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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 6 1 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE August 6, 2013 @ 7:00 PM, LAH Council Chambers Roll call (10 members + 1 other): P = present, E = excused, no mark = absent Member Call Sign Attendance Jim Abraham W6EB P Dru Anderson KG6LAD E Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E Ray Egan W6FQY E Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P Duncan MacMillan, Chair KI6VMY P Scott Overstreet N6NXI P Bob Rowe, Vice Chair AF6LD P Miles Seiver, Secretary KI6LDU E Maynard Stevenson W7MVT P Sam Wood K6MSR P Others Present Call Sign Attendance Bill Gibbons K6GH Greg Olsen K6XM Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison/Mayor K6AIR P 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by chair Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY, who took roll call (see attached ICS 211A Check-in List). 2. Review and approve past meeting minutes – Duncan led review of the minutes of the 07/02/2013 ECC meeting. The minutes were approved as corrected, upon a motion by Andy Fawcett KI6MAF, with Jim Abraham W6EB abstaining. 3. Public comments from the floor – Jim Heintzelman KD6Y noted the placement of the returned IC-7000 in the radio room and a discussion ensued about the best use of the radio. The consensus was that the unit would be useful for long-distance communication (e.g. Sacramento) in the event of an emergency. It was felt that two(2) antennas should be procured at the next grant opportunity (e.g. G5RV antennas), one for the existing cellular tower and a second for the back-up antenna envisioned for the back of the Chambers. A single antenna tuner would also be required. It was felt that the tuner and antennas could be purchased for under $500. Jim also submitted receipts from purchasing manuals for the IC-7000. 4. Update on the County and State – Ed Jones W7WPO noted that the SPECS-sponsored electronics flea market will be this coming Saturday and that volunteers are still needed. 2 5. Comments by Council Liaison – Mayor Gary Waldeck K6AIR noted that a short report has been issued by the SCC Emergency Preparedness Council suggesting best practices to area cities. Duncan will distribute the report to all hands, which members are requested to review before the next ECC meeting in September. Gary noted that the county committee which formulated the report is being reduced from 9 to 5 members and it is anticipated that this will mark the end of grants, perhaps one more round being in the offing. 6. Old business – a. ECC activity summary & LAH website – Duncan KI6VMY reporting for Ray W6FQY, asked that members who have the Monday night net forward Ray a copy of sign-ins shortly after the net. b. Back-up EOC – Jim Abraham W6EB reported that he would be meeting on Thursday with Town engineer, Richard Chiu, and a prospective vendor for the antenna for the back-up EOC. A 100' monopole will be discussed. The antenna will likely support 4 UHF antennas with a tri-meter antenna at the top. A camera may be included. The CAT-5 cable which runs from La Cresta tank to Ascencion tank to LAH Parks & Rec. building (owned by Purissima Water) is cut at La Cresta. It was not felt that we should press to have it repaired although the bottom end (Ascencion/Parks & Rec. section) may come into play when the antenna is installed. c. 3.5 GHz radio application – Duncan reported that the 8500/8700 buildings at Foothill do not offer suitable locations for a relay point between Black Mountain and the ARK (no emergency power). The use of the 3.5 GHz radios will be reviewed one last time: Sam Wood K6MSR will provide a viable architecture which can be implemented at the September ECC meeting or the 3.5 GHz radios will be removed from the LAH corporation yard at that time. Duncan offered to set up a final survey of Foothill, including S Theatre, for Sam and other interested parties once some prospective dates were identified by Sam. d. Vests & helmet update – Duncan noted that the prospective vest is not ANSI-compliant and is not suitable for road use. We will check with Mike Sanders concerning the CERT vest vendor when he returns from vacation on 8/28. 7. New business a. Larry Carr's "Now what?!" class for CERT hams, 9/17 – Duncan noted that Mike Sanders has asked Larry Carr KE6AGJ <KE6AGJ@arrl.net> to conduct a class. The members thought that recommending HT vendors, programming HTs and call-handling protocols would be key areas to cover. Use of the W6LAH repeater by CERT hams was encouraged as would checking in to the local net on Mondays. Duncan will offer ECC assistance to Larry and will provide any course outline to the following members who expressed interest in helping out: Jim Abraham, Jim Heintzelman, Ed Jones and Gary Waldeck. Moving the class from the El Monte Fire Station to CC may also make sense, especially if a tour of the EOC/radio room would make sense. b. 220/UHF Monday night check-ins – Duncan urged members to call in to the UHF net before each Monday night SPECS net to see how their equipment works at 440 MHz. Also, it would be a valuable exercise to "shadow" the person with UHF net control responsibilities to gain experience identifying and writing down "unfamiliar" call signs. The UHF call-sign "cheat sheet" was shown, which can be obtained from the SPECSnet.org site. Scott Overstreet N6NXI added his strong support for the scheme of grabbing pen/paper to follow along during the UHF nets. 3 8. Upcoming events (https://www.scc-ares-races.org/activities/events.php) italics = new listing a. SPECS-sponsored Electronics Flea Market, 8/10, 0500 - noon, DeAnza College b. Cross-band repeating/Antenna Fundamentals, 8/24, 0900, SV Public Safety HQ c. Fundamentals of Emerg. Comms., 9/04, 1800, 777 S Main St, Milpitas d. Annual County-wide CERT Drill, 9/07, 0700 - 1700, Moffett Field e. Net Control in Disaster Comm - Type III/B, 9/07, 0900, SV Public Safety HQ f. LAH Volunteer Recognition Dinner, 9/07, 1800 - 2100, Fremont Hills CC g. CERT "Now what?!" ham class, 9/17, 1900 - 2100, FH Fire Station h. Message Passing - Tabletop, 9/21, 0900, SV Public Safety HQ i. NARC Board of Directors meeting - 9/24 (Saturday), 1000, LAH CC j. CERT 24-hour Drill, 9/28, 1000 - 1000 9/29, various LAH 9. Adjournment – There being no further business, Jim Abraham moved adjourn at 8:20 p.m., which was duly seconded and unanimously approved. Prepared and respectfully submitted by Duncan MacMillan for Miles Seiver, KI6LDU, secretary.