Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club meeting. April 7, 2008 Ryan’s Steakhouse Bluefield, VA. http://www.erarc.com The April meeting of the ERARC was opened at 700pm by George Dietrich, ERARC President. There were 20 members and guests in attendance. Don Anderson WD8OOR handed out new Club handbooks and several membership cards (for the most recent member that have joined.) Don has personally delivered many of the books to members in order to save $1.14/book for postage. He asked that others volunteer to deliver other books also. Jay Belt K8CTI was asked about the repeaters. He reported that all were working fine. He said that he would change the 145.49’s Echolink to 147.06 as soon as possible. Lonnie was asked about Echolink and he said that it was working just fine. Roger Nisselrodt KI4FZA reported that the Tuesday evening trader’s net on the 147.06 (7:30pm) was going OK and was having several check-ins during the net. He hopes that the net will expand and do much better. Roger asked if anyone would volunteer to back him up as Net Control and Lonnie Underwood KI4EED said that he would do it. ALL ARE INVITED TO CHECK INTO THE NET. YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE ITEMS FOR SALE OR TRADE TO PARTICIPATE. Hooger Fisher W4OF, interim Treasurer, gave his report. He paid $38.22 in phone bills and renewed the Post Office Box 1362 for another year for $40.00. He mentioned that we have an equipment insurance bill for $336.00 for the repeaters, antennas, etc. etc. Don Anderson and Jay Belt said that they would go over the equipment lists and see what items could be removed from our insurance. Jay mentioned that the antennas and Doug-Hall interfaces could definitely be removed, thus, lowering our premium. Hooger read the minutes from the March meeting. HE COMMENDED DON ANDERSON FOR THE LONG HOURS AND VERY HARD WORK PUTTING THE CLUB HANDBOOK TOGETHER (ALL SINCE THE LAST MEETING) AS WELL AS THE MEMBERSHIP CARDS. The members present applauded Don’s hard work and dedication to the Club. Don got minimal information from Bob Frazier’s computer and literally had to retype most all of the information. He included the new ARRL bandplan in the center of the book. The 2008 Handbook looks very nice and as usual, is very functional and informative. Dave Cox N4DBC mentioned putting the Handbook into a PDF form and email it and/or put it on the Club’s website for download. He said that www.openoffice.org has a solution for any extension for documents and will convert any format to a PDF format. It’s free. George mentioned that Bill Sowers K8WBS has a 4000KW generator that probably has never been used (his brother has been storing it) and would like to get $300 out of it. Discussion. He’ll bring the information on it to the Club meeting. Lonnie Underwood reported on his trips to Lee Brooks K8BHG’s home when he was getting Lee back on the air on HF and 2M. He repaired Lee’s antenna system, got his HF radio working and found Lee’s 2M and power supply in the house and got Lee back onto 2M. Lee is 90 years old and only works CW on HF. Harold Hodges N8NCP won the 50/50 drawing for the flower fund. George Leedy KJ4BXS asked to speak to the membership. He really is impressed with the people he’s met on the air, the professionalism of them and the overall quality of Amateur Radio and he appreciates all that we do for Public Service. A round of applause was given to George. ARES net controls for April: 8th Lonnie Underwood KI4EED, 14th George Dietrich, 21st Jerry Connelly KC8TES and 28th Stephen Stefancic KD8EPJ. The meeting was over at 750pm. Submitted by Hooger Fisher W4OF, ERARC Secretary. TO DO LIST: 1) Equipment inventory with serial numbers for Bob for insurance reasons 2) Go over repeater instructions in Club handbook for being current and complete. (Add weather radio information, check 911 autodials, etc.) 3) Cathy Underwood KG4CTK would like us to look into possible funding via the Office of Homeland Security. 4) The Communications Bus/ RV that the Club began to work on. Addendum: Patrick Pace, Steve O'dell, Harold Hodges, Hooger Fisher are all currently Sam's Club business members through the East River Amateur Radio Club. Are you interested? The Club's treasurer is the current ERARC Sam's Club cardholder of a "Business" Membership and is allowed eight other 'business' memberships under his primary. Currently, only 4 other ERARC members have signed on as Add-on memberships and if you may be interested, email me at w4of@hotmail.com and I'll hook you up. The previously listed members have first option to renew for the upcoming year. A "regular" membership is $40.00/yr and shopping hours are Mon-Fri 10am to 830pm and Saturday from 930am to 830pm A "business" membership (like ERARCs) is $35.00/yr and hours are M-F 7am-10am and Saturday 7am-930am in addition to regular hours. The lady at the service desk said that each membership, new or renewal, would receive 2 membership cards per membership. IF you would like to renew or become a new Sam's Club business member with the ERARC, please email or call me. We have until May 10, 2008 to renew and/or add new memberships. If you wish to join, I need a card filled out with your printed name and a check for $35.00 made out to ERARC. Once all membership renewals, etc. are totaled, the monies will be deposited into the ERARC checking account and one check for the total amount will be written to Sam's Club. THE ERARC DOES NOT MAKE ANY PROFIT ON THIS ENDEAVOR, it's just an opportunity for one to be a business member via the ERARC. Looking forward to hearing from renewals and/or new memberships. 73, George "Hooger" Fisher III, W4OF, ERARC Secretary. 276-326-3419