Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club meeting. August 3, 2009 Ryan’s Steakhouse Bluefield, VA. The August meeting of the ERARC was opened at 708pm by Hooger Fisher W4OF, ERARC Secretary. There were 15 members and guests in attendance. Hooger went over the July minutes. Don Anderson WD8OOR gave the Treasurer’s report. Don paid an $18.XX phone bill and a $51.24 refund to himself for ropes for Field Day. He mentioned that he had visited with the Family of Bob Brookman K8BQU-SK and found out that Bob’s wishes were for no memorial contributions. The Club usually donates $30.00 to a charity upon the death of a Club member or their immediate family but with the circumstances, Don purchased a $37.00 flower arrangement for the family from the Club. He put in the $7.00 from his personal funds. He said that there may have been a dozen arrangements at the Funeral Home. “We did the best we could, considering the circumstances,” Don said. He deposited a $5.00 donation and a renewal from last month and that there were several renewals tonight. DON WILL EMAIL ERARC MEMBERS INSTEAD OF SNAIL-MAILING REMINDERS IN ORDER TO SAVE THE CLUB ABOUT $100.00 IN POSTAGE. PLEASE LOOK FOR HIS REMINDER IN YOUR INBOX, THANKS! dlanderson@citlink.net you use “Bill Pay” or some other banking service, please consider sending your renewal to: ERARC, P.O. Box 1362, Bluefield, WV 24701. (You may want to use your call sign as your “account number” when using Bill Pay.) Dues are $15.00 per member per year with an additional $1.00 for each member at the same address. We appreciate your renewal to keep the repeaters on the air and insurance to cover them and us when we operate as a Club. Don said that he would go ahead and snail-mail those that he doesn’t have email addresses for and for those emails that ‘bounce’. Gary Kadar N8GK said that there will be an ARRL VE TEST SESSION THIS COMING SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2009, 9am, AT THE MERCER COUNTY 911 CENTER IN GREEN VALLEY. Gary made a motion, seconded by L.A. Farmer KB8OOK to reimburse Don Anderson out of the flower fund for the $7.00 that he paid out of pocket for Bob’s flowers. Vote taken. Motion passed. Gary also said that Lee Brooks’ K8BHG care-giver/friend had contacted him concerning Lee’s dipole that had fallen and was requesting repair from the Amateur community. Lee is the immediate past holder of the W8MOP license and has been active on the air for many, many years working CW exclusively. Lonnie Underwood KI4EED had helped Lee out in the past with his radio problems. Gary and Don plan to meet at Lee’s and checkout what needs to be done and then get the “Saturday morning breakfast crew” to help get Lee back on the air. Don said that Lee has to be in his upper eighty’s. There was some mention of a 'balun' when the fellow talked to Gary. If there is a balun that needs to be replaced, Gary suggested that we use one of the Club’s baluns and then take up a collection to replace the Club’s unit since Club funds cannot be used at all per WV law. All in attendance were in agreement. Don said that he was under the impression that the broken 4500W generator had an electric-start, it is not. He will get the advertisement in the local Trading Journal this week for sure. He’s looking at a $500.00 generator to recommend purchase by the Club and if we get the $350.00 for the used Honda 13 HP motor (horizontal shaft) plus the many dollars donated over the past 2-3 years to the “generator fund”, we’ll be in fine shape with minimum expenditure. Hooger read a memo from Ann Rinehart KA8ZGY, WV SM, concerning the October 3-4, 2009 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) which follows the ‘National Preparedness Month’ of September. (See attached information below for the original email). Hooger mentioned that there is a new Mercer County, WV ARES preamble out and offered anyone in attendance a copy of same. Hooger mentioned that David Lester N8VFR, ERARC Webmaster, had setup an email address: erarc at erarc dot com for use with the Cram Session that the VE team participated with back in June. David had given Don Anderson and Hooger access to check the incoming emails and when Hooger checked the inbox back in June/July, there was an email from a Ham concerning the May VE test session. Hooger asked the membership if it would be OK if he asked David to change the “contact email” from erarc at erarc dot com to w4of@hotmail.com so that the incoming queries would be seen and replied to in a timely manner. Discussion. No problem with this suggestion from the membership. Gary Kadar brought up the September 12-13VHF QSO party Contest. http://www2.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/sepvhf.html . He had contacted the proprietors at Miracle Mountain, McDowell County, WV, to see how much they might charge for use of the cabin, grounds and restroom. The cost is $300.00 for two days so that was ‘out’. He mentioned using Number 9 Mountain or Mount View High School’s grounds (same elevation as Miracle Mountain), etc. in the County due to elevation and his being raised in the County….and just wanting to try to operate there. Jay Belt K8CTI asked it we would like to use the J-104 site at the top of East River Mountain……… maybe. Discussion. Bottom line: Think about a site to use for the VHF Contest and we will talk about it at the September meeting. Don Anderson reminded us that there are supposed to be nominations for Club Officers at the next meeting and elections at the October meeting. Steve Rector KA8QHC said that upon reading the minutes, that there on the “To Do” list, was a mention of “Communications class for the Mercer Co. Civil Air Patrol” and asked as to what that involved. Hooger said that Lonnie and/or Cathy Underwood KG4CTK had mentioned something about a class but could not remember what was requested from the CAP. Don Anderson said that Bob Cook KA8MDZ is in the CAP and may be able to tell us what their members had requested from the ERARC. Hooger mentioned the need for volunteers for Net Control for the Mercer Co. ARES net for this month and September 1. Roger Stefancic KC8LGR will take the 18th, Ronnie Childress KD8HBO, Mercer Co. EC, and others will cover the other positions. Don Anderson mentioned that Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) is October, 17-18, 2009, http://www.arrl.org/scouts/jota/ Bill Sowers K8WBS has for sale: Magellan 4250 GPS for $80.00 and is looking for an ICOM 2M handheld. wbs1@citlink.net The meeting was over at 744pm. Submitted by Hooger Fisher W4OF, ERARC Secretary. TO DO LIST: 1) Equipment inventory with serial numbers for insurance reasons 2) Antenna for the Bluefield, Va. Rescue Squad 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. 5) Communications class for the Mercer Co. Civil Air Patrol 6) Trailer for storing equipment. Also used for deployment. Attachment mentioned from above: Hello, Section Managers and Section Emergency Coordinators. (This message is going to both the ARRL SM and ARRL SEC Reflectors) The 2009 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test will be held once again this fall season. October 3 and 4, 2009, is the main focal-point weekend for the SET. As in past years, you and your fellow Section Leaders and Emergency Coordinators may conduct local and section-wide exercises throughout the fall season. The point, of course, is to have the most effective exercise whenever it is held. During the month of September, the ARRL will be among dozens of organizations and agencies taking part in National Preparedness Month. "The Ready Campaign," produced by the Ad Council in partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is aimed at making citizen preparedness "a priority for every city, every neighborhood and every home" in the US. The ARRL encourages you to consider this year's Simulated Emergency Test and preparations for it as a demonstration of Amateur Radio's readiness and active participation in National Preparedness Month. http://www.ready.gov/, http://www.ready.gov/america/npm09/index.html. The ARRL Web page now has the 2009 Simulated Emergency Test reporting forms available for download. You’ll find links to the Emergency Coordinator SET Report, the Net Manager SET Report, and the Emergency Coordinator Annual Report when you click on http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/#ec_set The guidelines for conducting a Simulated Emergency Test, along with details on how to report your SET results, may be found at this link: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/setguide.html September QST will also have an article that announces the 2009 Simulated Emergency Test. Best wishes on planning and conducting your 2009 SET! Thank you. 73, Steve Ewald, WV1X Supervisor, Field Organization Team, 860-594-0265 sewald@arrl.org Check out a radio-active site at: http://www.erarc.com , The East River Amateur Radio Club. We'll be glad that you did!