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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 20 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE September 20, 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 E Scott Overstreet N6NXI P Bob Rowe AF6LD P Miles Seiver, Secretary KI6LDU P Maynard Stevenson W7MVT E Sam Wood K6MSR E Other Hams present Mark Dailey N6DY P David Pratt, Associate K6LWT 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 Miles Seiver, KI6LDU. 2. Tech Talk: Radio Direction Finding – Councilmember Gary Waldeck K6AIR a. Waldeck gave a presentation on radio direction finding. He discussed how it is done, what equipment it requires, and why it could be useful during an emergency. b. He demonstrated functioning direction finding devices. He also shared techniques for antenna attenuation. c. He gauged interest for a Town radio direction finding ("fox hunting") club. 3. Review and approve minutes of past meeting of 8/16/2011 a. Minutes of the 8/16/2011 meeting were approved with corrections. Edwin Jones noted that he was not present and Ray Egan reported for him. 4. Public comments from the floor: a. Dru Anderson noted that Mike Sanders, Emergency Services Coordinator, is looking for HAM participation in the County-wide Quarterly Communications Drill on October 22, 2011. Anderson will send further information regarding the event to Ray Egan. b. Councilmember Gary Waldeck reported that Steve Garcia, former Public Safety Officer, had resigned. Janet Shannon is currently fulfilling his roll on a part-time basis. 5. Update on the County and State – EC Edwin Jones W7WPO a. Jones reported there will be a County drill on September 24, 2011. It will take place in Lakewood Park in Sunnyvale, CA and will cover many aspects of emergency communications. For more information, visit the County website: http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm 6. Comments by Council Liaison - Councilmember Gary Waldeck K6AIR a. No comments. 7. Old business a. HT frequency list & programming: The contents and formatting of the list was discussed. i. Andy Fawcett presented a list he had compiled of County frequencies. Bill Gibbons and Gary Waldeck presented a list that they had created which listed approximately 90 frequencies in order of importance and grouped by function. ii. Dru Anderson suggested that a single list be created so as to standardize radio function regardless of location (EOC, ARK, the field, etc.). Edwin Jones suggested that important frequencies be grouped together at the beginning of the list. iii. Andy Fawcett will send his list to Bill Gibbons and Gary Waldeck. Ray Egan will solicit feedback from the committee over email regarding how the lists should be combined. b. Quick Reference Guide for Radios (Dru Anderson KG6LAD): The status of the list was discussed. Dru Anderson had sent a large compilation of relevant documents to Andy Fawcett. He compiled the documents into a guide with table of contents which is being reproduced for use at the ARK and EOC. 8. New business a. Notification to Associates of requirements (Chair Ray Egan W6FQY): Egan sought feedback on a proposed list of requirements for associate membership to the ECC. The requirements are: 1. check into the LAH net at least once per quarter, 2. attend at least one ECC meeting each calendar year, 3. participate in one drill each calendar year, 4. participate as a HAM in at leads one Town activity each calendar year. i. Dru Anderson moved to approve the requirements, seconded by Jim Abraham, and unanimously approved. b. Ray Egan shared a listing of whom had been issued a Town-purchased amateur radio. It was suspected that Rick Ellinger as well as other associate members may have Town-purchased radios. Steve Garcia, former Public Safety Officer, was responsible for tracking such equipment; Ray Egan will acquire Garcia's records and reconcile all ECC equipment. c. Ray Egan distributed keys to the LAH EOC to ECC members who did not previously have one. d. Ray Egan asked Dru Anderson to write an article for the upcoming Town Newsletter which describes recent LAH CERT and ECC activity. 9. Adjournment: It was moved by Bob Anderson, seconded by Jim Abraham, and unanimously approved to adjourn. Prepared and submitted by Miles Seiver, KI6LDU, secretary.