Oakland County Amateur Radio Pubic Service Corp (ARPSC) Weekly Net Thursday at 8 pm on 146.900 MHz/100pl Hospital Radio Net on the last Thursday of each month Web Site: http://www.qsl.net/w8oak Meeting Minutes for 6 September 2006: On 6 September 2006 at 7 pm, Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, Assistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC) 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 Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, Assistant Emergency Coordinator – Administration: Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC is absent today and is currently touring Greece, Turkey and the Mediterranean. It is very important that our ARPSC members have training certification in the following FEMA courses: IS-22 Guide to Citizen Preparedness IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System (ISC) IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction IS-800 National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction Those persons with old IS-195 certification will be grandfathered to both the IS-100 and IS-200 classes. The old IS-2 class will count as the newer IS-22. If anyone hasn't taken these courses, please do so. Query by a member: Last month, a training course certification list was passed around for members to update. This list seemed to be incomplete. At the time, some members lacked information on which classes they had passed. Could this list be passed around again at another meeting? On 22 August 2006, the three counties of Oakland, Macomb, and St. Clair (District Two North) had a simulated test exercise (SET) called the Vigilant Guardian Exercise. Participation by the Oakland County ARPSC was excellent and the following were our results: (a) all hospital sites were manned and in operation at the right times, (b) all hospital sites were operational on repeater and simplex frequencies, (c) communication was possible with Macomb and St. Clair EOC's, (d) the Oakland County ARPSC was able to cover all sites when the 800 County MHz system was shut down and depended on amateur radio to continue communication. In the post SET meeting, law enforcement and EOC unified command gave positive comments about amateur radio. Bill Bond, W8WRB added that Bob Adams, W8BHF and Justin Stabenow, KC8UQF were able to move in place within ten minutes when a sub-operation Sequoia was announced. Further discussion of the SET took place with the members. (II). Comments from John Fleming, K8UP, District Two Michigan Section ARPSC Emergency Coordinator: District Two covers the six counties of Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne. This is the same as Michigan State Police District Two. Regarding the 22 August 2006 Set, ARPSC EOC's at Oakland, Macomb, and St. Clair Counties, all three could communicate with each other by way of their own repeaters. Communication between Oakland and St. Clair County was a pleasant surprise. On Saturday, 7 October 2006, the ARRL Great Lakes Division Michigan Section will have their 2006 Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Plans are not yet complete and the Michigan Section will be sending out instructions for this SET. One goal is to have each county ARPSC pass traffic to their adjacent county EOC's. For Oakland County, this would mean communicating with Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Genesee, and Lapeer Counties. The first hour or so will be by repeater communications. After this, no repeaters can be used and further communication will by other modes, including the simplex frequencies of 145.60, 147.51, and 147.53. Traffic messages (ARRL format) will be sent at different times on each of these frequencies. A second goal will be for the county ARPSC to communicate with the State Section by way of 40, 80 meters and packet. An extensive discussion followed. John will complete a list of ARPSC county repeater frequencies. Barry Kaufman noted the monthly Oakland County Siren test is also scheduled for this date. As soon as the plans for this SET are finalized, Barry will coordinate these activities. (III). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD, Assistant Emergency Coordinator and Net Manager: Oakland County participation in Skywarn, SET, and other nets counted 252 ham volunteers and a total of 1162 man-hours during the month of August. Jim Walden, N8DHZ had 49 hams volunteer for the Woodward Dream Cruise and Berkley CruiseFest Classic Car Parade which totaled 355 volunteered man-hours. This data will be passed on to the ARRL. According to Larry, Jim Walden would like more hams to volunteer next year. The next Oakland County net is 7 September 2006 and more training is planned to improve call sign recognition with standard phonetics. (IV). Comments from Bill Bond, W8WRB, Hospital Radios: Issues and problems raised from the 22 August 2006 Vigilant Guardian Exercise (SET) did not involve amateur radio. Thanks go out to everyone who participated and everyone showed up as expected. Hospital lunches for hams were not available at several sites. The new 146.900 repeater frequency is now memory channel #10 in the hospital radios. (V). Comments from Gary Bouwkamp, W8OAK Web Master: The W8OAK website now has recorded the 2 meter repeater change-over to 146.900 MHz. For those persons who couldn't attend the last meeting or meetings, the secretarial minutes are posted on the website. (VI). Comments from Randy Love, WF5X, Repeater Operation: The 2 meter change over to 146.900 MHz is now complete and is transmitting from the top of the Social Services Building. The old 145.25 MHZ frequency is now dead. Oddly enough, the Addison receive site is working much better than before. All receive sites seem to be working, but Steve Murphy, N8NM is continuing to check them. The intermod-desensitization on the 440 repeater continues. The cause is (a) the duplexer cavities and (b) several nearby county repeaters in the 450 and 460 MHz range. To correct this, we need a new set of duplexers. Packet software is being updated on the computers in the EOC. (VII). Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Public Service: Gary reported that the U.S. Postal Service contacted Joel Goldberg requesting a class for Sunday, 24 September 2006 on what the ARPSC and Ham Radio do. Gary will explore this request, but the actual topic and purpose are unclear. Upcoming Activities Sunday, 8 October 2006. Bloomfield Township Police Department is having their open house from noon to 5 pm. Ham volunteers are needed to setup at 10 am. The Police Department has a large canopy tent with one or two card tables. We need chairs and one or two additional card tables. To volunteer, pleases contact Gary at k8ikw@aol.com. Sunday 29 October 2006. Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon. Ham volunteers are needed. Contact George Schutte, K8GEO for more information at k8geo@prodigy.net. (VIII). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD on the Upcoming Flu Clinics: On Saturday, 21 October 2006, the Annual Flu Shot Clinics will be held at 7 Oakland County sites from 9 am to 2 pm. Oakland County residents can reserve a flu shot for themselves and other members by registering and paying online at http://www.oakgov.com/health/initiatives/flu_main.html These clinics hope to have 6000 people there. Our ARPSC has been requested to assist back-up communications. Volunteers are needed with HT's and/or automobile cross-band transceivers. Bill Bond, W8BHF suggested hospital radio team leaders might request volunteers from their staff. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC 7 October 2006