Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp (ARPSC) Weekly Net Thursday at 8 pm on 145.250 MHZ/100pl With a Hospital Radio Net on the 4th Thursday of each month Web Site: Http://www.qsl.net/w8oak Meeting Minutes for 4 January 2006: On 4 January 2005 at 7 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: (1). Comments from the Emergency Coordinator (EC) – Joel Goldberg, W8HIU: A copy of the Oakland County ARPSC master membership was passed around to members to update their phone, home, and e-mail addresses. Too many outdated e-mail addresses exist. To update, please call Loretta in the Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P) office at 248-858-5300. Currently, we are ordering amateur radios for PSAP's and looking for members to volunteer. According to webopedia.com, "PSAP" stands for public safety answering point, a physical location where 911 emergency telephone calls are received and then routed to the proper emergency services. GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping tells us which hams live nearest a particular PSAP site and these persons would be most desirable volunteers. According to Steve Iannucci, ER&P, approximately twenty Oakland County PSAP's have requested amateur radios. We are asking members for suggestions of additional activities in 2006. Suggestion by Jim Dow, N8KSL: Photos of our activities would be useful. Larry Hornsby, KB8POD added that he is working on a new public relation kit to better inform the public of who we are and what we are doing. Such photos are needed. Jim also suggested a mobile repeater for field use could be helpful during some emergencies. Also, greater use and extension of the 440 repeater coverage could help us. Suggestion by Justin Stabenow, KC8UQF: Let's make a bigger Field Day. Randy Love, WF5X added that more hams were needed for the early morning hours. Placing the Field Day event at the nearby farmer's market had the downside of having to halt at sunset and leave the premises. Suggestion by George Schutte, K8GEO: Would a cardiopulmonary resuscitation class be helpful? Joel Goldberg indicated that such classes should be available to individual members and those interested should check with Loretta for details. Suggestion: Steve Iannucci is looking to find recent ER&P films of interest to show ARPSC members. Demonstrations of new equipment might be possible for some future meeting. Joel Goldberg suggested FEMA may be a source of some videos. Suggestion: Placement of amateur radio equipment in the Sheriff's mobile command post could be a useful project for 2006. Joel handed out Oakland County Emergency Management – ARPSC identification cards to members. (2). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Oakland County ER&P: The Oakland County ARPSC has over 200 members and only 50 member photos for the new required RACES cards. These new cards are essential for emergency activities, so members need get these pictures taken. Next June, Oakland County ER&P will host a one or two day conference at the Oakland County School Administration Building. This will include township and city advisors and ER&P will update them on what Oakland County is currently doing for emergency management. The ARPSC will be asked to provide a display. (3). Comments from Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, Deputy Emergency Coordinator (DEC): Barry reminds the members to enter only through the EOC front door, due to security concerns. (4). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD, DEC and Net Operations: Larry thanked everyone for the 582 check-ins since April 2005. Our siren nets had 82 "different" hams check in. Rory Locke, KC8SZR, will be net control on 5 January 2006. Larry plans to include our 440 repeater for check-ins. He is ready for packet check-ins on 145.050. This permits us to gain experience in the packet mode which the State ARRL is now encouraging us to use. Additional net control operators are needed, as we are losing one. On 5 January 2006, a new check-in format will be used. Training on the nets will continue. Larry again requests members to give their full call sign with the standard ITU phonetics. During the hospital nets, hospitals such as "North Oakland" will be called and that volunteer should call back with his call sign. (5). Comments from Randy Love, WF5X, Repeater Manager: The 440 repeater has a faulty duplexer and we now have funds to replace it. Reports from hams state this repeater is useable as far south as 8 Mile Road. At this time, we cannot link this with the 2 meter machine. On the 2 meter repeater side, the CW-ID (Morse code identification) frequency was changed to 700 hertz and is easier to hear. Cable interference still exists on the 2 meter 145.250 MHz frequency and to solve this we must change frequencies to our new 146.900 MHz. However, we are awaiting coordination of the two links by the Michigan Area Repeater Council. We will need equipment to synchronize the two 2-meter repeater frequencies. Regarding our 2005 Skywarn Recognition Day contesting, we received a QSL card from Goodland, Kansas. Also the National Weather Service sent us a certificate of achievement for our activities. (6). Hospital Nets from Ralph Greenberg (K8CAR): Eleven hospitals responded during the last two W8OAK nets. Joel Goldberg noted that a new ICOM IC-2720 radio is now available for installation in the Troy-Beaumont Hospital. Development continues on a training manual for the ICOM IC-2720. At the end of this meeting, Joel Goldberg met with hams to further develop this manual. (7). Comments from Justin Stabenow, KC8UQF on Skywarn and Traffic Handling Classes: Skywarn Spotter Training Classes Wednesday, 1 March 2006 from 7-9 pm: Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P) at the Information Technology Auditorium, Campus Drive South (West of Telegraph), behind Oakland County Farmer's Market Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 7:30 – 9:30 pm: Covert Center, 1150 Scott Lake Road, Auditorium, Waterford. Sponsored by OCARS. Saturday, 11 March 2006 from 10-12 am: ER&P Saturday, 11 March 2006 from 1-3 pm: ER&P Wednesday, 15 March 2006 from 7-9 pm: Groveland Township Fire Department, Station #1, 14645 Dixie Highway at Grange Hall Road, Groveland Township. Tuesday, 21 March 2006 from 6-8 pm: Southfield Civic Center Library, Civic Center Complex, 26300 Evergreen Road which is 0.5 miles south of I-696 or 0.5 miles north of 10 Mile Road. Note - please call 248-858-5300 to register or e-mail to ocem@co.oakland.mi.us. Last year, some classes filled early. Justin queried the members about having a class concerning traffic handling. Larry Hornsby, KB8POD had talked with Ann Marie Gruder of the Southeast Michigan Traffic Net. She offered to conduct a two hour training session in February and would concentrate on tactical and (some) formal traffic techniques. Upon discussion with the members, this class will be tentatively scheduled: Traffic and Message Handling Class Saturday, 11 February 2006 from 10-12 am. Location probably at EOC. More information and possibly written handouts for this class will be at the next February ARPSC meeting. (8). Public Service Information by George Schutte, K8GEO: Up-coming Events Sunday, 15 January 2006: Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club Swap at the Hazel Park High School, Hazel Park, Michigan. More information is at http://www.qsl.net/w8hp/ Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary Oakland County ARPSC 5 January 2005