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 August 2005: On 3 August 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: (I). Comments from the Emergency Coordinator – Joel Goldberg, W8HIU: Updated information is requested from members who change phone, fax, pagers, home, and e-mail addresses. A first responder's on-call list was distributed for volunteers. Our new amateur radios, ICOM IC-2720H have just been shipped. These are the same radios that were recommended to be used in Oakland County hospitals. Two hospitals have already installed older duo-band ICOM IC-2800H mobile radios. We also purchased universal power poles to standardize the electrical connections at the EOC. These are available thru ARRL and are reasonably inexpensive. Two additional grab-and-go ICOM IC-2720H radios will be added, making a total of three. There is some movement to run our packet radio on the 220 band. We have a three band beam antenna with rotor for our HF communications, but don't have a tower for it. Members with call phones + text paging can have emergency alerts sent if they request this from Steve Iannucci. Cell phone companies charge a small fee for this. Volunteers are needed to backup certain ARPSC positions. For instance, Jim Thompson, N8USP, who handles the training program for us, takes a lengthy visit to Florida in the winter. Bob Kusk, N8LPS needs assistance with packet. Lloyd Suter, N2NGQ has become busy at work and needs backup. If interested in helping, please let Joel know. A membership list was passed around requesting information on what FEMA/Home Security classes they have successfully completed. All members should be aware that they need to complete the following classes: IS-100, Introduction to Incident Command System (ICS) IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS) IS-800 National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction John Fleming, K8UP noted the similarity of IS-195 and IS-100 and asked if both need to be taken? Joel responded that he will review the matter. New Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) cards with a different color and new photos will be issued in the future. Steve Iannucci, Oakland County Emergency Response and Response (ER&P) will take these photos after meetings with a digital camera. Current criminal background checks for RACES cards are nearly completed by the Sheriff's Department. Regarding our repeater, Bob Myers, NW8R, of Milford sent a letter to the Michigan Area Repeater Council, Inc. to transfer the coordination of the 146.90 repeater for our use. Our plans are to link this repeater to the W8OAK machine. There will be two different call letter identifications because there will be two repeaters being used. Eventually, we may use the 146.90 frequency for our main repeater frequency in the county. Joel has already discussed this transfer with the President of the Michigan Area Repeater Council. According to Randy Love, WF5X, there is no regulation that this combination requires one call sign. This repeater can also be used as an auxiliary frequency. It is not yet on the air, but could be up and running in several weeks, after Steve Murphy, N8NM, Senior Radio Technician for Oakland County Radios, finishes work on the Woodward Dream Cruise. In response to a question, Joel stated that 17 different county SE Michigan Skywarn EOCs (when activated) are linked to the National Weather Service and to each other by MICON net (on 442.150 MHz in this county). This is a closed net. Joel had recent problems sending Yahoo e-mail messages to the county which were delayed or missed when they appeared in their junk mail. These members are taking action to avoid further problems. (II). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Oakland County ER&P: Sheriff's Dispatch requires ARPSC members to enter through the ER&P front door/main entrance. This becomes a problem during off hours when the door is locked. Should an ARPSC member need entry, Steve suggests he/she use the W8OAK repeater to request assistance from a member inside the EOC. (III). Hospital Radios from Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR: More preparation is needed to have the hospital radios ready for an emergency. Last week on the Hospital Net, six hospitals checked in. Ralph discussed various problems with Gail Novak, i.e. Henry Ford – West Bloomfield Hospital. Concerning Beaumont Troy, Alan Craddock, KA8PEH noted four antenna cables entering onto the radio desk, one of which hooks up to their ICOM IC-2000. Dell Brown, KC8IJF asked if we have a list of frequencies for these programmed hospital radios? Ralph handed out a copy of the standard frequencies. Another member noted that some of the radios are not in user friendly locations. Joel Goldberg, W8HIU replied that ARPSC had little control on the hospital's choice of location. (IV). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD, Net Manager: The W8OAK weekly net has been very active recently. Rory Locke, KC8SZR is net control on the first week of the month. The next net training will focus on how to program an amateur radio during an emergency. The term "traffic" means there is a message to pass from one amateur operator to another. In future nets, we will instruct how best to get a message through and quickly. Most important is using standard phonetics in order distinguish between similar letters and sounds. Clearly stating a call sign is very important for our records and use of phonetics is a must. The August Siren test this weekend doesn't have a hot siren. That means every siren needs to be checked. So far, hams seem to cover the sirens more accurately than fire and police personnel. If any ARPSC member is interested in assisting with ARPSC net operations at the EOC, let Larry know so that he arrange for him/her to come to the EOC to train during siren testing. (V). Stimulated Emergency Test (SET) by Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC: Every year the ARRL puts on simulated emergency test. This requires a ham or some club to plan the emergency test. In the past, ham clubs have coordinated the scenario with Oakland County's ARPSC. Our purposed date is the weekend of October 1 and 2, 2005. The purpose is to see how much message handling traffic can be accomplished. Justin Stabenow, KC8UQF volunteered and will get advice from Dell Brown, KC8IJF who has done this task before. (VI). Public Service Information – from Gary Sklar, K8IKW: Gary asks for help to gather news from various ham radio clubs. Currently Gary's newsletter is e-mailed to 70 people. He points out that George Schutte, K8GEO and his partner Mike put out a list of activities from a number of clubs, as does Keith McKenzie, KD8AWZ from the Hazel Park Amateur Radio club. More information is needed. Up Coming Events Saturday, 6 August 2005: Oakland County Siren Tests at 1 pm. Friday-Sunday, 5-7 August 2005 Point Aux Barques Lighthouse Event sponsored by the Milford Amateur Radio Club. Everyone is invited. This lighthouse is near Point Hope in Michigan's thumb. This will run from Friday night about 8 pm to late morning on Sunday. Call letters will be K8S. Some common contact frequencies may be 40 meters at 4270; 20 meters at 14270; 15 meters at 21370, and 10 meters at 28.370. Also, the group plans to work the 6 meter band. For information, contact Gary Sklar at k8ikw@aol.com. 19-20 August 2005, Woodward Dream Cruise. Jim Walden, N8DHZ and Randy Love, WF5X are coordinators. To volunteer, contact Jim Walden at n8dhz@sbcglobal.net, and give him your name, call letters, phone, and which shift. Volunteers do not need to be RACE certified. On Friday night, pizza will be served at the Berkley Fire Station. Twelve Mile Road will be closed at 6 pm, so volunteers need to plan their movements accordingly. The proposed repeater has not yet been installed at the Berkley Station, but could be temporarily used there. If no repeater is used, the Dream Cruise net will be on 147.51 simplex. On Saturday, the Berkley lunch site is near Roselawn and Woodward. Saturday's shifts will be 1-4 pm and 4-8 pm. Car parking passes should enable hams to park at any "reasonable" location. Sunday, 21 August 2005, Lapeer Ham Swap. Information at http://www.w8lap.com. (VII). Field Day Report from Randy Love, WF5X: Randy wishes to thank all who participated in Field Day and all had a good time. The official score is thought to be around 100 points. Next year, Randy looks forward to using the new 200 watt EOC HF rig with a beam antenna. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary Oakland County ARPSC 4 August 2005