Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp (ARPSC)
Weekly Net Thursday at 8 pm on 146.900 MHz/100pl
Hospital Radio Net on the last Thursday of each month

Web Site: http://www.arpsc.com

 Meeting Minutes for 7 November 2007 :  

(I). Comments from the Emergency Coordinator – Joel Goldberg, W8HIU:

             On 7 November 2007 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:

             On Wednesday night, 5 December 2007 , there will be a general membership meeting, with the featured speaker being Pat Patterson of the Federal Communication Commission.  Please contact Loretta at 248-858-5300 if you plan to be at the supper before the meeting.  At this meeting, a vote is planned on the proposed new by-laws.   

             Last Saturday, 27 October 2007 , the 4th Annual Flu Clinic was held by the Oakland County Health Department.  Our function at the Annual Flu Clinics was to provide back-up communications from 9 am to 2 pm between the EOC and their seven sites - Clarkston Junior High, Hazel Park High School, Lake Orion High School, Rochester Older Person's Commission, Southfield Pavilion, James Giesler Middle School at Walled Lake , and Summit Place Mall.  During the clinic sessions, 12,096 flu vaccinations were given out.  The Health Department had their own communication system which failed twice.  Randy Love, WF5X set up packet communications between a number of their sites and the EOC.  Joel has asked the participants at the sites to give feed-back.  Next year, he would like to double the number of volunteers at the sites.  The Health Department had their stimulated test exercise (SET) two days prior involving an Anthrax emergency which we weren't involved.

             An emergency calling tree for ARPSC volunteers is being developed.  We have had several other county ARPSC 's request extra assistance this year.  A calling tree is needed for rapid deployment.

             The ARRL requests us to report the number of hours donated by volunteers.  Our hours donated for the last 10 months (through October) equated to over $78,000.   Monthly man hours volunteered can be found on http://www.mi-arpsc.org under FSD-212 reports for Michigan Counties.                     

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

             ARPSC volunteers were praised at the "after" meeting for the Annual Flu Clinics. Steve repeated their words that the volunteers "gave us room, and didn't crowd us."  Steve thanked everyone for their efforts.  

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

             There will be a District 2 Coordinator's meeting on Saturday, 8 December 2007 .

             The State Police Emergency Management has a new catalog of 1-3 day classes which will be offered this winter and spring in Lansing .  This catalog will be available for browsing.

             District 2 now has a Yahoo Group for all six counties.  In the future, there will be a District Two website and a new newsletter.

             John attended a presentation of the Monroe County "OS-7" SET which took place in late August 2007.  Amateur radio involvement was part of the presentation.

 (IV). Comments from Rory Locke, KC8SZR, Assistant Net Manager and Reports:

             Our net is every Thursday night at 8 pm .  The last two nets averaged 35 check-ins. More net control operators are needed.  Rory is responsible for reporting hours that volunteers give and asks anyone with such reports to pass on the information. 

 (V). Comments from Randy Love, WF5X, AEC Repeaters and Computers:

             Our EOC packet frequency has changed to 145.760 and uses a VPQ to switch between two packet radios.  These are (1) OAKEOC (W8OAK7) and (2) OAKBBS (W8OAK3).  Our J-Nos does not work at this time.  One can log into the OAKBBS at any time of the day or night.  For some packet users, direct connection to the EOC packet may be too far away.  In this case, try the node OAKL1 which may help.  The exact location for OAKL1 is not known at this time.  The EOC uses Outpost Packet Messenger which allows messages to be printed out.   A question was asked about packet access from the southwest part of the county.  Randy replied that one should try OAKL1 node to see if it can help. 

             At the September Flu Clinics, Five temporary nodes were set up to transmit packet to the county EOC , all of which were within 2-3 miles of the clinic sites.  Packet at Rochester worked well.  Other sites included Southfield , St. Joseph Hospital , Madison Heights , Henry Ford – Bloomfield .   The site closest the EOC was Summit Place Mall and transmission failed even with 25 watts and a J-Pole antenna. 

             Our 2 meter repeater is working and we are still waiting to obtain a new UHF machine.  Our computer printer now has a new toner and works well.  The EOC computers now can access radio transmissions.

             Skywarn Recognition Day begins Friday 30 November 2007 at 7 pm and runs to Saturday 1 December 2007 at 7 pm .  Randy needs volunteer help since he will be out of the state for much of November.  In the past, operations would take place from 7 to 11 pm on Friday and again resume on Saturday to the finish.  The HF set will be used for voice and will be working mostly with weather stations for a certificate.  There are two HF antennas, but only one is up and working.  The other, a triband, needs to be installed and is needed for future emergency operation.  Website for more information is at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/index.php.  Myron Bordman, N8SMV offered to donate lunch on Saturday.    

 (VI.) Comments from Bill Bond, Hospital Radios:

             For October, all hospitals checked in, including Oxford .  The Genesee County ARPSC sent a volunteer to operate the radio at Genesys Hospital , but security didn't have key to open the cabinet.  Genesys is a major patient receiving site for northern Oakland County .  Huron Valley has raised their antenna by at least 50 feet and now has much better coverage, including simplex.

 (VII). Comment from Murray Scott, Logistics:

             A consol packet radio needed repair and was replaced with one from Randy Love, WF5X.    

 (VIII). Comments from Jim Poehlman, K8ABZ, Membership:

             Jim's current list of member's FEMA classes was passed around for corrections and comments.  He has an application for any member needing his/her class certificate information from FEMA.     

             Next will be information from members on their current phone numbers, email addresses, equipment capability, cross band potential, emergency power, etc.   Hopefully, this information can be reduced to a yearly January check by using a form found on W8OAK website.  Murray Scott commented that over-use of cross banding can burn out a radio which is not made to run non-stop. 

             Query: At least one email address does not seem to work for one AEC.  Comment: This AEC recently changed his email address which has been updated on the most recent lists.    

 (IX). Comments from Mike Nebel, N8BEL of Sirens:

             The next siren test will be Saturday, 1 March 2008 .  On the 3 November 2007 Siren Net, 47 sirens were covered including all the hot sirens.  John Fleming, N8UP stated there were several reports that certain new sirens could not be heard.  Steve Ianucci of ER&P stated investigations so far have found these people were inside their house at the time.  Sirens are designed for people outdoors and not for someone inside their house.   Investigation of these complaints will continue.  Mike suggested these complaints could be put into a separate category on the hot sheet.

(X). Comments from Gary Bouwkamp, N8HMP, Web Master for W8OAK:

             Gary is working on a website membership form that Jim Poehlman mentioned.  The by-laws are available on the website.  

 (XI). Comments about Up-coming Classes from Various Members

             This Saturday, 10 November 2007 , there will be an IS-100 class at the EOC.  So far, only two persons have signed up and may not be enough for the class.  To sign up, please call Lorretta at in the EOC at 248-858-5300 for a reservation.  Reservations will close Friday noon . 

 (XII). Public Service Announcements and Events from Gary Sklar, K8IKW and others:

                       Gary Sklar K8IKW requested assistance to put up a dipole at his home in about two weekends from now.

 (XIII):  Presentation of Proposed Bylaws by Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC

             The members were shown a slide presentation of proposed bylaws for the Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corps.   The previous bylaws were 15-20 year old and needed updating.  Some changes in the proposed bylaws are: (1) definition of outside agency liaison membership, (2) identification cards and membership classifications for ARES and RACES, (3) membership requiring the Oakland County criminal background check, (4) meetings changed from written notice to email notice, (5) change in definition of AEC to mean someone who can take over EC duties, (6) definition of specialty officers with defined duties, and (7) termination of members.   Voting on the proposed bylaws is planned for the Wednesday 5 December 2007 meeting. 

 (XIII). Comments from others:

             1.  There is a new repeater in Holly with plans to link with OCARS on 442.250MHz/100 pl. 

            2.  Tim Pepper, K8NWD is the new President of OCARS.            

 Respectfully submitted,
James R. Murphy, N8SML
Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC
8 November 2007