Minutes of the East River Amateur Radio Club meeting. October 5, 2009 Ryan’s Steakhouse Bluefield, VA. http://www.erarc.com The October meeting of the ERARC was opened at 712pm by Lonnie Underwood, ERARC President. There were 21 members and guests in attendance. Hooger Fisher read the minutes from the September meeting. Don Andersons WD8OOR gave the Treasurer’s report. He paid a $19.26 phone bill. DON HAS EMAILED 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’. Cathy Underwood KG4CTK wanted to know how much it takes per year to keep the repeaters on the air, etc. Don estimated around $1500.00 with equipment and liability insurances and with an average monthly phone bill of around $20.00. There was also discussion about what is insured and what is not. Gary Kadar gave a report on the Sept. 12 ARRL VHF contest that he, Don Anderson, Roger Stefancic KC8LGR, Ronnie Childress KD8HBO and Hooger Fisher W4OF worked while on East River Mountain at Onieda Peak (just above Springville, Va.). There were 17=2m contacts in 13 different grids and 16=6M contacts in 13 different grids also. The claimed score was 858. Gary worked 2M with an 11-el beam with rotor and Don worked 6M with an omni-directional loop antenna. Hooger Fisher read the minutes from the September meeting. Don mentioned that he has everything needed to get Lee Brooks’ antenna back up and will seek help when he is able to go put the antenna up. He also mentioned that he’s still trying to sell the Club’s mounted generator motor (with horizontal shaft) but has had no new inquiries in the past few weeks. New business: Don has been talking to Bob Hoge N8RIR, Mercer Co. 911 Director, and announced that we may very well have a place to securely store all of the Club’s antennas, generators, tents, etc. in a building across from the 911 Center. He also said that Mercer County has a 30” trailer that may be used for deployment for emergencies and the like. Lonnie asked for volunteers for Net Control for the Mercer Co. ARES net. He, Ronnie Childress and others will take on Net Control duties. Lonnie asked for nominations for officers for the upcoming year. Hooger will still take the Secretary position. Lonnie will still take the President’s position. Roger Stefancic was nominated for the Treasurer’s position and Cathy Underwood KG4CTK was nominated for the Vice President’s position. Discussion. These will be the ERARC officers for the upcoming year. Lonnie talked about Jamboree on The Air http://www.arrl.org/scouts/jota/ . JOTA will be on Saturday, October 17, 2009, 9am, at Boy Scout Camp Roland in Bastian, Va. during the Cub Scout Fall Camporee. All Scouts are invited to attend and get on the air and talk to other Scouts. Lonnie welcomes any amateurs who would like to help with the event. Don Anderson won the 50/50 donation for the flower fund. There was also an $8.00 total donation to the Club via the 50/50. The meeting was over at 747pm. 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.