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Home My WebLink AboutAugust 2LAH ECC Minutes August 02, 2016 1 ( Emergency Communications Committee Minutes Tuesday, August 02, 2016, 7 – 9 p.m. LAH Council Chambers: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 Members Call Sign Attendance Jim Abraham W6EB P Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD E Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P Ben H. L. Hu KK6HH P Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS Duncan MacMillan, Secretary KI6VMY P Scott Overstreet, Co-Chair N6NXI P Sam Wood K6MSR P Council/Staff ------ Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison K6AIR P Associate Members ------ Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P Bill Gibbons K6GH P Craig Miller WA6OXK E Greg Olsen K6XM P Carol Starbuck K6PIG P Public ------ Larry Carr, Section EC KE6AGJ P Kjell Karlsson KO6BPP P 1.Roll Call: Noting a quorum of 7 members, co-chair Scott Overstreet N6NXI called the meeting to order @ 7:00 p.m. Attendance (14): 7 members, 1 council/staff, 4 associates, 2 public. 2.Minutes: Upon a motion by Jim Heintzelman, duly seconded, the minutes of the July 05, 2016 meeting were unanimously approved as submitted by the members present. 3.Public comments from the floor a.Loma Prieta earthquake audio tracks: Scott provided handouts describing the event and tracks available at http://n6oim.com/loma/ (LP Earthquake AUDIO Roundup Page) and the group listened to a few minutes of Track 1, which contained a report of the La Cresta water tank leak. The importance of net control procedures was emphasized in the discussion that followed. ¨ All hands: Scott requested that all hands log on to the website and listen to all of the tracks BEFORE the September meeting. LAH ECC Minutes August 02, 2016 2 4.CERT Recon briefing: Larry Carr KE6AGJ described the status of the working group (Carol Starbuck K6PIG, Ed Jones W7WPO, Marsha Hovey consultant to LAH, and Larry) discussions concerning ECC and CERT responsibilities and coordination during an emergency. He described thoughts on assuming initial net control operator functions (check-ins, zone and Mike-Mike data collection; ECC "first 15 minute" responsibilities in getting communications established to the County on behalf of the EOC and subsequent work in establishing backbone connectivity between EOC and ARK (voice and packet). CERT Recon (31 trained so far) efforts were described toward establishing field communications from the ARK to field hams. In the discussion a question arose as to what the Town's plans were/should be about using and staffing the 37 MHz radio in the ante room of the Heritage House. The group didn't have knowledge of how it was supposed to be used and that needs to be explored in the future. a.Upon a motion by Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY, duly seconded, it was unanimously resolved by the members present that the ECC recommend to the City Council that licensed hams be able to check-in over-the-air to an authorized net control operator rather than necessarily signing a physical document during a suspected or actual Town emergency." b.Upon a motion by Duncan, duly seconded with a friendly amendment by Jim Abraham, it was unanimously resolved by the members present that the ECC recommend to the City Council that, failing to reach the Town emergency control officer, the authorized net control operator upon receiving check-ins from licensed hams declaring Modified-Mercalli (Mike-Mike) levels of 6 or greater in their zones (or comparable non-earthquake emergency status), shall be able to declare a Town emergency and may provide such information over-the-air as a broadcast message/s." c.The training and experience levels necessary to be considered an "authorized" net control operator for the purposes of the above were left to be determined but it was the consensus of the group was that not every ham would be qualified and that a list of qualified operators would need to be maintained. d.The following support material was presented during the discussion: i.Mike-Mike Summary form: http://www.scc-ares-races.org/operations/docs/SCCo-ARES- RACES_MM_Summary_v100906.pdf ii.Information from the Town website: Notification Information - http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/244/Notification-Information Instructions for non-ECC Amateur Radio Operators - includes M-M check-in process and applies to all hams - http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/87 () LAH ECC Minutes August 02, 2016 3 5.Reports a.SCC EC: Concerning the next drill, Ed Jones described the available times and sought input about the desired emphasis for a drill. Especially with the discussion surrounding the CRET Recon briefing in mind, it was the consensus of the group that net control operator training should be a major part of the drill. The timing would be September/October. There happen to be two net control operator courses available this month. ECC members/associates were urged to consider attending the Net Control Operator III classes noted at the bottom of the agenda. The first one is this Saturday, 8/06 and still has openings. ¨ Ed Jones: Ed will email all hands ASAP with course information and a description of the sign-up process. Upon signing in, slots in the classes can be obtained at https://www.scc-ares- races.org/activities/events.php. There are no effective prerequisites for ECC members or associates since "equivalent experience" trumps the Intro to & Fundamentals of Emergency Communications classes noted in the course description. ¨ All hands: Whether they can attend or not, all members and associates are to download and review the handouts for both classes before the September meeting. b.LAH City Council Report: Gary Waldeck K6AIR indicated there was nothing to report that would impact the ECC. c.Roster Report: Neil Katin K2LL not present, deferred to September meeting. d.Member/Associate report: Ray Egan W6FQY not present, deferred to September. 6.Old Business: a.ECC QRG: Neil Katin K2LL not present, deferred to September meeting. b.220 Equipment: Andy Fawcett KI6MAF reminded the attendees that 440 MHz will now be used at the ARK for voice and 220 MHz for packet; the latter via the County BBS network. ¨ Andy Fawcett: Andy agreed to coordinate a voice test on 440 MHz by the September meeting; will return the Kenwood 710 currently at the ARK to inventory, leaving the iCom IC-2720 radio (144/440 MHz) at the ARK to support voice; and will either get the required packet cables from Neil or buy what is required. c.HF radio: Greg Olsen K6XM described the results of his survey of the EOC site with respect to potential noise from the solar panels and interference with HF transmission. He reported serious spur issues at 40, 20, 17, and 15 meters; likely due to DC-to-AC inverter noise; and concern that the spurs would move with varying loads on the panels. Sam Wood K6MSR suggested that line conditioning might offer hope but that scheme was problematic since it appears that each panel array has its own micro-inverter. ¨ Greg Olsen: Greg was asked retest with a true antenna (he used a section of wire in the first, quick test to see if there is any low noise bandwidth available). In addition, Greg will check Westwind Barn and the La Cresta water tank with the same rig. Thanks in advance for that! LAH ECC Minutes August 02, 2016 4 d.Foothill EOC: This documents a hold-over action item from the July meeting - ¨ Duncan MacMillan: Duncan will arrange to get access to Building 1900 so we can conduct a radio check during our next drill (now September/October) of the radio kit currently stored in the ARK. The radio was provisioned to support the FH EOC located in the conference room of Building 1900, when requested by the College. We installed a Diamond X-50 dual band (2m/70cm) antenna on the roof a few years ago for such an eventuality 7.New Business: a.ECC support subcommittees, 2016/2017: Finding volunteers to work the following activities was deferred until the September meeting. ¨ All hands: All hands were again requested to review the following activities for items they would like to work on: i.LAH equipment (inventory, use, maintenance, interface with LAH EG, ii.EOC readiness (clean, neat, documented, and ready), iii.Packet (provisioned, documented, tested, and ready), iv.DSC interface (ECC/CERT interface and cooperation), v.LAH ham data base (maintain comprehensive list of active LAH licensees, communication and recruitment suggestions ), vi.QRG (periodic review and distribution), vii.Training & activity monitoring (suggest courses and maintain list of courses taken by each member and associate). b.Antenna ordinance: Gary and Jim Abraham updated the group on the proposed ordinance, indicating that it was in the process of being restructured into single document/section, to be discussed at the August 23 Planning Commission meeting. Completion of the document is in the hands of the Town attorney, Steve Mattas, and is not available yet. They indicated that attempts were made to address comments received at previous reviews, with the hope that all parties will now be comfortable with the provisions suggested. Members should make sure they are on the LAH alert system for Planning Commission notices if they want to review the proposed document once it and the August 23 agenda are available: http://ca-losaltoshills.civicplus.com/list.aspx 8.Tech Talk: Deferred, by group preference, to the September meeting. 9.Adjourn: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:58 p.m. by voice vote Respectfully Submitted Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY, ####