Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club October 01, 2001 meeting ACME Fresh Markets, Community Room, Bluefield,VA (www.inetone.net/erarc) please note that these minutes are posted here also. The October meeting of the ERARC was opened at 0700pm by President George Dietrich kf4ygl. There were 27 members and guests in attendance. The minutes of the August meeting were read by George. The Round Mountain ARRL VHF Contest was mentioned and he thanked Ben Mills for the use of the tower trailer. Parking at the Bluefield Coal Show was mentioned. Done on Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 at the Brushfork Armory. The 2001 Christmas Dinner will be on December 3, 2001 at 6pm at ACME Fresh Market’s Community Room. The ‘steam tables’ will be open and everyone can choose their meal, buffet style. George Scott N4QQM, manager for ACME, said that he’d have turkey, ham, vegetables, etc. (traditional Christmas dinner items) on the buffet. The meeting will follow the dinner. Patty Dietrich kg4aym and Betty Viers kg4ctl volunteered to be ‘in charge’ of getting door prizes for the event. George asked that if anyone could get items for door prizes to do so and let Patty and/or Betty know. ’49 and 440 repeaters: Jay Belt k8cti told us that the 442.45 repeater is on the mountain and on the air. The remote base is working well into 2M, 440 and 220. He said that the 145.49 repeater did come in but was nonfunctional due to a bad transmit crystal and a bad PA and that the whole machine was sent back to the manufacturer. He said that he still needs to purchase two Kenwood 440 mobile radios (models TM 441 or TM 431) and one 220 Kenwood mobile radio (model TM 221). If anyone knows of such radios for sale, please contact Jay Belt at 304-327-0090 or via email at cti@inetone.net. Jay mentioned that he’s repaired the old ’49 repeater that was struck by lightening (except for one part) and the machine will be used for backup as well as the backup machine on the air now. The old ’49 will use a 500 CAT controller. Treasurer Bob Frazier wb8nrk, gave the financial report. He’s been reimbursing Jay Belt for: duplexers, whole repeaters, antennas, etc. We expect delivery of the insurance check for the old ’49 any day now (which is around $3000.00). George opened the floor for new officers. Bill Sowers k8wbs asked about Gary Kadar’s working on the by-laws re: changing the dates of elections. Gary said that he’d not had time to do so and wanted to table the subject. Bill Sowers made a motion to keep the current officers. No dissention by those in office now. George asked for more nominations, there were none. Seconded by Steve Lambert n8snz. A vote was taken, the motion passed. ARES net controls for Oct.: 2nd George Dietrich kg4ygl 9th Tom Gordon ww8d 16th Hooger Fisher 23rd Ed Viers kd4woo and 30th Shannon Akers kc8qnc. Hooger Fisher w4of told everyone about Jamboree on the Air, October 20-21, 2001 at the Tazewell County Airport in Claypool Hill, Va. The Taz. Co. ARES and Civil Air Patrol, the airport, the National Guard, local amateurs and the ERARC are sponsoring the event for Boy, Cub and Girl Scouts, Explorers and Guides. The Scouts have a ‘meeting on the air’ via amateur radio and ‘meet’ other scouts on the air, talking about school, scouting, sports, etc. Old Business: Bob Frazier wb8nrk did send out reminders for dues for the club and reported that he ends up spending around $70.00 per mailing especially when one considers the postage for the reminder and then to mail membership cards back. New Business: Bill Sowers k8wbs asked if only members would receive the operation codes for the new repeaters’ remote bases, the answer was “Yes”. Bob Frazier asked if he went through the 442 repeater and connected to the 147.06 repeater in Princeton to use the autopatch, could the codes for the ’06 possibly interfere with the 442 repeater? The answer was ‘yes’ but the coding could be possibly changed on either end to hopefully advert problems. Bob Frazier had received a letter from the Southeastern Repeater Association re: needing new coordinate measurements for the 444.45 repeater. Jay Belt said that he’d take care of this. Gary Kadar n8gk suggested that the club, when we have more funding in the treasury, put aside maybe $500.00 for an ‘emergency fund’. John Riddle n8rig mentioned maybe an amount of $1000.00. This will be tabled until next meeting, or so. John Riddle, n8rig, mentioned that he’s seen ads on television concerning the Bluefield Area Foundation taking applications for their next fiscal year. Discussion ensued. We decided that we’d think of possible things to ask for by the next ERARC meeting such as: a weather station hookup for one of the repeaters (wind speed, temperature, etc.), new antennas for the repeater(s), etc. Jay Belt k8cti suggested that since we’ve taken up so much building space, so much tower space and are using so much electricity of Two Way Radio, Inc. that we compose a letter of thanks for such. Hooger Fisher, Secretary, will compose the letter. Tom Gordon ww8d made a motion, seconded by Gary Kadar n8gk, to dismiss the meeting. The motion passed by vote. The meeting was over by 0755pm. A meeting of the Bluefield Hamfest, Inc. followed the ERARC meeting.