February 2016 meeting minutes
Mars Meeting
February 4, 2016
Attendees:
Tom McCarthy, David Riedel, Greg Young, Bill Clune, MaryBeth Clune, Michael Pleban, Nat Kinsey, Dennis Jurus, Dale Stoyer, Bill Wojtyla, Linda Newman, Jim Goggins, Ferenc Gy. Roka, Evan Brown and Duane Fregoe
Tom McCarthy chaired the meeting and the meeting was called to order at 7:04pm on February 4th 2016.Tom McCarthy asked Greg Young for a hard stop at 8:15 pm so members may participate in show and tell. Tom McCarthy stated the BoD has been busy in the background having conference calls including one with John Derimiggio about the current launch system. As a result of that conference call the BoD has approved $500 so that John Derimiggio, Nat Kinsey, and David Riedel may design the modifications to the distribution box. The distribution box will have relay that is going to render the pad boxes dead at the LCO table. Each distribution box will have its own high intensity LED light. Tom McCarthy stated that the hope also is to have new pad boxes for NYPOWER, but realistically probably not. We will have 7 to 8 distribution boxes by NYPOWER. The modifications to the distribution boxes address the issue of the uncommanded launch in August. John Derimiggio will be at the March meeting to demonstrate the modified distribution boxes and its operation. Greg pointed out that the pad boxes have not been approved yet by the board and Tom McCarthy said correct, there needs to be further discussion about the pad boxes. The modified distribution boxes will allow power to the bank of pad boxes to be killed at the LCO desk, but you will still be able to do a continuity check but the pad boxes will be dead until the LCO desk puts the range live, the strobes at that point will be lit. David Riedel brought up that Tom Cohen told the old BOD how MDRA has different size strobes at different distances and that is the plain at this point also for the club.
Tom McCarthy updated the members that he has talked to Austin Wadsworth the landowner regarding what was previously a wheat field what might be planted this year, Austin doesn’t know what the farmer is planning but will be checking into and get back to Tom McCarthy. Nat Kinsey stated that wheat was not planned for this year.
Linda Newman gave members a financial report. At this time the club has two accounts a PayPal account where membership dues and NYPOWER flyer fees go, and a Key Bank business account. As of 4pm on February 4th2016 the PayPal account had $1653.85 and the Key Bank had an ending balance as of January 26th, 2016 of $10,139.42 for a grand total of $11793.27. The projected expenses at this point for 2016 are the portable toilets at $80 each per launch with the exception of NYPOWER where more will be needed. Nat Kinsey will look into how many we had last year and pass the information on. $500 has been allocated for the distribution box changes for John, David and Nat and $1500 for the donation to the museum .That was all that was reported at this time. Nat Kinsey stated at this time that the bill for portable toilet from the New Year’s Day launch needs to be paid. Linda Newman gave Nat Kinsey permission to use the clubs debit card to pay the bill. Tom McCarthy asked if the financial report is accepted at this point, Mike Pleban accepted and Dale Stoyer seconded it.
Tom McCarthy asks MaryBeth Clune the secretary to read the BoD meeting minutes of the conference call held on January 6th2016, which she did. Tom McCarthy asked that the club members approve the minutes. At this point Jim Goggins objected that the members don’t need to approve the BoD meeting minutes; they were not at the meeting so they don’t know what happened. A 25 minutes discussion was held on it was decided that the prior months meeting minutes will be posted in the water cooler. If there are any corrections needed folks are to contact MaryBeth Clune the clubs secretary via a private message. The BoD meeting minutes and the members meeting minutes will be posted prior to the next member meeting and not read at the meeting. MaryBeth Clune read the meeting minutes that was held on January 7th2016. It was asked if there were any corrections, at this time Linda Newman stated that she didn’t bring up wanting a new NYPOWER poster. The correction was made. Meeting minutes were approved; meeting minutes will be posted on the forum.
Tom McCarthy stated that he would like the committees to report at this time.
BFR Committee:
Jim Goggins stated that they haven’t completed their report of recommendations at this time. Jim Goggins stated that John Derimiggio would like to be on the BFR committee. Tom McCarthy approved that John D on the committee. A report will be out shortly. Jim Goggins, Tom Cohen and John Derimiggio are on the committee.
Education and Outreach Committee:
Evan Brown stated there is a Cub Scout build on April 16th in Brighton, and a presentation to the Rochester Aeromodelling Society on 4/26/16 at the Goodwill Center in Webster. Evan feels it would have an ongoing relationship with this group. No date as of yet for the pack in Dansville. Evan shared he’s suggestions for the kits to be used for outreach. The Quest Payloader and the Estes Alpha III, Evan will make he’s recommendations to his contacts for the outreach. AC Supply and Balsa Machine Works kits were also suggested to be looked at for pricing and kits. RMSC presentation was believed to be happening the weekend of February 13th. .Evan is checking into this. Nat Kinsey is going to contact the museum about the Air Show. More information will be provided as the Air Show comes closer. TARC, Nat Kinsey stated that the only thing as a club we have to do is set up the field and push the button. TARC is self-sufficient at this event. Evan also brought up the college challenge that was going on that is high power and multi staged, but that would not be a good fit for this club being multi staged.
Equipment and Capital Expense Committee:
Nat Kinsey gave three options that the board can chose from:
1. Buy nothing. Rails are usable, 6′ rails are fine for MPR and light HPR, etc.
2. 3 of the 8′ 1010 rails are tired and could be replaced. Local supplier stocks 20′ sticks. Two sticks yields 4 rails. Replaces 3 8′, and a 6′, or both 6′ and 2 of the 8′ out of the NYP setup. Cost: ~$110 (based on invoice from this year)
3. Buy three sticks, ~$165.
Nat showed the members T stands. The cost of 20 would roughly be $40 or less. The rails can be purchased from a local company and it’s a quick turnaround if the club decided to purchases the 1010 rails. Tom McCarthy stated that the BoD will get together soon to discuss the budget for the year for the committees. He would also like for Nat Kinsey to introduce him to the area farmers some upcoming Saturday.
Launch Operation Committee:
Jim Goggins said the committee still needs to still get together to fine-tune the recommendations to be made to the BoD . Jim Goggins has contacted Ted Cochran the current NAR president for his input. Tom McCarthy asked Jim if he feels that it would be any different from last year, Jim said yes there were some safety concerns being addressed at this time. After the committee has had a chance to review and discuss the recommendations it will be sent to the BoD. Jim will send the NYPOWER recommendations to MaryBeth Clune shortly also. Same amount of pads as past years for NYPOWER will be used per Jim Goggins.
Membership Committee:
Nat Kinsey informed everyone that there are a couple of changes in the works, not so much in the membership but how the club is keeping records of its members. The benefits with the information staying on the website are it allows easy access to the information by BoD at any time, the data can be manipulated for name tags and such. Bill Clune showed the members the new design to the member name badges. Bill Clune stated that he is ready to roll out the new name tags now. Nat Kinsey stated there is about 40-45 cards that can be printed at this time. An email will be sent by Nat Kinsey to the members that have already paid for additional information for the new name card. Nat Kinsey asked that it’s noted that Ferenc Gy. Roka has an honorary lifetime membership to MARS so noted. The cost of the cards is between $25-40 for 500. It was decided that the membership card should be made as they come in, mailed and the postage should be paid by the club.
NYPOWER Committee:
MaryBeth Clune stated that Tom McCarthy has made arrangements with Three Legged Pig they to be the food vendor for the event. Tom McCarthy has also talked to Austin Wadsworth about having a night launch; it has been cleared to have a night launch. Tom McCarthy has also been in contact with Ted Cochron about the rules for the night launch and he has received input from Ted Cochron. Greg Young will be managing the field aspect of the launch and Bill Clune will manage the registration part of it. NYPOWER logo ideas went around the room and Evan Brown’s idea won. Bill Clune suggested having SRC (Syracuse Rocket Club running an event inside the launch and they are willing to do it. Dan Bihary from Ohio is doing a build and fly build for kids during the launch. A volunteer raffle and a flyer raffle will be done this year. Tom McCarthy and Jim Goggins are working on items that can be auctioned off from the estate of Merrell Lane to make additional money for the club during the event. Duane Fregoe asked about the age for kids fly free, MaryBeth Clune stated 18 and under. Duane Fregoe stated it doesn’t state the age on the website, so the website will be updated. Vendors coming to NYPOWER so far are Mac Performance Rocketry, AMW, Performance Hobbies and One Bad Hawk. Other ideas are in the works and will be shared at the next meeting.
Tom McCarthy asked about the clubs section renewal because the current paper work he has right now expires in April of this year. He asked and where does the paper work go. Jim Goggins said that NAR’s website still has him as the club’s president and the paper work is coming to him. Jim Goggins thinks that he gave Tom McCarthy the current paper work but he will check to see if he still has it and let Tom McCarthy know. Tom McCarthy asked for more information about the backend of the website to understand what the function will be for BoD members; Bill Clune and Nat Kinsey explained it. Bill Clune is waiting for information from Nat Kinsey in order for the “parent portal” to be accessible for the BoD. Tom McCarthy asked if any members had any questions at this time and Mike Pleban said he had a concern with 29 mm motors flying off the low power rack. Tom McCarthy stated that they shouldn’t be doing that, it will be addressed. Jim Goggins stated he would like to have packets at the RSO and LCO table with information in them on proper launch operations, after it has been approved by the BoD. Jim Goggins won the raffle which was an Estes Cruise Missile kit from the estate of Merrell Lane.
Show and Tell
Evan Brown built the Quest Pay Loader rocket to demonstrate how long it takes to build one; it’s an option for one of the outreach build dates. Evan also shared his next L3 project wish is a Rocketry Warehouse Rocket called the Terminator on the Black Friday sale, which has a 5 inch air frame. The build is posted in the Rocketry Forum if you are interested in checking it out.
Ferenc Gy. Roka- shared that a former founding MARS member is giving a lecture at the Harley School in Rochester, NY on Feb.23rd 2016 at 6:30 pm. Robert Staehle ‘73 is Assistant Division Manager for Advanced Concepts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The lecture is called From Skylab to Pluto: A Career in Aerospace .More information on this event can be found here http://www.harleyschool.org/news/events-…roXAOYXHgA
Nat Kinsey showed some parts of a Pershing Missile that he is making for a customer of his. It’s going to be an 11 ½ inches, but the parts were wrong and Nat explained how they were wrong and how he determined how to correct the upscale. Nat then shared a soon to be released rocket kit from Mac Performance called 3FNC (three fin, and nose cone) Rocket. It’s a very short rocket that has a nose cone from Giant Leap that is longer then the body tube. Nat has made some modifications to the aft end in order to put an altimeter sled in. Very Cool!