St. Louis County ARES® Minutes of the January 18, 2010 meeting

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Minutes of the January 18, 2010 Meeting

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU, the Emergency Coordinator, presided over the monthly meeting of the St. Louis County ARES^® group on January 18, 2010. The Meeting was held at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

Steve welcomed everyone and had everyone introduce themselves. He acknowledged visitors and said that ARES^® applications were available for anyone wishing to fill out one.

Steve said that STLCARES, Inc. now has new officers. They are:

Steve Wooten, KC0QMU - president
Jon Schaumann, W0KZ - vice president
Craig Hirsh, K0CMH - secretary (continuing)
Lou Harken, W0TQ - treasurer
Max Slover, K0AZV - board member

Steve said that he hoped to have MOUs signed with the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center and St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Centers by the end of this week. He showed overhead images of all of the facilities.

Steve said that another MOU, this one with Central County Emergency 911, was now in the hands of the CCE911 board of directors. It is anticipated that they will sign it in early February.

Steve noted that the Missouri Emergency Packet Network (MEPN) now has a 100% reliable link between St. Louis and Jefferson City. They key link was a 6 meter connection in Callaway County. As yet, however, there is no 2 meter node in that county.

Steve showed projected images of the "Members Only" pages from the St. Louis County ARES^® Web site. He said that all members now have access. The UserID is the member's call sign. He said members should contact him at KC0QMU@ARRL.NET to obtain their initial passwords. Members can change their passwords once they login.

Steve said that he had been contacted by the ARRL and told that a new advanced level ARECC will be coming out in February. The new course will replace the original ARECC level 2 and level 3 courses. The new course has a number of prerequisites, which primarily consist of several FEMA courses. The ARECC level 1 course will remain unchanged. Gary Hoffman, KB0H, noted that St. Louis County ARES^® only asks that its members to take the level 1 course.

Steve said that most members' ARES^® ID cards have expired or will soon expire. He said that members should email him for a new card. They may attach a new photo if they wish.

Steve showed examples of FEMA course transcripts. He would like all ARES^® members who have taken FEMA courses to request that a copy of their transcripts be sent to him.

Steve said that the second page of the St.Louis County ARES^® application form had been changed. He projected an image of the new page. This was for just for the members' edification, he was not requesting that they resubmit anything.

Steve said that St.Louis County ARES^® plans to hold four or five exercises in 2010. They will be -

A Missouri Intertie check-in event. This can be done from home, and will probably take place immediately after a regular Wednesday net.
A deployment exercise involving reporting to a staging area.
A joint exercise with St. Charles County ARES^®.
A message handling exercise that can be done from home.
A packet exercise utilizing the Missouri Emergency Packet Network.

Steve noted that information on Haiti relief efforts and radio could be found on -

www.iresc.org
www.satern.org

The events planned for Winterfest were discussed.

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