Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp (ARPSC) Weekly Net Thursday at 8 pm on 145.250 MHz/100pl Hospital Radio Net on the last Thursday of each month Web Site: http://www.qsl.net/w8oak Meeting Minutes for 5 July 2006: On 5 July 2006 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 membership list was passed around to update phone, home addresses and noted in yellow which individuals had failed e-mail addresses. Several members who had photos taken last month for RACES cards (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) could not be identified. Copies of the most recent Oakland County ARPSC newsletter were available to members who did not receive one. Jim Thompson, N8USP, DEC (Deputy Emergency Coordinator) of Training is temporarily unavailable due to family issues. Joel requested Justin Stabenow, KC8DQH contact him to assist in upcoming fall activities. There will be three training sessions for the year 2006: A. IS-100, Introduction to the Incident Command System on Saturday, 16 September 2006 B. FEMA IS-22, Emergency Preparedness on Saturday, 14 October 2006 C. IS-200, Incident Command System for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents on Saturday 4 November 2006. John Fleming, K8UP stated that the old IS-195 course will count as the IS-100 and IS-200. Certain FEMA classes are required for everyone in emergency management, including the ARPSC. ARRL emergency courses are excellent and recommended for the hams. We are still waiting to get 146.900 MHz repeater up and working. Steve Murphy, N8NM, County Radio, is still on a limited work schedule. Some intermod interference is occurring, possibly due to a defective feed line in the tower. A question was raised on who owns the Oakland County ARPSC equipment. Answer – the county owns the equipment, and this information is turned over to the Michigan Area Repeater Council, Inc and to the FCC. The weakest two meter link continues to be the Milford Area, but hams pointed out several other areas. For emergencies at this time, there is one grab-and-go two meter radio in a suitcase with a fold-down table. Components exist to make a second one. There will be a General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, 2 August 2006. A medical person will speak about pandemic disease. Food will be served in the EOC meeting room. If enough people attend, the meeting will move over to the IT auditorium across the parking lot. Please let Loretta know if you are coming by calling 248-858-5300. Joel noted that should an error be discovered on the W8OAK website, please let them know, and it will be passed on to Gary Bouwkamp N8HMP, who is the webmaster. There are all new computers in amateur radio section of the EOC. An email was received from Art Kaschke, W8QC, who wanted members to know that his ham-radio equipment was for sale due to his poor health. (2). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P): The first batch of the new RACES cards was passed out at the meeting. The old cards will soon expire and those members without new card photos please contact Steve. Members with dead-end email addresses please contact Loretta in the EOC office at 248-858-5300. The EOC's ARPSC mailing will be combined with Gary Sklar's, K8IKW, public service information letters. Oakland County's ER&P plans to purchase approximately 50 vests for ARPSC public service. (3). Comments from John Fleming, K8UP, District Two Michigan Section ARPSC Emergency Coordinator: District Two encompasses Monroe, Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties and is the same as the Michigan State Police districts. The last three counties are designated as District Two - North. District Two's EOC is at the Northville Michigan State Police Headquarters. Michigan ARPSC activities include RACES, ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services), and Skywarn. The Michigan ARPSC has a website at http://www.mi-arpsc.org. The Michigan Section is using an independent company to design a stimulated emergency test (SET) utilizing the National Incident and Command Systems recommended by Homeland Security. This SET will use pandemic flu as their emergency, and will take place on two different dates: (i) Table Top Exercise on Tuesday, 12 July 2006 (ii) The real daytime exercise is on Tuesday, 22 August 2006. Joel Goldberg, W8HIU requested volunteers to sign up for (1) the morning part, beginning 9 or 10 am and/or (2) an afternoon session. The company designing the SET has purposely said little about the actual SET in order to create emergency-like conditions. It is not yet known how amateur radio will participate in this SET. Each county will probably activate an acute care health center in some central location such as but not necessarily the Silverdome in Pontiac. Amateur radio might be asked to backup communications. We will know more about the 22 August exercise after the table top exercise. Another State ARPSC SET is being planned. There will be a surprise SET between the dates of 30 September and 31 October 2006. This SET will use simplex frequencies without repeater coverage to reach the EOC. The districts plan to communicate together by digital radio, utilizing packet and Hamgate systems. We are already using the digital modes Barry Kaufman commented that the District Two ARPSC Center hopes to have new radios and a better antenna. Barry had asked if they would be upgrading their ham radio installation. (4). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD, Deputy Emergency Coordinator: Siren, Skywarn, hospital, and weekly nets are going well. Thirty-one people checked into the last siren test. (5). Comments from Jim Walden N8DHZ, DEC and Siren Testing: We continue to need volunteers to check sirens. If interested, please call into the nearest siren subnet. If this is not possible, we will help you from the main net. (6). Comments from Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, DEC: Barry is developing an ARPSC organizational sheet. It will show how our ARPSC unit works, defining command structure and responsibility. (7). Comments from Bill Bond on Hospital Radios: Our Oakland County ARPSC roster has about 250 members and 60 participate on the hospital teams. There are 14 hospitals to currently cover and Bill wants six man teams in each hospital. Some of the new members are still in the process of getting identification badges. Anderson power pole connectors are being placed on the radios to standardize the electrical connections. Last month, 29 June 2006, the Hospital Radio Net had a no show from Botsford Hospital. No date for operation yet exists for Genesys Hospital, which is outside the county. During the last net, simplex operation was used between each hospital and the EOC. Results shows work is needed to improve weak signals on simplex operation at Crittenton, Providence – Novi, Providence – 9 Mile Main, Troy Beaumont, and Troy – Royal Oak. The last hospital may have a bad connector. Concern also exists on how well each hospital can hear each other. Joel Goldberg commented that we have come a long way on these hospital radios. (8): Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Public Service: The county now sends out the newsletter to several groups, sometimes resulting in one person getting two copies. Gary's newsletter will be combined with the county newsletter, reducing this problem. Gary will be adding a contest corner. If there is any ham club news, please let him know. Gary noted that his last newsletter had only one bad email address, down considerably from the past. The next newsletter is expected to have more details on the upcoming SET activities. Upcoming Activities Wednesday, 2 August 2006: Oakland County ARPSC General Membership Meeting. Friday, 18 August 2006 – Berkley CruiseFest Classic Car Parade. See below. Saturday, 19 August 2006 – Woodward Dream Cruse. See below. 18-20 August 2006. Point Aux Barques Lighthouse Event. Details are found on Gary's 21 June mailing. Tuesday, 22 August 2006: SET (9). Comments from Jim Walden on the Dream Cruise: Volunteers are needed. Last year we had 31, but the coverage was tight. We need 40-50. If interested, contact Jim at 248-649-8910 (24 hours) or email Jim at n8dhz@sbcglobal.net. For those persons having an ARRL.net address, Jim is having trouble returning emails through this address. On Friday night, the Berkley CruiseFest Classic Car Parade will be held Friday night, 18 August 2006. The parade will start from the entrance of Roseland Park Cemetery (12 Mile Road near Woodward) and proceed west on 12 Mile Road to Ellwood (1 block east of Greenfield). Volunteers need to get to the Berkley Firehouse by 5:30 pm where pizza will be served. By 6 pm 12 Mile Road will be closed. Twenty volunteers are needed. On Saturday, 19 August 2006, the Woodward Dream Cruise will be held. Two volunteer shifts will be 11-4 and 4-8 pm. Berkley and Royal Oak want everyone in place before they start closing Woodward. In general, there will be a ham every mile along the coverage area on both sides of the street. Volunteers are to be eyes and ears for anything out of the ordinary, i.e. fighting, lost children, people down, etc. Call problems to the net. Volunteers between 12-14 Mile Road will go for food to the Royal Oak site, which is a middle school east of Woodward. Those between 10-12 Mile Road will go to the Berkley site. Jim just found out that the NE corner of 11 Mile Road has bad radio interference and placing anyone there may be a problem. Volunteers can get a special parking permit at the Berkley Firehouse. This allows one to park at any reasonable location where the public is not welcome, but not at any private lot, i.e. McDonalds. The new vests are expected to arrive for this event. For privately purchased vests, George Schutte, K8GEO will bring them to the Dream Cruise. There is a clear pocket in the vest where an identification card or ID can be placed. At the Firehouse, we will have two amateur radio antennas up 70 feet. Joel Goldberg added that one must first check in at the Firehouse to be covered for liability. All county vests must be returned at the end of each shift. (10). Comments from others - Vests: George Schutte, K8GEO stated that 5 July 2005 was the last day that money could be accepted for vests. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC 6 July 2006