Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp

On 2 April 2008 at 7:00 pm, Joel Goldberg - W8HIU, Emergency Coordinator (EC) for the Oakland County ARPSC, called the meeting to order in the County Emergency Operation Center (EOC). The order of business included:

There have been new developments on the Oakland County ARPSC by-laws that members approved in January. These by-laws were passed with the contingency they would be acceptable to the county administration and lawyers. The County reported back that Oakland County ARPSC had to be legally redefined as a stand alone volunteer group that agrees to provide services to the county. In addition, every volunteer group utilized by the county has to be defined the same way. The county doesn't want volunteers to be misrepresented as county representatives. However, we continue to have 100% support by the county.

This means a new round of Oakland County ARPSC identification cards with the ARPSC logo standing alone. Steve Iannucci, ER&P will begin making new cards as soon as more printers' ink arrives.

Joel sent a copy of the current papers to Dale Williams, ARRL Michigan Section Manager, who suggested several good improvements. The latest by-law revision will be will soon go on the W8OAK website. It specifies membership and clarifies RACES and ARPSC.

Query: What happens to county insurance coverage for Oakland County ARPSC members? From Steve Iannucci: If activated by the county, insurance falls to the county. However, liability insurance for activities with no county sponsorship falls to the sponsoring organization, should they do so.

Query: What happens if a volunteer has an accident with his car? From Steve Iannucci: If signed into an Oakland County sanctioned event, then he/she is covered. This does not mean Wednesday night meetings.

Joel went to the Oakland County Clerk's office and registered the Oakland County ARPSC to be an official group with Joel Goldberg's name. This is to prevent someone else from claiming the name. Eventually, Joel's name will be replaced by an official group.

Joe Miller, KJ8O has been appointed as a specialty officer for special events. His job is to coordinate, activate, recruit people, and put together special activities. Joel Goldberg also is requesting someone to volunteer to assist training programs with Joel Stanley - WU8Y, who has been working midnights and Saturdays.

(II). Report from Steve Iannucci - Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P):

It was the Corporation Council for Oakland County that defined volunteer organizations assisting the county. This definition needed to be consistent not only for the ARPSC, but for every volunteer organization assisting the county.

Steve reminds us to be prepared for severe weather coming up. The next siren test will be Wednesday, 9 April 2008.

(III). Report from John Fleming - K8UP, District 2 Michigan Section ARPSC Emergency Coordinator:

There is an ARRL Michigan Section Digital Radio Group (DRG) with a website of http://www.mi-drg.org. The digital radio group consists of a number of Michigan Section ARRL Staff along with two representatives for each district, one of which is Gary Rogerson, N8NTC, newly appointed.

New students currently taking net control training are: (1) Greg Siemasz, W8VIJ and (2) Joe Miller, KJ8O. Rory believes the new starting time for the Hospital Radio Net is an excellent choice. Joel Goldberg comments that more net operators are needed to prevent work overloading.

Recently, both our repeaters went off the air for 25 hours. The cause proved to be a common fuse to both the 2 meter and 400 meter equipment on a single tower. Battery backup didn't work because of complex reasons. Steve Murphy - N8NM, County Radios plans to improve the setup so that the system is more reliable. About three weeks ago, there was a "desense" problem on the 2 meter repeat. Replacing an antenna brought the repeater back up. CW message has a different volume level than speech. There is a single volume level control for both the CW and other devices, making it hard to set it just right.

Steve believes the 440 has a similar problem with its antenna. However, the 440 is still useable, but with a reduced reception distance.

Our packet frequency has changed to 145.950, and with a new packet node in Troy which connects with the EOC. The result is wider county coverage.

Should our repeaters not work, please call Joel Goldberg - W8HIU, Randy Love – WF5X, or Loretta Pethick (EOC office at 248-858-5300). If an emergency, call County Safety at night and week ends at the same number and also let them know you are a ham radio operator. They will notify Steve Murphy – County Radios who does the repairs. If you do so, please also let Randy know so that he can follow the problem.

Marsha has been reviewing data showing FEMA classes successfully passed by members. There are quite a few people close to successfully passing all the recommended classes, and also quite a few who still need IS-100 and IS-700. Looking at the spread sheet might be helpful in selecting future IS classes to teach. She asks members to complete their missing IS classes. Joel Goldberg added that these classes are critical to good performance during an emergency. He knows horror stories about people who didn't know how to perform. He also suggests to members taking a FEMA exam, to make a copy of their answer sheet in case the results are lost.

Marsha has been working on a data based calling tree for emergency volunteers. This includes identification of members who live within specific areas of the county. A calling tree member will call one or several persons in their area. Inactive members need to be identified and contacted to determine if he/she is interested being a volunteer in an emergency situation.

Query: Would putting out a text message reduce the number of calls? Marsha responded by saying we don't know if this is available to us. The number of members who use text messaging needs to be known.

(VII). Slide Presentation by Lloyd Suter – N2NGQ, National Weather Service (NTS) Liasion:

Lloyd reviewed the latest NWS changes to reduce and limit areas under severe weather warnings. NWS defined this as "polygon mapping." In the last ten years, there has been a rise in severe weather warnings, i.e. 199 national warnings (2007) versus an average of 142 (1995-2006), 266 severe events (2007) versus an average of 173 (1995-2006). Last year, there were 14 warnings issued in Oakland County. The NWS is attempting to reduce the areas of maximum impact. In other words, a reduction in false alarm areas also reduces time and money losses. If the typical polygon warning reduced the usual size to 25%, there would be an estimated saving of $50 million dollars a year country wide. They also give one a pretty good idea where the danger is.

Query: Can county sirens be configured this way? Steve Iannucci: Not at this time. Warnings are put out throughout the county. Randy Love added that weather warnings still involve the whole county. For instance, hospitals in southern Oakland County need to know of a warning in the northern part and be ready for possible emergency inflow.

Gary wants to know who has packet capability. However, he can't help with start someone's packet. Training for packet may be coming. Since the new 145.950 packet system is only 4 days old, he hasn't had time to review this.

Our 32nd Hospital Radio Net had 15/16 hospitals check-in, with Pontiac DOH missing. Three failures were called in during the net. St. Joes - Pontiac had to re-solder a connector near the wall; Henry Ford – W. Bloomfield had a reoccurring problem that could be the radio; and Providence - Southfield had a couple of loose connections. Genesee County would like to join our net, but logistics have to be worked out. The State ARPSC wants us to do a multiple county hospital net some time this year.

Starting next month, our www.arpsc.com website will have a membership form for members to update once a year. This will go to Jim so he can make corrections to his master copy. A letter will be sent out to members reminding them to do this.

(XII). Report from John Fleming - N8UP on the National Traffic System (NTS):

Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) has shown a recent interest in NTS traffic messaging. This is very close to their format and they have been asking ARRL to get more people trained in NTS Traffic form. Current ARPSC format lacks certain information that is useful for clarity.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, 5 April 2008 – NWS Coordinator Meeting.

Wednesday morning, 9 April 2008 at 11:30 am – Siren Testing

Saturday, 12 April 2008 – GMARC Trunk Swap. Details at http://www.gmarc.org.

Saturday, 19 April 2008 – Milford Swap and Shop. Details at http://www.qsl.net/w8ydk.

Saturday, 19 April 2008 – Michigan QSO Party. There is a new category for EOC's this year. This gives members an opportunity to work low band contesting. Information at http://www.miqp.org.

Sunday, 27 April 2008 – Troy Walk America for March of Dimes. Hams to volunteer, contact Jim Poehlman.

Sunday, 4 May 2008 – Walk MS Troy. Information at http://main.nationalmssociety.org.

16-18 May, 2008 – Dayton Hamvention. Details at http://www.hamvention.org.

Saturday 31 May 2008 – Oak Apple Run and Walk

Saturday 16 August 2008 - Woodward Dream Cruise. Volunteers needed, contact Jim Walden, N8DHZ.

Gary states that he averages 10-12 returned emails each month because of out-dated or bad email addresses. Please keep him updated.

Two siren handouts were available to members at the meeting. On 9 April 2008 at 11:30 am, the next siren test will take place. We now cover 228 sirens in the county, including three new ones which need to be checked. The three are in (1) Commerce Township, (2) Highland Township, and (3) Novi. Volunteers are needed; but please contact Mike first. He had a recent email suggesting that packet operation could be useful for siren testing. Joel Goldberg replied that we have to make sure packet is functional first. John Fleming - N8UP of the SE Oakland Net is asking for new volunteers to assist for morning siren test.

Query: Do the volunteers get notified which siren to cover? Answer: Your subnet control operator does this, so check with him.

Don Ledwith, K7SDF states that Larry Barker is working with dogs that perform cadaver sniffing. Ham operators could be useful if they are willing to follow the dog team. This is not a county activity and Don is looking to see if anyone is interested.