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 6 August 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:

If any member has changed his/her address, phone, or email address, please make changes on our master list or let us know.

Any member who has not received the new Oakland County ARPSC identification card needs to get one from Steve Iannucci. The new card can be identified by a blue stripe at the top with gold letters of "Oakland County ARPSC."

New net control volunteers are very much needed to assist our current ones. When their training is finished, they can rotate into the net control schedule to give us more help. Please consider this request and if interested, contact Joel Goldberg - W8HIU or Rory Locke – KC8SZR.

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

1. The JCC Maccabi Games begins 17th of August at the Palace and ends on the 21st of August with the last event at the State Fair Grounds. These sporting games are for Jewish teenagers and will be held at 20 different schools in the area. So far, they have been asking for volunteers as "eyes and ears" but not communication.

2. On Sunday, 5 October 2008, the Brooksie Way Half Marathon and 5K Run takes place in the Rochester Hills area. It is not known if they will request amateur radio assistance.

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

A number of stimulated test exercises (SETs) are coming up for various counties. From time to time, we may be requested for volunteer operators to assist other counties. Keep in mind that such a volunteer will need his/her RACES card, which now requires FEMA IS-22, IS-100, and IS-700, as well as a background check.

For those looking for training, more information will be announced next month. Those with training, please contact Rory for scheduling.

Query: After having one class last month, when is the next one? Answer: In September, but the date is not set.

The repeaters are working, although the "desense" problem still exists on the 440 machine. Steve Murphy – N8NM, County Radios has been busy with other county work and hasn't had time to review this. Randy is not sure what might be the problem for the Birmingham receive site, but will look into this.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is coming up and he is considering the use of APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). Randy wants to incorporate this into a visual on a map showing the locations of various workers and volunteers. This would assist the police.

A nearby water tower may be used for our EOC packet antenna. The biggest problem is to avoid interference to nearby antennas.

The IS-100 class is not yet scheduled, and Jim is awaiting information from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD.

(1.) Friday night 15 August 2008: The Berkley Classic Car Parade will be using volunteers from 5:30 pm to 9 pm. An instructional sheet will be given to the volunteers with greater detailing on both events.

(2.) Saturday, 16 August 2008: The Woodward Dream Cruise covers nine host communities from Ferndale to Pontiac. Amateur radio volunteers have been requested to assist Berkley and Royal Oak with coverage from about Ten Mile Road to 14 Mile Road. There will be two volunteer shifts: (1) 11 am to 4 pm and (2) 4 pm to 8 pm. Badges and orange vests will be used, and will be available at the volunteer sign-in location. This is the Berkley Fire Station at 2395 W. 12 Mile Road (west of Woodward and east of Coolidge). Parking permits will be handled out to volunteers for certain public areas, but do not use private lots. Lunch will be provided for the morning shift. Several years ago, a permanent two meter antenna was mounted at the fire station and will be used for net control operations. Randy Love – WF5X noted that the assignments will be different this year. Stations will now be in the center median so that the volunteer can work both sides of Woodward. Use of the median strip now lets our volunteers work more efficiently.

The West Bloomfield Library has requested Oakland County ARPSC to use their display case for an amateur radio exhibit from 17 to 31 August 2008. Morey reports the display case is 6 feet long, 4 feet high and 15 inches deep with 2 shelves. He suggests using QSL cards, equipment, and anything which might stimulate others into getting into amateur radio. Bill Bond, W8WRB suggested displaying a plug and play radio. Joel Goldberg, W8HIU stated this exhibit would promote good relations.

Last month, Jim showed members the new membership update form to be filled out on our website. He emphasized that the form requires mailing address, zip, township which the member lives, phone, and email address. If certain items are not filled out, the "send" push button will return the member back to missing items.

The calling tree will be grouped by townships. One useful result will be separation of active from inactive members, based on whether the form is filled out the first time and every year thereafter.

Query: What happens to members that don't use computers? Answer: A letter will be sent out to these people. Query: Is the city required? Answer: Yes

Thirteen out of fifteen county hospitals reported to the August 2008 Hospital Net. Missing were Pontiac St. Joseph, Botsford, and Genesys Hospital in Genesee County. The new radio location in Henry Ford – West Bloomfield will be in the emergency medical services (EMS) room. Bill's next problem is to securely install the radio. The radio at Providence Hospital will be moved out of the emergency room (ER) and into a quieter location. In fact, he wants to move all radios out of ER's.

On 18 September 2008, there will be a county exercise (SET) in which some hospitals will be activated, but not all. Bill will have more information at the next meeting.

Upcoming Events

Friday Night 15 August 2008 – Berkley Classic Car Parade, with actual parade starting at 6:30 pm on 12 Mile Road between Woodward and Greenfield.

Saturday, 16 August 2008 – Woodward Dream Cruise.

17-22 August 2008 – JCC Maccabi Games

Sunday 17 August 2008 – Lapeer County Amateur Radio Association. Website at http://w8lap.com

Saturday 6 September 2008 – Grand Rapids Amateur Radio Association at Lowell, Michigan Kent County Fairgrounds. Website at http://www.grahamfest.org

18 September 2008 – Stimulated Test Exercise (SET) with Oakland County ER&P.

Sunday, 5 October 2008 – Brooksie Way Half Marathon and 5 K Run from Oakland University to Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

At the August Siren Net, 36 sirens were checked with 6 volunteers checking in for the first time or the first time this year. Siren nets can be an excellent area for a new net control operator to develop skill. These usually run from about 12 noon to 2 pm. There will be three more siren nets this year.

Our website, http://www.arpsc.com has been upgraded and now uses a consistent format for all pages and a redesigned home page. Check it out and see for yourself.

Query: Can someone send a good will message to a patient over our Hospital Net? A discussion followed. Points of interest included (1) the possibility of violating a patient's HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) privacy rights resulting in a large fine and (2) purpose of hospital net is to facilitate hospital to EOC traffic and is not for use as a traffic net. The bottom line is "no."