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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 5 1 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE February 5, 2013 @ 7:00 PM, LAH Council Chambers Roll call (17 attendees): P = present, E = excused, no mark = absent Member Call Sign Attendance Jim Abraham W6EB P Dru Anderson KG6LAD E Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P Ray Egan W6FQY P Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P Bill Gibbons K6GH 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 P Maynard Stevenson W7MVT P Sam Wood K6MSR P Others Present Call Sign Attendance Greg Olsen, Associate Member K6XM P John Pfefferle KJ6CBX P Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison 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) and minutes. 3. Review and approve past meeting minutes – Duncan led review of the minutes of the 1/02/2013 ECC meeting, which were unanimously approved as written, upon a motion by Bob Anderson KC6ZWG. 4. Public comments from the floor – None. 4. Update on the County and State – EC Ed Jones W7WPO reported that he should have stickers for County and city DSW cards at the next ECC meeting. 5. Comments by Council Liaison – Councilmember Gary Waldeck K6AIR reported on contingency planning for the Heritage House (discussed later in the minutes). 6. Old business – a. Associate status & monitoring participation – Ray Egan W6FQY noted that there had been between 13 and 14 check-ins each week on the local LAH Monday night net for the month of January. Duncan reminded the committee that participation in local nets, 2 County drills, and monthly meetings are being closely tracked for a 90-day period. The results will be shared with the entire committee after the period is over. b. Update on ECC antenna installation at Foothill EOC – Scott Overstreet N6NXI reported that the installation was successful. Duncan shared photos of the installation. c. CERT - EOC communications – Duncan shared a draft version of the new CERT incident report form along with a corresponding ICS form 213. He also shared Mountain View’s digital ICS 213 form with damage assessment entries which Mountain View has offered to modify to LAH specifications (their standing offer to any city in the County). Ray Egan W6FQY expressed that hope that changes in the ICS form would allow it to be used more directly by CERTs and avoid double-scribing as much as possible. We will work off-line with Dave Stewart (CERTs) to see what accommodations should be made using the MV implementation as a starting point. d. Infrastructure priority list – Duncan indicated that he was searching for a source of training for ECC members on how to assess highway exchange and overpass status following a disaster. e. Nextdoor.com security update – Duncan said that Nextdoor.com will tighten up its privacy policy in response to concerns about data sharing with third parties. He encouraged attendees to check out the website and sign up for this neighborhood-building/messaging application. f. Interim EOC (due to unsafe assessment of Heritage House) – Gary led discussion of contingency planning for the Heritage House EOC. He shared the idea that we place radio equipment in the Heritage House (HH) in an impervious enclosure fed by backup power. If the Heritage House were to fail, then the radios could be controlled from a different location such as the Council Chambers (CC) closet. Jim Abraham W6EB thinks it is possible to run the radios with full functionality using a 50-pair cable. Gary is working to determine the specifics of an existing conduit between Heritage House and Council Chambers. Scott and Jim felt keeping both HH and CC options open was a significant complication and that it would be best to decide on a single location for radio communication, regardless of whether the Heritage House is standing following a disaster. Gary recommended that the ECC decide on a good design that will allow operation from either the Heritage House or the Council Chambers. Jim and Scott took an action item to begin research into a design for next meeting. Duncan proposed the working assumption that we will use the existing antenna tower in this new design. 7. New business – a. 3.5 GHz microwave radio application – Sam Wood K6MSR shared information on the availability of surplus point-to-multipoint microwave radios that could provide packet functionality between key locations in the Town. He is currently holding the frequency coordinations for the radios and the holder of the radios would like to donate them to the Town. They could potentially be used to improve data rates between the ARK and EOC. Gary suggested that the radios be temporarily stored for 90 days at the Town barn, for which he would get clearance. During this period, Andy Fawcett KI6MAF and Ray Egan W6FQY will take inventory of the equipment, assess their usefulness (state of repair, documentation, define any special modifications made, etc.) and propose an architecture to support a high-speed packet application. If, after 90 days, a mutually-agreed upon application does not emerge, the radios will be scrappedremoved from Town storage. 3 8. Upcoming events (https://www.scc-ares-races.org/activities/events.php) a. Packet Level 1 - Part A training, 3/02, SV Public Safety HQ b. First Electronics Flea Market of 2013, 3/09, De Anza by WV Amateur Radio Assoc. c. Message Passing - Tabletop, 3/16, TBD d. Fundamentals of Emerg. Com. - Night class, 3/20, City Training in Milpitas 6pm - 9:30pm e. Packet Level 1 - Part B training, 4/06, SV Public Safety HQ f. CERT 5-week class, 4/09+, 6:00 - 9:00 pm; 5th: May 11, 9:00 am - noon g. EC Council Meeting, 4/11, SCC EOC h. Amateur Radio License Testing, 4/20, Los Altos Hills i. CERT BBQ, 5/11, noon 9. Adjournment – There being no further business, it was moved and unanimously approved to adjourn at 8:11 p.m. Prepared and respectfully submitted by Miles Seiver, KI6LDU, secretary.