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Home My WebLink AboutFebruary 41 Minutes Town of Los Altos Hills EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE February 04, 2014 @ 7:00 PM, LAH Council Chambers Roll call (11 members + 4 others): P = present, E = excused, no mark = absent Member Call Sign Attendance Jim Abraham W6EB P Dru Anderson KG6LAD P Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P 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 Sam Wood K6MSR P Others Present Call Sign Attendance Kjell Karlsson KD6BPP P Greg Olsen K6XM P Dave Stewart KJ6JQT P Gary Waldeck W6AIR P 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by chair Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY, who took roll call via attached ICS 211A Check-in List. 2. Review and approve past meeting minutes – The attached agenda was followed. Duncan led a review of the minutes of the January ECC meeting. Upon a motion by Bob Anderson KC6ZWG, duly seconded, the January 07, 2014 minutes were unanimously approved as corrected. 3. Public comments from the floor – Dru KG6LAD raised the question of whether calling our local Monday night net the “LAH ECC” net was too restrictive, and whether calling it that made it an official meeting subject to the Brown act. Alternate suggestions included “LAH Emergency Group Net” and “ECC Related Net.” Consensus seemed to be to simply call it the LAH Monday Night Net. 4. Update on the County and State – Ed Jones W7WPO reported that at the county level there is increased emphasis on packet communication. He indicated that there were two packet training sessions coming up – April 5 on hardware configuration and May 3 on operations. (later in the meeting, Duncan, Dave Stewart, Jim Heintzelman and Bob Rowe indicated they would plan to attend the packet classes.) 5. Comments by Council Liaison – Gary Waldeck W6AIR reported that a contract for the operation of Westwind Barn had been signed with the Dye organization. 2 6. Old business a. ECC activity summary – Ray Egan W6FQY was absent and will report on ECC activity next month. b. Back-up EOC – Jim Abraham W6EB indicated little progress in discussions with AT&T regarding antenna installation, but that AT&T would be notified that no action should be taken by them without ECC approval. Andy Fawcett KI6MAF showed his prototype driver circuit to remote radio control heads from a proposed pad-mounted radio cabinet at the base of the "tree" antenna tower (with radios and patch panel to support HH or CC connections, as needed). Andy reported that the digital portion of the link appears to work well but the analog (microphone) portion was still being tested. [After the meeting, Andy demoed his hardware, during which Scott tested the audio portion using the SPECS repeater and declared it "totally usable."] c. LAH SPECS and UHF/220 net control duties for January were reviewed by Duncan, who emphasized that our next turn for this duty in July and presented another training opportunity for ECC members who had not previously performed these functions. The following took net control duties in January: UHF/220: Duncan 1/06, Bob Rowe 1/13, Jim H 1/20, Scott 1/27; SPECS net: Ed Jones 1/06, Sam 1/13, Jim A 1/20, Bob Anderson 1/27. 7. New business a. Increasing ARK-EOC connectivity Duncan reported upgrades for the EOC radio room consisting of two (2) H-P Elite PCs with 23” LED monitors courtesy of a grant managed by Marsha Hovey. Dave Stewart KJ6JQT suggested commercial satellite service as one option. This uses a geosynchronous satellite similar to that used for processing credit card purchases. Cost for low use would be $1,500 per location for hardware plus $179 per month for the service. One question is how quickly the service could be turned on in an emergency. Another is cost: A quick check of Hughes Net during the meeting appears to offer services at approximately $200 inclusive of supporting both ARK and EOC. More next time. Sam Wood K6MSR discussed commercial data service as an option. But this would require line-of-sight from the ARK to Mt. Allison, which does not does not appear to be good. A link from ARK to a new antenna atop the theater of the firehouse would probably be needed. With new personnel at the district, this old discussion may be worth reopening. Andy KI6MAF indicated that while making use of County ARES/RACES packet backbone might be an option, that would require a 220 radio and new antenna. Ed W7WPO pointed out that in a real emergency, the packet nodes would be heavily loaded, unlike in a drill. b. ECC annual report to City Council, 2/20 – Duncan reviewed the upcoming annual ECC presentation to the Town Council, again asking for input from those present. c. Associate member criteria – Bob Rowe AF6LD reported that Associate members have invited to join the rotation for Monday night local net control. Upon a motion by 3 Duncan, duly seconded, Miles Seiver KI6LDU was unanimously elected as an associate member of the ECC. 8. Upcoming events (https://www.scc-ares-races.org/activities/events.php) a. Intro to Emergency Communications NIGHT, 02/19, 1800, Milpitas (MV: 05/21) b. Field Operations Type III, Part B & Type II, 03/01, 0900, SV Public Safety HQ c. Fundamentals of Emergency Comm. NIGHT, 03/19, 1800, Milpitas (MV: 06/25) d. Packet Operations Type III, Part A, 04/05, 0900, SV Public Safety HQ e. EC Council Meeting, 04/10, 1900, SCC EOC f. County-wide Comm. Exercise, 04/12, 0800, TBD g. Packet Ops Type III, Part B, 05/03, 0900, Sunnyvale Public Safety HQ h. Ham Cram - Amateur Radio License Testing, 05/17*, 0800 - 1600, Saratoga Fire Station 9. Adjournment – There being no further business, it was moved and duly seconded to adjourn at 8:18 p.m., which was unanimously approved. Prepared and respectfully submitted by Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY * After the meeting, it was determined that the ARES website is in error. This event will occur on 5/24 and will end at 1700 ####