St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the May 12, 2008 meeting

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Minutes of the May 12, 2008 Meeting

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on May 12, 2008. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Steve introduced George Schindler, WB0IIS.

George gave a presentation on "MEPN" and "MERS". "MEPN" is the Missouri Emergency Packet Network, which is a series of packet nodes intended for general and emergency use. Eventually the network will connect all of the major cities in Missouri with SEMA (the State Emergency Management Agency). It will also connect various agencies during emergencies.

"MERS" is the Missouri Emergency Radio Service, Inc. It is a non-profit corporation which acts as an umbrella entity to serve various amateur radio emergency groups. So far MERS has MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding) with MEPN and with SMI (Show-Me Intertie).

Click here to see George's PowerPoint presentation.¹

After George's talk Steve said that both VAMC (Veterans Administration Medical Center) hospitals now had complete, functioning amateur radio stations. Brief tests were held at the Cochran Hospital station, but more extensive inter-hospital tests are being planned.

Steve said that St. Louis County ARES^® is considering holding an ARECC (Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course) in the near future.

Steve showed a prototype St. Louis County ARES^® ID card. It will have space to list the courses and training that the operator has taken.

Steve explained that the Planning Committee was a group of volunteers that helped him plan the activities of the St. Louis County ARES^® group. He invited interested members to join the Committee.

Steve said that the group would have a table at the Egyptian Hamfest this coming June.

Paul Doran, KB0VTK, said that classes for an Extra class license would be held soon. Interested parties should write to kc9kts2007@yahoo.com. Paul also mentioned that personal and corporate donations could be made to MERS.

Steve said that Lou Harken, WA0CW, had dropped by before the meeting but could not stay. Lou had left information about antenna mast tripods that could be set up in the field. They can be found at www.dvbhardware.com (search for "tripod").

Bill Wallace, KC0TGY, suggested stabilizing field tripods with shot-filled bags.

Scott Cullen, N9JIJ, said that Madison County (Illinois) ARES^® now had a new Emergency Coordinator.

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