Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp (ARPSC)
Weekly Net:  Thursday at 8 pm on 145.250 MHz/100pl
Web Site: http://www.qsl.net/w8oak

Meeting Minutes for 3 March 2004

 On 3 March 2004 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 (E.O.C).  The order of business included:  

(1). Comments from Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC:

 All known applications for RACE cards with background checks have returned with everyone passing.  New 
 applicants should call Loretta Pethick at 248-858-5300 during business hours.

 ARPSC coverage of hospital radio installations has been delayed due to illness by Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR 
 and Harry Austin, KC8TEC, who are in charge of our Hospital Radio Committee.

 Radios for Public Safety Answer Points (PSAPs) in Oakland County are being planned.  One specifically is in 
 Bloomfield Hills for the forth-coming Rider Cup.

 The Woodward Dream Cruise Committee will expand their event on 21 August 2004, but will have less available 
 public safety funding.  They may need more volunteer assistance such as furnished by our ARPSC.

 The ARRL has requested a monthly statement reporting the number of volunteered man-hours clocked in by our 
 amateur radio services.   This information would be passed on to governmental agencies.
	
 Our governmental funding requests for new ARPSC equipment has run into the problem of tight budget 
 restrictions.  However, the back-up 2 meter antenna was accepted.

 Our files with member records will be reviewed for what emergency training classes they have taken and 
 been accredited.  When this is finished, a letter will go out stating what we have.  This will allow members 
 to add missing information.

 Our first siren test this year is Saturday, 6 March 2004 with check-ins at 12:30 noon and the test at 1 pm.  
 There will be no 3 April 2004 siren test because there is a Tuesday, 23 March 2004 test at 10:30 am for the 
 school systems.
	
 Our next month's meeting on 7 April 2004 will be a combined basic and advanced Sky-warn class at the Infotech
 Auditorium at 7 pm.  Please sign up by calling Loretta at 248-858-5300.  The auditorium is west and directly 
 across the parking lot from the E.O.C.  There will be no business meeting unless notified.

      

(2). Israel Security Report by Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM and LenWanetik, K3QMU:  

 Both reported on their recent visits to Israel and compared the much tighter Israeli security with that of 
the U.S.  Police presence over there is much higher and when stopping a driver, their gun is out and ready 
for action.  Israeli police cars usually have their lights flashing routinely.  Soldiers walk about with 
weapons and when on duty are required to have their weapon with them at all times.  In shopping malls, one is 
scanned and stores often bill for security guards.  Bus drivers have the option of accepting or rejecting 
passengers.  There is strong awareness by the people concerning security and everyone watches out for 
everyone else.  Arguing with police and other security is not recommended.  Israeli hams are not utilized 
for security purposes.  In the opinion of Berry and Len, utilizing these greater security measures in America
may not be possible due to cultural differences.

(3). National Weather Service (NWS) Report:

 Joel Goldberg, EC:  An earlier meeting reported that Southeastern Michigan in 2003 had the greatest number
of severe events on record and the second most severe warnings issued.   Lead time for weather warnings
increased to 22.3 minutes for all events monitored at White Lake versus 11 minutes for the national average.  
4 July 2003 had the highest number of reports.  

 John Moore, K1DE, National Weather Service:  John reported that the overall lead time for reporting severe
weather has increased for the whole country.  Last year Oakland County issued 17 tornado warnings with 9
confirmed.  There were two meetings recently.  The first concerned a MICON training class last Saturday. 
The second one earlier was a District Coordinator's Meeting which discussed key station training requirements,
a report about linking repeaters, a products demonstration, etc.  Local weather authorities will be given
more autonomy in issuing warnings.  Maps showing storm watches/warnings will show greater precision and
different shapes.   

 MICON communications during a condition red will be better organized and the term "999" will mean that the
MICON operators have left their building.  Those persons wanting to receive weather messages with their Nextel
phone/message pagers should call Rich Coleman at White Lake.   NWS – White Lake has a full service bulletin
board with a 24 hour packet system now connected to a printer.  The packet can be or is planned to be
connected to nearly everywhere in the States.  Many counties already have such bulletin boards.   

 NWS is now required to provide tornado, funnel or other event sightings with the longitude and latitude
location and the time sighted.  For Skywarn volunteers, this translates to reporting major cross streets
with the exact time observed for the event.  Naming the time and location is so important that the NWS may
not accept reports without this.  Classification of hail size nomenclature will no longer include "gravel."

(4). Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Public Service:  


Future Events of Interest to Amateur Radio Hams

(a). 5-7 March 2004 – ARRL Dx Contest with details and rules in QST magazine. 

(b) 17 April 2004 – Milford ARC Swap at Milford High School from 8 am to 1 pm.  http://www.qsl.net/w8ydk/ 

(c). 6 June 2004 – Chelsea Swap.  Go I-94 to Exit 159, then north about one mile to Chelsea Fairgrounds.
  
(e). 20 June 2004 – Monroe Swap - Monroe County Radio Communications Association at the Monroe County 
Fairgrounds.  http://mcrca.org/

(e). 6-8 August 2004 – Lighthouse Weekend Special Event at Tawas Point Lighthouse, sponsored by the Hazel 
Park Amateur Radio Club.  Event call sign will be K8S with 1 to 2 operational transmitters.  Fees have 
already been paid to the park.  This event is open to all amateur radio people and will need 6-8 operators.  
If interested, please let Gary know at k8ikw@aol.com   
  
     	
(5). Comments from Gary Bouwkamp, N8HMP, Website: 

    The website was recently updated and includes Skywarn classes and siren test schedule..

(6). Comments from Randy Love, WF5X, Repeater:

    The repeater now announces the time on the hour and is frequently checked to keep the time accurate.
    The two meter repeater cutout is gone.  The 440 repeater is not operational until an antenna is put up.

(7). Comments from Murray Scott, KE8UM, Logistics:  

    Anderson power pole connectors were just installed on the grab-and-go module.  These are the new 
    standardized connectors which were adopted for 12 volt connections.

(8). Comments from Rory Locke, KC8SZR, Net Manager:

    Please remember to check in the weekly Thursday night net at 8 p.m.

(9). Comments from John Fleming, K8UP, Siren Subnet Control for SE Oakland County – Hazel Park ARC:  

    Sean and John Fleming will be running the subnet.  Please let us know if you can assist so that we can 
    give out a siren assignment. 

(10). Question from a member:

    Do we still use the AAA map system as in the past?  Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC, answered that it isn't 
    really needed now since major cross street identifications are recommended.  Rory Locke, KC8SZR, Net 
    Manager agreed. 

Respectfully submitted, 
Jim Murphy, N8SML
Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC, 4 March 2004