The meeting was called to order with 15 members and guests present.

November’s Minutes amended to reflect that 75 contacts were made at the JOTA event that was held on October 20^th by Paul (KG8OU).

MOTION to accept the November amended minutes as amended by Suzanne (KB8GFY), seconded by Steven (KC8PGE), accepted.

TREASURES REPORT:

Suzanne reported that while our balance climbed to $352.13. Additional annual donations were collected at this meeting and new balance will be reported at the January meeting.

MOTION to accept the Treasures Report by Stephen (KC8PGE), seconded by Andrew (KC8SPD), accepted.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

The L’Anse Creuse Swap was attended by a good number of amateurs from the Port Huron and Sarnia areas. The annual swap was held on Sunday 12-01-01 and was reported to have lots of tables and a good selection of merchandise available.

There were no disasters that required ARCARS assistance reported in September or October. There was at least one house fire that reportedly required the assistance of the American Red Cross, but it didn’t require the assistance of the amateur radio group. The American Red Cross motor home was dispatched to ground zero in New York to transport some of our local firefighters with a load of bottled water.

CLUB STATION:

The 220 MHz packet system power supply has been repaired and the unit is back on the air. We believe that it would be wise to utilize a thermostat switch on the unit to protect against heat damage.

NEWSLETTER:

Nothing reported on this subject at this meeting.

CLUB PROJECT:

The antenna still needs to be installed in the Command Center. Dave (KC8PYL) mentioned that we should use uni-strut to hold the antenna on the tower once the feed line has been installed.

OLD BUSINESS:

The Officer Elections that were slated to be held at the October meeting were held at the December meeting. The results of the election are as follows:

Program Manager – Mark Edwards (N8EGJ)

Assistant Program Manager – Kurt Collins (KC8SBX)

Secretary – Dennis Jackson (KB8OCG)

Treasurer – Suzanne Pallett (KB8GFY)

There are some appointed positions that will be announced at the January meeting.

The terms run for 1 year. Full description of these offices and responsibilities can be found on the club constitution located on constitution link of the web page. The next election will be held at the first regular meeting in October.

NEW BUSINESS:

The subject of new photos of the new emergency vehicles should replace the pictures on the web page was brought up. The new pictures of the October JOTA event are to be added to the photo page when they are sent to N8EGJ.

Edgar Spore donated a 900 MHz marine cellular antenna for emergency use for ARCARS.

The emergency radio system that is installed in an ammo can includes a mobile radio with antenna, and a hand held radio that is designed to relay information from a disaster site to the repeater. The concept is any member of the team can just grab the can and antenna and will have a working "in vehicle repeater" (IVR) system. The hand held was found with the batteries dead. It appears that someone used the hand held unit and neglected to turn it off before replacing it in the can. It was decided that along with the rechargeable battery we should also keep alkaline batteries in the can so the unit can be used in case the battery is depleted in the field.

There has been an illusive station in North Korea that members have been trying to make contact with. This (according to KG8OU) is one of the rarest dx stations you could ever encounter.

DEMONSTRATION: Traffic Handling

Therese (KC8PEZ) put on a wonderful demonstration about handling Amateur Radio Traffic. The demonstration was very informative and helpful. Now everyone that was at the meeting has a much better idea of how to effectively handle radio traffic.

MOTION TO ADJOURN by Andrew (KC8SPD), seconded by Steven (KC8PGE).

ANNOUNCMENTS:

Please remember to continue to support the new area net. The "Saturday Night Good Neighbor Net" is to be held on 146.720 MHz Saturday evenings at 7pm. Also please support the "International Friendship Net" Thursday evenings as well as the Traffic net on the 147.300 machine.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:

If you ever have to use the auto patch for an emergency 911 call, make sure that you immediately inform the police that you are calling on an amateur radio auto patch. If you were to become disconnected without letting them know that fact it would be probable that damage could be done to the building that houses the auto patch if there is no one there to open the door for the officials.