Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp

W8OAK Repeater - 146.900 MHz/100pl- Weekly Net 8 pm Thursday and Hospital Radio Net – 7:30 pm last Thursday of month

On 4 June 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 Operations Center (EOC). The order of business included:

The American Diabetes Association Bike Ride will be held Sunday, 8 June 2008 at Island Lake Recreation Area. Six to eight more ham volunteers are needed, with the first race starting at 7 am sharp. For those interested, please contact Jeff Albrecht, N8WR at 248-894-7929. Randy Love, WF5X mentioned that the Commerce Lake site is now functional and coverage should improve for the bike ride. Gary Sklar, K8IKW noted some radio coverage area extends beyond W8OAK, and amateurs may need a 25+ watt transmitter. Volunteers are expected to pay a $6 park admission.

The West Bloomfield Library requested Maury Davidson, K8SJD and the Oakland County ARPSC to use their six foot long display case for an amateur radio exhibit. This would run 18 – 31 August 2008. Larry Hornsby, KB8POD and Joel Goldberg, W8HIU will confer with Maury on details. Maury added that the display case will be in the library main hallway. There are two glass shelves that can be removed for larger items. The librarians are waiting for our response.

New Oakland County ARPSC identification cards (with a blue-stripe) are being made up and given out to members. In order to receive the new card, members need to turn in their old card.

Joel showed members slides of an EF-5 (Enhanced Fujuta Scale Five) tornado which hit in and about Parkersburg, Iowa. Wind speeds were rated more than 200 miles per hour. The photos were from his son, an insurance adjustor, with several taken from an ultra light plane. The score board from the Parkersburg High School was reported found 100 miles away.

(II). Report - Cross-Band Repeating from Larry Hornsby - KB8POD and Mike Smith - N8GUZ:

During an emergency activation or a public service event, one's HT (handheld transmitter) may not be powerful enough to bring up the Oakland County ARPSC repeater. This sometimes happens inside a building, where the repeater's signal can be heard, but the HT is unable to transmit back.

The use of one-way cross band repeat can extend the HT's range. In this mode, a mobile cross-band rig is configured as a one-way simplex repeater, receiving a 70cm simplex signal from the HT and retransmitting out on a 2 meter frequency to the repeater's input frequency. The HT receives the repeater's output frequency directly and doesn't go through the mobile rig.

To do this, the mobile cross-banding rig needs to be capable of operating on both the 2-meter VHF and 70cm UHF frequencies. The 2 meter side becomes the main band, and the Pl tone is set to 100 Hz and simplex operation. The sub-band side uses the 440 simplex, with the Pl tone set to a different value, i.e. 103.5 Hz (CTCSS/Tone Squelch). There is no common cross-band setup for manufacturers, so one needs to follow instructions for your radio. For the ICOM IC-2720, press LOW and DUP, then press SET for two seconds while holding in the LOW and DUP Buttons. Two flashing "L"s will appear on the display.

Before setting up cross-band repeat, make sure you are familiar with the FCC regulations which govern repeaters and "remote bases." There are several points that need to be considered. The FCC requires the HT and cross-band radio to be under the control of an operator(s) who controls both and can intervene in the event of a problem. An unattended station needs to be identified on all frequencies it transmits. When the user identifies on the simplex UHF uplink, the identification continues through the cross-band radio output to the W8OAK VHF input.

However, with full duplex cross-band operation, many radios do not have the cross-band capability to identify. This includes the UHF downlink transmission and even the VHF downlink sides. Additionally, when another operator transmits on the UHF uplink, the cross-banding won't be correctly identified on the VHF side. So, depending on your radio and the cross band mode, some sort of add-on device for automatic identification may be required for full FCC compliance.

Classes on cross-band operation may be scheduled, possibly on a Saturday in the parking lot outside the EOC. Don't buy equipment for cross-banding, but see what you have that might work. We need to know who has such capability and need to coordinate frequencies. This operation must be done legally. Please use common language and phonetics during transmissions. Wait two seconds before talking, so the repeater can reset.

(1). One can't use any frequency for cross-banding. An unused simplex frequency may be best.

(3). Squelch tail can cause a cross-band repeat problem so that the transmission doesn't drop out.

(4). Cross banding can keep a transceiver keying continuously, and can cause the radio to over-heat. Most radios are not made to handle this. It is important to limit the cross band repeater keying to 3 minutes or less so it can rest.

(5). A car's battery is quickly drained by the continuous use of cross-band operation. One needs be aware of this and plans made to refresh the battery.

Four members are taking net control training: Joe Miller - KJ8O, Greg Siemasz – W8VIJ, Marsha Fleming – N8FE, and Sam Orlando – KD8DLV. Supervised net control means a mentor is present. Larry Hornsby, KB8POD is finishing a net control training manual which establishes the right way to run a net. Net control includes weekly nets, hospital nets, Sky-warn nets, siren nets, flu clinic nets, and emergency nets.

Concerning cross banding, the W8OAK repeater always transmits a Pl tone which cannot be turned off. A "macro" could be developed to shorten the squelch tail. Proper cross-band operation means that the operator's transmission has to stop. For cross-band operation, one needs a transceiver with dual displays for both UHF and VHF.

The 440 repeater still has a "de-sense" problem. Randy notes he has to run full power at his house to use the repeater.

Currently, our BBS (Bulletin Board System) won't start up unless there is an administrative log-in. Randy plans to resolve the problem.

Query: Is it okay to transmit a second time before the W8OAK carrier drops? Answer: Yes.

Larry is requesting ideas for training classes. Already planned is (1) an IS-100 class – Introduction to Incident Command System, (2) Net Control Operator Training, (3) Cross Band Training, (4) and possibly an IS-700 class – National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction.

Last week end, Gary held a packet class with 10 students and 3 instructors. He will ask Larry Hornsby – KB8POD of Training to schedule another such class for those who couldn't attend.

Our website, http://www.arpsc.com now has information on our ARPSC packet system.

The last Hospital Net went well, except Oxford continues to be a problem. Our operators there are still transmitting from the parking lot. Bill hasn't recently checked out Henry Ford – West Bloomfield. He assumes that the radio site has been relocated, and is concerned that the antenna is at a reasonable height.

National Traffic System (NTS) was established to facilitate transmission of a properly written formal message from point A to point B so that it arrives exactly as written on the original copy. NTS Stations in this area include (1) Great Lakes Emergency and Traffic Net, held daily on 3.932 MHz at 8 pm pre-net and 8:30 pm net, (2) Southeastern Michigan Traffic Net, daily on 145.33 MHz at 10:15 pm. Two NTS visitors at our meeting were Peter Linke – AB8JN and his wife Debra Linke –KD8EWK. Both Peter and Larry Hornsby, KB8POD expressed the need to use the formal National Traffic System for messages.

Upcoming Events

Tuesdays in June/July 2008 for Extra Class License, at the Southfield EOC at 7 pm. Details from John Fleming, K8UP.

Sunday, 8 June 2008 – American Diabetes Association Bike Ride at Island Lake Recreation Area. See previous detailing for information.

Saturday, 14 June 2008 Midland Hamfest. More information at http://www.qsl.net/w8kea

Sunday, 15 June 2008 Monroe Hamfest. More information at http://www.mcrca.org/hamfest.htm

Saturday-Sunday, 28-29 June 2008 – Field Day for Oakland County ARPSC. Volunteers needed, contact Joe Miller, KJ8O. Operations will be held in the EOC and Joe will try to arrange for food for the volunteers.

Saturday, 16 August 2008 – Woodward Dream Cruise. Volunteers needed, contact Jim Walden, N8DHZ. There may be two sets of volunteers: (1) to work at the regular sites, and (2) possibly to work a special event station.

Our website, http://www.arpsc.com now has (1) siren location list, and (2) the current siren net checklist. Also, note that each siren has a formal ID which members can access. If members use the formal siren ID, this greatly helps net control operators by avoiding time-consuming searches for a siren at the corner of X and Y streets. The website now states which sirens have or have not been recently checked. Covering one not recently visited is a big help. In several weeks, subnet information will be added, as well as the hot sirens of the month.

George Schutte, K8GEO is planning to order more orange emergency vests with the silk screen letters "emergency radio." If interested, please let him known by email at k8geo@arrl.net. Cost of the new vests will vary according to how many is ordered. The price is estimated to be about $40, and a check needs to be handed to him before the order.

Don Lenwith, K7SDF reported that he was in China near the earthquake site area. The day before the earthquake, he traveled a hilltop site to do a business risk assessment. When asking about earthquakes, he was told that none had occurred since 1920.