17 September 2011
2011 AGM Draft Minutes
Otago Maritime VHF Assn. Inc.,
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the
Otago Yacht Club on Thursday 15th September 2011
The Chairman opened the meeting at 1935 hours, with a welcome to those present.
Present:
Chairman: Michael Harkness;
Secretary: Ian Milne;
Treasurer: John Armstrong;
Repeater Trustee: Martin Balch;
Keith Simon; Jack Squires; Kevin Martin; Les McBean; Ron Sim; Terry Thomas; Ted Gilbert; Graham Wright; Graeme Wall; Ate Heineman; Maggie Oakley; Vern Hall.
Apologies:
Ron Johnston; Colin Weatherall; Jeff Donaldson (Acting Harbourmaster); Kevin Hughes; John Milburn (Monarch Cruises); David Blair; Fiona Balch; Ian McKay; Mike Boylen; Bill McIndoe; John McLellan; Robert George; Bruce Walker and Paul Wright (Otago Harbour Control); Meri Leask (Bluff Fishermen’s Radio); Lox Kellas (Dunedin Police and Coastguard).
Moved Simon/Thomas, That the apologies be accepted: Carried
Minutes of Previous AGM:
The minutes of the 2010 AGM, held on 9th September 2010, were read by the Chairman.
Moved Harkness/Thomas, That the minutes be approved as a correct record: Carried
Annual Reports:
1. Chairman’s Report:
The Chairman presented his annual report, which was accepted:
Moved Harkness/Sim, That the Chairman’s report be adopted: Carried
2. Repeater Trustee’s Report:
The Repeater Trustee presented his report, and added the point that etiquette for the use of the repeaters should include the use of simplex channels where possible, such as when boats are in sight of each other.
Moved Balch/Simon, That the Repeater-Trustee’s report be adopted: Carried
3. Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurer presented the financial reports, which were briefly discussed. It was commented that the increased number of members paying the five year subscription for six years’ membership could be seen as a vote of confidence in the Association.
Moved Armstrong/McBean, That the financial reports be accepted: Carried
Subscriptions:
The Treasurer reported the committee’s recommendation that subscriptions remain the same as
at present, i.e., Single year, $38 Recreational; $58 Commercial; or the discount rates of $190 and $290 for six years’ membership respectively.
Moved Armstrong/Balch, That the subscriptions remain as at present: Carried
Election of Committee Members:
The following members were nominated for the committee:
Ted Gilbert Harkness/Sim
Michael Harkness Balch/Heineman
Keith Simon Balch/Gilbert
Ian Milne Harkness/Balch
Ate Heineman Gilbert/Harkness
John Armstrong Thomas/Balch
Vern Hall Balch/Harkness
Terry Thomas Harkness/Balch
Martin Balch Thomas/Simon
Moved Balch/Gilbert, That nominations be closed: Carried
The Chairman declared the above members to be elected to the committee.
Admission of Group Representatives:
The following club delegates were welcomed to the committee, under the “group membership” entitlement:
Les McBean, for the Port Chalmers Yacht Club Inc.;
Ron Johnston, for the Tautuku Fishing Club Inc.. (Ron had sent his apologies for this meeting and had indicated his continuing availability for this position.)
Honorary Solicitor:
It was decided that an Honorary Solicitor would be sought, as and when required.
Financial Reviewer:
The Treasurer reported that our present reviewer, Barry Crane, had indicated his willingness to remain in this position, for the very reasonable fee of $300.
Moved Armstrong/Harkness, That Mr Barry Crane be appointed Financial Reviewer for the 2011-2012 year: Carried
Notified Business:
Questions from Ted Gilbert:
Ted Gilbert had submitted a series of eight questions concerning various aspects of the Association’s activities. It was agreed that they were good questions. The Repeater Trustee had provided answers for discussion. However, it soon became apparent that this discussion could take some time, and Maggie Oakley proposed that this be left to the committee to finalise and post on our blogsite as “FAQ”. This is at http://otagomaritimevhfassn.blogspot.com/ . This proposal was accepted by the meeting, as an instruction to the committee.
General Business:
1. Terry Thomas suggested that the headings of notices and minutes of Annual General Meetings be numbered, such as “The Thirty-fifth Annual General Meeting….”, or as appropriate. As this is common practice and a good idea, the Secretary agreed to arrange it.
2. Following the above discussion on “Group Membership”, the Secretary volunteered to write to the boating clubs and other groups which may be interested, to advise of them of their entitlement to appoint representatives to our committee, and also to remind them that “group membership” does not entitle individual members of that club or group to free use of our repeater service. This was accepted by the meeting.
3. Regrets were expressed that John McLellan, formerly of the Moeraki Fishing Club, and the Association’s volunteer operator in that area, was no longer available due to ill health. The Chairman volunteered to purchase a suitable book, and present it to John as a token of the Association’s gratitude for his long service as our operator in Moeraki.
Committee Meeting:
As a committee meeting is required to be held within thirty days to elect the officers for the coming year, it was decided to hold a meeting on Monday evening, 10th October 2011, at Martin Balch’s place, 23 Connell St, Waverley, Dunedin, at 1930 hours.
Close of Meeting:
As there was no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 2035 hours, with thanks to those in attendance.
Guest Speaker:
The meeting was followed by a very interesting talk and slide-show by Robyn Armstrong about her and John’s experiences, sailing around the south coast and exploring Dusky Sound and Preservation Inlet, in February-March 2009 in their yacht, the Shag, and an award-winning movie of the trip made and presented by John called “Discovering Dusky”, with a light supper to end the evening.
Michael Harkness
Chairman
Ian Milne
Secretary
08 September 2011
Repeater Report 2011
Annual Repeater Report 2010-2011
The major change this year was the completion of the new linking system to the Hina Hina Hill site enabling us to close down the Emerson Street site and cancel the respective licences.
Cape Wanbrow, Channel MM 66 has needed no maintenance this year. When possible, we are continuing to run tests on the site to confirm it is not being interfered with by other services – so far nothing conclusive has been found.
Hautai Hill, Channel MM 62 had several weather related power failures but in all occasions, service continued uninterrupted on the back-up battery supply. The landlord is extending his farm sheds over our buried cable so work has been undertaken to mark the cable route and allow the landlord to do his foundation work. At some time, we will need to excavate the lower half of the cable and re-route it much deeper as the farmer cannot cultivate the paddock it crosses as the existing cable is too shallow. The repeater has required no work during the year.
Hina Hina Hill, Channel MM 64. This site had a power failure that required a visit. It was found our power supply had disappeared and we were sharing a power supply and battery with DOC. The DOC power supply had failed and the battery had also failed. We believe it was our battery. A new battery and power supply were installed and the two systems separated. A re-furbished set of radios were subsequently installed with the new linking system. The aerials all tested fine.
Tests have been approved and will be carried out shortly to see if the Emerson Street site can be used to enhance coverage into the city beaches and Kaka Point area, known coverage shadow areas at present.
Generally, the system continues to provide excellent service to our target areas, and to many areas beyond our targets with continued good response to our weather information services.
All equipment is in good condition and working well but it must be recognised that with the exception of the Cape Wanbrow installation, most of our aerials, aerial infrastructure and repeaters radios are now fully or near fully depreciated and over 10 years old. There is no immediate need to replace any equipment and we hold adequate spare transceivers, but within 5 years, we will have to budget for some replacements.
Martin Balch
Repeater Trustee
Notice of Annual General Meeting
Notice of Annual General Meeting
Date: Thursday 15th September 2011
Place: Otago Yacht Club, Magnet St, Dunedin
Time: 1930 hours
Business: The normal business of an AGM will be conducted, including Receiving Reports; Election of Committee, Honorary Solicitor and Financial Reviewer; Subscriptions; and Notified and Non-notified Business. Any notified business must be in the hands of the Secretary not later than 31st August 2011.
Speaker: At the conclusion of the meeting, John Armstrong will give an illustrated talk on his and Robyn’s experiences with their yacht, the Shag, sailing to and visiting Dusky Sound. This will be followed by a light supper.
Ian Milne
Secretary
Ph 03 488 4205
Notes:
The annual Chairman’s Report, Repeater Trustee’s Report and Financial Report will be available at the meeting and will be posted on the association’s blogsite: http://otagomaritimevhfassn.blogspot.com .
Subscriptions were raised to $38 (Recreational) and $58 (Commercial) last year. Six years’ membership for five years’ subs are therefore $190 and $290 respectively. The committee is recommending that they stay the same this year. Hence renewal notices are enclosed with this notice as appropriate.
Chairman's Report 2011
Chairman’s Report 2011
Following our usual practice the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Repeater trustee were elected by the committee at the first committee meeting. They are: Mike Harkness (Chairman), Ian Milne (Secretary), John Armstrong (Treasurer) and Martin Balch (Repeater trustee). Other members of the committee are: Brian Chalmers, Ron Johnston, Vern Hall, Ate Heineman, John McLellan, Les McBean, Keith Simon and Terry Thomas (Vice Chairman). An external reviewer was to be appointed.
This year marked a turning point, Hina Hina Hill was fully commisioned and apart from a problem with the power supply, which Martin refers to in his report, it has been functioning well. Overall our system, which serves a challenging part of the coastline with equally challenging weather, provides an excellent sertvice although coverage in the Tow rock and Nuggets areas is patchy. The committee is aware of these problems and is considering options, one of which may be to site a repeater at our old site in Emerson Street. The power cable to Hautai Hill has been located and was partially uncovered by Terry and Michael, but it will need to be buried deeper, probably later this year. Development of our blog site is underway and we encourage members to forward material for it. It can be accessed at: otagomaritimevhfassn.blogspot.com.
Overall, the association and equipment are healthy, but we would still like more members from the Oamaru and South Otago areas and greater involvement in the Association by more members. One place to start would be to post copy, links and/or images on our blogspite or forward them to John at omvhfassn@gmail.com. Martin notes in his report that eventually we will need to find funds for new equipment, but this should not be for a few more years.
Finally, I would like to thank the committee for their support escpecially Ian for putting our records into a coherent order; our volunteer operators: John McLellan, Kevin Hughes, Heather and Keith Simon, Martin Balch, Ted Gilbert and Martin Finnie, and our members who have provided on-the-water weather reports. Martin Finnie has, on occasions, done the evening weather round-ups from Moeraki. At present Moraki is unmanned because John, due to ill health, has retired to Oamaru. We wish him and Pauline well and will miss his experience and help on the air.
Michael Harkness
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