MMinutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club
February 3, 2003 Ryan's Steakhouse, Bluefield, VA. (www.erarc.com)
The February meeting of the ERARC was opened at 705pm by George Dietrich 
KF4YGL. There were 18 members and guests in attendance. George welcomed all.
Bob Frazier, WB8NRK, treasurer, not in attendance. John Riddle N8RIG not in 
attendance for repeater report but Don Anderson WD8OOR did show.
Hooger Fisher W4OF read the minutes and commented that he'd gone through 
the past year's worth of minutes to see if we'd missed taking care of 
any business. 1) The G5RV antenna at the 911 center needs to be put up and 
2) we had mentioned buying jacks for the tower-trailer that we use for Field 
Day and VHF contests. G5RV: discussion. Hooger said that when the ERARC VE 
team assembles this Saturday for its test session, we would look to see 
where the antenna needs to be put up. Hooger has a friend that works for 
Comcast that can climb the phone pole at the 911 center and put up a pulley 
and rope system, if need be.  We will look at the situation on Saturday. 
JACKS: Gary Kadar N8GK, reminded us that, after discussion the night it was 
brought up, that it was decided that we'd just keep the "log' leveling 
system that we already had in place.
George reminded us that Field Day, June 28-29, 2003 
http://www.arrl.org/contests/calendar.html is the next event for the club 
and that we need to think about this event. Gary Kadar mentioned that the 
Pocahontas Coalfield ARC, McDowell Co., was planning on having Field Day on 
Miracle (#9) Mountain and that we may just think about joining them, valley 
vs. mountain, etc. etc.
Don Anderson said that he did purchase two trickle chargers for the club and 
installed them on the backup batteries at the repeater sites. He said that 
the 442.45 is running totally on the battery and if this machine was 
working, that the charger was working.  The power supply to the 442 has been 
cut off totally. He also said that all of the machines were working 
properly.
Jay Belt K8CTI is looking for software to connect a Yaesu FT-100 to a 
computer so that he and John Riddle can try to get the HF-internet radio 
system going. If anyone can help locate such, please contact Jay or John.
Betty Viers KG4CTL, editor of the club's newsletter, said that she does 
not have any material to publish. She REALLY needs US to write for US.
Gary Kadar mentioned that Wisdom Media Group just moved to John Nash Blvd A 
And has a 30' tower at their old location for sale. It is around $100, is 
laying down and Jim Deitz is the contact person.
ARES net controls: 4th Tom Gordon WW8D, 11TH George Dietrich, 18th Hooger 
Fisher, 25th no takers.
George recognized a visitor, Gerald Hylton K4YPP, from Giles Co/Rocky Gap.
Gary asked the secretary to make sure that we were on the calendar for Feb. 
3, 2003 at 6-630pm. (Secretary DID this after the meeting.)
Jim Kerrigan KD4ARX is moving to Roanoke, VA and has a bunch of QST and SERA 
magazines, 3 "desktop' CB radios and other stuff that he'd like to get 
rid of as opposed to just throwing them away. Any takers?
Dave Cox KG4MCC mentioned that now, Radio Shack has a 35W 13.8V switching 
power supply for only $60.00, if anyone is interested.
ARRL TEST SESSION THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2003, 9AM AT THE MERCER CO. 911 
CENTER, SPONSORED BY THE ERARC VE TEAM.
Gary Kadar says that the ERARC is a member of the Mercer Co. Emergency Plan 
and that the plan is being updated and should be "out' soon.
Bill McIntosh N8RIH won the 50/50.
There being no more business, the meeting was closed at 0730pm
Respectfully submitted, George "Hooger" Fisher 111, W4OF, Sec.