The March 15, 2008 meeting was called to order in the Newton Public Library.  The meeting was  called to order at 9:15 by President Dan Inskeep.  Present were Nich Aeschliman, Ko Bartel, Fred Becker, Aaron Diller, David Duerksen, Brody Flavin (KD0BSS), David Godshall, Bob Harder, Marion Harper, Dan Inskeep.

Minutes: The February Minutes were read and approved.

Storm Fury on the Plains:

Repeater: Dan reported it appears to be working very well, except he's noticed a flutter some mornings.

Meeting Time/Location: There was discussion about the pros and cons of moving the date.  The results of the questionnaire (12 submissions) gave a significant vote for moving to a weekday evening, however the votes were scattered between which day of the week was preferred, with Tuesday having a slight lead (4 votes), and Wednesday next most popular (3 votes).  Meeting in the EOC was a very popular idea (8 votes).  Dan will check with Lon on whether meeting at the EOC on Saturday is a possibility or if only weekday evenings would work.

Mennonite Relief Sale: April 11-12, http://kansas.mccsale.org, start showing up after 2pm Friday or after 7am Saturday.  Talk-in frequency is 146.82, with 146.48 simplex used for local communications. Bob Harder talked about the Relief Sale and encouraged the new amateurs present who didn't know  about the sale to come and help with communications.

Field Day: June 28-29.  Some discussion about the new GOTA rules, noted that new amateur Brody would definitely be qualified to operate.

Guests: New amateur operator Brody Flavin, KD0BSS, talked a little about how he decided to become a HAM operator.  He studied off the internet and bought the book and  went to a  testing session in Wichita to get his  license.  Nick Aeschliman, KC0YCH, talked about his interest, he had some friends in New Haven he wanted to talk to, bought the book from the Derby Radio Shack, studied it, got his license at a testing session in Oklahoma.

Contests: Bob and Lorna drove about 1,000 miles around Oklahoma doing the Oklahoma QSO Contest last weekend.  Lorna did more operation than usual.  They made a total of 150 contacts, and Bob thinks they may have won the rover contest.  This weekend is the Virginia QSO Party, then a couple weeks later the WPX Sideband contest.

Sunday Nets: Dan's not been able to take the nets recently and was hoping someone had been taking the nets in his absence, and several members mentioned the net has been held.

Soldering: While we couldn't have an actual soldering demo due to fire regulations, Dave Duerksen did bring his soldering equipment to show and pass around, and there was discussion about types of solder.

Copper thieves: Thieves have been cutting and removing copper ground wires in the Newton area and Marion suggested if you have a pole, check to make sure the grounding wire is there and in place, otherwise there's a serious risk of lightning strikes getting into the house.  Also avoid touching the grounding wires as there is the potential for a lot of voltage.  Marion was brought in to help replace some of the stolen wire.

Meeting adjourned at 10:12am

-- David Godshall, Secretary/Treasurer