HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 6LAHECC-20210406-FINALminutes_KK6HH-Secretary.docx 1
Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 7:00 pm to 8:55 pm.
The meeting was held via ZOOM Online Video Conference
Members Call Sign Attendance
Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD P
Eduardo Arias, Co-Chair KM6LSX P
Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P
Ben H. L. Hu, Secretary KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones W7WPO P
Terry Kearney KM6LTQ P
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS A
Scott Overstreet N6NXI P
Jay Sutaria KN6JAY E
Sam Wood K6MSR A
Council/Staff
Stanley Mok, LAH City Council Council
Liaison E
Associate Members
David Gilmour WQ1K P
Neil Katin K2LL P
Peter Evans AI6MV P
Larry Carr KE6AGJ P
Kjell Karlsson KD6BPP P
Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY P
Dave Stewart KJ6JQT P
Guests:
J Logan LAHCFD Guest P
Victoria Bebee, LAHCFD KN6HOU P
Cody Einfalt, LAH town staff Speaker P
Lisa Schmidt, LAH City Council Member Contributor P
1.The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by co-chair Dru Anderson KG6LAD.
Followed by a rollcall of members. There were 7 members present, thus a quorum.
a.Roll Call: Attendance:18, consisting of 7 members, 7 associates, and 4 guests.
The minutes of March 2, 2021, prepared by Ben KK6HH, were approved on a motion by
Scott N6NXI, seconded by Ed W7WPO, with a unanimous roll-call of members present.
2.EC Report:
Neil K2LL, EC: Neil’s report was postponed behind item 7Aand 4A to accommodate the
schedules of David WQ1K and Cody Einfalt. David was in EDT time zone, and Cody,
being LAH town staff, extended his working hours to join the meeting.
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After the conclusion of both earlier items, Neil K2LL, EC, reported as follows:
i.The County has a drill on 4/17 for anyone who wants a County DSW certification.
ii.County Races/Ares holds a monthly message passing exercise on the third
Tuesday. Anyone could choose to participate as an active radio messenger or just
listen. Listening to the exercise is a great way to start learning the skill of message
passing in a noisy radio environment.
iii.Neil has trimmed the QRG frequencies list to ~20 from ~130. All these frequencies
have been validated. He asked for the feedback from the participants. He intended
to allocate a standard set of channels to these frequencies. Peter AI6MV suggested
adding “firefighter” frequencies and others, such as FRS to these. However, Neil
pointed out these frequencies could only be used for listening, not transmitting, per
FCC regulations. The group agreed to making the smaller frequency list the "official"
one for standardizing frequency locations on the radios, with the longer list still
available for reference purposes.
3.Update on town related activities from Councilman Stan Mok, liaison to ECC - Stan was not
available at this meeting.
4.Tech Talk:
a.Information regarding the town’s Neighborhood Watch Program:
Cody Einfalt, Management Analyst, and Town staff project lead on the Neighborhood
Watch Partnership Program, presented information about the program and the current
pilot project in Zone 2 (Saddle Mountain area).
i.The Neighborhood Watch program is intended to be run by a group of residents,
typically 20-40 households, but could be as large as 50.
ii.Anyone interested can contact him for assistance in forming a Neighborhood Watch
group for the neighborhood.
iii.Once the group is formed and a leader is chosen, the sheriff would give an
orientation to the group and subsequently would be available for quarterly updates
with the zone. Dru KG6LAD, ECC Co-chair, noted that she is the lead for the pilot
project in Zone 2; and thought that the presentation her neighborhood received was
highly informative. In addition, she and Cody pointed out that it is helpful to know
your neighbors for both emergency and general Zone information contact
iv.After an orientation, and a determination of the number and placement of signs
needed, the Town purchases and installs the signs.
v.In addition to the Zone 2 pilot group, two other groups are being organized. Peter
AI6MV inquired whether the neighborhood formed is the same zone as that of
CERT/NextDoor mapping. Cody responded that it is similar but is up to the
neighbors. Dru noted that in the pilot, it is the CERT Zone 2, but with Moon Lane
added because of its designation as a fire lane, and its proximity and restricted
access to Zone 2.
b.Lisa Schmidt, LAH Town Council member, attended to give a preview of her council
project of building a Fire Safety Task Force. She stated that, out of the five goals of
current LAH Town Council, she was tasked to lead the “Fire Safety '' for the Town. She
volunteered to give a more detailed plan at the next ECC meeting May 4. She is
modeling the effort to the Los Gatos program, and she is working to formulate a similar
plan for LAH. J. Logan, general manager of LAHCFD, pointed out that every residence
needs to be “Fire Hardened”, which means clearing all fire hazards within a “Home
Ignition Zone”. The benefit could not only keep homes safe but also possibly could have
a positive impact on home insurance policies.
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5.Public Comments from the floor
Victoria Beebe KN6HOU reported a variety of activities on LAHCFD CERT, as shown in
Appendix 1.
6.Old Business:
a.Planning and Coordination with ECC, Victoria KN6HOU/Dru KG6LAD - Shown in
Appendix 1.
b.As part of the ECC Goal #2: Work with Town Emergency Management and LAHCFD
CERT program analyst on process and training/activities for emergency response. Dru
KG6LAD/Victoria KN6HOU - Shown in Appendix 1.
c.QRG Update: Simplified standard list of programmed frequencies - Neil K2LL -
Discussed earlier at 2.III.
d.Inventory Report: Jay KM6JAY - deferred due to Jay’s absence.
7.New Business
a.Report on LAH Emergency Data Network (LAHEDN) by David WQ1K with Neil K2LL
and Ben KK6HH:
i.Associate member David Gilmour reported that LAHEDN (Emergency Data
Network) would enable Town EOC (Emergency Operations Center) staff to use a
laptop to communicate with County EOC and to gain access to the internet in an
emergency when all other forms of internet and cell phone tower are inoperative or
have limited access.
ii.David noted the working team has worked with the town’s staff and with the PHWD
management.
iii.David proposed that the next step would be to recommend to the town that it create
an LAHEDN group within ECC to support the design and implementation of an EDN
network.
iv.Neil reported that with the help of Peter AI6MV on the water district side, he was
able to secure the antenna location of LAHEDN within the Town. He also was able
to get the consent from the County to make a microwave connection to the County
Data network.
v.Dru commented that it seemed logical, from an emergency communications
standpoint, to suggest the establishment of such a group within the charter of ECC.
vi.Peter AI6MV added that he is in support of such a project and asked David whether
the LAHEDN could grant access to the Purissima Hills water district in an
emergency. David answered in the affirmative but reminded everyone that this
would not be a guaranteed service because it is volunteer-based. Scott N6NXI
reminded everyone that the emergency voice communication by means of Ham
Radios/Town Repeater also is a volunteer-based service.
vii.Scott asked about the reliability of the LAHEDN and whether the backbone service
would need any support. Neil responded that the reliability should be better than the
Town’s repeater as there is backup support as well real time monitoring of operating
and environment parameters.
viii.Ben KK6HH made a motion to establish a LAH Emergency Data Network
(LAHEDN) sub-group (within ECC) to be led by (Associate Member) Neil K2LL
to design and implement a microwave link to the County on the volunteer
base. The motion was seconded by Scott N6NXI and Eduardo KM6LSX, and then
passed unanimously by roll call vote by all 7 members present.
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b.Discussion of a suggested “ECC membership recruitment invitation” Eduardo KM6LSX,
ECC co-chair. The recruitment effort is part of the ECC Goal #1. Eduardo read his
proposed invitation letter and solicited comments/suggestions be sent to him. The draft
invitation is shown in Appendix 2.
8.Health and welfare check-in. Dru inquired about the well-being of all 18 participants in turn.
All responded to be doing OK, with several shared experiences.
9.Adjourn. At 20:26, Bob KC6ZWG moved to adjourn, Scott N6NXI seconded, and all agreed with
a voice vote.
10.Reminders: See online schedules for activities in the following:
LAH town events: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar.aspx.
EMERGENCY ALERTS: LAH: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/101/Emergency
AlertSCC: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx
CERT activities: LAH County Fire District:
http://www.lahcfd.org/community-programs/public-classes
County ARES/RACES courses & events:
http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm
SPECS Monday Night Net information:
www.Specsnet.org Northern SCC ham activities/Monday night net script.
Respectfully submitted:
Ben Hu KK6HH, ECC Secretary
Please see below for Appendices cited in minutes:
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Appendix 1 - CERT Program Update for ECC meeting 4.6.21 - Victoria KN6HOU
●Hybrid CERT Academy has 28 adults and 38 Teen Certs’ signed up
●Teen CERT program will be highlighted in the next Our Town publication
●Still would like to create a recruiting pipeline into ECC for Teens interested in HAM
communication. We have a Los Altos/ Los Altos Hills Board Chapter that would be
looking for emergency preparedness group training opportunities within the Town
structures.
●Lots of activities planned for the month of April:
●CERT Newsletter will be sent out in mid-April.
●April 7 will be a small group Recon Communication Exercise to work on data flow
into and out of the ARK.
●April 21st will be a large group Recon Communications Drill to firm up training
points that were learned and trialed on April 7th exercise.
●Could the end all be all include an EOC activation drill which includes the Town
management (they can do it virtually if they need to stay at their desks) and ECC
involvement? Dru, Marsha and I can coordinate the dates, etc.
●April Focus also on Disaster Medical Ops 1 &2 with guest presenters Terry and
Maury Kearney with follow up skills day on May 1st in Los Altos (alongside Victoria
and Harry Guy from Los Altos CERT)
●Continuing with CERT Refresher training with Los Altos Prepares: April 8th-
Emergency Food Supply (with presenter Anne Bancroft from Sunnyvale CERT) and
April 22nd is ICS Logistics presentation. We round out the month with Financial
Preparedness workshop on April 29th. Speakers include Rashad Wiley from Star
One Credit Union: United Policyholders.
●Link to sign up for Los Altos Prepares: http://www.losaltosca.gov/prepares
●Bay Area Training and Exercise Program is offering a 4 module course on Disaster
Psychology starting on April 27th (training starts @ 1:30 p.m.) Link to sign up:
https://www.batep.org/
●Seeking CERT supervisors to help with updating the ICS section of the CERT
Supervisor manual – please see Victoria, if interested.
●For Fire/ Evacuation focus: SCCFD and Cal Fire are partnering to start a series of
webinars on Community wildfire Preparedness – webinar subjects include ready,
set, go / Recovering from Wildfire/ Understanding Homeowners Insurance.
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/santa-clara-county-fire-department-11074830922
●We are continuing to offer our wildfire evacuation workshops that Denise Gluhan
presented at the last ECC meeting. Please contact us if you are interested in getting
your friends and neighbors prepared for wildfire evacuation.
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Appendix 2: Eduardo KM6LSX
Note DRAFT for recruitment of further members below:
Please review and give feedback at May 4 meeting to Eduardo KM6LSX:
ECC Amateur Radio Emergency Services
Welcome to our Emergency Communications (ECC) Standing Committee! The Amateur
Radio License is a very exciting Hobby. And you can obtain it easily.
Please join us on the Emergency Committee. It is a way for you to give back to your
community of the Town of Los Altos Hills (LAH).
Please check out the committee charter and membership on the Town of Los Altos Hills
website. You can access it by using the following link:
http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/157/Emergency-Communications
A radio will help you find out and communicate promptly in case of an emergency. You can
also participate with many of us on the local LAH net portion of Monday night SPECSnet
that starts @ 8 p.m. This is a function of SPECS, not part of the committee, but it is an
excellent opportunity to have a weekly test of your equipment and learn by doing.
No one makes a mistake because everyone learns. It is a fun way to get accustomed to
saying your call sign via the Phonetic Alphabet and by observing the radio communication
protocol.
Thank you for considering being a part of the Emergency Communications Committee.
We would welcome your participation in membership. Please contact the City Clerk at Los
Altos Hills town hall to get an application.
You can make a difference by becoming a volunteer member of a Town Advisory
committee. The Town can benefit greatly from your expertise, enthusiasm, and civic pride.
Get involved and play an active role. If you are interested in participating in any of the
Committees below, please email the City Clerk, Deborah Padovan. Fill out an application
form.
www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/FormCenter/Committee-Application-Form-12/Town-Committee-
Application-Form-53