Notes of the Annual General Meeting of the Poole Radio Society (G4PRS) held at the main meeting in April 2001

On opening the meeting at 20:00hrs, the Chairman welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies for absence were presented from two members unable to attend.

Minutes from last AGM had already been published and made available on this site and to members in the PRS Times, the club newsletter.

Chairman's Report

The club had had one of the most successful of recent years. There had been a full programme of talks covering a wide range of topics. There had been more use of the shack for operating and construction. A lot of team work had been seen, with members raising funds, tidying the shack, fixing shelves, repairing rigs, producing the newsletter, maintaining the Web Site and running the raffle and organising refreshments.

Dave passed on Graham Barlow's thanks to all members who had been to visit him, and passed on the members best wishes to Graham.
And finally, on a sad note, we were sorry to hear of the death of a long time member of the Poole Radio Society. Members of the committee passed on condolensces on behalf of the club to the member's family.

Secretary's Report

In a departure from the normal plain spoken delivery, the secretary's report this year took the form of a well-received illustrated computer presentation. This format brought many of the last year's 'happenings' alive again, showing the numerous activities that members had participated in over the last year.

Treasurer's Report

The club is in a financially healthy position, with 22 paid-up members. The refurbishment of the mast, materials for the new hf antenna, rotator, coax, connectors and ancillary items had cost just over £600 since work started. However this had been well justified in the light of the amount of interest and participation it had generated. Before taking the costs of the antenna into consideration the club had a surplus of £386 for the year.

Proceeds from the stands at Hamfest and Bournemouth rallies together with income from the raffle and surplus for refreshments were all significant sources income. Phil G0KKL proposed that the accounts be adopted. This was carried unanimously. Phil proposed that the annual subscriptions increase from £15 to £16 for the coming year. This was carried unanimously.

Election of Officers

The Committee following were elected to the committee unopposed:-
Dave G3ZPR (Chairman)
Colin G6MXL (Secretary)
Phil G0KKL (Treasurer)
John G4XGM
Tex G1TEX

There was no other business for discussion at the AGM, the metting was closed to a short break.

After the break

Suggestions for talks and activities included a 144MHz Foxhunt, a talk on Wartime Direction Finding (by Phil G0KKL), operating the Spy Radio built by Peter G3BLN away from the shack, a Barbeque, a practical demonstration of microwave operation, participation in some contests, home construction techniques.

Peter C offered to contact some ex-colleagues at Marconi to see if they could give us a talk on Digital Telephone Exchanges. Dave G3ZPR also volunteered a talk after the summer. Some talks/demonstrations of construction techniques were also considered. It was also noted that it is the centenary of Marconi's trans-Atlantic leap.

Mindful of the likely demise of the Bournemouth Rally, the meeting approved some exploratory discussions with other local clubs to explore ways in which local clubs could co-operate in future.

It was noted that nationally the number of RAE entries for the May 2001 exam was half the number last year. Comments were also made concerning the level of bureaucracy in amateur radio.

Shack evenings would continue to be built around the current arrangements on Friday evenings. Use of the shack on other occasions has to be limited to organised club activities, which can only take place outside College hours for parking, insurance, safety and emc reasons. It is hoped to intended to invite students to visit the shack.

Members were asked for submissions of information, or of 'articles' for both the club newsletter and for the club Web pages. And that items for the Newsletter should be sent to Colin G6MXL. Items for the Club Web site may be sent to Tex G1TEX directly.

From improved web statistics and feedback, I can now see some of the ways people come across the club's web pages, and I can asure you all that it works very well. And indeed recently Vic KB9UKE from the 'good old US of A' and Leroyd ZS6ROY from South Africa have found their way to both the club web pages and the club itself. 'tex'