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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJune 1 EmergencyCommitteeMinutesJUN_04_FINAL 1 TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Tuesday, June 1, 2004 @ 7:30 PM Town Hall, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills 1. Roll call: a. Members Attending: i. Jim Abraham, W6EB, Chairman ii. Robert Anderson, KC6ZWG iii. Peter Berman, K6PJB iv. Ray Egan, W6FQY v. Rick Ellinger, KJ6NU vi. Bob Fenwick, K6GX, Council Liaison vii. David Gilmour, WQ1K, Vice Chairman viii. Bob Hall, KF6DHX ix. Ed Jones, W7WPO x. Bob Lisbonne, KG6HOD xi. Scott Overstreet, N6NXI xii. David Pratt, K6LWT xiii. Maynard Stevenson, W7MVT xiv. Al Whaley, N6RPR b. Members Absent i. Dru Anderson, KG6LAD, Secretary ii. Ed Radlo, AJ6V iii. Robert “Smitty” Smithwick,W6CS iv. Sam Wood, K6MSR 2. Approval of April minutes (there was no meeting in May): Minutes approved as submitted. 3. Comments from the floor. a. NONE 4. Report from Chairman Jim Abraham: a. La Cresta Tank site: A lease on this site for repeater and antenna installation appears imminent. Legal formalities, such as the need to apprise residents of the area, are causing a delay of a day or two, according to Planning Director Carl Cahill. This site is a particularly good one in terms of signal coverage. b. Heritage House: The committee prevailed and this site is being retained as the EOC for the present time. The impact of the upcoming demolition of the old town hall on EOC operations remains to be seen. c. Town Annual Picnic: This event will be held next Sunday (June 6) at the usual place – the Little League field. Jim stated that volunteers were needed and that 1200 attendees are anticipated. Folks also will be asked for ID if not recognized by the duty staff. d. Earthquake Drill: Steve Garcia is putting together plans for another earthquake drill sometime in August. Details will be forthcoming, hopefully by the next meeting of the ECC. 5. Report from Vice Chairman Dave Gilmour: a. D-Star update: Dave stated that although much remains to be done to achieve a usable system for EC, he still plans a demonstration of the system soon. There are still many questions to its practicality and use of its unique features such as website interaction, in the context of Emergency Communications. i. The basic question appears to be whether or not D-Star can effectively augment or possibly supplant Packet Radio. ii. Rick pointed out that there are some formatting and protocol problems to content with, such as handling RIMS reports, and connecting and coordinating with County. iii. Rick offered to work with Dave, et al, in trying to resolve these issues. EmergencyCommitteeMinutesJUN_04_FINAL 2 b. The subject of property damage reporting came up as a sometimes “political issue,” where property values are presumed to be affected as a result. Scot concurred this was the case in the ’89 quake. 6. Report from Secretary Dru Anderson (Jim Abraham reported in her absence): a. Flea Market: Jim reported for Dru and reminded the group of the upcoming SPECS fund raising Flea Market on July 10. Dru is vice president of SPECS and in charge of the Flea Market for this year. Funds raised support the SPECS repeater. b. Scott Overstreet reported to the group explicit directions on how to get to the new site. 7. Report from Bob Fenwick, town council liaison: Bob briefly summarized reaction from the town staff regarding committee plans and activities. 8. Report from Rick Ellinger, EC: a. Future training and drills: Rick advised that at least two people, besides a net control operator, are needed in the EOC to take care of logging and report writing as traffic flows. These people need not necessarily be licensed operators, but adept at the requisite clerical work. b. Certification: Larry Carr wants to discuss who should be certified as first responders, and the need to formalize things more. This is to be done at the Wednesday night meeting. c. Simplex link test: Rick recapitulated the results of a simplex link test between the Foothill Firehouse and Westwind Barn. Somewhat surprisingly, 2 meters was a dismal performer while 440 performed splendidly. The possible influence of antenna patterns on performance was discussed briefly. d. Audio logging revisited: Scot again pitched the desirability of an audio logging capability during a drill or an actual emergency. This is a specialized recording capability to be used in conjunction with or to aid in creating written reports. 9. Report from Ray Egan: a. Ray presented his work to date on a tower design for the town EOC. The tower is a self supporting lattice configuration unit by A-N Towers. It is one of their 100-foot units, shortened to 60 feet by eliminating 10-foot center sections. The modified design would support 7 or 8 vertical antennas and provide adequate isolation to preclude mutual interaction. The tower could be increased in height in the future as or if needed. Total cost, including the installation, is estimated at $9-10K. The fortuitous availability of a crane on site for the new construction of the town hall could save some money. b. On the negative site, a discussion of the anticipated neighborhood objections to such a structure followed. Also addressed were question of wind loading of the completed structure with possible future antennas added and soil stability with respect to the 12 cubic yards of concrete required for the base. c. Scott suggested that Bob Fenwick present the justification for the need for the tower to the Town Council. d. Jim summarized, thanking Ray and others for the work done. He also requested committee concurrence to present a draft of proposed antenna project to council. Dave stressed that the committee needs to be in full agreement on this and that the draft should be placed on the town web site. There were no objections. 10. Election of Chairman: a. After discussion, a motion was made to retain Jim for another term as Chairman. No official Vice Chair was designated. Dave stated that his travel schedule makes office holding difficult. Scott Overstreet nominated Bob Anderson for Chairmanship, but Bob respectfully declined at this time, preferring that Jim retain the position for the next year. 11. New Business: a. Ed Radlo will no longer be able to participate in EC activities full time because of career change circumstances that will require him to be in San Francisco offices. His work with the committee will be greatly missed. b. The ICOM radios being tested by Jim and Dave do not currently appear to have any application in our EC endeavors. No further studies are planned for these otherwise “neat” devices. EmergencyCommitteeMinutesJUN_04_FINAL 3 c. Bob Anderson suggested the committee lead a town acknowledgement of “Smitty” Smithwick for his work over the years on behalf of the town. This is to be done by our next meeting. 12. Presentations from the floor: a. Bob Lisbonne passed around a kit radio he recently put together. It is a QRP (low power) HF band transceiver, capable of about 4 watts output (CW only) on AA batteries or other power sources. It has AM and SSB receive capability. The CW key/paddle is integral with this matchbox-sized unit by EI Craft. b. Rick initiated further discussion concerning qualifications of people in the role of Mutual Aid Responder. Bob Hall elaborated, citing a need for a defined baseline of skills and equipment to handle a wide variety of emergency situations. 13. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.