that doesn’t go in the By-Laws but needs to be recorded elsewhere.

35. So much for the explanation NOW THE ACTUAL APPOINTMENTS

36. I hereby appoint Chuck Tanner (K3ACT) to chair the new Rules Committee, with the purpose of recommending to the AARC Board, changes to the Bylaws and other rules, policies, and definitions they deem fit for use by this organization, and further to ensure that such Wrong Chuck Tanner information, once approved by the Board or Membership, is included in documentation that is available both in print and online for the benefit of the members of the Anne Arundel Radio Club.

37. There may exist cases where current practice and the By-Laws conflict. We either need to change the By-Laws or the current practice, and are looking for recommendations from the Rules Committee. Further it has come to my attention, and to others attention, that there is no repository of important information necessary for the operation of the club. For instance, the “free membership” policy is already lost in a sea of meeting Minutes and needs to be kept in some sort of current document available for reference by the Board and the Membership. There are lots of things like that.

38. I hereby appoint John Bowes (KB3YLY) as Safety Officer and Chairman of the Safety Committee of the AARC, the duties of which will include inspection and maintenance of the Club’s fire prevention equipment, insuring it will pass inspection, and maintaining that equipments readiness for use, also Wrong John Bowes recommending policies and training, etc. for any member who either climbs a tower or acts as ground crew for a climber. Further duties include being Field Day Safety Officer, and the recommendation of future safety policies.

39. John is a retired fire fighter, so that qualifies him as an expert in several required areas. On where he isn’t an expert is tower climbing. However…… After communicating with long time member Giff Hammar (K1GAH) who now resides in Maine, and formerly headed up AARC’s tower training efforts, a copy of Antenna Towers for Radio Amateurs (by K4ZA) was recommended for study by our Safety Officer and I recommend we purchase a copy for the club library, as published by the ARRL. Reading the Rohn tower documentation was also recommended.

40. I hereby appoint Tom Provenza (N3LHD) as Security Officer and Chairman of the Security Committee of the AARC, the duties of which will include maintenance of the locks and security system for the AARC Club House and the AARC Storage Facilities, including Tom Provenza Security Expert creation of door access codes and cards as required. Duties will also include the maintenance of the AARC Propane Generator, and for providing the Board with recommendations concerning both the Security System and Generator System.

41. Tom Provenza has been doing this job for ages but just didn’t have an official title for it. He deserves more than that. For those who don’t know, as you go out the club house door, and look slightly left, across Queen Ann Bridge Road and through the trees is Tom’s house. Cut down the trees and its line of sight. He is the member who provides us with Internet access as well.

42. I hereby appoint Bruce Strackbein (WR3Q) as Fox Hunt Committee Chairman of the Anne Arundel Radio Club, the duties of which will be to prepare the Club for a minimum of one hidden transmitter hunt per year. These duties will Include presentations on direction finding, antennas for same, and the formation of teams and equipment needed for competing in such events, and will further include recommendations to the Board Dreaded Fox NOTE: Radio is Hidden for the scheduling of AARC sponsored Fox Hunts.

43. Bruce Strackbein (WR3Q) is a long time ham and long time AARC member. He has served as a Board member and as President on two occasions. Bruce is very well versed in Fox Hunting, and can’t wait to get everyone up to speed and out the door for this interesting outdoor adventure.

44. I hereby appoint Jim Wallace (N3ADF) as Chairman of the Maryland-DC QSO Party Committee, with duties to include planning, oversight of operation, collection of results, and dispensing of awards. Further, Identifying Tartan Clan Wallace in conjunction with the Rules Committee, this committee will make rule modifications as needed to made things easier to understand, less ambiguous, and with the goal of increasing participation in this once a year event.

45. Mike Watterson (K3MAW) most recently chaired this committee but has tendered his resignation. Jim Wallace (N3ADF) is a former Board member and has competed many times in the Maryland-DC QSO Party. Last year Jim and I spend the entire day in his pickup truck making contest contacts from every single county on Maryland’s eastern shore. The year before we operated it from the District of Columbia. Jim’s goal is to get the winners calculated, notified, and with plaques and certificates issued in the shortest possible time after the 2019 event ends.

46. I hereby appoint Ike Lawton (W3IKE) as Chairman of the yearly Anne Arundel Radio Club Sale and Auction to be held each spring in April or May. The duties of this committee will include procurement of equipment for sale, repairing said equipment If necessary, pricing and pre-event planning, the management of the sale itself, and assisting the Treasurer with obtaining payment for all items sold. Further the committee will be expected to make recommendations to the Board with respect the all aspects of this yearly event.

47. I had an “I like Ike” button as a kid. I hope everyone else here agrees with the sentiment of that button too. Ike has been running this event since its inception and hopefully will continue to do so for many years. This one is a real no brainer. It’s literally his event.

48. I hereby appoint Eric Berman (KC3GDV) as chairman of the Facilities Committee who’s duties will include maintaining the Club House, the new workshop and the Club’s Storage Facilities in an orderly manner. Further this committee will make Sweeping Change with Eric Berman (KC3GVD) recommendations to the Board with respect to the Club House and Storage Facilities, their equipment and anything that could increase the usefulness of these facilities to the club and it’s members.

49. A 2019 Director, Eric Berman (KC3GDV) has taken it upon himself to start “The Wrecking Crew” (not just a bunch of musicians any more) who have been working tirelessly one or two mornings per week to clean up and organize the club house, and the storage facilities. Through his efforts we now have an operational workshop in Storage #1, and an ongoing committee to further such efforts. All I am asking, is to make what Is currently happening, continue, by appointing KC3GDV as Facilities Chairman.

50. I hereby appoint “Raven” Wieland (KB3MUV) as chairman of the Kit Building and Troubleshooting Committee who’s duties will hosting and scheduling his already popular Kit Building and Troubleshooting “Raven” Workshop and for the selection and planning of future kit building projects of interest to Anne Arundel Radio Club members.