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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 17 1/3 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Tuesday, March 17, 2008 @ 7:00 PM, Council Chambers Roll call: Member Call Sign Attended Absent Jim Abraham W6EB P Dru Anderson KG6LAD P Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P Ray Egan W6FQY P Charlie Ellinger KI6JPM E Rick Ellinger, EC, Chairman KJ6NU E Andy Fawcett KI6MAF E David Gilmour WQ1K E Bob Hall KF6DHX P Edwin R Jones, Secretary W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS E Lynn McLeod KG6YIT E Scott Overstreet N6NXI P David Pratt K6LWT E Bob Rowe AF6LD P Miles Seiver KI6LDU P Terry Smith K7YNO E "Smitty" Smithwick W6CS E Maynard Stevenson W7MVT E Jerry Tomanek KI6BYL E Gary Waldeck K6AIR P Al Whaley KV6U P Sam Wood K6MSR E Associate Members Call Sign Peter Berman K6PJB Bob Lisbonne KG6HOD Ed Radlo AJ6V Bob Fenwick K6GX Other Hams present Council Liaison Rich Larsen E 2/3 Chair Ed Jones called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. The minutes of the previous meeting were not available for approval. Al Whaley reported a good exercise on the previous Saturday and made following points: o Encouraged ECC participation o SPECS Repeater noted for good performance o Drill had few volunteers and a lot of staff supporting it. o There is an expectation that NCPA will be approached to coordinate packet frequencies. o A quarterly county drill is coming up on 4/18 o Packet check-ins are being solicited on both 2M & HF A LAH Drill is being held on 4/29 that will include a CERT activation, EOC activation. We expect a need for 3 operators at the EOC, 2 more at the activation site and remotely tasked volunteer operators, members can check in from their homes and be ready for tasking. Jim Abraham reported that NARCC will consider a 2M band restructuring proposal to be made at the 4 April NARCC meeting. He has identified a total of 76 radios in LAH that could be affected by the proposal. The expected proposal will try to squeeze more 2M repeater pairs into the same bandwidth. It is theorized that a 12.5 kHz spacing (instead of current 15 or 20 kHz) will be proposed. Discussion ensued with no action taken. Al Whaley said that the county is also keenly interested in this proposal and will be following its progress. Ray Egan reported that he had talked to the Foothill FD, Mike Sanders and Steve Garcia about the proposed Alternate EOC at Foothill College. The FD apparently does not want an antenna near its own antenna nor on its roof. Instead, they suggested using a tilt up antenna stored in the generator area that could be deployed when needed. Al Whaley reported that County Com would like the Alt EOC implemented. Gary suggested (and Ed Accepted) that we should write a letter to Steve Garcia to have the town and Fire Department prepare a Memorandum of Agreement that authorizes the Alt EOC and would also appoint a communications contractor to design a system that would address the EOC requirements previously submitted in an earlier proposal to the FD. Ed reported a meeting with Steve Garcia that it is his opinion that the CERT Trailers should have one FRS radio (that will communicate with CERT members) and a single HAM radio (to communicate with the EOC). This idea is different from the ECC proposal, but after discussion, was agreed that the concept will work and is easily done. Ray reported that Mike Sanders said a 2nd CERT Trailer is due in 2 weeks and that the FD would like the radios populated as soon as possible. 3/3 Ed relayed that he had been reviewing the ECC Emergency equipment list that will need to be acquired. He has had a discussion with Steve Garcia on the topic. New radios were not discussed. Scott Overstreet reported that vest sizes run small and probably should be ordered at least 1 and possibly 2 sizes larger than normal due to sizes running small and need to wear over a coat. Meeting adjourned at 87:30 PM Respectfully submitted, Gary Waldeck, Acting LAHECC Secretary