HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 1LAH ECC Minutes November 01, 2016
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Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, November 01, 2016, 7 – 9 p.m.
LAH Council Chambers: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Members Call Sign Attendance
Jim Abraham W6EB E
Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD P
Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E
Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P
Ben H. L. Hu KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P
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 ------
Peter Evans AI6MV P
Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P
Bill Gibbons K6GH P
Neil Katin K2LL P
Bill Lattin KK6PCA P
Craig Miller WA6OXK P
Greg Olsen K6XM P
Public ------
Kjell Karlsson KD6BPP P
1.Roll Call: Noting the presence of a quorum of 6+ members, co-chair Dru Anderson
KG6LAD called the meeting to order @ 1900 hours. Attendance (17): 8 members, 1
liaison, 7 associates, 1 public.
2.Minutes: Upon motions by Scott Overstreet N6NXI, duly seconded, the minutes for the
September 06 and October 04, 2016 meetings were unanimously approved with Dru. and Ed
Jones W7WPO abstaining concerning the October meeting.
3.Public comments from the floor: Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY reviewed the current draft of
the Disaster Service Worker (DSW) Volunteer Emergency Activation Policy, attached,
indicating how the ECC resolutions from the August meeting concerning declaring
emergencies and checking in over the radio are incorporated in the document. ¨ All hands
were requested to provide comments, if any, to Duncan on or before November 15.
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4.Reports
a.SCC EC: Ed Jones W7WPO urged members to volunteer for the upcoming Los
Altos “Festival of Lights” via the SCC-ARES-RACES website. He also asked if any
members had received the County request for packet drill traffic to their alternate
EOC on November 02 and 03. Ben Hu KK6HH indicating he had received the
message and planned to send the requested IC213, City Scan, and Logistics
messages.
b.LAH City Council Report: Gary Waldeck K6AIR indicated that the revised code of
conduct, including fingerprinting of those who may come in contact with the general
public during an emergency, will be implemented soon. Those ECC members who
do not declare as CERTs in an emergency (e.g. ECC radio operators only) would not
be subject to the fingerprinting requirement.
The item originally shown in the agenda as Item 6.b. was discussed around the use of
Rapid Notify and how ECC members might be included to support communication
that could ultimately be needed. ¨ Dru will consider the subject in a memo on
Rapid Notify with the hope of suggesting something short of wearing orange vests
and hardhats that might be provided to members for these situations; perhaps a t-shirt
and/or cap that would give quick, non-activated recognition to an ECC participant
who approaches first responders, offering communication services.
c.Roster Report: Neil Katin KK2LL reported that Bert Raphael has been removed
from the roster as an associate member, as reflected in the Google.doc available
online.
d.Member/Associate report: ¨ Ben will be assisting Ray Egan W6FQY in updating
the spreadsheets and will provide a progress report at the January meeting.
5.Old Business:
a.HF radio antenna testing: Greg Olsen K6XM, Scott and Jim Abraham W6EB tested
the La Cresta tank site with an HF antenna and reported adequate results. ¨ Scott
and Greg will perform a similar test at the Westwind Barn and will report at the
January meeting.
b.ECC QRG (Quick Reference Guide): ¨ Neil Katin will incorporate the edits
provided by ECC members/associates into a revised draft which will be available by
December 04 with the publication to all hands of a URL to a new Google.doc.
c.Great Shake Out: Duncan indicated that Foothill College proceeded without
requesting any ham support after multiple unanswered offers from the ECC.
6.New Business:
a.Equipment Fair: A venue to review the operation of individual radio equipment was
discussed with some interest in doing so around Field Operator (ARES-RACES)
training and/or participating in an upcoming ARRL field day. More later.
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b.ECC support subcommittee reports: Those shown with a ¨ will be taken up at the
January meeting.
i.LAH equipment (inventory): R Duncan showed photos depicting the
retaking of the closet at the entrance of the radio room, now Closet 2, and that
it now houses spare hardhats and vests, antennas, tripods, cables, and repeater
radios/power supplies. ¨ Duncan will propose a bulletin board arrangement
for the radio room.
ii.LAH equipment readiness (use, maintenance, interface with LAH EG):
¨ Andy F, Andy K, and Scott will report in January.
iii.EOC readiness (clean, neat, documented, and ready): ¨ Jim Heintzelman
KD6Y, with support by Duncan, will report in January.
iv.Packet (provisioned, documented, tested, and ready): R Ben used the
attached overheads to describe his and Andy Fawcett KI6MAF efforts to
organize the radio room for packet, including placards similar to those at the
ARK. ¨ Neil will proceed with purchasing a new laptop for the ARK.
v.DSC interface (ECC/CERT interface and cooperation): Ed and Duncan
summarized Marsha Hovey’s draft DSW Volunteer Emergency Activation
Policy document in Item 3 above. ¨ Ed will request that Marsha also
provide future drafts related to EOC operations so we can assess their impact
on the ECC.
vi.LAH ham data base (maintain comprehensive list of active LAH licensees,
communication and recruitment suggestions): ¨ Ray and Ben will report in
January.
vii.QRG (periodic review and distribution): Neil gave an overview in Item 5.b.
As noted there, ¨ Neil will incorporate changes and publish an updated draft
(URL) by December 04.
viii.Training & activity monitoring (suggest courses and maintain list of courses
taken by each member and associate): ¨ Ed, in his duties as EC, will
provide an update on 2017 SCC-ARES-RACES courses suggested for
members/associates as part of obtaining NCO qualifications.
ix.Antenna systems: ¨ Scott, with support by Jim H, Ray and Greg, will
report in January.
x.HF systems: Greg reported on his antenna research thus far in Item 5.a.
¨ Greg and team as needed (Craig Miller, Jim A, Bob - as PHWD liaison)
will report in January.
7.Tech Talk: Duncan reviewed the attached guidelines for opening a net as a Net Control
Operator (NCO), including getting a work area ready and creating a script in advance of
PTT. An exercise in opening a net to take telecommunication outage reports was conducted
which illustrated the benefit of scripting a call for specific information in a specified order
with active control over the process to hone input from responding hams. This scenario was
similar to taking Mike-Mike reports. Duncan noted that ARES-RACES training classes for
2017 should be posted in the first week or so of November. ¨ All hands were asked to
consider the Fundamentals and Field Operations courses, which are prerequisites to taking
the NCO III (A&B) as well as NCO II classes during 2017.
8.Adjourn: There being no further business; the meeting was adjourned at 2100 hours.
Respectfully Submitted: Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY, secretary