Monthly Meeting Tues 4 th July 2006

Minutes of meeting held at St Werburgh's Community Centre, Tuesday 4th July at 6.30 pm

PRESENT

• Pete F
• Rich H
• Sam
• Woodsy
• Mike B
• Matt T
• Tom T
• Matt L
• Julian
• Sean K
• Jim F
• Lloyd
• Ben G

APOLOGIES

• May
• Chris P

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

(At the suggestion of the Chairman, this item was discussed after the matters arising item below). Following discussion of matters arising, the minutes of the meeting of 6th June 2006 were approved.

MATTERS ARISING

1. Backbone

a) 5.8 kit: Lloyd reported that the Holroyd-BMEX link was not stable. Lloyd & John Palfrey are investigating the causes. BMEX is still not attached to the backbone and problems include a low signal level. Mini PC cards with a higher sensitivity/performance are on order and will hopefully remedy problems.

b) 2.4 kit: The antennas are high gain with a very small area of focus (6.5 degrees). In addition, the tower blocks on which they are mounted are too high to give a broad footprint. However, the link to the Cube is good. More testing is needed to identify the best possible solution. Matt L and Lloyd to liaise on remedying the situation.

2. BMEX update

Pete F is talking to BMEX regarding the pricing of the service; Bristol Wireless is being offered very favourable terms compared with current BMEX customers. Pete F has prepared a spreadsheet showing various costs and revenue permutations and will post this to the wiki. Waiving the connection fee for contended SDSL service is proposed, with pricing of £100-130 for 1 Mb connections and £160-190 for 2 Mb sold at 10:1 contended. Lloyd mentioned that cheaper bandwidth was available. Sam wondered whether our association with BMEX would preclude our selling bandwidth from other sources; this was answered in the negative. Pete F will post regular updates of progress to the grindstone. Any BMEX questions should be forwarded to Pete F.

3. Rediffusion network

Pete F reported he is meeting the City Council, Watershed and City of Bristol College in respect of the redundant local Rediffusion network. City of Bristol College have 17 premises around the city and would be happy to host antennae. Pete F to post report to the wiki.

4. Woodcraft Folk/Big Green Gathering/Climate Change Camp

Sean K reported that these are 3 potential outings for the mobile LTSP suite before the end of August.

The Woodcraft folk event starts on 29th July, for which Matt L and Sam are prepared to go down and set up the suite on 26th July, with the kit being picked up again on 9/10th August.

Big Green Gathering: it was agreed in principle that we would like to attend if sufficient volunteers are forthcoming. Would those interested please add their names to the wiki page. Sam also suggested that Linux advocacy materials (CDs and information) be produced for this event. This was agreed.

Climate Change Camp: Sam and Matt L are interested in attending this event at the end of August. Interested parties please add names to the wiki page.

5. Bannerman Road

Sean K is preparing to write the final return report. The major lesson we have learnt is that volunteer labour has proved ineffective for this type of project. One house in Fox Road is awaiting installation. Some funds are still left in the budget. It was suggested that some of the remaining funds be used for works on the old boilerhouse chimney at St W's to help facilitate this install. Rich is to obtain a quotation for the works. In addition, one parent is still awaiting delivery of a computer. It was also reported that the Old Co-op had given away some of our kit and should be invoiced for it! Sam suggested that someone be paid to visit the homes with installed machines to do a health check on the kit and address any problems.

6. Australian visit

Sam reported that the meeting with Right Choice Consultants of Australia had taken place.

REPORTS

1. Annual report

Julien reported that the major remaining obstacle to its production is the money laundering regulations. To satisfy these, the officers of Bristol Wireless (Julian, Andy L and Pete F) must provide photographic ID (e.g. passport) and a copy of a recent utility bill or similar. Proofs of ID are to be sent to Julien for forwarding.

Julian has also received an email from the accountant, who needs a copy of our constitution documents to check on the need for a full audit.

The cost of preparing the accounts will be £500 each for both 2004 and 2005 and will take about 2-3 weeks.

Sean mentioned the need for a Chairman's statement, which Pete F agreed to draft.

Sam reported he was still in limbo with funding applications which require an annual report/accounts.

2. C3 performance improvement update

Rich, Sam, Pete F and Woodsy had just had a further session with Kate Harkavy on this subject, which is now nearing conclusion. A wiki page detailling the latest developments will be produced and a further meeting is planned for Tuesday, 11th July at 6.30 pm.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

1. Superhighways

Sean K reported that we had been approached by the Superhighways Partnership of Kingston Upon Thames. They want to provide a wireless network for a local council estate and would like Bristol Wireless to provide consultancy work, starting with a site visit and survey to assess feasibility. All told the work could be worth £8,000 for Bristol Wireless.

2. Sign off Beef design work and approval to pay invoice

An invoice has been received for £500 and its payment was approved. Ben G questioned whether we have the final approved version of the artwork. This was confirmed. It was agreed the new logo be incorporated in the website and on Bristol Wireless stationery.

3. Consultancy work in Manchester

Sam reported Bristol Wireless had been approached to provide consultancy for a yet to be built sustainable housing estate in the Manchester area.

4. Byteback

Sean questioned whether the agreement with Byteback was working, particularly as we have a large backlog for refurbished computers. Sean suggested we need a dedicated volunteer to liaise with Byteback.

5. Magazine interview

Rich H reported he is being interviewed on Tuesday for a magazine article on recycling computers.

6. Accounts

Julian circulated copies of the draft accounts. He stated that our general financial position is healthy. However, we are making a loss on ADSL line sales. It was suggested the shortfall be made good from other budgets and approaching TOC H for monies in respect of provision for Easton Community Centre. Funds are still outstanding from Future Learning. Julian and Jim F are due to meet Chris Pickering of Future Learning at 12.30 pm on Monday 10th July to discuss matters. It was agreed that a preparatory meeting be arranged between Julian, Jim F, Sam and Rich H on Monday morning in advance of the meeting with Future Learning.

7. Digital Challenge

Sean K reported that an event is to take place on 12th July at the Watershed to cover the announcement of the Digital Challenge, which will be streamed to the Watershed. Pete F and Sean K will be attending.

In addition, Stephen Hilton of the city council will be giving a Digital Challenge presentation to Voscur members on 20th July at Easton Community Centre.

8. Princess Royal Gardens

A quote for £200 has been received from Ronnie Corbett. This was felt to be insufficient to cover the works involved. Rich H to liaise further.

9. Cinelerra course

Ben G reported that due to lack of interest his planned Cinelerra course has been cancelled. However, it will be rescheduled for a future date.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, 1st August 2006, 6.30 at Room 5, St Werburgh's Community Centre (to be confirmed).