Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, Ltd.

    The meeting was called to order by the President Tom King W4VZH at 0845am

The following were in attendance:

Tom King W4VZH              Russ Abbey KG4MAV       Linda Lucas N4LCL             Ron Ramsey AB4A

Karen Anderson KI4GOT   John Anderson K4JKA      Gaynell Larsen KK4WWW  Dave Larsen KK4WW

Kathleen Becker AK4AB    Jeff Dowd KJ4ZKB             Don Clemens KE4UGF      Don Johnson KF4HDW

Donna Johnson KF4HDW  John Webb AK4AT            Leslie Web KJ4WJN

13 members and 2 guests.

The first thing on the agenda was the changes to the By-Laws, this was made a motion by John K4JKA and seconded by Dave KK4WW.  The motion was voted on by the Society and was passed by all yeas and no nays, motion carried.

We also appointed 3 members to the Board of Directors:

Dave Larsen KK4WW, John Anderson K4JKA, and Jeff Dowd KJ4ZKB.

We introduced our selves by name and Call Sign.

Again Tom went over the ICS courses that have to be done if a member wants to be involved with the Society in the event of an emergency!  We need to have the following courses:

ICS 100.b Introduction to Incident Command System:  http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS100b.asp

ICS 200.b ICS for the Single Resources and Initial Action: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS200b.asp

ICS 700.a ICS NIMS an Introduction: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS700a.asp

ICS 800.b National Response Framework, an Intro: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS800b.asp. This last is optional for now.  

Ron AB4A went over the ARRL’s Emergency course requirements and the testing from the VE’s for this course. 

The Secretary read the minutes from the last meeting, they were accepted as read.  He also read the treasurers report and it also was accepted as read.

Donna KF4HDX went over shelter training and what to expect. She will also email out a link to the introduction of the courses that we need to do before She starts. There will be a training course at the old Chevy dealership building on April 19th and 30th. 

Ron AB4A went over what paperwork is needed if we are deployed.  We need to make sure our FEMA courses are in our own paperwork along with the Radio Officers. 

Tom W4VZH went over the meeting with the County Supervisors, they voted unanimously to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between us and them;  also appointing Tom as the Radio Officer for the County.

Tom also went over Dee’s progress report of the school club and getting a sponsor.  After getting with Linda Petrie, they have a better idea who to approach and if they might have someone who might be involved with the Rescue Squads for communication.  It’s hoped that by April’s end to have a sponsor, then work towards a trial Club setting at the beginning of the next school year. 

Ron made a suggestion of trying to get a demo set up at the beginning of the school year so that the students and faculty can see what we are about and what we do.  

Tom “volunteered” for the job as Chairmen for Field Day. Field Day this year is on June 25th-26th.  At this point there was a lot of chatter about food (as is the case of all hams.) and who would bring what.  It was decided to table this till a little later into the year.  Besides which I couldn’t keep up with who was doing what to where.

Dave KK4WW told us a little about the field day site, there is a cabin with bunk beds!  We will need to go up there a few days ahead to set up antennas for the event.  Eight folks raised their hands on who would be at field day, 2 Larsen’s, 2 Johnson’s, 2 Anderson’s, 2 King’s (but not the same family), 1 Abbey, a flock of Dowd’s, 1 or 2 Clemens, 2 Webb’s.  Hmm, that is significantly more then 8, it looks more like 13 to 17 people here. 

Gaynell will set up a cleaning committee to get the cabins in order and to do the clean up after. 

Tonya Perraro joined us to discuss the Medical Reserve Corps. The main purpose of the MRC is to collect colunteers to egage in and streghthen emergency response. Any community member can join even if they have no medical training. The volunteers are considered local assests and usually are only called in in their surrounding areas. However, in the case of a big disaster they could be contacted. To find out more about the Medical Reserve Corps and how to join please feel free to visit www.medicalreservecorps.gov.

Tom went over the tornado drill for March 15th at 0945 hrs.     The next meeting is the annual route 8 cleanup.  We will have breakfast and go directly to Simmons Grocery to get set up for the pickup.  If there happens to be any urgent business, we will discuss it at breakfast.

Dues are due in June everyone. 

Leslie KJ4WJN talked about the QSL cards she and John AK4AT are making, it’s a sweet deal at $59 for 250, $69 for 500, and $79 for a thousand cards.  They also can do eyeball cards, but no price on them right now.  There is a Club special, if 3 orders are placed at the same time, the shipping is free.  Call 540-789-8400 (Willis).  Meeting adjourned at 0940 hours.

Submitted by the Secretary:

Russ Abbey KG4MAV