St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the January 14, 2008 meeting

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Minutes of the January 14, 2008 Meeting

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on January 14, 2008. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Rich Will, KB0IAN, had held a class on the Standardized Awareness of Weapons of Mass Destruction (AWD-160) on Saturday, October 6, 2007. Rich presented attendees who had taken his class with their Certificates of Completion.

Steve gave an update on the V.A Medical Center. The amateur radio station installation at the Jefferson Barracks Hospital has been completed. The VAMC said that it would follow SEMA (Missouri State Emergency Management Agency) guidelines and require that amateur radio volunteers complete the FEMA IS-100 and IS-700 courses. St. Louis County ARES^® will also require that volunteers wishing to be deployed take the ARECC (Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course) Level 1. Steve showed where and how to sign up to take theses courses.

Steve passed out new ARES^® ID cards to the members and had everyone sign them. Mark Biernacki, KB5YZY, took photos of those members who had not yet provided a picture. The new ID cards should be ready in March or April.

Steve talked about looking for more members to join and help out on the Planning Committee. He explained that this committee discusses and plans activities and other issues that the group faces. The Committee meets bimonthly at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Steve reminded everyone that Winterfest will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, Illinois. It will run from 8:00 AM till 1:00 PM. St. Louis County ARES^® will have a table. Steve urged everyone to stop by and see us.

Craig Hirsh, K0CMH, would like to start up the digital net again. It was suggested that the digital net take place right after the Wednesday St. Louis County ARES^® voice net. Craig will forward all information to Steve and Gary Hoffman, KB0H for distribution to the membership and placement on the St. Louis County ARES^® Web site.

Craig Klimczak, K4LSU, wanted to get input on meeting presentations. He has a tentative list of presenters. He also wanted to get ideas for workshops. Another digital workshop was agreed upon, but with one digital mode per workshop rather than several digital modes in a single workshop.

Steve demonstrated the basic Icom IC-2720 programming software and how to use it. He also showed the frequency list programmed into the VAMC IC-2720s. He explained basic packet radio functions and on-screen messages that occur while running packet.

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