Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club October 4, 2004 Ryan’s Steakhouse Bluefield, VA. http://www.erarc.com The September meeting of the ERARC was opened at 703pm by Gary Kadar N8GK, ERARC Vice President. There were 20 members and guests in attendance. Gary welcomed all. Treasurer's report given by Bob Frazier WB8NRK and listed expenditures made. He had received several renewals for ERARC membership. Hooger Fisher W4OF read the minutes. There were no additions, corrections, etc. He also passed around pictures from the September ARRL VHF contest, held at the Overlook on East River Mountain, Sept. 11-12, a copy of the entry form sent to the ARRL and a explanation of those attending, problems, etc. Gary thanked Jerry Connelly KC8TES for donating a homemade 6-meter, 3 element beam to the club. Hooger mentioned that it’s a really nice antenna that looks ‘store bought’ AND that it works very well. Gary asked Dave Cox KG4MCC to give a short report on the VHF contest. Dave mentioned using Jerry Connelly’s Yaesu FT-920, Bill Sowers Yaesu FT-100 as well as the club’s FT-100, working 6M, 2M and 440Mhz. Contacts were not as plentiful as in years past but that “A good time was had by all.” On Saturday, the 6M feed line got tangled in the rotor mechanism and ripped the line. On Sunday, only 2M and 6M were used, after Jerry repaired the 6M feed line. Hooger said that Jim O’Hara N8JO had sold his Bluefield home and was going to move to the Charlotte, NC area. Jim has donated his multi-element 2M beam and rotor to the club. The rotor that the club uses for VHF/HF work had serious problems at the VHF contest. Gary mentioned Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) on October 16, 2004. He asked for volunteers to help man the 10am to 2pm event that is for Scouts of all ages and gender. Hooger has received permission to use the Bluefield, Va. Rescue Squad for the event. . Bob Frazier said that we were to nominate officers for the upcoming year at tonight’s meeting. Discussion. Don Anderson WD8OOR made a motion, seconded by Harold Hodges N8NCP, to keep the current officers. Gary asked if anyone would like to take any of the offices. No takers. Bob Frazier said that he would keep the Treasurer’s office unless someone else wanted to take it over. Discussion. Vote taken. Motion passed. Bill Sowers said that even though George Dietrich KF4YGL, President, was not there to speak for himself that we’d have to see about his wishes in the election of officers. Don Anderson mentioned that the long distance carrier on the 145.49/442.45 repeaters is AT&T and that they are charging a monthly fee of $8.00 just for the privilege of having them. He said that IDT doesn’t have a monthly charge and the actual long distance charges are cheaper and very reasonable. Gary asked Jay Belt if the jumper between the 442.45 hard-line and antenna had been replaced. Jay said that he was still working on that project. Gary brought up the fact that there is no ARRL ARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) in Mercer County but that there were several AECs. He asked is anyone would be interested in taking on the roll. Gary said that it would not be good if we were actually needed and there was no one to respond to an actual communications emergency. He mentioned the Virginia Wireless group that Jerry Connelly is associated with and how ‘active’ they were. He said that he and John Riddle N8RIG had been talking and that we really need a “call-up” list to be in place. ARES net controls for August: 5h Harold Hodges N8NCP, 12th Jerry Connelly, 19th Hooger Fisher W4OF, 26th Ed Viers KD4WOO said that he’d get Lonnie Underwood KG4EED to be NC that night. Preston White KB8MWI won the 50/50 for the flower fund. The meeting was adjourned at 742pm. Respectfully submitted, George “Hooger” Fisher 111, W4OF, Sec.