Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club 
 April 5,2004 Ryan’s Steakhouse, Bluefield, VA. http://www.erarc.com 
The April meeting of the ERARC was opened at 700pm by George Dietrich KF4YGL, ERARC President. There were 19 members and guests in attendance. George welcomed all.
 Treasurer's report, by Bob Frazier WB8NRK. Gary Kadar gave a short description of the Incident Command System which all Mercer Fire, EMS and Police adhere to when in an emergency situation. He said that the ICS is a management tool which one uses to handle emergency incidents and the system gives control and direction from the Incident Commander down the chain of command to those that actually perform duties during an incident. It uses common language, job descriptions and terminology. There are two halves of the ICS: (1) Management Section and (2) Organizational Section. The Incident Commander is in charge of the whole incident and under him/her are individual sections that take care of specific tasks. Each section (that does a job) consists of 5 or so members who perform a specific job. This limited number gives the person ‘above’ them “span of control” over a manageable number of people. Communications will be under the “Logistics” Section. This talk was to introduce ERARC members to a very brief explanation of ICS in order to have some idea of the terminology and function. Gary has ordered a self-study ICS program from the Federal Government. 
 Bob Frazier: Bob has received renewals for Sam’s Club memberships through the club and needs to have $30 or denial from the following members: David Miller and Steve O’Dell. IF YOU WANT A SAM’S CLUB MEMBERSHIP THROUGH THE CLUB PLEASE CONTACT BOB FRAZIER WB8NRK AT: bfrazier@frontiernet.net
 Bob: We paid $438.34 for liability insurance for the past year and as of now, have paid $375.32 for 2004 (with an added expenditure in November for EACH club member). Bob checked with the ARRL for a liability policy that will cost around $325.00 for the same one million dollar policy. Discussion. George asked for a vote, vote taken, Bob will process the ARRL application and cancel the current policy when the new one is in place.
 Hooger read the minutes and then added the following comments: Generator: Russel Taylor KC8GBE took the big generator to Mark IV Honda and had it serviced. Russel’s brother said that the oil was ¾ low, the gas was old and that we need to use “Stabil” conditioner or the like. Books in the libraries: Bob Frazier delivered one to the Princeton location. Hooger delivered one to the Bluefield, VA location. He found that the club had already delivered one to the Bluefield, WV library in March 2003, SO we’ve got an extra Now You’re Talking Technician Study book for sale. Contact Bob Frazier. New 440 repeater: Is on the air at 443.625 with Echolink via WZ8E.
 Bill Sowers mentioned that the Bluefield area is covered well for Echolink and that if anyone needs help in getting they’re computer setup for Echolink, that there are many people in the Ham community that can help, just ask. (Bill also said that he’s looking for a camper top for a 99 Ford pickup 5.5 feet)
 George mentioned Field Day and the location. It had been mentioned that Dave Cox KG4MCC had procured the Graham Recreation Park location but there was question as to whether we could occupy the location for the whole 24-hour period, etc. Tabled until next meeting.
 Bill Sowers won the 50/50 drawing for the flower fund and donated his $9 to the fund. There was also an anonymous $20 donation to the fund.  We don’t know who donated the money but we appreciate it!!!!!
 ARES net control for April: 6th Harold Hodges N8NCP, 13th Hooger Fisher W4OF, 20th Lonnie  Underwood KI4EED, 27th George Dietrich KF4YGL with Ed Viere KD4WOO as backup.
 The meeting was adjourned at 0740pm. 

Respectfully submitted, George “Hooger” Fisher 111, W4OF, Sec.