Annual General Meeting 2017

The CRDARS Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 9th November 2017.

The following members were elected to roles on the committee:

Chairman Colin Lyne
Vice Chairman Andy Thornton
Secretary Chris Watkins
Treasurer Irene Lyne
Additional Committee Member Dave Lutman

Members have agreed in principle to a change of venue. We intend to trial a few club meetings at Hudswell Village Hall over the coming months. Mac and Dave are already planning to operate portable from the car park over the weekend, in order to test HF conditions at the site.

If everything pans out, it is likely that CRDARS will begin to hold meetings on Wednesdays in Hudswell. Further information will be posted here once we know more. Please assume that the existing meetings will proceed as scheduled in Colburn unless you hear otherwise.

The club finances were reviewed by those present, and are in good order. There is enough money in the bank to fund the purchase and installation of antennas at Hudswell if necessary.

The club has been discussing the possibility of replacing our existing HF radio, and a possible plan has emerged. The club has acquired a repaired Yaesu FT-757, kindly donated from the estate of Grahame Bentley (G3XHB). Richmond School Amateur Radio Society are offering to donate a matching power supply and automatic ATU, which would give CRDARS a fully functional set of HF equipment at no cost to the club.

Finally, as several members are likely to have family commitments in December, it was decided to change the date for our group meal from December to January. A pie and chips night has been provisionally scheduled for 11th January, and it has been proposed that members’ food be paid for out of club funds. Further details to follow closer to the date.

Mac’s Digital Mode Links

After his brief introduction to digital modes, Mac circulated the following links, which may be of interest to our members:

Annual General Meeting Agenda

The date for the 2017 AGM has now been set for Thursday 9th November. It will take place at 19:30, at our usual venue of Colburn Village Hall.

In addition to the election of the club’s officers, a vote will be held on whether or not the club should relocate to Hudswell Village Hall. There are definitely some pros associated with the proposed move, such as a higher, more radio friendly location, and the possibility of installing some permanent antennas on the building. However, Hudswell also looks like it’ll be a bit more expensive, and may be a less convenient location for some of our members.

Colin would appreciate it if our members can let him know whether or not they’ll be able to attend. If you’re unable to attend and would like to cast a vote in absentia, please contact Colin before Thursday 9th so that your vote can be counted in time.

We also plan to discuss plans for a Christmas meal this year. Last year, this took the form of a pie/pasty, chips and peas night, and was enjoyed by all who attended. We’ve scheduled in a Christmas meal for 14th December this year, but need to decide on the final arrangements.

News 25/10/2017

We’d like to extend our thanks to club members who helped with JOTA/JOTI at Richmond School. Unfortunately, we can’t consider the event a success, due to a lack of attendance by the Scouts, but the few Cubs who made the effort seemed to enjoy themselves. The facilities at Richmond School were excellent, so we feel that there’s still potential for using Richmond School as a venue in future. Colin intends to publicise the event more widely next year, and we hope that CRDARS members will once again be willing to support us in 2018.

2017 AGM Postponed

It will not be possible to hold our Annual General Meeting on Thursday the 12th October, as two of the officials will not be present. We’ll update the meetings schedule once an alternative date has been decided.

Club Meeting 28/10/2017

The club meeting on 28/10/2017 was a productive one. In addition to arranging the meetings calendar through to March 2018, we had the opportunity to discuss at length the direction and future of the club.

Colin is keen to increase club membership numbers if possible, and several avenues for this have been suggested, including advertising on Dales Radio, and visiting other clubs in the area, such as York, Ripon or Bishop Auckland.

On Saturday 21st October, the Richmondshire Scouts will be participating in the annual Jamboree on the Air, which this year will be taking place at Richmond School. We’re hoping to generate some interest in amateur radio amongst the younger generation, and would appreciate any assistance that CRDARS members can provide on the day. Feel free to contact Colin if you’re free and would like to assist.

We’re also discussing various options to improve our on-air capabilities, including alternative venues, methods for streamlining the set-up of antennas, and the possibility of purchasing a better club radio. A few promising ideas have been proposed.

Our registered trainers are planning to run courses over the winter months, so if anyone is interested in studying for and obtaining a foundation or intermediate licence, now is the time to register your interest.

Our next meeting on the 12th October will be our annual general meeting. As usual, we’ll try to keep the formality to a minimum.

Finally, in an attempt to encourage more of our members to get on the air, it has been suggested that we attempt to start a club net on Thursday nights at 7pm during weeks when no club meeting is scheduled. If you’re free on a Thursday night, feel free to join us on the GB3IR 2m repeater in Richmond.

News 26/09/2017

The next club meeting will be this Thursday, 28th September. It will be held at 7:30pm at Colburn Village Hall.

Membership subs are due this month. The cost is £10 for the year.

Our club is once again supporting Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) for Richmondshire Scouts, which will be held at Richmond School on Saturday the 21st October, from 10.00am until 3.00pm. A number of members have offered help, but anyone is more than welcome. This could be a big event this year!

Our annual general meeting will be coming up shortly. As most members will know, is held in a relaxed way with no real formality. If anyone would like to put themselves forward for a committee position, please let Colin know. CRDARS is run on behalf of its members, so what the members want from the club is paramount. We’d appreciate your support, as well as your feedback, both positive and negative.

Raspberry Pi talk postponed

We’re sorry to announce that Mac’s talk on the Raspberry Pi, scheduled for 27th July has now been rescheduled to 14th September. We’re expecting a hands-on night, getting to experience first hand many of the different things that the Raspberry Pi is capable of, not all of them radio-related.

We’d also like to remind all members that the upcoming meeting on Thursday 27th July is the last meeting before the club takes a break for the summer. There will be no club meetings in August.

News 14/07/2017

Two prospective new members, Dave and Kevin, decided to visit us this Thursday. Both were interested in taking their Foundation exams in the future. We’d like to extend a warm welcome to both of you.

Jonathan, our very own club Padre is to leave us soon, due to an upcoming posting with the army. He’ll be sitting his Intermediate exam on the 23rd June, so hopefully he’ll be the proud holder of a 2E0 callsign before he leaves us. As Jonathan may not be returning to the Richmondshire area after his posting, we hope that as many of our members as possible will be present at his final meeting on the 27th July, to wish him Bon Voyage.

The club is now approaching its third year anniversary, and it would be nice to “top up” the membership, as we have lost a few members during that time. Colin has suggested that we each consider introducing a single person who may have an interest in amateur radio, although he acknowledges that most members are fairly happy with the current size of the club. The Colburn Town Newsletter has now been distributed, and one of our prospective new members enquired about the club after receiving his letter, so we’re hoping that this may help boost numbers a little.

News 21/06/2017

The last meeting was enjoyed by a number of members at the old Richmond Racecourse, as it was election day, and the hall was unavailable. Something different on a pleasant but windy evening.

The next meeting of the club is on Thursday 22nd June, at the usual time of 7.30 pm, at Colburn Village Hall. This is planned as an 80 metre contest night, but as always our members are free to do their own thing if they do not wish to take part in the event.

I am pleased to announce that we have two members who have successfully passed their Foundation level examinations with flying colours; Steve Jessup (M6JNZ), and Maddie Dale, (M6JOV). Maddie is the first Girl Guide in Richmond to gain an amateur radio licence, and she is to be featured in the Darlington and Stockton Times on Friday 23rd. June.

The club is to give a talk to two youth clubs within the North Yorkshire Youth group, and hope by taking radio to the youth of the area, this may encourage some more to people to join. Mac Potts has offered to help Colin with this project.

We now have a new Webmaster in the form of member Andy Thornton, who has kindly offered to take over maintenance of the club’s web site. The news, meeting schedule and contact pages are fully functional, and additional content will be added over the coming weeks.

Mac Potts is to give his long-awaited talk on the Raspberry Pi, the useful pocket sized computer which can be used for so many things, on Thursday 27th. July.  I intend to invite other clubs to this event. The previously listed talk on Richmond School Amateur Radio Society will be rescheduled.

Mac has suggested that we provide our members with a paper-based directory of all club members and their callsigns. This would be distributed only to club members, and would not be made public. Colin would like the agreement of all our members before pressing ahead with this, so if you have any comments, objections or concerns, please let him know via. email, or using the contact form on the web site.