Attendees

Scott, Mike, Jim, Paul, Andy, Bob, Simon, Michael, Leslie, Jon

Topics

We started off the meeting by introducing the new meeting place. Free Wifi, Free Room Hire and (unfortunately) £3 Drinks!

Jim showed us his Barcode Scanning AVR project, designed to make working out who is using the coffee at work in what proportions!

We discussed the factfinding Jon has been doing around Amateur Radio Licensing, the cost would be £45 per person, for full beginner electronics tuition, and at the end anyone who passes would be an Licensed Radio Amateur.

Bob mentioned the 'underground bunker' possible hackspace on Lower Hillgate, which would cost £330 per month. We decided to keep looking for now, but keep it in mind

Jon mentioned an idea that had come up in IRC, starting a meeting box full of arduinos & other electronics stuff to use for hacking during meetings, Andy mentioned he might be able to get some sponsorship for it through work. Bob will come up with a component list, aiming at spending around £200 total.

Due to the need for capital when starting the space, Bob talked about charging membership fees and about a rough idea of monthly costs, assuming the space will cost around £350 per month (about £400-500, although Jon thinks for safety sake, roughly setting the value at £500-600 would be better) and how if we didn't get anything together within 6 months, then any unspent money would be refunded.

We re-hashed the discussion from earlier meetings about whether we should become a company or not. The main reason we'd consider it is that to have a bank account without being a company requires a constitution. Simon brought up that MFS had a bank account without incorporating because they considered the amount of money they'd be turning over wouldn't be sufficient for the amount of trouble to become a company. We decied that It probably would be worth it for SHS due to the amount of money needed, and the necessity of signing contracts for the eventual lease on a space.