The January 15, 2005 meeting was held at Red Coach Restaurant in Newton. The meeting was called to order at 9:15am by President Kent Harder. Present were Ko Bartel, Lee Buller, Lon Buller, Gary Dix, David Duerksen, Ron Farthing, Marc Friesen, David Godshall, Kent Harder, Dan Inskeep, Sean Kelly, Ken and Renae Lundgren, Robin McDaniel, Bob Ogden, Kent Stutzman, and Roger Wilson.

Minutes: December Minutes were accepted with no corrections.

Treasurer's Report: Added $145 from club dues, paid $25 to the ARRL for a member's membership, for a total of $643.37 in the checking account and $120 in petty cash.

Memberships: David passed out club and ARRL membership forms.

Meeting Location: Some additional ideas were floated, including the new restaurant in Hesston, Gallaways, and the Water's Edge, also in Hesston. David will send out the survey as soon as possible.

Repeater Status: Squelch has been turned up so it works fine if using enough power, however talkies might have trouble getting in.

Red Cross Shelters: Lon talked about shelters that were used during the recent ice storm. The normally designated shelters were not used because they lacked power, so the Red Cross used a Retirement Home initially, then Salem Methodist Church, and had the High School lined up if needed, however it was not needed. There were a total of up to about 80-90 people at each shelter. Ran shelters from Tuesday night the night of the storm until the next Tuesday. HAM operators helps with communications: Roger Wilson, Fred Becker, Don Gruver, Dan Inskeep, David Godshall, Robin McDaniel gave a total of 35 hours. These operators manned the published phone number for shelter information and helped coordinate information between the shelters and let them know who was expected to show up at their shelter. Everyone asked was very pleased with our participation. Lee Buller brought up the general question about how Newton residents find out information during emergencies. KJRG is Newton's only radio station, but it doesn't have a lot of listeners, plus it goes to automatic mode after 6pm. KFDI was where the majority of the news about Newton was sent. However without power a lot of people didn't have radio access in any case. Lon appreciated the discussion and concerns.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10am

-- David Godshall, Secretary/Treasurer