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Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, June 7, 2016, 7 – 9 p.m.
Park and Recreation Building: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Member Call Sign Attendance
Jim Abraham, Co-Chair W6EB P
Dru Anderson, Secretary KG6LAD P
Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E
Jim Heintzelman KD6Y E
Ben H. L. Hu KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P
Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY P
Scott Overstreet, Co-Chair N6NXI P
Sam Wood K6MSR P
Council/Staff Call Sign Attendance
Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison K6AIR E
Associates Call Sign Attendance
Mark Bailey N6DY P
Bill Lattin KK6PCA P
Neil Katin AI6FI P
Greg Olsen, associate K6XM P
Burt Raphael, associate KK6GNB P
Carol Starbuck, associate K6PIG P
Public: None
Larry Carr KE6AGJ P
Garo Kiremidjian P
Mrsha Hovey KG6CYV P
1. Roll Call: Co-Chair Scott N6NXI called the meeting to order @7 p.m.
Attendance: 8 members, 2 excused; 6 associates, 3 public.
2. Minutes: May 3 minutes: No changes. Minutes were approved unanimously by voice vote.
3. Public comments from the floor
a. Volunteers were sought by Carol K6PIG for the July 4 town parade. Volunteers
stepping forward included Ben, Andy K., Ed, Duncan, and Neil.
b. There was a discussion of fire protection and Jim referred to a meeting he attended a
few months ago dealing with emergency response. There was no action.
4. Reports
a. Marsha Hovey, LAH consulting emergency manager, presented a detailed report on
the code update ordinance called Municipal Code related to Emergency Organization
and Function. She referred to the staff report to the city council dated April 6 and
said that it primarily was an update to the additional language needed to support the
LAH_ECC_FINAL-Minutes_June-7-2016 2
DSWVP (Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Program). She explained the city staff
reviewed the ordinance and the sections needing update. The town’s Disaster
Council is responsible for managing DSWVP activities but, since the DC only meets
3 times per year, the state’s DSWVP coordinator suggested streamlining to facilitate
the local process. This included naming specific job titles for DSWVP registration
forms, training activities, and such updates as the list of persons authorized to
activate the town’s Emergency Operation plan and EOC activation. She outlined the
training requirements, including at least one functional exercise per year. She said
she would provide Dru a disk for the courses for IC-100B, and some of other training
units. There was no motion, but those attending appreciated the update.
b. Ed called for volunteers for the July SPECSnet coverage by LAH. Volunteers
included Neil, Bob Anderson, and Andy Kirk, as well as Ed for the 220/440 and 2m
coverage.
Discussion of the recent joint drill with CERT, Ed said with the setup, the CERT
Recon was not disrupted by the ECC radio activity. There are plans to use the
repeater in the future including the LAH, AIR and simplex. Larry Carr expressed
interest in seeing the area coverage documentation. There was a discussion of a
possible October joint drill w/CERT.
Ed said there were 5 volunteers at the ECC information table at the town picnic.
c. LAH City Council report. None.
d. Member/Associate report. None.
5. Old Business:
a. SCC EC Ed W7WPO stated the radio wave propagation mapping within the town of
Los Alto Hills is in progress.
b. ECC QRG: Neil is readying to send a link to group for review of several of the
sections.
c. Equipment related to 220 equipment for packet station activity: It was noted that
cabling for TNC to radio is working at EOC thanks to Andy F., for the packet,
simplex, and repeater. Plans are to install at ARK in a few days. The discussion
brought up that the laptop and SW at the ARK to run the equipment is outdated.
Dru made a motion to procure a laptop configured with Windows 10 to support the
ARK activity. The motion was seconded by Andy Kirk and unanimously approved
by voice roll call. Neil volunteered to research, buy a unit, and submit the receipt for
expense.
d. 2016 Summer Drill. Ed suggested that scheduling would favor an October drill that
could be a repeat of the coverage drill in September with the AIR repeater.
e. Greg K6XM presented his analysis in responded to clarification of the objectives
made at last meeting for use of the Icom-7000 HF transceiver. Greg prepared and
distributed copies of his research on the antenna design. In the handout and
discussion, Greg covered the assumptions relating to the use of the equipment to
support emergency communications, described the potential support structures, and
possible antenna types, including illustrations and possible design diagram thoughts.
During the discussion, he went over the pros/cons and performance expectations and
potential setups for the various possibilities. He also discussed the RF safety
requirements design.
Dru made a motion to proceed with using the HF radio for defined emergency use
with a ceiling on cost TBD. Scott N6NXI seconded. The motion was approved
unanimously by the members. Greg will proceed with development of specifications.
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Scott noted that we already have the radio, which is the more costly item, s o let’s get
the tuner and antenna necessary to make it functional.
6. New Business:
a. Nomination of new officers: 2016/2017: The nominations and election of new
officers and review of subcommittee activities, per town policy, will take place at the
July 5 meeting.
b. To continue the work of the roster, managed over the past several years by Duncan
KI6VMY, Neil volunteered to take on the ongoing responsibility for maintaining the
currency of the member/associate and interested parties contact information as well
as the revolving Monday night net assignments. The group expressed its appreciation
to both Duncan and Neil for their service, and willingness to serve.
7. Tech Talk:
a. Due to the lateness of the hour, the open discussion on CERT Recon and ECC ham
joint participation in drills/emergency response was deferred to the July 5 meeting.
Larry Carr and Carol Starbuck had come prepared to initiate a proposal for specifics
of joint working relationship. It was the preference of Larry and the group to defer
the discussion to the July or August meeting to allow him to further develop the
proposal concepts and have sufficient agenda time for group discussion.
Larry opined that enabling a smooth coordination would be mutually beneficial. He
expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of coordination, noting that there’s too
much at stake not to. Scott N6NXI asked Larry and Carol to please involve input
from Scott, Jim W6EB, Dru KG6LAD, and Ed W7WPO.
8. Adjourn: On a motion by Duncan, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. by voice vote.
Respectfully Submitted by ECC Secretary Dru Anderson KG6LAD