The April 20, 2002 meeting was held at Red Coach Restaurant in Newton. The meeting was called to order at 9:17am by President Kent Harder.

Members present were Jeff Bitikofer, Larry Boettcher, Lon Buller, David Duerksen, David Godshall, Bob Harder, Roger Jost, Rick Rickenberg, and Kent Stutzman, Roger Wilson.

The March minutes were read with a couple corrections: Kent Harder is helping Robin with the antenna, and the Relief Sale finish day was Saturday rather than Friday.

Treasurer's Report: Paid $20 in PO Box dues for a new balance of $1038.80. This balance is the checking account balance and does not reflect the petty cash balance. The Treasurer will have those figures next meeting.

Repeater Situation: Due to interference, the repeater has been shut down a lot these past couple weeks. During recent severe weather 146.61 simplex was used.

Antenna: The mill operators vetoed the idea of a gravity antenna mount but did authorize us to install a permanent mount, so the original idea of purchasing a new antenna has been revived. Kent Harder and Lon Buller are currently in the process of ordering the antenna.

Field Day: Kent Stutzman checked with the city and found that they no longer allow overnight rental of the shelters, plus they have fees of $25 plus $10 every four hours. Larry mentioned that Hunter's Landing, owned by the Baptist Church, right off of 12th street (10th and Sand Creek), is a possible location. Roger Jost said the National Guard Armory could be another location, and Roger Wilson suggested the Harvey County Historical Museum as another possible location.

MCC Relief Sale: Bob Harder gave a report on Amateur participation in the MCC Relief Sale. There were enough Amateur operators to man the stations, but could have used a few more to provide relief. Few emergencies, a couple lost persons, and a couple minor medical conditions. Jeff set up a radio on the mobile "Gator" with crossband repeat which really helped with communications between the furthest buildings.

RACES: Some discussion of recent storms. There have been a couple unofficial activations in the recent storms. Lon stressed that location is a key component in spotting, and they are working with all spotters and dispatchers to improve accuracy and communication of the location of spotted severe weather elements. Roger asked whether use of GPS and latitude/longitude coordinates in reports would be useful. Lon said they don't currently have any means to translate such coordinates so such reports would not currently have any use, though it might come in the future.

Testing Session: David Duerksen mentioned a testing session at Valley Center, Calvary Baptist Church, at 7pm on May 14.

Web Site: Kent Stutzman has reposted an article about the tornado that went through Hesston twelve years ago. It can be found on the Weather page of http://www.newtonarc.net/ Kent is also wanting to pull together a list of all amateurs that helped in Hesston in the aftermath of the tornado.

Meeting adjourned 10:05am.