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 General Membership Meeting Minutes for 6 October 2004: On 6 October 2004 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 Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC: A moment for remembrance was given for our respected member, Rick McKibben - KC8KTW, recently deceased. Amateur radios in all Oakland County Hospitals is our goal. Three to four amateur volunteers would be prepared and ready to serve each hospital radio. Any county ARPSC member wishing to volunteer should notify Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR. Updated information is requested on members who change phone, fax, pager, and e-mail addresses. Anyone needing an updated ID can have his/her photo taken after most of these meetings. Forms for security checks are also available at the meetings. Members may wish to pull up their own ham radio information on http://www.qrz.com to make sure it is accurate. (2). Comments from Mike Sturm, Emergency Response and Preparedness Chief for Oakland County (ER&P): County officials all the way up to the County Executive, L. Brooks Patterson, are aware of benefits from volunteer organizations such the ARPSC. Your ARPSC was a "CERT" (Community Emergency Response Team) program before it existed. Significant Federal Emergency Homeland dollars are now becoming available for use with county ER&P organizations, which can assist funding. (3). Description of the CERT Program by Mike Loper, Oakland County Emergency Response and Preparedness: The following are websites about CERT: http://www.citizencorps.gov http://www.co.oakland.mi.us/ems/info_pub/CERT_Mission.html http://www.co.oakland.mi.us/ems/ Volunteers are necessary for emergency preparedness. One recommendation is take the FEMA training course IS-700, National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents. Citizen Corps is a nationwide concept sponsored by FEMA and Homeland Security. It is a team concept of working together, which began years ago in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Missouri-Mississippi Valley. It is now a post 9-11 situation. For instance, only one in three people have a disaster plan when trouble occurs. Even the Blackout of 2003 should have gotten people thinking about a disaster plan, but few did. The concept includes an USA Citizen Corps using neighborhood volunteers for civil defense. It expands upon the old Civil Defense system and other existing programs, such as Neighborhood Watch, Citizen Police Academies, RACES/ARRL, Skywarn spotters, Civil Air Patrol, Be Ready and Ready Business Campaigns, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), etc. About 10% of Mike's job is now involved with CERT training. Michigan Citizen Corps is coordinated through the Michigan Community Service Commission by Gary Zulinski. In Oakland County, Sheriff Michael Bouchard is the Governor-appointed Chairman of the Michigan Citizen Corps Council. At this time, about 100 people have been trained, and there is enough money to train another 154. CERTS is especially looking for the following professions or skills (including retirees) for the Medical Reserve Corps: Physicians, Nurses, EMT's, Pharmacists, Veterinarians. Another organization is "USA on Watch" (http://www.USAonWatch.org), sponsored by the National Sheriffs Association. This is similar to a neighborhood watch. Classes have taken place in Auburn Hills and Alpena. About 350 State trainees have gone through the program. State CERT train-the-trainee classes are held at CREST/Oakland Community College. Grants for training are available to county and local governments. The ARPSC is a valuable part of our disaster volunteer force and an asset to our EOC. There are CERT classes coming up in Royal Oak at the end of October. The Citizen Police Academy has classes beginning October 20 for five consecutive Wednesday nights. A few slots are still available. (4). Comments from Jim Thompson, DEC: Forthcoming ARPSC Class FEMA IS-3 Class Radiological Emergency Management Class will be held 9 am to 1 pm, Saturday, 9 October 2004 at the EOC. There is no prerequisite for this class. To register, please call Loretta at 248-858-5300. Please register by Thursday, 7 October. There are currently 20 signed up. (5). "Chasing Tornados" was presented by Lloyd Suter, N2NGQ with slides and a commentary. Thank you, Lloyd for a fine presentation. (6). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Oakland County Emergency Preparedness and Response: This was a quiet weather season this year - so far. We have been awarded the "Storm Ready Award" by the National Weather Service. Oakland County had the highest percentage of Skywarn trained citizens in the State. The bad news is that one vaccine company for this year's flu season had it product recalled. Oakland County will not be issuing vaccine to amateur volunteers. Some infants, adults age 65 and over, and certain others at risk will get the vaccine. Flu shots for those qualifying are scheduled Saturday, 23 October 2004 from 9 am to about 4 pm at the Summit Mall in Pontiac. Several other locations are/will be scheduled in Oakland County. Flu Shot Information There is an Oakland County Flu Hotline at 1-800-434-3358 for further information. Also see their website at http://www.co.oakland.mi.us/health/. (7). Comments from Jim Walden, N8DHZ, DEC: There will be a 6 November 2004 Siren Test. (8). Comments from Gary Bouwkamp, N8HMP, Web Master for http://www.qsl.net/w8oak: Minutes of previous meetings are available on the above website. (9). Comments from Randy Love, WF5X: Skywarn Recognition Day is coming 4 December 2004. Contesting will take place from 7 pm Friday, 3 December 2004 to 7 pm Saturday, 4 December 2004. More information is at http://hamradio.noaa.gov. Last year, there were 36 contacts in NWS stations. If interested, please contact Randy at wf5x@arrl.net (10). Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Public Service Information: Up-Coming Events Sunday, 10 October 2004: Bloomfield Township Police Department Open House will have an amateur radio table and demonstrations. Set-up is scheduled for 10 am with open house from noon to before 5 pm. The police station is slightly west of Telegraph Road and two blocks south of Long Lake Road. To volunteer, contact Gary at k8ikw@aol.com. Sunday, 31 October 2004: Utica Shelby Emergency Communications Associations Swap is at the Polish Century Club on Maple Lane in Sterling Heights. This is a new location and it is not at the Italian Cultural Center. More info is at http://www.useca.net Friday-Saturday 5-6 November 2004: Michigan State Convention – Holland ARC. More information is at http://www.hollandarc.org and http://superswap.hollandarc.org/. Dinner is Friday night with reservations and there are classes and forums. (11). Questions from members: (a). Why do some sirens go off 3 minutes differently than others? Answer: The county worker setting off the various sirens has sometime to move from one counter to another in order to set off various sirens. (b). The IS-2 Class is being dropped for another called IS-22. Will we be grandfathered for our previously successful IS-2 exam? Answer: We think so, but currently an official request has been submitted concerning this, and have not yet been answered (from Jim Thompson, N8USP). (12). Comments from John Fleming, N8UP: The ARRL is offering Emergency Management 1, 2, and 3 to amateur radio members. The cost is $45 per class and those successfully completing the exam can be reimbursed by a federal grant. The $45 reimbursement is available for each one of the three classes. Respectfully submitted 7 October 2004 Jim Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC