St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the August 10, 2009 meeting

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Minutes of the August 10, 2009 Meeting

Gary Hoffman, KB0H, the Assistant Emergency Coordinator - Operations presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on August 10, 2009. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Gary welcomed vistors and had everyone introduce themselves. He said that Steve Wooten, the Emergency Coordinator, apologized for not being able to make the meeting.

Gary said that St. Louis County ARES^® currently had 92 members.

Gary described the new position of 'Local Amateur Radio Club Liaison' and explained why the position had been created. He said that Jon Schaumann, W0KZ; Rob Robinson, KC0VPL; and Bill Wallace, KC0TGY had volunteered to be Liaisons. Rob and Bill were at the meeting and received certificates of appointment.

Gary noted that the next local hamfest would the St. Charles Amateur Radio Club hamfest on Sunday, August 16, 2009. It will be held in O'Fallon, Missouri rather than its previous location. Maps can be found on the club's Web site, www.wb0hsi.org. St. Louis County ARES^® will have a table at the event.

Gary reminded everyone that St. Louis County ARES^® would be holding its annual Field Station Demonstration and Simulated Emergency Test on October 10, 2009 at Queeny Park. He passed around a flyer for the event.

Gary said that there will be an exercise on Wednesday, September 16, 2009. It will be a reprise of last year's Simplex Zone Exercise. He explained the original purpose of the exercise, and said that the reason we were going to try it again was because the VHF television stations were now off the air and the radio interference in south county had diminished. The exercise will be held instead of the usual Wednesday night net that week.

Gary, with the assistance of some members of SLSRC, described the St. Louis & Suburban Radio Club's upcoming Emergency Preparedness Fair. It will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at Stacy Park in Olivette. St. Louis County ARES^® will also be attending this event.

Gary noted that amateur radio operators are needed for the Lupus Ride on August 22, 2009 and the MS Bike Tour on the weekend of September 12-13, 2009. Interest parties should contact Bill or Rebecca Carroll, kc9cik@arrl.net or kc9cij@arrl.net.

Gary also mentioned that the ARES^® group would have a booth set up at the Zombie Squad Disaster Fair / Grove Fest on Saturday, September 19, 2009.

Gary said that the group has two served agencies 'in the works', the Veterans Administration Medical Center and Central County Emergency 911. Memoranda Of Understanding are being worked on for both organizations.

Gary apologized for there being no presentation at the meeting. In lieu of a presentation, he passed out handouts and explained that there are many functions that members can perform within the ARES^® group. For those who wish to deploy during disasters, he described the requisite training and preparations that were needed. He said that all activations and deployments for the group would be strictly local.

Gary opened the floor to general discussion.

Mike Bien, KB0PDL, said that the St. Louis & Suburban Radio Club plans to put together a tutoring group to help students with their homework over the air. He also mentioned that the SLSRC's next 'Trail Ride' for new amateur radio operators will be held on October 22, 2009.

Joseph Wozniak, KD0EFW, described the Wilderness Protocol and passed out handouts.

Eric Beuneman, N0UIH, reported that the E-skip was good right now.

Jon Slough, KB9ATR, said that SLSRC's next amateur radio license class would include Technician, General, and Extra levels.

Lori Yount, KD0EPN, said that SLSRC would be holding a 'mobile installation' demonstration on August 29, 2009.

Bill Wallace, KC0TGY, said that he is the Webmaster for the Jefferson County Amateur Radio Club. He would like to exchange information with other groups to put in the Web site. The site is at www.jcarcmo.org.

Max Slover, K0AZV, said that the Florissant Valley Community College repeater had been taken down in preparation for refurbishing, moving to another location on campus, and changing frequenices. This is all part of a three-repeater frequency swap.

Bob Ernst, KC0NRK, said that he is working on the ARES^® Web site. Every member now has a userID and password to access the 'members only' section, but the code to allow them to change their passwords is not yet in place.

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