The meeting came to order with six member and guests present. The meeting was held in the outside courtyard to take advantage of the warm clear weather.

The minutes and the Treasures Report were not moved on due to the light meeting attendance.

Discussion was directed to the tower project. The next step is to bring the base portion of the tower to the cement base to attempt to match up the bolt pattern to the base. If they are not in alignment, it was suggested that a metal plate should be fabricated to connect the two portions. The tower in two sections, one is ten feet and the other is twenty. Due to the weight of the sections it may be necessary to use a crane or other machine to raise the unit in place for attachment. The top section has a circular plate that can accommodate the attachment of additional sections to reach the desired height to assure reliable county wide emergency communications for the Disaster Team of the American Red Cross.

The club station is working well, however there has been degradation in the performance of the telephone auto patch since the last storm.

The balance of the meeting was a recap and evaluation of this year’s Field Day exercise. The power stations worked well and proved economical to operate. It was recommended that the trailer be equipped with a partition to isolate voice operator’s interference with each other.

The subject of utilizing packet radio communications for situation conditions was brought up. It will prove valuable to pass important information that is not easily intercepted with police scanners.

Other discussion was directed to the improvements that are to be made and are in progress with the help of our local government and local industries that have recently realized the value of amateur radio communications to assist during and after a disaster in the county. A meeting will be held (date on ARCARS home page) for further details and developments.

Nets: As typical in the summer, check-ins to the Tuesday 8pm nets have been lightly attended.

Motion to adjourn by Gene (NA8I), seconded by Roger (KI8CL), and approved.

The Friends of Marconi group meets every Friday at 11:30 am at My Place Restaurant in downtown Port Huron. Everyone is welcome to attend. See the web page http://www.tir.com/~kb8wwe.