HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 8LAHECC_FINAL_Minutes_20190108.docx 1
Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, January 8, 2019 scheduled 7:00 to 9:00 pm
LAH Council Chambers: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Members Call Sign Attendance
Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD P
Eduardo Arias, Co-Chair KM6LSX P
Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P
Jim Heintzelman KD6Y A
Ben H. L. Hu, Secretary KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones W7WPO P
Terry Kearney KM6LTQ E
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P
Scott Overstreet N6NXI P
Sam Wood K6MSR P
Council/Staff
Council Liaison TBD A
Associate Members
Larry Carr KE6AGJ E
Neil Katin, EC K2LL E
Greg Olsen K6XM P
CERT/Guests
Lester Earnest public P
1.Roll Call: At 1900 hours, Dru KG6LAD called the meeting to order. Ben KK6HH
took the roll call: Attendance: 10 including 8 members, 1 associate and 1 guest.
2.Minutes approved: Scott N6NXI moved to approve the December draft minutes, and
Bob KC6ZWG seconded the motion. It passed with voice vote with no objection.
3.Public comments from the floor:
a.Eduardo KM6LSX co-chair, alerted all present, in view of windy weather in this
time of the year, to be on the look-out for dangerous smoke around our home
area, as had happened to Dru KG6LAD’s neighborhood a few weeks back. Scott
N6NXI again urged everyone to turn on radio to monitor both W6LAH and
W6ASH repeaters at all time of the day. Especially the W6ASH repeater would
be operational but is programmed to stay quiet after 22:00 without the time
announcement.
b.Recognition for Gary Waldeck K6AIR, longtime ECC Council Liaison whose term
ended in December: deferred to when Gary is present.
c.Scott N6NXI urged everyone to attend the coming Jan.12 SPECS annual
meeting, starting at 0800. At 0900, there would be two talks, one given by Rob
LAHECC_FINAL_Minutes_20190108.docx 2
Fenn on PARACHUTE MOBILE: Past-Present-Future and the other by Rachel
Kinoshita on Off the grid battery/solar setups.
d.Lester Ernest, guest, commented that he plans to request that the town council
withhold financial support of the ECC, and to request that the council focus the
need for emergency communication to Internet high speed, rather than Ham
radios. Sam K6MSR recounted his ongoing work with high speed internet for
emergency communication and concluded it is still not ready because the
reliability of the Internet in an emergency, even with all three carriers, is still
problematic.
4.ECC Activities and related.
a.Council Member Liaison: TBD
b.Ben KK6HH: Update on Data Link headed by David Gilmour WQ1K.
David relayed to Ben the following summary:
The plan is to test either or both backbone sites from La Cresta at the earlier of
two following times:
1. When LAHEG can make arrangements to provide us a position to mount a
small, directional antenna on the repeater tower, which necessarily also involves
coordination with the town and the PHWD.
2. Or: If/when the HF antenna is installed on La Cresta such that we might have
access to the top of the tank for a tripod test.
David, in an email to Ben KK6HH, indicated in his summary that only the first
option is viable. Scott N6NXI, on behalf of LAHEG, asked those involved that
any decision on the plan be deferred for a month or so.
c.Ben KK6HH also made a report on the participation statistics of SPECSnet
Monday evening check-in for members and associates for the last 2 years or
102 weeks: (See table).
d.Please Note: SPECSnet is not an ECC committee function but is historically
recognized as a net participation training opportunity for area ham radio
operators. SPECS is a 502 C3 non-profit organization that serves the northern
cities of Santa Clara County, and offers a weekly check-in opportunity for hams
in the respective city areas.
Members:
9+1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
28%91%25%33%37%77%44%77%87%
Associates:
17
1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7 8
0%2%77%72%10%62%0%1%2%
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
21%0%0%3%0%8%6%3%39%
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5.New Business:
a.Eduardo KM6LSX suggested distributing the W32 radios currently in the
inventory to hams participating in the town emergency response preparedness.
Dru KG6LAD and Scott N6NXI pointed out that the W32s HTs were initially
distributed as town issue to ECC members, but that over the years, members,
as well as associates, have purchased their own preferable units and have
returned unused W32s to town inventory. Dru noted that there is a plan in place
that the W32 HTs, if necessary, could be checked out for town’s walk-in
volunteer ham operators in an emergency.
6.Tech Talk(s)
a.BEYOND THE GO KIT: Round table discussion of individual action plans for
response to emergencies.
b.The Co-chairs encouraged suggestions for future Tech Talk topics ideas.
7.Reminders: Please check online schedules for activities in the following:
a.LAH town events: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar.aspx.
b.Note: 2019 County ARES/RACES courses & events:
http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm
c.CERT activities:
http://www.lahcfd.org/community-programs/public-classes
d.EMERGENCY ALERTS:
LAH: 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): https://goo.gl/h93sye.
f.SPECS organization: 2019 activities, links to ham training. www.specsnet.org
g.Adjourn. At 20:03, the meeting was adjourned after motion made by Bob
KC6ZWG, seconded by Sam K6MSR, was approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted: Ben Hu KK6HH, Secretary