HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 3LAHECC_DRAFTMinutes_20190903_Secretary 1
Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, September 3, 2019, 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 E
Ben H. L. Hu, Secretary KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones W7WPO P
Terry Kearney KM6LTQ E
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS A
Scott Overstreet N6NXI P
Jay Sutaria KN6JAY A
Sam Wood K6MSR P
Council/Staff
Kavita Tankha,Council Liaison A
Associate Members
Larry Carr KE6AGJ P
Robert Johnson KG6UWZ P
Neil Katin, EC K2LL P
Craig Miller WA6OXK P
Guests:
J. Logan, LAHCFD P
Capt. Denise Gluhan KM6IFY P
Walter Underwood K6WRU P
Ann Hepenstal, Los Altos CBCP P
Steve Jordan, PHWD P
1.ECC call to Meeting: Co-Chairs Dru Anderson KG6LAD/Eduardo Arias KM6LSX.
(a)Roll Call: At 19:00 hours, Dru KG6LAD called the meeting to order. Attendance was: 15
including 6 members, 4 associates, and 5 guests.
(b)Minutes approved: Ed W7WPO motioned to approve the July 23 minutes, Scott N6NXI,
seconded, and all other 4 members voiced approval of the minutes.
2.Council Liaison Kavita Tankha: No report since she was not present.
3.Public comments from the floor: Steve Jordan, member of the board of Purissima Hills
Water District, brought a suggestion that the microwave antenna that the Town had
requested to put up at the La Cresta water tank site in order to link to the EOC of the Santa
Clara County be considered on the peripheral edge of the site rather than on the tank.
There had been safety concerns. Neil K2LL suggested that he, Dave WQ1K and Ben
KK6HH, discuss the concept with Steve offline.
LAHECC_DRAFTMinutes_20190903_Secretary 2
4.Tech Talks:
(a)Walter Underwood K6WRU, Scott Master of Troop 4014, made a presentation of
“Jamboree on the Air (JOTA)” to take place on Oct. 19 from 10:00 – 15:00. He solicited
both ideas and participation from folk of LAH to make the JOTA appealing to the youth.
(b)Ann Hepenstal, Los Altos CBCP, gave a talk regarding the October opening of the
LA/LAH emergency volunteers history exhibit at the LA History Museum. The exhibit will
be from 10/17/2019 to 1/19/2020 and will highlight the volunteer emergency programs
and history of each community. She asked for pictures of Hams participating in the past
emergency drills/events and for volunteers to staff live demonstrations.
5.Neil K2LL, EC, reported that the final County communication exercise of the year would
take place on September 28 at a Campbell field site. For LAH team, he chose the Cross-
band repeater exercise. Sign-up link http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm
6.Old Business
(a)CERT – communication activities, antenna site follow-up: LAHCFD Capt. Denise
Gluhan will report in the next meeting the status as the current Foothill college
administration building which is currently restricted access. She will provide Scott
N6NXI a map he requested. After the final re-position pf the ARL: Captain Gluhan said
no progress could be made at the ARK during the off-limit access.
(b)Dru KG6LAD had requested of LAHEG to develop guidelines to help the Town to
identify future opportunities for the placement of any antenna on cell tower additions or
modifications to facilitate the emergency radio communication. Scott N6NXK cited the
current practice that when a new cell tower/modification application is submitted, the
LAHEG is asked by the Town’s planning department to consider if it would be beneficial
to add a radio antenna for Town’s emergency communication. He said, In the past, an
emergency radio antenna was placed at the cell tower next to the Town Hall without
causing any interference to either party. He said that the two new sites asked to be
evaluated were not beneficial for addition of a radio antenna there. Based on these
successful instances, he would like to leave the current practice unaltered.
(c)Larry Carr KE6AGJ brought in Radio equipment for potential learning use by hams,
including a 6m FM 10W Transceiver. However, since the town ham equipment already
has a 100W one, it was suggested that Larry donate the Transceiver to SPECS, which
is a 501-C3 non-profit related to volunteer emergency ham radio activities.
7.Reminders: Please check online schedules for activities in the following:
(a)LAH town events: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar.aspx.
(b)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:
1.LAH: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/381/EMERGENCY-ALERTS
2.AlertSCC: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx
(e)SPECS Monday Night Net information: www.Specsnet.org Northern SCC emergency
ham radio volunteer activities.
8. Adjourn: At 20:45, moved Ed W7WPO, second Sam K6MSR, approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted: Ben Hu KK6HH, Secretary