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Home My WebLink AboutMarch 6LAHECC Minutes_03062018_FINAL.docx 1 Emergency Communications Committee Minutes Tuesday, Mar 6, 2018, 7:00 pm LAH Town Hall Council Chambers: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 Members Call Sign Attendance Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD P Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P Ben H. L. Hu, Secretary KK6HH P Edwin R Jones W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P Scott Overstreet, Co-Chair N6NXI P Sam Wood K6MSR E Council/Staff --- Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison K6AIR P Associate Members --- Larry Carr KE6AGJ P Neil Katin – EC K2LL P Bill Gibbons K6GH P David Gilmour WQ1K P Peter Evans AI6VM P Bill Lattin KK6PCA P Greg Olsen K6XM P Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P CERT Attendees: Mauri Okamoto-Kearney KM6LXC P Terry Kearney KM6LTQ P 1.Roll Call: Co-chair Dru KG6LAD called the meeting to order @ 1900 hours and Secretary Ben KK6HH took the roll call. Attendance (17) including 6 members, Council Liaison Gary K6AIR, 8 associates and 2 CERT members with new ham licenses. Because of the very first appearance of these CERT members at the ECC meeting, a round of self-introduction was made. Co- chairs, Scott N6NXI and Dru, expressed their welcome. Neil explained to the CERT guests the role of Associates and the duty of the EC for the town. 2.Minutes approved: With Scott’s motion to approve the Feb. 6, 2018 minutes, and Ed W7WPO’s second, the February minutes were accepted unanimously by the 6 ECC members present. LAHECC Minutes_03062018_FINAL.docx 2 3.Public comments from the floor: a.Larry KE6AGJ commented: i.With the help of Bill KK6PCA and Neil K2LL, he was ready to restart the Recon in CERT. ii.Over the next two Tuesdays (7pm at the Council Chambers) he would offer the opportunity to the Recon team to attend either training session. iii.Larry asked for volunteers to help with the training session, and also to help with the pre-planning. Neil, Dru, Bill Lattin responded. Scott asked how ECC and Recon would share the usage of the W6LAH repeater. Larry responded that ECC would start first to check in and then Recon would take over. Neil noted that the procedure was documented in the current QRG. Scott then suggested that Recon team are welcome to participate in Monday-night nets so both teams become familiar with each other to facilitate future on-the-air communication. Larry agreed completely. In fact, he envisioned that, after the Recon training, some Recon members would want to broaden their skills in the operation of EOC. Neil asked for the permission to send the Recon training email to ECC and was encouraged to do so. Larry commented that in the likely event of an earthquake, both ECC and Recon hams would be needed. Peter AI6MV asked whether there was any post-mortem information about Sonoma fire. Neil stated that the Santa Clara County was in the process of getting the post-mortem report to learn from the experience. 4.ECC Activities and related a.Council Member/Liaison Gary K6AIR commented that he really liked the discussion during the public comments, and efforts to build the CERT and ECC ham interface. b.Neil K2LL, EC reported: i.The May County drill is being planned that would involve both ECC and Recon. ii.The April exercise is focused on Recon but ECC member participation is welcome. iii.Recon members are expected to attend either of the next two of Larry’s Tuesday evening Recon training sessions. iv.Larry added that the yearly full Recon drill would be in October, with preparation drills in Aug/Sep. The communication between ARK and EOC would be on the agenda of the drill. LAHECC Minutes_03062018_FINAL.docx 3 5.Old Business: a.Neil reviewed the purchase list for Alt-EOC The space needed for ultimate storage of the radio gear and supplementary gear is still open. Peter suggested sites other than EOC, such as Westwind Barn and the Toyon yard across from ARK. It was agreed that more discussion is needed. Gary suggested that Neil submit a list of items that need to be purchased to the Town Clerk, Deborah Padovan, to get things started. b.Neil reported that Peter AI6MV started the process of getting MAC qualification and encouraged more to follow Peter’s example. As it is, there are not enough MAC’s from the Town to send to the County to cover 911 dispatching. Larry, having spent more than 20 years in the emergency communication, recounted how, before the establishment of the MAC program, sometimes non-qualified or inconsistently trained persons were sent to the County. The current SEC (Section Emergency Coordinator) organization encompasses one Section (5 Counties), Counties, and cities/towns. EC’s in this hierarchical structure work together to effectively dispatch appropriate MAC’s from one area to others needing help during emergencies. c.David WQ1K reported that his team of four were doing further work on the AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Digital Network). 6.New Business: a.Gary suggested that Co-Chair Dru get in touch with Suzanne Avila, Planning Director, to clarify the purpose of providing comments about CUP (Conditional Use Permit) renewal for the cell tower at 26410 Duval Way. Dru distributed the document sets to Neil and to Scott, who expressed commitment to examining the plans, and enlisting the participation of former member Jim W6EB. b.Neil commented that i.Recon team is for mobile reporting, such as surveying damages of the town. ii.Staffing EOC may need both ECC and Recon members. iii.MAC is the major mutual aid among cities/town in the area. c.Interaction of CERT and ECC: This was covered earlier in the agenda. 7.Tech Talk a.Go-Kit “Show and Tell” Bill KK6PCA, lead: ●Bill displayed and went through his Go-Kit carry duffles, highlighting the equipment and features. ●Zip lock bags are useful to store small items LAHECC Minutes_03062018_FINAL.docx 4 ●Optimal Coaxial cable: Either RG-58 or RG-8X is recommended as a tradeoff between weight and propagation loss. ●The loss is shown in the following table with focus at 200 and 400 MHz where we would operate. ●Different cable adapters are needed for the various connections, and Neil suggested the following set. The set has unique Universal Interface Adapters that would allow for all different combinations of not only of its type but also its gender. ●In addition to radio gear, personal items such as raincoat, rain- trousers. and extra personal hygiene, hydration, and snack items are needed in the go-kit. LAHECC Minutes_03062018_FINAL.docx 5 ●The 2hr/12 hr. go-kit recommendation is listed at http://www.scc-ares-races.org/operations.html#Go_Kit ●Bill uses duffle bags, for more flexible space, to store and transport more items, although he noted that a Pelican case has an advantage of being water-proof. His gear is “at the ready” as he travels. ●Various tapes, such as Duct-tape, hazard-tape, and Gaffer’s tape, are essential for securing, repair, and other uses. b.Mauri KM6LXC asked for a future talk on “antennas”. Her suggestion was accepted, and Scott Overstreet N6NXI said we would focus on that round table discussion at the next Tech Talk. 8. Upcoming Reminders: Dru KG6LAD reminded everyone about signing up for the various alerts noted below. The QRG link on the LAH town website is current and correct. a.LAH town events: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar.aspx b.ARES/RACES courses & events: http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm c.CERT & PEP training; CERT Supervisors and members activities: http://www.lahcfd.org/community-programs/public-classes d.Links: Town Alerts: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/381/EMERGENCY-ALERTS Alert SCC: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx e.ECC QRG (Quick Reference Guide) available online at: https://goo.gl/h93sye 9. Adjourn: motion to adjourn was made by Andy W6CLS, seconded by Jim KD6Y. Adjournment was approved unanimously at 2100 hours. Respectfully submitted: Ben Hu KK6HH, ECC Secretary