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Home My WebLink AboutJune 15 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE June 15, 2010 @ 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 Rick Ellinger KJ6NU Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P David Gilmour WQ1K P Bob Hall KF6DHX P Edwin R Jones, EC, Chair W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY Lynn McLeod KG6YIT Scott Overstreet N6NXI P David Pratt K6LWT E Bob Rowe AF6LD P Miles Seiver, Secretary KI6LDU P Terry Smith K7YNO E "Smitty" Smithwick W6CS E Maynard Stevenson W7MVT P Jerry Tomanek AF6HY P Gary Waldeck K6AIR Al Whaley KV6U E Sam Wood K6MSR E Other Hams present Council Liaison Rich Larsen KI6VMW Chairman Edwin Jones called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. Bob Anderson made a motion to approve the May 2010 ECC minutes. Scott Overstreet seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Chairman Edwin Jones reported that county training events will take place on July 4th in Cupertino and Morgan Hill. Jerry Tomanek described recent country training classes as “excellent” and encouraged other ECC members to attend. More information on county training is available at http://www.scc-ares-races.org/. Chairman Edwin Jones reminded the ECC that it is Los Altos Hills has SPECS net control duty for the month of July. He will send an email asking for volunteers. Scott Overstreet gave a demonstration of SPECS repeater functionality accessible through DMTF tones. Dru Anderson gave a summary of the May 26, 2010 LAH earthquake drill (“The Big One”). ECC members and CERT as well as local governmental agencies participated. Dru Anderson was the CERT Incident Commander. She felt that this year’s drill went well due to better equipment and increased preparation (especially a meeting before the drill to test radio equipment). The main technical glitch during the drill was a change of PL on the mobile radio at the ARC. To prevent similar issues from occurring in further events, Anderson recommended that both the ECC and CERT spend time learning how to reset malfunctioning radios to a useable state. Packet radio communication was successful although message forms should be simplified to ensure more thorough use. Anderson suggested that vests denoting each ICS position (communications, commander, operations, logistics, planning etc...) be purchased to ease identification at each command post. Anderson was pleased that a “core group” of individuals who have attended many consecutive drills has formed. Check-in, check-out, and event displays were all important components of the drill which should be repeated in future events. A magnetic mount 2-meter amateur radio antenna and a mobile radio with a laminated card describing its use would be useful additions to each CERT trailer. Ray Egan believed that there may be extra mobile radios available in the LAH EOC. Andrew Kirk suggested that Power Poles be used in the trailers. A full listing of new trailer equipment recommended by the ECC is attached. The committee agreed that an exercise to practice connecting radios to various antenna adapters as well as more scenario planing (drills based on specific events like bridge collapse, flooding, fire etc...) would be beneficial. Andrew Kirk will make further adjustments to the ARC antenna. Chairman Edwin Jones began a discussion of ECC meeting attendance. A few members of the committee have not attended enough recent meetings to warrant full membership. Moving some individuals to associate membership would make achieving quorum at meetings more reliable. Jim Abraham believed that the city originally intended for the “excused absence” to only cover major events such as medical problems. David Gilmour suggested that if a member foresees he or she will have a repeating conflict with ECC meetings in the future, he or she should ask to be moved to associate membership. Chairman Edwin Jones reminded the ECC that elections for committee positions will take place at the July meeting. Chairman Edwin Jones reported that there was some interest in the ECC at the 2010 LAH Town Picnic. No new individuals were present at the meeting, however. At 8:17 pm Bob Anderson moved to adjourn the meeting, Bob Rowe seconded, and the motion passed. Respectfully submitted, Miles Seiver LAHECC Secretary