Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on October 8, 2007. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Steve said that the group currently has 70 members, 37 of who participate or check-in on a regular basis.

Steve reported that the amateur radio station at the Veterans Administration Jefferson Barracks Hospital was up and running. He said that the radios, TNCs, and laptop computers for the other four VAMC sites were programmed and ready, and could be placed as soon as antennas and feedlines were installed at those locations.

Steve indicated that the amateur radio station at Jefferson Barracks Hospital had been thoroughly tested. It will NOT be activated during the upcoming Field Station Demonstration and SET. The group will perform a more comprehensive exercise for the VAMC at a later date.

Steve hopes to arrange for someone from the Civil Air Patrol to speak at the November St. Louis County ARES^® meeting. There will be no meeting in December. There will be an informal social gathering instead.

Steve said that beginning in January 2008, Jim Conley, N0OBG, would start demonstrating how to use the Icom 2720 transceiver. This is the model of transceiver that is being installed in the VAMC sites.

Steve told the attendees that St. Louis County ARES^® would have a table at the Halloween Hamfest, which will take place on October 27, 2007. He invited everyone to stop by to say hello.

Eric Bueneman, N0UIH, noted that he would report in to the Field Station Demonstration while he was participating for the Walk for Autism, which will be held on the same day.

Don Mueller, KC0UJB, showed the ARRL books he had purchased and allowed the attendees to peruse them during the meeting.

The main topic of the evening was the upcoming Field Station Demonstration and SET. It will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2007 (the upcoming Saturday) at Queeny Park Picnic Area #2. Photographs of the area were displayed and parking was discussed. For safety sake the St. Louis County Parks Department insists that all cables and wires be kept "behind the scenes" where no one can trip over them. Overhead wires or antennas are okay as long as no one is in danger of running into them or being unduly irradiated by them. They may be attached to trees, but in all cases they must be well secured.

Steve noted that the ice rink at Queeny Park would open on Saturday, so there will be competition for the parking spaces.

Steve distributed a flier of the event created by Steve Schmitz, W0SJS. The flier shows the outside-the-site contact frequencies.

Someone asked if we would use the group's call sign, N0ARS, for the event. Gary Hoffman, KB0H, said that N0ARS would be used for outside-the-site contacts, but not intra-site contacts.

Gary urged everyone who planned to operate a station to keep good logs, as it is likely that QSL cards will be exchanged.

Craig Hirsh, K0CMH, said that he would email members of the group an updated list of intra-site and local area event frequencies. He reminded everyone to keep the power levels low when performing intra-site operations.

The 146.850 repeater will be used for talk-in, and 147.490 simplex will be the on-site operations channel.

Rob Robinson, KC0VPL, asked if the group could hold a class on emergency power next year.

There was a general discussion about the pros, cons, and problems of handling formal traffic during the weekly 2 meter net.

© 2008 St. Louis County ARES^®

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