St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the August 11, 2008 meeting

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Minutes of the August 11, 2008 Meeting

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on August 11, 2008. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Steve gave an update on the VAMC (Veterans Administration Medical Center). He said that amateur radio stations had been installed in both hospitals, but not in the three outlying clinics. The VAMC does not own the buildings which house the clinics, and the building owners will not allow permanent antenna mounting hardware to be installed. The VAMC is looking into non-invasive ways to mount the antennas.

Steve said that he is still working on ARES^® ID cards, but wants to make sure that they are acceptable to the ARRL.

Steve showed a new St. Louis County ARES^® flyer that had been created by Gary Hoffman, KB0H.

Steve urged members of the group to consider joining the Planning Committee.

One of the attendees asked about the group's funding. Steve explained that all funds so far come from donations from the members. He said that 501(c)(3) taxt status was in the works.

Steve said that there would be a UHF simplex exercise held on Thursday, August 28, 2008. There will also be UHF repeater tests every week leading up to the exercise. Someone asked how the repeater tests would mesh with the digital nets. Craig Hirsh, K0CMH, said that the digital nets would be suspended for the remainder of August.

Max Slover, K0AZV, noted that one of the repeaters to be tested was 443.475. He said that it was located at St.Louis University Hospital.

Steve said that there would be a digital exercise on Friday, September 26, 2008 and Saturday, September 27, 2008. The event will be held for about two hours each day. Craig Hirsh described it as a "mini Field Day" and gave a brief description. He said that more details would be published after the UHF exercise had concluded.

Steve said that the group would also be holding a field station demonstration and Simulated Emergency Test on Saturday, October 4, 2008. It will be held from 8:00 AM until dusk at Queeny Park. This coincides with the ARRL SET weekend, and Steve anticipates a lot of contacts. He said that he had been contacted by other ARES^® groups and by non-ARES^® groups about the possibility of cooperative efforts during the SET.

Mark Biernacki, KB5YZY, said that the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club would be holding a fox hunt on Saturday, September 27, 2008. It would also be running a radio demonstration for officials of the City of Olivette on the same day.

Gary Hoffman noted that he and Steve had set up demonstration ARES^® stations at block parties during the National Night Out celebration. They both reported favorable impressions from the organizaers.

Lour Harken, WA0CW, gave a presentation on high-speed CW.

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