Category: Monthly Minutes

February 15, 2023

• Meeting Location: 605 Metropolis Street, Metropolis, IL.
• Meeting Conducted By: James “Jay” Smock – President
• Meeting Called to Order at: approximately 1813 hrs.
• The Pledge of Allegiance was led by: Jay Smock
• Members Present:
• Jay Smock – President
• Aidan Carnes
• Geoff Williams  Secretary
• Lloyd Baker
• Guests Present:
• Brian Horn – Director of Emergency Management of Massac County (DEM)
• Rachel Deaton
• Minutes of the Last Meeting: January 18, 2023, were read and accepted “as is.”
• Brian Horn related that the National Weather Service Weather Workshop will be held on March 1. The in-person location will be the Murray State University building located at 4430 Sunset Ave, Paducah, Ky.  Times are 0900-1200 hrs. One may also attend via Webinar
  • It was noted that a couple of our members have already signed up to attend in person.
• Jay is still trying to get information from the SIU CU. So far he has received to be somewhat inaccurate information. Rachael Deaton gave Jay the name of a person at the Metropolis branch that she believes will assist him with the correct information for an organizational checking account. After we receive our Non-Profit status from the IRS a different type of account will have to be opened.
• Regarding incorporation as a non-profit: Jay will speak to Randy Rushing – CPA regarding the possibility of him doing the incorporation paperwork for our association.
• Aidan Carnes suggest that once we begin offering testing for the FCC amateur radio licensing we give the testee an informational sheet containing the DX Engineering, Inc. Technician Starter Package. All agreed that was a good idea.
• Preston Ursini informed the group via relay by Lloyd Baker that he has reserved the Web address WS1ERA.org for us.
• Jay relayed that the River to River Relay will be held on April 22. So far members have volunteered to work communications for the event.  Jay Smock & Mike Hicks will be posted at the Tunnel Hill stop.  Ronnie Stone & Geoff Williams will work stop #19.
• American Radio Field Day will be held on June 24-25. It’s a 48 hour event.  
  • It was suggested that we, SIERA, set-up in Ft. Massac State Park at the pavilion across from the trout pond.
  • DEM (Brian Horn) may partner with us, bringing out the DEM truck and trailer with radio equipment for the public to view.
  • Brian Horn offered to contact WMOK Radio Station to see if they want to do a radio spot on the event.
  • Jay Smock offered to contact Tarra Temple at the Metropolis Planet news paper to see if they would like to do an article regarding the event.
  • It was agreed that our group would participate in the Field Day and begin setting up at 0900 hrs, with plans to work the event from 1200 hrs. to dark.
  • Jay is planning on smoking a pork shoulder for the club members to enjoy.
  • More planning will be done in the near future.
• Brian Horn’s application for membership was read and accepted. He paid his dues and is now a member of SIERA.
• There was a general brainstorming session regarding ideas for a club logo.
  • Many good ideas were floated about.
  • More discussion forthcoming at the next monthly meeting.
• The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1934 hrs.

Minutes submitted by Geoff Williams – Secretary

January 18, 2023

• Meeting Location: 605 Metropolis Street, Metropolis, IL
• Meeting Conducted By: James “Jay” Smock – President
• Meeting Called to Order at approximately 1747 hrs.
• The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jay Smock
• Members Present:
  • Jay Smock — President  
  • Lori Nichols – Treasurer
  • Lloyd Baker –VEC  
  • Geoff Williams – Secretary  
  • Ronnie Stone – Vice President: Called into the meeting by phone.
• Guests Present:
  • Brian Horn – Massac County (IL) Director of Emergency Management
  • Garry Wheatley (270-556-6797)  – President of the McCracken County (KY) A.R.E.S. club  KD4GCY
  • Pam Wheatley – Wife of Garry Wheatley
• Minutes of the last meeting (December 21, 2022) were read. A motion was made to accept the minutes as read, seconded, and passed unanimously.
• Jay Smock discussed the need for liability insurance for the club. He advised that a policy through ARRL would be $200 per year.
  • Garry Wheatley stated that the Paducah Area Radio Association (PARA) has their insurance through ARRL and is very happy with it. He went on to say that they had checked into prices with other vendors and found that the ARRL was considerably less expensive and an all-around good policy.
  • At this time we have no revenue flow, therefore the liability insurance will have to wait until we have funds in our bank account.
• Jay Smock stated that we need to open a bank account. He would like to use the SIU Credit Union for this purpose.
  • A short discussion ensued regarding this proposal.
  • A motion was made to open a checking account at SIU Credit Union.
  • The motion was seconded
  • The vote was unanimous to do so.
  • Jay will look into opening the account.
• The need for a WEB address was brought up again by Jay.
  • It was suggested that we use our club’s FCC call sign, WS1ERA, along with the .org domain suffix: WS1ERA.org.  It was further suggested that should that address be unavailable we could utilize the following: SIERARC22.org.
• Brian Horn – Dir. Of Emergency Management for Massac County, has drawn up a Letter-of-Understanding between his office and SIERA that outlines the club’s authorization to use the DEMs radio equipment trailer, radios, antennas, etc. upon request by the county director of Emergency Management.
  • Jay Smock read the letter out loud to those present.
  • Jay stated that he will send a copy of the letter to all members to read.
  • There will be a discussion of the contents of the letter at the February meeting, and barring no changes need to be made, a vote to either accept or decline the letter will be carried out.
• Lori Nichols informed the group that she has a couple of file cabinets and a desk available at the church for the clubs use in our office.
  • Lori also stated that we need to retrieve the two folding tables that belong to the club from Rachael Deaton’s shop, Wild Grace.  
    • Geoff Williams volunteered to take care to do so.
• Ronnie Stone suggested we look into an open house or perhaps an inaugural event to showcase the club.
• Lloyd Baker reported that the ARRL is now set up for on-line license testing.
• Ronnie Stone suggested a contest for club logo design.  
  • The contest would be open to local high school students.
  • We would need to come up with the parameters as to what the logo would depict.
  • Jay said he would sent out a text to members to think about what they would like to see on a club logo. Ideas would be discussed at the next meeting.
• Aiden Carnes had discussed with Ronnie Stone that the club should have a 2 meter radio installed in our office for use during emergencies and general use.
  • Jay Smock said that he has a 2m radio he could let the club use.
  • Ronnie Stone said that he has a couple of 2m antennas he is willing to let the club utilize.
• Garry Wheatley made a donation of $20 to the club.
• The names of those who have filled out an application for membership in the SIERA club were read and voted on for membership.
  • Those persons are as follows:
    • Aidan P. Carnes  (W9ADN)
    • Ronnie G. Stone  (K4INS)
    • Geoffrey R. Williams  (KD9VCY)
    • James Smock  (N9VN)
    • Lori Nichols  (N6BWZ)
    • Deanna R. Baker  (WO0FDR)
    • Lloyd N. Baker  (KC9DRB)

Minutes submitted by Geoff Williams — Secretary

Southern Illinois Emergency Radio Association

Meeting Minutes

December 21, 2022

• Meeting location: 605 Metropolis Street, Metropolis, IL
• Meeting Conducted By: Ronnie Stone – VP
• The meeting was called to order at approximately 1745 hrs.
• The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ronnie Stone – VP.
• Members present:
  • Ronnie Stone – Vice President
  • Lori Klingensmith-Treasurer
  • Lloyd Baker
  • Geoff Williams
• Guests Present:
  • Tom Bebe (W9RY)– ARRL Illinois  Section Leader
• Minutes of the last meeting were read –
  • Motion to accept as read by Lloyd Baker
  • Seconded by Lori Klingensmith
  • Passed unanimously.
• Ronnie Stone discussed the December 15^th Paducah A.R.E.S. which he and Geoff Williams attended.
  • Garry Wheatley discussed –
    •  WinLink and its use during emergency situations whereby E-mails can be sent via RF.
    • TelNet via computer over Internet.
    • FEMA classes required by most EOCs for volunteers to be able to work the centers during declared emergencies – IS-909 Community Preparedness.
      • Classes: 100, 200, 700 and 800.  All classes are available on-line.
  • There will be an amateur radio class available for children between the ages of 8 – 12 yoa to be held on February 18, 2023 beginning at 1700 hrs. The location will be the Gospel Assembly Church in Paducah, Ky.
  • Ron briefly discussed our, SIERAs possible future involvement with Paducah ARES & the National Weather Service during severe weather events.
• A group tour of the Paducah office of the NWS will be looked into and a future date set.
• Tom Bebe –
  • Stated he has been working closely with the Paducah NWS to coordinate amateur radio operator’s assistance in weather emergencies.
  • He has donated a HT for the use of the NWS personnel.
  • He has also assisted them with work on their antenna rotor, which has been out-of-service.
  • Tom is putting the finishing touches on a regional activation plan and will return to go through it with us once it is finalized.
  • Tom advised that SkyWarn and ARES are NOT the same thing. There appears to be some confusion along those lines with some amateur operators.
  • Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) W1AW, will be operating a year-long activity for 2023.
  • Tom advised that we, as an ARRL club, are required to have a Public Information Officer (PIO).  This information came during discussion of the November meeting minutes regarding the PIO position.
  • There will be a new Illinois Section Web page coming on-line in early 2023.
  • Tom requests that all clubs forward club activity photo images to him via E-mail for him to use in the printing of a new Section banner for special events.
  • There is an Illinois ARRL directory that can be found at <i/clubs.org>. Club information can also be dropped at the site.
  • Tom informed us that he and three other Extra class operators offer a one day Technician class. The usual hours are 0800-1700 hrs.
    • He reported that they have had very good results with a vast majority of attendees passing their test.
    • They need a minimum of 10 participants to put on a class.
    • There is no fee for testing.
  • They also offer a two day General operator’s class.
• During discussion of our future special event participation Ronnie Stone mentioned he could have a banner identifying our group made locally. Tom Bebe stated  he has banners he can loan to us and other clubs for events. We just need to let him know in advance so he can get them to us in a timely manner.
• We need to decide on a club Web site address. Suggestions are requested. Send them to Jay Smock – President.
• Lloyd Baker – Volunteer Examination Coordinator, discussed the ARRL and WY5I VE programs.

• The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1911 hrs.

Meeting Minutes submitted by: Geoff Williams

Southernmost Illinois Emergency Radio Association

Meeting Minutes

November 16, 2022

• Meeting location: 605 Metropolis Street, Metropolis, IL
• The meeting was called to order at approximately 1745 hrs.
• The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Aidan Carnes.
• Members present were:
  • Lori Klinensmith-Treasurer
  • Aidan Carnes
  • Brian Horn – Massac County Emergency Management director
  • Geoff Williams
  • Jay Smock-President (Attended via phone call due to illness)
• Minutes of the last meeting were read –
  • Motion to accept as read by Aidan Carnes
  • Seconded by Lori Klingensmith
  • Passed unanimously.
• The Paducah office of the National Weather Service will by hosting an amateur radio contact contest on December 3rd & 4^th (24 hours continuous). Jay Smock will contact the NWS representative to inquire about our clubs participation.  
•  Brian Horn stated that he attended a seminar for work in Marion, Illinois recently and talked up our new club with Bruce Talley, the Williamson County, IL Emergency Management director and SCAN club member.
• Geoff Williams reported on his meeting with Erica Keys, a board member of the Metropolis/Massac County Chamber of Commerce, regarding our possible participation in future special events by setting up a radio station for public demonstration purposes.
  • They only host two events yearly whereby the roads are closed and booths/tents can be setup. They are: Superman Festival, Autumn & Plein Air Festival.
  • Other events are held with individual stores. We would have to coordinate with the store owners to set up inside, or perhaps on the sidewalk outside, which are City owned.
  • Currently the Chamber does not maintain a list of special events. One must look at their FaceBook page for the upcoming and previous year’s events to see what events were held, then check with the Chamber to see if an event we are interested in participating in will be held in the current year.
  • Erica suggested that a membership with the Chamber may be beneficial to our club in that we would be better able to get to know the business owners, build a rapport with them, would have a forum to inform business leaders what our club does. We could also have a club member give a formal talk at a monthly Chamber meeting.
  • Membership fee for a non-profit organization is $50.00 p/year.
    • There are no voting rights for those memberships.
  • Discussion was had regarding a membership for the club.  All agreed that would be beneficial to the organization. Geoff Williams to obtain the application.
  • Upon advice by Lori Klingensmith the membership decided to wait until the Chamber has their elections in December; there will be a new president at that time.
• A few special events suggested for our participation in were thrown out by members.
  • Superman Festival
  • Massac Encampment
  • Brew Fest @ Harrah’s Casino
  • Cache Wetlands Center near Karnak/Perks-They hold several public events yearly.
• Aidan brought up the previously discussed idea of a Public Information Officer (PIO) position.  The making of this position was well received by the members present.
  • Aidan Carnes volunteered to be the PIO. Lori Klingensmith said she will assist Aidan when needed.
  • President Jay Smock stated he will open the PIO position to the general membership to see who else is interested.  
    • Also, other assistants may be required depending upon what was going on at any particular time and what the circumstances may be.

• Aidan Carnes suggested that the club meetings be recorded and placed in our Drop Box account so any member who wished to do so could pull up the file and listen to the meeting proceedings.  This would also be helpful to the club secretary in preparing meeting minutes.

• A motion to record the meetings and place the sound file into the clubs Drop Box account was made by Aiden Carnes.
• Lori Klingensmith seconded the motion.
• The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1910 hrs.