Regular Member Meeting 2014 12 09

Time and Location

December 9, 2014

Called to order at 19:34 by Dan B.

Members present: Dan B, Enrique, Kevin, Phil, Mirage, Don, Katie, Travis, Celeste, Zack, Chris, Shawn

Members remote: Jamie ITG

Others present: Camilla, Rob, Xavier, Randy

Quorum?

Quorum met? Yes.

Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes

Regular Member Meeting 2014 11 18

Recognition

Anonymous $100 donor
Dan Barlow - Nose to the grindstone, CNC milling ground drone parts.
Don Jones - Grant research, equipment setup, and maintaining friendly relations with the Church.
Lee Ciereszko - License plate proceeds and other donations to HAMRADIO.

Director Reports

President's Report

We have cards for the security guards, please sign them.

Declares that our next Annual Meeting will be Saturday, January 10th, 2015 at 3pm.

We've had some debate over how to approach HacDC's funding and financing. "I want everyone to think about one thing that they personally can do to help HacDC generate revenue."

Vice President's Report

I should have some green tomato jam for people to try tonight
- Forgot to bring it tonight.
The blue tubing is for running fiber to the basement via the network closet. appologies for leaving it hanging around.
No further info about the comcast upgrade yet. They have to dig a trench to the church from a few doors down so it should be apparent when that happens.
- Estimated completion date is 12/22.
Just some reminders:
- The internet upgrade (71/15 + 3/3) is for the whole church (10+ other tennants) not just us. We need to keep our outbound traffic to a normal (for us) level once it's in. We need to at least get a baseline of "normal" useage before we get to pounding out the packets to the internet. So hosting websites and other services to the outside world won't happen until we're confident of how much bandwidth "normal" useage entials. I don't expect that we will need to be super stingy on the upload bandwidth but we need to know that "normal" isn't being squished by us running remote desktop protocols and webservers and proxies. Meaning quality of service for the other tennants isn't being unduely restricted by our using a disproportionate amount of upload bandwidth from the start.
- The front table isn't a good place to leave random things it's supposed to be there to display our propaganda.

Treasurer's Report

Here is the financial summary spreadsheet for November 2014: File:HacDC Financials 2014 11.pdf. We gained Christine Axsmith as a new member. We have 42 dues-paying members in good standing and 6 dues-waived members.

I'll put together materials for HacDC to apply to be part of the 2015 Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area, which will provide an easy way for federal workers to donate to us.

Project Awesome

Here is the Project Awesome spreadsheet for November: File:HacDC PA Projects-2014 11.pdf. We continue to have to dip into savings to pay our rent, so no dividend this month. :( In accordance with Project Awesome Rules, Project SPACECAM was canceled and its $50 balance returned to our unallocated reserves.

Secretary's Report

Nothing special to report.

Director-at-Large Reports

Travis

We received a donation of a functional analog projector. Members need to make sure the big red doors are kept locked after 10pm. Building a CNC for member use. 2x3 foot build area.

Zack

Nothing to report.

Project Awesome Reports

Project LASER

Haven't done anything, because busy with the robots.

Project BYZANTIUM

work has begun on a new type of system
- inorder to meet the needs of the many developers who have wanted to use subsets of byzantium we are making a modular set of packages and then slapping them in a liveCD as an deployment method.
- we are also limiting the scope of features to groundstation (and associated systems) and automated mesh configuration.
Will seek written permission to move the remaining grant funds into the general fund.

Project KITBUILD

No news due to busy-ness.

Project SUPPLIES

Still conservative. SEM filament expense reimbursed.

Project EXPANSION

Still conservative.

Project HAMRADIO

No update.

Member Reports

Mirage?

Shimmer. New Shell/VPS server online, along with Gentoo/Funtoo build service. Please request an account.
Taken over RFID project. Planning to use NetPLC as the inter-connected high-reliability brains. Will not affect regular key entry.
Still eagerly looking into more revenue sources.
- Visitor stopped by from MA hackerspace, has relationship with Intel and can help us seek funding. On the back of the brocure is their membership dues: base of $50 with pay for use of some tools, $75 for unlimited access, corporate level that allows scheduling of some time on the tools.
Will fix the 3D printer.

Julia

PRESENTING AT CCC :D
- Presenting 3D Printed Aluminum Casting (self signed) at 31C3

Phil

Put up a proposal on the list for addressing the direction and finances of the organization. Wants people to take a look and comment on the proposal.

Don

Radio club made over 2,000 contacts in the last month. We'll get some QSL cards printed and do some mailers to HAM operators in the area to try and recruit new members. We have contacted 130 countries.

Dan

Please be respectful of each other and the space. Clean up after yourself. Communicate clearly and calmly with others.

There have been some behavior problems, and it is causing friction between members and between us and the church.

Hunter

20:28 < Hunterkll> SEM - filmanet installed and electrically tests good
20:29 < Hunterkll> High voltage circutiry getting a workdown. Will approach it this weekend
20:29 < Hunterkll> We have workable vaccuum at the levels needed for beam generation and imagery
20:29 < Hunterkll> microprocessor in the control panel is 100% functional, even though it's not required for image taking, it's nice to have
20:30 < Hunterkll> I'm working with someone on getting a spare / slightly different vacuum control/interlock board as well for a spare, that's a 
                   failure component that's board replaceable, but i'll be taking a trip to new york to acquire more parts as well as this board i'm 
                   working on getting
20:30 < Hunterkll> If HV checks out, i should be generating a beam in the next few weeks, if not an image.
20:31 < Hunterkll> Control panel is fully functional except for a few toggle switches, and those are mechanical (switch) issues, not circuit. i can 
                   manually trigger the circuitry
20:31 < Hunterkll> Cam1lla, we'd like to have some 1gbit SFP modules for fiber runs for the network infrastructure if it hasn't been mentione dbefore
20:31 < Hunterkll> and LC-LC connectored (or adapted) fiber
20:32 < Hunterkll> we'll need at least one 100ft (prefferably greater, but we think 100ft will be enough. couplers can compensate if not) LC-LC 
                   connectored run
20:32 < Hunterkll> hax can fill in a bit about this if he's there
20:32 < Hunterkll> this is for inter-switch linking on the core side
20:33 < Hunterkll> better bandwidth for internal services and reliability on connection runs
20:33 < Hunterkll> (file server, VMs, etc)
20:33 < Hunterkll> otherwise, a 19 inch network breakout rack
20:33 < Hunterkll> one of those 2U units that mounts to a wall that can hold a switch
20:33 < Hunterkll> we acquired one, but it wasn't deep enough
20:34 < Hunterkll> we have a 24 port patch panel for it, but the switch didn't fit :(
20:34 < Hunterkll> trying to get it all off shelving areas to return usable space in that section
20:35 < Hunterkll> none of this is required, but it's been some stuff we've been discussing for a while to get things better organized and connected
20:36 < Hunterkll> been putting a lot of effort into gear acquisition on all of our parts (A-KO, ITG, Hax, me, etc) so we can start making things work 
                   smoother and less breaky and annoying

Old Business

New Business

Is this in the right section? This is my first time entering minutes here. Julia reports we need 24 V-wheels at $3.50 each for the giant basement robot, donations towards that purpose would be very welcome. Don is signing up for the April grant writing class; will report back next month. Don also reminded everyone of tomorrow's Amateur Radio club meeting, with a guest speaker from VOA, and the raffle of a handheld transcevier. Travis will look into registration of HacDC as a non-profit in D.C., which is separate from our IRS status. Ben expects a box of Project Byzantium gear, including a MacBook, mailed back to him / HacDC shortly. Reminders of the upcoming Raspberry Jam (condew) and SpaceBlimp6 team (Travis). Enrique received a hardcopy of the original HacDC bylaws with signature list from Dan.

New Members

Camilla

Been in DC for a year, walks dogs. Big fan of Linux. Interested in user interface stuff. Mirage sponsors, Phil seconds. Membership approved.

Randy Brown

Visited a year ago. Very impressed with the stuff we do (3d printers, laser cutter). Interested in exploring what HacDC is about. Not sure about becoming a member yet.

Xavier

Spoke at the Cryptoparty. Interested in security. Offered to teach about security if anyone is interested.

Adjournment

Adjourned at 8:36 by Dan B