HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 3LAHECC_03032020_FINAL_Minutes.docx 1
Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, March 3, 2020, 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Kitchen Area at Town of LAH: 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 P
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P
Scott Overstreet N6NXI P
Jay Sutaria KN6JAY P
Sam Wood K6MSR P
Council/Staff
Kavita Tankha,Council Liaison E
Associate Members
Larry Carr KE6AGJ P
Robert Johnson KG6UWZ P
Kjell Karlsson KD6BPP P
Greg Olsen K6XM P
Neil Katin, EC K2LL P
Bill Lattin KK6PCA P
Craig Miller WA6OXK P
Guests:
Victoria Bebee, LAHCFD KN6HOU P
Mauri Okamoto-Kearney KM6LXC P
Janice Carr KI6PNR P
Brigitta Indaco, Planning
Commission, LAH P
1.At 19:02 hours, Dru KG6LAD, Co-Chair called the meeting to order. The meeting
was held at the Kitchen Area of the Town Council because the regular meeting
place was preempted by the Primary election.
(a)Roll Call: Ben KK6HH made the roll call. Attendance: 20 including 9 members,
7 associates, and 4 guests. There was a round of introduction among all
attendees to welcome our first-time visitor to the meeting.
(b)Minutes of February 2020 approved: Scott N6NXI moved to approve the
February Minutes, Terry KM6LTQ seconded, and all voted to approve without
dissent or abstention.
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2.No update from the Council Liaison Kavita Tankha as she was not available.
3.EC Report Update and Activities - Neil K2LL, EC:
(a)A County drill is scheduled for April 25, aiming to teach CERT members how to
use Radios. Anyone interested can sign up with Neil K2LL.
(b)The access to ARK is imminent, awaiting the approval from Foothill College.
(c)The purchase of antenna and internet equipment for the ARK would be
completed shortly.
(d)The drill on Feb 22 to survey Ham radio propagation throughout the TOWN went
well. A dozen or so volunteers joined the exercise. It was found that all the
surveyed locations, including the past problematic areas, could reach the
W6LAH repeater with an HT and Mag-mounted antenna.
4.Public comments from the floor:
(a)CERT update by Victoria KN6HOU:
1.She presented lists of CERT activities for March and April and indicated
these are all posted on https://www.lahcfd.org/calendar/.
2.She also asked for volunteers to participate in the March eighth’s LAH youth
commission emergency preparedness.
(b)Dru KG6LAD reported that she is working with Marsha Hovey in early stages of
neighborhood fire evacuation drill, involving up to 40 families. The first step is to
develop the plan and see if it is of interest to a majority of the neighbors.The drill
would require the assistance of various first-responder agencies as well as
members of CERT/ECC. More details as they develop.
5.Old Business
(a)Vests for ECC/CERT
1.Victoria KN6HOU indicated she was able to get vests of almost all sizes,
except for the 2XL, for ECC/CERT to try on and to complete the final count.
2.The cost of each vest ranges from $40-$60.
3.The emblem on the backside has been decided but the front insignias are
still being discussed.
4.Victoria KN6HOU and Neil K2LL are tasked to finalize the front insignias and
report back in the next April ECC meeting.
6.New Business
(a)Neil K2LL reported that during the last drill, he found out that Radio 4 in the EOC
did not work and asked for help, to which Scott N6NXI generously agreed to
diagnose the problem as his time allows.
(b)Neil requested to purchase three headphone amplifiers for EOC at the total cost
of no more than $250.Terry KM6LTQ moved to approve the request, Eduardo
Co-chair, KM6LSX seconded, all nine members voted for the motion.
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(c)Jay KN6JAY reported his efforts to update the ECC inventory to move the
current paper format “to the cloud,” beginning July 2019 when he took over from
Mauri KM6LXC.
1.Jay intends to put the inventory lists in Google sheets. The decision as to
who could assess the information is to be made later.
2.Jay would implement an electronic checkout procedure of equipment/books.
3.Jay would get help from others to gain access to information/equipment for
off-site emergency EOC stored in the main Council chamber.
7.Tech Talks
(a)Status of microwave high data connection between LAH’s EOC and the County
ARES/RACES: On behalf of David Gilmour WQ1K, Neil stated that a critical link,
specifically, the placement of the Microwave antenna at a Water Tank location
previously agreed on by the owner, is in doubt because of some other
disagreements between the owner and the Town of LAH.
(b)Sam K6MSR elaborated on his last month’s proposal on a high-speed data link
to LAH EOC.
1.At present, there is a private fiber-optic link between some LAH residence
and the “Internet exchange point” (the physical infrastructure through which
Internet service providers and content delivery networks exchange Internet
traffic between their networks.).
2.This fiber-optic link provides a multiple Gigabit high speed link to the internet
and is highly reliable in an emergency.
3.This link could then be further linked via Microwave to a station high above
the Town and/or the LAH EOC.
4.After much discussion, Scott N6NXI urged Sam to put in a succinct and
concrete proposal for the ECC to consider whether it would be appropriate to
recommend to the Town.
8.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:
i. LAH: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/381/EMERGENCY-ALERTS
ii. AlertSCC: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx
b.SPECS Monday Night Net information: www.Specsnet.org. Northern SCC
emergency ham radio volunteer activities.
9. Adjourn: At 20:50 hours, Scott N6NXI moved to adjourn; Andy WB6CLS seconded,
and all nine members present assented.
Respectfully submitted: Ben Hu KK6HH, Secretary