• Again, Tom, W8JWN, requested that ARES members return completed forms to him as soon as possible.
  
• Dennis, K8SWX, has the magnetic signs and some members that were at the picnic received them.
  
• Dennis reported that Robert Reed has stepped down as District Emergency Coordinator. Jason, W9JTL, will be the entire U.P. E.C. Dennis has decided to be the E.C for Florence County. There was no argument from the group.
  
• There will be a Simulated Emergency exercise on October 7th. The scenario is that there will be a complete power outage. Also, the repeater emergency power will be out. We will use 145.85 simplex, since the repeater will not be on the air, to manage traffic.
  
• Tom discussed his test of the Honda 3800SX generator. There was no hash. The generator worked well. Steve, KD8CCP, presented a bid of $1,499 for the complete generator from Roconni Hardware. Tom will present it to the Dickinson Co. Sheriff's Department's Emergency Services Coordinator.
  
  

• Randy, KB9ZES, suggested that a sign with our repeater frequencies be posted at the Iron Mountain city limits. Steve, KD8CCP, will investigate.
  
• Tom, W8JWN, informed the members that George Toppe's widow donated an antenna rotor to the club. We now have a decent rotor for Field Day. A thank you card was sent.
  
• Tom congratulated Steve, KD8CCP, on a nice newsletter.
  
• Randy, KB9ZES, informed the club that Shirt Tales will print our logo on shirts and jackets purchased anywhere. There must be a minimum of six to get our special rate.
  
• The club patches are at Dennis' QTH.
  
• Randy donated a 6' ladder to the club for Field Day.
  
• Joe, KD8DJK, suggested that our transceiver loaner program be called "Share A Radio Experience" program. New hams will be able to use a 2 meter rig until they get their own. Motion approved.
  
• Randy informed the group that September 16th was National Amateur Radio Day.
  
• September 23rd, from 10 to 5, at the old Groveland Mine site, will be a rocket launch by the KHS rocket club.
  
  

• Tom, W8JWN, requested that ARES members return completed forms to him as soon as possible.
  
• Photos are still needed of some members for the photo IDs.
  
• Tom, W8JWN, reported that Jon's Signs does not have the magnetic signs ready yet.
  
• It was decided that the ARES EC will be responsible for the distribution of the signs to ARES members and for their return when a member resigns. The EC should also take spare signs to an ARES response scene for distribution to other volunteers that he may want to enlist.
  
  

• Mike, K8DDB, summarized the results of Field Day 2006.
  
• Mike, K8DDB, will write thank you letters to this year's contributors.
  
• Tom, W8JWN, will try to locate a rotor and controller suitable for the club's tri-band antenna.
  
• We need a new 40 meter antenna for next year.
  
• We need to bring two step ladders for the assembly of the beam to the tower.
  
• We need to come up with a less hazardous way of raising and lowering the tower.
  
• We need to weld heavy plate to the tops of the guy stakes to prevent mushrooming.
  
• We will send a thank you letter to Paul Hintz for the donation of his multi-band antenna to the club.
  
  

Discontinue long distance service for the repeater auto patches (a savings of approximately $100 per year.)

Change the local auto patch telephone service from SBC's unlimited calling to "Call Plan 50" (a savings of approximately $18 per year.)

Assess the packet radio system located at the old Metropolitan fire tower to see if it is feasible to move it to the repeater site on Pine Mountain. Relocation to Pine Mountain would save the club approximately $260 per year in We Energies bills. The December newsletter will survey the readers about their use of the packet radio system to see if it is worth keeping.

Class 2A operation was conducted on 80, 40, 20 and 15 meters.

We had 215 CW QSOs (45 of which were on the Solar Station), 279 SSB QSOs (79 of which were on the GOTA Station) and 26 Digital QSOs.

We had 850 bonus points: 200 for emergency power, 100 for media publicity, 100 for setup in a public place, 100 for information booth, 100 for W1AW Field Day message, 100 for natural power, 100 for site visit by invited served agency official and 50 for submitting summary via the web.

Total score: 2,372 including bonus points.

There were 10 participants and 9 people signed the visitor's log.

We should have a large banner to draw passersby to our operation.

The coaxial stubs worked well, but we need more, e.g. 80 meters.

Consider setting up a VHF station. It doesn't count against our 2A classification and we may be able to get some 6-meter contacts.

Correct the power surge problem. Terry has contacted a service rep for his generator and will repair the governor. Terry has a large desktop voltmeter that we can use to monitor generator voltage.

We should consider setting up a tower and beam antenna.

We should be better prepared for weather conditions. It would have been nice to have heaters for each operating position (temperature reached 47 degrees early Sunday Morning.)

$6.00 to register N3FJP's Field Day Software for the club callsign. Mike, K8DDB, was given $6.00 from the club's petty cash to do so.

An as yet undetermined amount of money to purchase coax, tees, support line, etc., for Field Day. The material will be purchased from Tower Electronics in Green Bay and Radio Works.

$50.00 in cash for food for Field Day.

Committees (* denotes chairman):
Publicity: Mike K8DDB* and Tom W8JWN
Setup: Terry KB9ZER*, Lee N8LT, Tom W8JWN and Mike K8DDB
Operators: Tom W8JWN*, Mike K8DDB, Steve KC8RYY, Terry KB9ZER and Mike N9NBN (relief)
Food: Betty*, Terry KB9ZER
GOTA Station control operator: Lee N8LT*
Scoring and Reporting: ???
Tour Guide: ???

Major Equipment:
SSB Station: Icom 706MKIIG also for CW and Digital Modes (Tom W8JWN)
CW Station: Ten Tec Argonaut V - QRP to 20 watts max (Mike K8DDB) and Sierra with gel cell and solar panel for bonus points (Mike K8DDB)
GOTA Station: Icom 701, if ready (Tom W8JWN and Lee N8LT)
Backup rig: Kenwood TS850? (Mike N9NBN)
Antennas: Carolina Windom 40 to 10 meters (Tom W8JWN); Dipoles for 80, 40 and 20 meters (club); Beam, if we have a lift (Mike K8DDB)
Laptops: SSB Station (Mike N9NBN); CW Station (Mike K8DDB); GOTA Station (Steve KC8RYY?)
Generators: Motor home (Terry KB9ZER), Backup (Jim, KB8PTH)

The meeting day was changed to the second Tuesday of the month, beginning with the May meeting.

The meeting time was changed to 6:30 PM, beginning with the April meeting.

There will be a weekly net on the 2-meter repeater every Tuesday at 6:30 PM (with the exception of the second Tuesday of the month, which is club meeting night).

Saturday morning breakfasts will be held on the last Saturday of every month, beginning in April. The first breakfast will be on April 24th at 9:00 AM at the Holiday Kitchen in Iron Mountain.

Meetings will include a fifteen minute "show and tell", beginning with the May meeting. Bob Meyers is tentatively scheduled for the May meeting. We should have a primary presenter and a backup. Volunteers will be solicited in the monthly newsletter.

Three members had requested that the club help them learn CW. Mike Bray suggested that the club purchase a club/instructor version of Ham University which would allow 5 members to register the software at the regular $40 cost for the CD. Members wishing to register the software would split the $40 cost among themselves.