The meeting was held in Waterloo at Mutual Life, 8^th floor. A quorum of directors was present and the meeting was called to order by Paul at 7:30 pm. Club Secretary VE3VRA was ill so VP Dave Schwartz acted as the Scribe.

Paul announced that Frazer Cooper VE3FC and Gord Hayward VE3EOS have volunteered their assistance to other members who could benefit from a mentor in the hamly arts, be it project building, license upgrading or what-have-you.

The members present discussed a motion by John Schreiter VE3DOS that CTCSS tone access be required for VE3KSR in light of recent and ongoing interference being caused to the repeater by pirates from the east. Paul added that the need for tone access will continue to grow and that it is only a question of when, not if. While no direct action was taken on the motion, the executive directed a committee chaired by John Riddell VE3AMZ and including Ben Sasiella VE3BNY and John Schreiter VE3DOS to prepare a migration plan to enable tone access on VE3KSR for presentation to the membership at the April 1999 meeting. The committee is to specifically consider the affect the change will have on KWARC members as well as the reciprocal patch agreements KWARC enjoys with the Brantford and Simcoe clubs.

Ben told the meeting that the access codes for the ULR network that were supposed to be available to KWARC members free of charge due to our hosting of the VE3BHR hub has been obtained by actually purchasing a membership. This information will be made available to members and will be a component of the forthcoming members-only area on the KWARC web-site.

Ben also informed the meeting that the VE3IXY 220 repeater is still not operational due to its ongoing relocation from one area to another at the Bell Canada site at Mannheim.

Paul presented a summary of the information that has been gathered about the status of the provincial incorporation of KWARC. The current profile was requested and received by Peter VA3LAW. It shows that we are still validly incorporated but that the records have not been updated for 17 years. The procedure for updating will be to bring the minute book up-to-date by having the membership ratify all past business as transacted and then refile with the ministry.

In an effort to encourage more frequent activation of the club callsign, VE3IC, Gord Gibson VE3NQK has been asked to assume the role of KWARC QSL Manager. For this activity, Gord has proposed the following set of rules:

1. Members using the club call will be responsible for providing logs, either hard copy or disk.
2. If used for contests, members must be able to produce labels from logs
3. The logging program to be used is "LogEQF" (now ordered, ed.). It is felt that the club should have a registered logging program
4. If cards are not sent at the time of the contest, the information should be on the logging program so that labels could be printed when the cards arrive.
5. QSL cards received will be kept in photo albums.
6. We can earn DXCC and IOTA awards as a club
7. All members will be requested to apply for the use of the club callsign so that the club will be able to know when, and for what period, the callsign is being used.
8. For contests, all members involved will be listed.

Gord presented a motion that the executive approve a budget of $160 for this activity and that the treasurer be directed to forward the appropriate fee to the QSL bureau. Seconded by John VE3AMZ, passed unanimously.

The executive then had a discussion about how to get more club members to take part in the operation of the club (i.e. volunteer for executive or committee positions). While it was agreed that this has been a perennial problem, no "quick fix" was offered. Current executive and committee members are encouraged to try to foster at least one individual toward becoming active in the affairs of the club and all members are reminded that all executive meetings are open and observers would be most welcome.

Paul then lead a discussion of the situation where the Red Cross of Kitchener Waterloo has been paying for the VE3RCK license for many years. It was generally felt that the club should be assuming this responsibility and that we should find some way to express our appreciation to the Red Cross for their past support. A motion was made by John VE3AMZ that a Red Cross official be formally invited to the January executive meeting where these issues can be resolved. Seconded by Paul VE3SY and passed.

The meeting adjourned at 9:52 pm.

Dave Schwartz VA3DGS
forJohn Holman VE3VRA secretary@kwarc.org