Oakland County Amateur Radio Public 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 4 October 2006: On 4 October 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: (I). Comments from the Emergency Coordinator (EC) – Joel Goldberg, W8HIU: Our ARPSC will have the following FEMA classes as follows: Saturday, 14 October 2006, FEMA IS-22, Guide to Citizen Preparedness Saturday 4 November 2006, FEMA IS-200, ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents. A sign-up sheet was passed around to members. For others wanting to take these classes, please call Loretta at 248-858-5300. Assisting our classes will be the newly appointed Joel Stanley, KC8DQH. This month, our Oakland County ARPSC will be participating in the following activities: (1). Saturday, 7 October 2006 - ARRL Great Lakes Division Michigan Section will have its Simulated Emergency Test (SET). One or two volunteers are needed at the EOC. When arriving at the EOC, call the W8OAK frequency so that we can let you in the door. (2). Saturday, 21 October 2006 – Annual Flu Shot Clinics will be held. Our ARPSC furnishes back-up communications. Clinics will run to 3 pm, but expect our volunteer services from 9 am to12 noon. There are seven sites to cover, not including the EOC: (1) Holly High School, (2) Lake Orion High School, (3) Rochester Hills Fire Department Drive-Thru Clinic, (4) South Lyon High School, (5) Southfield Pavilion, (6) Summit Mall – old Wards Department Store, (7) Hazel Park High School. For the ARPSC volunteers, there will be extra traffic messages. Joel Goldberg will be checking out each of the sites beforehand for possible communication problems. Volunteers will need an HT and possibly will handle a grab-and-go transceiver. The volunteer will need to know whom to check in with. An identification badge should be ready for the volunteers, if known early enough. County vests will not be used. If a volunteer wants a flu shot and you are there, please register beforehand via http://land.oakgov.com/fluclinic, but expect to pay for it unless you are on Medicare or Medicaid. During the Vigilant Guardian Exercise last 22 August 2007, incident command structures from FEMA IS-100 and IS-200 demonstrated how important it is to establish one individual in charge and to conform to national standards. For a number of years, Skywarn Recognition Day has been held on the first week end of December. This is for recognition of Skywarn amateur radio volunteers by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). This year, the ARRL expects nearly 100 NWS stations to participate beginning at 0000 UTC on 2 December 2006 lasting for 24 hours. At our EOC, this translates to 7 pm Saturday, 2 December 2006 until 7 pm on Sunday. Randy Love, WF5X will be in charge. Our new grab-and-go portable transceiver unit is much easier to carry. The old "boat anchor" will be retrofitted and made into a more manageable device. In the future, we may have two new Oakland County hospitals or medical centers to cover. One will be at Maple and M-5 in the Walled Lake area and will be associated with Royal Oak - Beaumont Hospital. The other will be in the north end of the county and will be associated with McLaren Regional Medical Center. Joel is already meeting with medical communications to include amateur radios. Joel talked this week with Steve Murphy, N8NM, County Radio. The Milford site needs a new controller and other items and Steve is looking for funding. Our 2 meter repeater is much improved now that we are using the 146.900 frequency. There is no longer channel 3 interference as was found on 145.250. A "Pocket Checklist for Oakland County Emergency Communications Personnel – 2006" was passed around for members to review for errors and make corrections. A membership list was passed around to update phone, home addresses and e-mail addresses. Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM and George Schutte, K8GEO recently became grandfathers. Congratulations go out to both of them and all their families. (II). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P): The last two siren tests this year will be on Saturday, 7 October 2006 and Saturday, 4 November 2006. Mike Roper, ER&P, will be in charge of the October Sirens. The newest ARPSC-RACES identity cards are waiting for a new printer, reported to arrive about October 26th. (III). Comments from John Fleming, K8UP, District Two Michigan Section ARPSC Emergency Coordinator: John met with the State ARPSC officials recently. The ARRL Great Lakes Division Michigan Section has scheduled their Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Saturday, 7 October 2006. The SET involves an electrical blackout requiring each ARPSC at their respective EOC's to use simplex frequency communications with adjacent counties and to the State. Frequencies to be used are (1) 146.520 MHz simplex for reporting to the State and (2) 145.760 MHz for packet. The State ARRL keeps record of our volunteered hours per month. Oakland County had 2000+ such hours for September. These reported hours include nets, siren testing, SETs, etc. John is hoping to build a digital net, called a Hamgate, for Oakland County. This would be used to link amateur packet radio to the internet for communication. This way, packet messages could be sent to the State EOC. A frequency needs to be found for Oakland County. Query: Larry Hornsby, KB8POD asked which members at the meeting were using Packet. One responded by saying that he used packet regularly, but found W8OAK net reception poor. Larry responded by saying there now is a new antenna for packet which should improve reception. Another stated that while attempting to set up a packet program on his new laptop, his chosen windows-orientated packet program (WinPacket) required one of the first four ports on his computer, all of which were being utilized. The current packet program at the EOC is the old DOS orientated "Paket 6.2." (IV). Comments from Larry Hornsby, KB8POD, Assistant Emergency Coordinator and Net Manager: We need more volunteers to train for net operations and are currently working to improve their training. The next siren test will take place this coming Saturday at 1 pm. We can never check enough sirens, so need more volunteers. The actual sighting of the siren's condition and operation is most useful. (V). Comments from Bill Bond, W8WRB, Hospital Radios: Our last Hospital Radio Net (September) had 100% check-ins. Jim Dow, N8KSL is setting up rotating schedules with his volunteers at Beaumont - Troy Hospital. Mike Nebel, N3BEL has volunteered for the Oxford site. Crittenton Hospital had a problem during the last net. A guard there was not informed that we would be using their radio for the monthly Hospital Net. Gail Novak, ER&P has already written a letter to the hospital, requesting them to be sure to inform the guards about our regularly scheduled Hospital Nets. Bill is still looking for volunteers to assist with the Botsford Hospital radio. (VI). Comments from Gary Bouwkamp, W8OAK Web Master: Our current website is hosted by www.qsl.net, which survives on donations. QSL was down part of last week and has recurrent problems. Gary is now looking for a new website or our own W8OAK domain. (VII). Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Information: Upcoming Activities Saturday, 7 October 2006: ARRL Great Lakes Division SET and Siren Testing. Sunday, 8 October 2006: Bloomfield Township Police Department is having their annual open house from noon to 5 pm. There will be a HF station and a table to pass out literature. Ham volunteers are needed with setup at 10 am. To volunteer, please contact Gary at k8ikw@aol.com. Bill Bond, W8WRB created an ARPSC flyer, entitled "ARPSC – Oakland County." This will be passed out at the meeting. Copies were handed out to members at the meeting. Saturday, 21 October 2006: Annual Flu Shot Clinics will have communications backed up by our ARPSC. Saturday, 21 October 2006: Boy Scout Jamboree. Hams are needed, and if interested, contact Allan Koch, KA8JJN. No other information is available. Saturday, 21 October 2006: Great Lakes Super Swap at Holland, Michigan. http://www.hollandarc.org. Sunday, 22 October 2006: Blossomland Blast Swap. http://www.blossomlandara.org Sunday, 29 October 2006: USECA Swap. http://www.useca.net (VIII). Larry Hornsby, KB8POD on Net Control Training: Larry gave a computer slide presentation to members about net control training. This should interest everyone who communicates with nets. Net control training includes requirements for ARPSC use, radio etiquette, net control operator training, what a net control operator should do and what are his responsibilities, types of nets, who can call for a net operation (i.e. County EOC Staff), net control operating techniques, what defines an emergency net, emergency net procedures, how to handle net interference, use of net operating plans, and why two persons are enough for a net. To be an Oakland County ARPSC member: He or she must be a licensed radio operator, must have an application filed with Oakland County EOC; have a background check by Oakland County Sheriff's Department, is working on or has completed FEMA courses IS-22, IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, IS-800, and has a RACES and ARPSC card issued by Oakland County. Best net control operating procedures include waiting for repeater courtesy tone between transmissions, speaking clearly with no profanity, keeping alert for any station with priority and emergency traffic, asking if the frequency is free before starting a net, identifying your station every ten minutes during a net, and maintaining control of the net. The net operator is in charge of the frequency and the net at all times, but he should not abuse this. Nets are not always emergency nets, but any net can become an emergency net, started only at the request of the EOC staff, and must have approval of Duty Officer for the ARPSC or the EC. (IX). Steve Iannucci, ER&P: Steve gave a computer slide presentation on how to best protect office members when one is sneezing and coughing. This was entitled "why we should but don't do it into our sleeves." (X). Handout from Joel Goldberg, EC, on Vigilant Guardian Exercise with Some Follow-up Comments (modified by the secretary): Suggested corrections to improve our emergency preparedness are: 1. Better communications are needed by and from the ARPSC at the EOC before and during the exercise. 2. Operators who unexpectedly arrive at any site are to contact Net Control for assignment at that location or to another site. The Incident Commander (IC) will make this determination for assignment with assistance of his/her AEC's. 3. Additional vertical antennas will be available at the EOC if needed for better communication at other locations. 4. All stations are to check in and out when changing frequency. The Net Control operator will monitor this. 5. Radios for "Grab and Go" and radio sites without an ICOM 2720 will be checked for replacement. N8NM will be asked to do this. 6. Security of the ARPSC site is the responsibility of the Incident Commander. This person will see that only authorized operators are allowed into that area. 7. Additional training and a manual will be provided for Net Control operators. The Net Manager will have this responsibility. 8. All sites are to be manned until given permission from the ARPSC IC to shut down, with approval of the EOC Staff. If any site's IC tells its amateur operators to take down or move their site, they must do so and immediately contact Net Control to inform them of this change. 9. The ARPSC IC will wear either a hat and/or some easily identifiable item to let everyone in the area know that this is the ARPSC IC to whom questions or needs should be directed. 10. Handling of messages: EOC will be requested to inform the ARPSC as to the location of their message center and who will be handling messages. A multiple copy sheet message form will be developed for use by both the EOC and the ARPSC. One copy will remain in the ARPSC area throughout the exercise which will then become a part of the ARPSC record keeping system. 11. EOC will be asked about "E-Team" and if ARPSC members at the EOC could use this system. 12. A pre-exercise briefing will be requested. All members working at the EOC or reporting to the EOC will go through a briefing on arrival. 13. Any forms developed for communications will or can be used at all sites. Queries from the members, answered by John Fleming, K8UP, Larry Hornsby, KB8POD and others: What about 3rd party traffic during such an event? Answer: This is not to be discouraged, but all traffic should go through the EOC, i.e. not Beaumont Royal Oak to Beaumont Troy directly. If this needs to be, check with the EOC for authority before moving on to Beaumont to Beaumont direct communication. Highly technical traffic probably is best handled by the experts themselves. Comment: There sometimes is a problem with a Hospital's understanding of how our radios are to be used. Joel Goldberg replied that we need to further educate the hospital of our purposes and duties. Query: Do we need to be better able to cross-band repeat, when HT signals within certain high schools and other locations are blocked inside the building? Rochester Hills Fire Department is reputed to have such a problem. Answer: There may be multiple solutions. Comment: Bill Bond, W8WRB, emphasized that we need to have a common message format for all sites and at the EOC. Possible education help: John Fleming, K8UP noted further training with traffic messages might be aided by Ann-Marie Ruder, K8AMR, who teaches traffic message handling. John suggests we could get useful information from her. Knowing how to do both tactical messages and written messages are important. Query: Please better define "security" in item #6. Here, security refers to the EOC only. Comment: We need to have time for people to break in for emergency and priority traffic when the net is very busy. John Fleming, K8UP added that some nets solve this by making "timeouts" to ask for emergency traffic. Furthermore with incoming priority traffic, net control might want to say "all stations stand by" to put lesser traffic on hold. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC 5 October 2006