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 2 June 2004 On 2 June 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 (EOC). The order of business included: (1). Comments from Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC: The ARPSC needs more volunteer leaders. If interested, please contact Joel Goldberg. No new county hospital amateur radio installations were added last month. Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak hasn't finished their new communication center where their radio equipment will be re-installed. Once an antenna is mounted and linked by cable, tests can begin. Updated information is requested from members changing phone, fax, pager, and e-mail addresses. A funeral was held this morning for our valued member, Harry Austin, Sr., KC8TEV. Donations can be mailed to his widow, Joyce Austin, at 129 Vermont Street, Troy, Michigan 48083. The Senior Supervisor On-Call list has been updated with Jim Thompson – N8USP, Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, and Joel Goldberg, W8HIU rotating in weekly shifts. The volunteer list for First-Responders, Skywarn E.O.C., and other such emergencies was passed around to be updated. The ARPSC News for May 2004 is now in the mail to members. Copies were passed out to those present. Please note that the last page has the 2004 (Skywarn) Spotter Essentials which is always useful to review. Promotion of member's ARPSC training certification is now under Piper Vierik, KC8TEZ with the help of the county's Loretta Pethick. Members are encouraged to update their own ARPSC training classes with a dated certification copies to: Loretta Pethick 1200 North Telegraph Road Building 47 West Pontiac, Michigan 48341 Repeater dropout problems have been traced to oxidized connectors and have been replaced. Steve Murphy has written to one ARPSC member who is experiencing repeater interference. Steve suggested that he write to the FCC that his Cable-TV company is not resolving his complaints. Another member suggested that a copy of such a letter also be sent to the FCC Farmington office. Use of the tone-squelch sometimes can improve a noisy frequency . Skywarn Net Procedures are now updated to better define Oakland County Skywarn activation. This includes improved definitions for color coded weather conditions. At times the National Weather Service will call a severe weather WATCH with activation. Should nothing be approaching Oakland County at the time, then the Skywarn net will go on Standby Mode. During "standby," the net is NOT operational but personnel are at the EOC ready for activation. This reduces the amount of time on a lengthy watch spent by volunteers both at the E.O.C. and by Skywarn observers. Condition Green is a severe thunderstorm WATCH where conditions are such that a severe thunderstorm could occur. Here, the net is activated and becomes condition green. Net check-ins are accepted. Condition Yellow is a severe thunderstorm WARNING about such weather conditions approaching or in Oakland County. New check-ins are NOT accepted unless accompanied by a weather report. Condition Red is a Tornado WARNING. A tornado is approaching or in the county. Sirens will be sounded. Only emergency weather traffic will be accepted. (2). Comments from Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR, Hospital Radio Installations: The first Hospital Net was held on Thursday, 27 May 2004 at 8:00 pm and went well, with the exception of St. Joseph Hospital - Pontiac. Mr. John Davanzo, who is in charge of the hospital's side of the amateur radio operations, has not responded to our phone calls. Joel Goldberg, E.C. has requested that the volunteers make recommendations for updating, changing, and finding out what is not there for radio operation. A basic radio instruction sheet will be made and attached to each radio. Each radio should be programmed with the same frequencies at each hospital. (3). Comments from Jim Thompson, N8USP, Deputy E.C: No date has yet been set for our next class in the fall which is IS-3 Radiological Emergency Management. More information is at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp (4). Comments from George Schutte, K8GEO on volunteer radio operators needed for up-coming events: Up-Coming Events Saturday, 5 June 2004 – Oakland County Siren Testing: Subnet check-ins are 12:30 pm with sirens sounding at 1 pm. Saturday, 5 June 2004 - Oak Apple Run, Royal Oak: The two races start at 9 am and 9:45 am. Mike Van Buren, WD8S is in charge of amateur radio activities and can be contacted at wd8s@arrl.net. More on the race is at http://www.oakapplerun.org/ Sunday, 13 June 2004 - Tour de Cure Bike Races, Brighton: Starting times range from 7:30 to 9:30 am at Kent Lake Beach Area. To volunteer as a radio operator, please contact Jeff Albrecht at n8wr@arrl.net. Organizational information is found at http://tour.diabetes.org/site/PageServer?pagename+TDH_homepage Saturday-Sunday 26-27 June 2004 - ARPSC Field Day Contest: See comments by Randy Love, WF5X below. Saturday-Sunday 17-18 July 2004 - MS – 150: Bike races start and finish at Springfield Oak's Park in northern Oakland County, with overnight at Michigan State University. To volunteer as a radio operator, contact Jeff Albrecht at n8wr@arrl.net. More on the race is found at http://www.nmssmi.org/bike.htm Friday, 20 August 2004 -Berkley Kick-off Parade: No information is yet available for amateur radio. More information is at http://www.berkleycruisefest.com/classic_car_parade.htm Saturday, 21 August 2004 - Woodward Dream Cruise: No information is yet available for amateur radio. More information is at http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/2004/ (5). Comments by Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, DEC: Siren Tests will take place next Saturday, 5 June 2004 at 1 pm and check-ins at 12:30 pm. (6). Comments by Murray Scott, KE8UM, Logistics: The main 2 meter console now has four working headset outlets and one speaker outlet. Del Brown, KC8IJF is placing labels to identify various outputs and switches. (7). Comments by Randy Love, WF5X, Oakland County ARPSC Field Day Coordinator (26-27 June 2004): Oakland County ARPSC will operate a Kenwood TS-940 for Field Day. Field Day will begin at 12 noon for set-up and 2 pm for contesting and run through 2 pm on Sunday. A second antenna may be set up for PSK operation. Should there be enough operators, around-the-clock contesting might be possible. The ARPSC will operate as a Class F station which uses emergency power at an EOC site. Please contact Randy at wf5x@arrl.net as soon as possible so that he knows who is coming and can set up a schedule of operators. Respectfully submitted 3 June 2004 Jim Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC