St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the August 15, 2005 meeting

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Minutes of the August 15, 2005 Meeting

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator, presided at the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on August 15, 2005.

There was no presentation this month, so Steve gave a report of what the group was doing. He said that membership was currently up to 45.

Steve noted the efforts of two of the groups members, John, N0UFB, and Gary, KB0H. He said that John's help as advisor had been invaluable in getting the group organized. He also thanked Gary for his work on the group's Web site. He awarded John and Gary with special certificates of appreciation.

Steve announced the appointment of Gary, KB0H, as St. Louis County ARES^® Assistant Emergency Coordinator in charge of Operations.

Steve discussed the group's promotional campaigns. He noted that Paul, K0TPY, had been active in promoting the group on other nets. He mentioned sending out short email newsletters. He also showed a recruiting postcard which he plans to send to newly licensed amateur radio operators. And finally, he said that the group would have a table at the St. Charles Hamfest on Sunday, August 21.

Steve talked about the repeater survey that he'd sent to 50 area repeater trustees. He received 20 replies. 5 of those stated that their repeaters were already in service to emergency communications groups.

Steve announced that St. Louis County ARES^® would be holding a repeater test on the Ancient Modulators Club repeater, 146.925 (CTCSS tone of 192.8 Hz) on Wednesday, August 24 right after the regular ARES^® net.

Steve said that other projects underway included the St. Louis County ARES^® Operations Manual, getting the group incorporated and obtaining 501 (c)(3) status, and putting together a 'new member' package.

Steve said that Gary, KB0H, was looking for suggestions for the 'Tip of the Week' feature that appears on the Web site and is read during the weekly net.
Steve said that he would like for more members to join the Planning Committee.
Steve said that he'd like to hear from anyone who had ideas for topics or speakers for the group's monthly meetings.

Steve noted that Fred Langeneckert, W0UX, had resigned from the post of District-C Emergency Coordinator, and that the position was now open. He said that anyone interested in taking the post should contact Don Moore, KM0R, the Section Emergency Coordinator, at km0r@arrl.net.

Steve also said that St. Louis City ARES^® was looking for a new Emergency Coordinator.

Steve said that the group was building a Call Out list. It would initially be used for event notification and for test exercises, but would eventually be used for emergency call outs. At this time participation in the Call Out list is voluntary. So far 12 members have signed up for the list.

Steve mentioned that the group is always looking for people who would like to be Net Controllers, and that they should contact Gary, KB0H.
Mark, KB5YZY, asked if there was some sort of training for potential Net Controllers.
Gary, KB0H, said that the Planning Committee had discussed the possibility of holding several short seminars, one of which would be about Net Control operations.

Steve noted that in addition to the weekly 2 meter net, there were also two weekly ARES^® HF nets. Both are held on Sunday afternoons. The first is the Missouri ARES^® District-C net, which takes place at 2 PM. It nominally meets on 7.263 MHz LSB, plus or minus 3 KHz if there is interference. The second is the Missouri Emergency Services Net, which takes place at 6:30 PM. It meets on 3.963 MHz LSB. Participation in both nets is open to all amateur radio operators.

Steve said that the group would like to hold an emergency communications course but that details had not yet been worked out.

Steve's final announcement was that the group would be holding a Resource Evaluation Test (R.E.T.) in lieu of a full-blown Simulated Emergency Test (S.E.T.) on October 1. Basically it will be a simplex field exercise, open to all amateur radio operators. He said that complete details were available on the group's Web site.

Mark, KB5YZY, asked, "What does ARES^® do?"
Steve explained that during a communications emergency 'served agencies' would call upon the group to provide backup and alternative communications. He also explained that up til now he had avoided signing on with any served agencies until he could get the membership levels up and make sure that the members were trained.

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