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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 15 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE November 15, 2011 @ 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, Chair W6FQY P Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P Bill Gibbons K6GH P Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS E Duncan MacMillan, Vice Chair KI6VMY P Scott Overstreet N6NXI P Bob Rowe AF6LD P Miles Seiver, Secretary KI6LDU P Maynard Stevenson W7MVT P Sam Wood K6MSR Associate member David Gilmour WQ1K P Council Liaison Gary Waldeck K6AIR P 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chair Ray Egan W6FQY. Roll call and minutes were taken by Secretary Miles Seiver KI6LDU. 2. Tech Talk: Handheld radio features important to ECC – Jim Abraham W6EB a. Some funds for LAH emergency preparedness have become available from the County of Santa Clara. Some of it may be spent on amateur radios for the Town, to be loaned to ECC members. i. Abraham asked the ECC membership what handheld amateur radio features are important for emergency communications. The following features are desired: more than or equal to 5 watts of power, simplicity of operation, an integrated TNC, HF capability, a AA battery accessory. Gary Waldeck stressed the importance of a wide receive band because of the potential for the Town to become isolated from information following a disaster. Dru Anderson supported 440-band capability and an extended antenna. She felt that having extra amateur radios would be important in a disaster because they could be distributed to non-ECC hams interested in helping. ii. Specific radio models suggested: Yaesu FT-60, Alinco DJD7, and Kenwood TH-D7. b. He also asked for other suggestions on how to spend the money. Another idea is to improve the battery backup for the Town repeater. Abraham would like to have five days of battery backup capability. He estimated that the cost of batteries and chargers would be 3,000 dollars. Gary Waldeck suggested that solar panels be used as a backup energy source. Ray Egan took note of the members who do not have an ECC vest: Andy Fawcett, Jim Heintzelman, and Bill Gibbons. A specific proposal for how to spend the funds will be brought up at a future meeting. The money will be available for spending from February 2012 to July 2012. 1. Review and approve minutes of past meeting of 10/18/2011 a. Minutes of the 10/18/2011 meeting were approved unanimously. 1. Public comments from the floor: a. Jim Abraham reported that a recent NARCC meeting was productive. Gary Waldeck is leading an effort to change the group’s bylaws. b. Andy Fawcett reported that there were some issues with the printer in the ARC. This was due to dried ink in the inkjet printer. Spare ink cartridges need to be available.. 1. Update on the County and State – EC Edwin Jones W7WPO a. Jones asked who was interested in running SPECS net in January (when LAH is responsible for net control). Dru Anderson volunteered to run a SPECS net on the last Monday in January. 1. Comments by Council Liaison - Councilmember Gary Waldeck K6AIR a. Waldeck elaborated on effort to change NARCC bylaws. He wants to make the group more inclusive to the entire amateur radio community. He also wants to add more oversight to coordination approval. 2. Old business a. October 22 County communications drill comments (Edwin Jones W7WPO): Jones reported to the County town participation for the drill. b. Quick Reference Guide (Dru Anderson KG6LAD): Anderson presented a printed version of the Quick Reference Guide. Bill Gibbons asked whether the ink used to print it was non-smudging. c. Basic frequency list (Ray Egan W6FQY): Egan asked if the frequency list would be distributed in a digital format. Gary Waldeck said it would be if the conversion from its current form would not be overly-difficult. It is currently in a spreadsheet format. 3. New business a. Associate members and status (Ray Egan W6FQY): Egan distributed an email that had been sent to all associate members asking for them to return their Town-issued handheld radios. It also reminded them of the requirements for associate membership to the ECC. Dru Anderson suggested that there be fewer associate members; some do not currently live in Los Altos Hills. b. LAH emergency communications via KFJC (Ray Egan W6FQY): Egan reported that a meeting has been scheduled for November 22, 2011 to discuss whether KFJC could be used by LAH to broadcast important information during an emergency. The ECC would be interested in putting an amateur radio in the station. c. December meeting plans (Andy Fawcett KI6MAF): Fawcett is looking for volunteers to help prepare for the December ECC holiday meeting. Duncan MacMillan and Jim Heintzelman offered to help. 4. Adjournment: At 8:21pm it was moved by Bob Anderson, seconded by Dru Anderson, and unanimously approved to adjourn. Prepared and submitted by Miles Seiver, KI6LDU, secretary.