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 7 September 2005: On 7 September 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: (1). Comments from the Emergency Coordinator – Joel Goldberg, W8HIU: Updated information is requested from members who change phone, fax, pagers, home, and e-mail addresses. The Oakland County ARPSC newsletter will continue to be sent via e-mail. New amateur radio equipment has arrived for Oakland County's ARPSC operating center including a Yaesu HF and ICOM IC-2720H transceivers. New radio panels will be cut and installed and a new computer monitor will be added. Oakland County is planning a conference for spring of 2006 and requests the ARPSC put on an amateur radio display there. A trustee of the Milford Repeater (146.90 MHz) submitted a letter to the Michigan Area Repeater Council to transfer coordination of the 146.90 repeater for our use. Eventually, we hope to move to this frequency which has less interference. The 146.90 transmitter will be on the siren tower at/near S. Hickory Ridge Road and Lone Pine Tree Road. This should give the Milford area better coverage. Randy Love, WF5X added that with coordination and use of the Milford system, one may use either the 145.25 or 146.90 systems for input. The output will go out on both. When we switch to 146.900 only, equipment will be added to minimize any out of phase signals. Currently, we are concerned how well Oakland County and its ARPSC are prepared for emergencies. (2). Comments from Gail Novak, Chief of the Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P): How well are we prepared for emergencies and what is happening in this county? The county has an emergency operation plan with an annex which includes the ARPSC. When a disaster occurs, the local community will handle it to the best of its ability. If further help is needed, they can request aid from the state, and the state from the federal government. The ARPSC assists with radio communications for many resources, such as weather, sirens, local events, and disasters. The ER&P is looking to put in amateur radios in all police stations in the county. So far, the worst problem to happen here was the electrical blackout. We must consider other events such as a nuclear attack which means moving large numbers of people and housing them. Mutual aid agreements now exist with the six nearby counties of Monroe, St. Clair, Wayne, Macomb, and two others. If this EOC is knocked out, we can go to another county to share their resources. We can partially or fully activate the EOC for emergencies here or there. Some months ago, Monroe County had a possible need requiring Oakland County aid there. How to do that was the problem. Much pre-planning and logistics are required to carry out such requests. The generator for the New Orleans Communication Center was poorly planned by being installed 10-15 feet below sea level. Here in Oakland County, we have a backup communication system. However, ARPSC here needs a backup repeater site. Joel Goldberg added that the ARPSC center needs to communicate world-wide. Hurricane Katrina now presents the problem of people moving to Michigan and Oakland County. Solving how to house and care for them is being worked on at the state level. The hurricane ravaged states are part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) which can request assistance from other states such as Michigan. However with Hurricane Katrina, Michigan has no declaration of disaster which entitles it to federal reimbursement money. A report was distributed to the members, entitled "Michigan State Agency Status Report #3 on Hurricane Katrina EMAC and Energy Emergency." We are currently developing a center for Katrina victims in the Detroit area. People are coming from everywhere by any means of transportation, and we don't know what to do with them. Church buses are picking up people with no real planning. Government does not own houses, apartments, and accommodations. There are problems with promising accommodations before they are found. Military sites may prove useful. Another problem is the weather. Now it is about 80 degrees, but one must prepare for 0 degree temperatures. These people are often not screened and we don't know if they are actual victims of Katrina. A few scams are occurring. Fort Custer and one other area will probably be set up to register these people. Once registered, they can be placed somewhere. They also need health checks to prevent disease spread. Individuals and organizations are currently advised NOT to self-deploy to hurricane areas. Such assistance needs to be organized to be effective. Volunteer police and firemen are coordinated by assigning them a number and then deployed to a specific area. Question and answers (Q&A) to Gail Novak: 1. What does a corporation counsel do? After 9-11, they served as legal advisors to us. 2. Could some of our ARPSC members become trained in interoperability of various radios and perform backup services? From Joel Goldberg, W8HIU: The question is more like this: Would the owners of this system let us in and how many amateurs would need to be trained? From Phil Ode, AA8KR, President of Hazel Park ARC: The city of Troy has several of these equipment types and Chief Nelson wants ham radio operators to help and free his firemen to perform their normal duties. From Randy Love, WF5X: This interoperability system was never intended for amateur radio operators and our duties lie elsewhere. We need to clarify our duties. From Gail Novak: We need to put ham radio operators at their currently planned stations, but can we commit them to more activities? Our intentions are not to have ham operators talk to fire personal, but to communicate ham to ham. We view ham radio volunteers as a group organized in Oakland County to assist with sirens, exercises, hospitals, local events as walks, etc. 3. What about ARPSC members communicating ham radio to ham radio? From John Fleming, K8UP: Yes, we use amateur radio for communications, but if a message needs to be transmitted, we use whatever means we have. Upcoming Events Saturday, 29 October 2005, the Oakland County Health Department is doing a Stimulated Emergency Test to immunize 1.2 million people in 24 hours. They will set up several centers, and look for Oakland County ARPSC participation. Centers include Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak, Providence Hospital – Main Campus, Northland Shopping Center, and Summit Place Shopping Center. Wednesday, 2 November 2005, National Weather Service will meet at the monthly ARPSC meeting for training in winter and flood alerts. (3). Comments from Joel Colman, NO5FD, Emergency Coordinator for Orleans Parish (New Orleans): Joel is now in Michigan until New Orleans is again habitable. Orleans Parish has some unique features. Before the emergency, the American Red Cross planned their shelters outside of Orleans Parish. The actual communications room in Orleans Parish is the size of two small rooms. The first time Joel used it, there was a single Kenwood amateur radio and incoming cables were not marked. For HF frequencies, they had to bring in their own radio. The Hospital Net was somehow operated on a 150 MHz frequency. Their emergency truck did have an amateur radio. Last June, they held a Stimulated Emergency Test (SET) test with ARES and CERT. Currently, all governmental services operate on different frequencies and have difficultly communicating with each other. After the hurricane, all cell phone towers eventually went out, but the Nextel cellular system supported individual person to person transmissions. Emergency routes out of New Orleans were based on a contra-plan which required State Police coordination. Somehow, they weren't notified and this slowed the outward evacuation. The Orleans Communication Center at City Hall wasn't used during the storm and the windows lacked hurricane resistance. Lost will be the convention trade which the city so depends upon. Local updates on New Orleans can be found on http://www.nola.com and http://www.wafb.com. For reading, Joel recommended the book "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America," by John M. Barry. Joel recommended to keep all batteries charged for preparedness. His 12 volt battery for emergency amateur radio operation was discovered at 11 volts. Before going out to an event, be sure to test all equipment. (4). Training for Oakland County ARPSC Members by Jim Thompson, N8USP: ARPSC members need to take and pass the following courses: IS-3 Radiological Emergency Management IS-5 An Introduction to Hazardous Material IS-7 A Citizen's Guide to Disaster Assistance IS-22 Emergency Preparedness IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System IS-120 An Orientation to Community Disaster Exercises IS-195 Basic Incident Command System IS-271 Anticipating Hazardous Weather & Community Risk IS-700 National Incident Management System (Passing this class increases chances for federal funding for county.) IS-800 National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction The biggest need is the IS-700 class. This will take place in November, about ten days after the General Meeting. Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM volunteered to assist Joel Stanley, KC8DQH and Jim Thompson, N8USP. (5). Weekly Net Operations by Larry Hornsby , KB8POD We are concentrating on teaching message handling protocol, such is used on 14.260 MHz. ARPSC members must know how to do this. Floppy disks with this information were handed out to members. Randy Love, WF5X mentioned that on 145.33 at 10:15 pm, the SE Michigan Traffic Net takes place every night. The weekly net now averages between 20-30 people. Members are requested to check in the 15 September 2005 net using their own emergency power source. (6). Siren Net Activities and Woodward Dream Cruise by Jim Walden, N8DHZ: The 3 September 2005 siren test had 34-36 people check-in during this holiday weekend. There were a number of two-way sirens with bad reports and we may be checking them again next month. A member queried about the irregular subnet operation on the Clarkston Repeater. Dell Brown, KC8IJF stated that in the future, he would call the subnet operator about one half hour before the net begins. Jeff Albrecht, N8WR volunteered to assist the siren net at the EOC. We had many compliments about the Dream Cruise and the Chief of Public Safety at Berkley was particularly pleased. This year, Berkley was a bit late to request our help, but next year we hope to begin planning in early July. There was only one major incident during the Cruise, and that was discovered by a ham who found a man inciting trouble with a bull-horn. Before he could get away, ten police on motorcycles caught up with him. Thanks go to all the volunteers. (7). Hospital Radios and Net Activity by Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR: The next hospital radios to be programmed will be at Crittenton and Henry Ford – West Bloomfield. There will be an effort to get more coverage for the 22 September 2005 Hospital Net. (8). Public Service Information – from Gary Sklar, K8IKW: The following web site reports disaster relief efforts: http://www.gulfcoastnews.com The following amateur radio frequencies carry disaster relief efforts and are traffic nets: 7285 MHz (priority traffic – day time 7290 MHz (Health and Welfare traffic – daytime 3873 MHz at night 3935 MHz at night is the West Gulf Emergency Net 3965 MHz Alabama Emergency Net 14265 MHz, Sat. Net Gary requests those not getting his newsletter to advise him on their latest e-mail address. (9). Forthcoming Simulated Emergency Test (SET) by Justin Stabenow, KC8UQF: The last SET was in 2002 before the electrical blackout. Five to seven members will become the planning committee and the emergency situation is still to be determined. The exercise is planned for sometime in October, with more details at the next meeting. Plans will include utilizing the Hospital Net and focusing on NTS traffic. Some SET members will respond from home, while others will be deployed elsewhere. Both the Oakland Press and Channel 7 Action News appear interested in this as a story. After the test, we will discuss how we could improve. (10). Clinton Township Antenna Requirements by George Schutte, K8GEO: Currently, there is antenna trouble in Clinton Township, where township supervisors want to restrict tower height to the fall zone and limit roof antenna height to three feet above the roof line. We need more reasonable antenna regulations. On 22 September 2005 at 6:30 pm, there will be a hearing at 40700 Romeo Plank Road in Clinton Township. Please arrive ½ hour early. (11). Miscellaneous Comments from Members: (1.) Our vests worn in the Woodward Dream Cruise do not convey who we are and what we do. They need to be improved. (2.) During a wide-spread electrical outage, we need a source of gasoline if we are to be deployed. This became a major problem during the last outage. (3.) What happened to the amateur radio in the Sheriff's Command Center during the Woodward Dream Cruise? The ham radio was planned to be installed, but never was. More Upcoming Activities Sunday, 18 September 2005 ALS WALK at (1) Kensington Metro Park – Martindale Beach and (2) Stony Creek Metro Park – Shelby Township. Joel Goldberg, W8HIU requested more volunteers for the Kensington Walk and three volunteered. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary Oakland County ARPSC 8 September 2005