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 3 November 2004: On 3 November 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: Updated information is requested on members who change phone, fax, pager, and e-mail addresses. Problems contacting me by e-mail have been reported. The cause is unknown. Steve Murphy, N8NM, who provides Oakland County radio services, will have a new assignment which makes him temporarily unavailable to assist us. Hopefully, there will be enough time to get the Beverly site will up and running, but future expansions may have to wait. An e-mail from Mike Sturm, Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P) Chief for Oakland County, stated the Oakland County tower site at Milford will be up. Once an antenna can be placed, this will give us better coverage within the county. Oakland County Siren Test is next Saturday, 6 November 2004. Rory Locke, KC8SZR, and Jim Murphy, N8SML have volunteered to assist at the EOC. This will be the last test of year. Steve Iannucci, ER&P, mentioned that the county has a lot of 2-way sirens which don't need monitoring more than twice a year. There are over 100 one-way sirens that require more intense coverage. Skywarn Recognition Day is coming 4 December 2004. Fun can be had making contacts on low bands with as many National Weather Service stations as possible. Last year, Dell Brown, KC8IJF brought in his HF transceiver and we were able to operate two stations. More information is at http://hamradio.noaa.gov. If interested, contact Randy Love, WF5X at wf5x@arrl.net. The on-call list for Oakland County ARPSC Supervisors is a bit short for the next month. Assistance is needed. Jim Thompson, N8USP, today became a grandparent. Congratulations, Jim, from all of us here at Oakland County ARPSC! A medical control communications meeting was recently held in which Joel was invited. The topic was about communication systems availability throughout Michigan and between agencies. Two basic systems are in use. Some counties in the State have adopted one type. Others, such as Oakland County, have another which is not compatible with the first. The problem has been to develop linkage between the two. A new interface system now exists for Oakland County and they are now able to communicate with other counties. Our Motorola communication system has had problems. Several years ago, the Sheriff's dispatch had one of their two systems hit by lightning. This was still under warranty, but repairs were not possible. So the county is reluctant to continue with this system. At this meeting, Bob Daddow of L. Brooks Patterson's staff, took time to recognize the efforts of the Oakland County ARPSC. They know we are here to help and that radios need to be installed in county hospitals. Regarding funding for hospital radios, Steve Iannucci, ER&P, mentioned there is a "HERSA" government fund available to pay for radios in hospitals. Grant money will be used to upgrade amateur radios at the EOC. An ARPSC Training Checklist was passed out to members for their inspection. This updated list defines six levels of training recognition. There are two major changes. The FEMA IS-2 class no longer exists and has been replaced with IS-22. The membership was asked at this meeting to vote on changing to IS-22 and they agreed. The FEMA IS-700 is a recommended addition. Members are requested to review this class on the web and next month be prepared to voice their opinions. Question from a member: FEMA IS-7 class is a 149 page download and is a strain on a home printer. Joel suggested that the program could be downloaded as a word document and scroll through it, rather than printing. A copy of this reading material will be available from the EOC in the future. Comment from George Schutte, K8GEO: George took the ARRL Emergency Communication Level I course and found it to be an excellent alternate source. Joel replied that anyone taking and passing the ARRL equivalent courses will be given credit. The point of these classes is to train our members as well as possible. By completing all the recommended training, they should be well accepted if they have to go to another county. Question from a member: Who is checking and keeping track of individual members who have completed training? Joel replied that additional volunteers were needed to run filing and checks. The following volunteered: Mark Raymond, KB8UNX, and Bill Bond, W8WRB. (2). Comments from Ralph Greenberg, K8CAR, Hospital Radios: Hospital nets will be suspended until early next year. Rory Locke, KC8SZR and Ralph will be using HT's in the hospitals to see if signals can get out. Joel Goldberg asked Ralph to find what kind of identifications need be issued for members to enter the hospitals. Question from a member: Are hospital radios located in reasonable locations? Gary Sklar, K8IKW reported that the radio at Henry Ford – West Bloomfield is behind a nursing station and people are constantly reaching above it. Question from a member: Has the federal grant been tapped which pays for hospital radios? Steve Iannucci, ER&P, replied that he thought not. There is a time limit for grant money. Comment from Jim Poehlman, K8ABZ: I work at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital and know the person responsible for the radios there. The antenna is now up and a feedline installed. But they are waiting for the county to give them a radio. Steve Iannucci, ER&P, replied that the confusion was understandable and needs to be clarified with them. (3). Comments from Rory Locke, KC8SZR, Repeater Net: The weekly net is getting more and more check-ins. Net controls have been most helpful keeping the net operational. (4). Steve Iannucci, ER&P, reported on the county's E-Team software used for emergencies and special events: In the past, the EOC used "Web EOC" software to monitor and interact with emergencies and events within the county. The county now has switched to a much more sophisticated software program called "E Team." This has a lot more application. It is very expensive in that it costs $1000 per individual within a team. Recently, the State of Michigan purchased an enterprise license to lessen the cost and Oakland County is now using it. The "E Team" software permits operations for real life use and/or training and exercises. "E Team" is for individual users who must be trained to use the program and to get their own sign-in name. The software permits expanding functions including check list guides to use, event documentation, reference sources, grading of events by status, geo coding by address, by intersection, by latitude and longitude, by maps with zoom magnification, actual notifications to people and agencies, and co-ordination with agencies. Actual events can be monitored by this software, with requests made for specific assistance, and even includes information for government expense reimbursement. (5). Comments from George Schutte, K8GEO and Gary Sklar, K8IKW on future activities: Up-coming Events Friday-Saturday 5-6 November 2004: Michigan State Convention – Holland ARC. More information is at http://www.hollandarc.org and http://superswap.hollandarc.org/. Banquet is Friday night with reservations and there are classes and forums. Topics of interest include (1) ARPSC and (2) State Wide Communication Systems. Sunday, 5 December 2004: L'Anse Creuse ARC Swap. Details at http://www.n8lc.org. Saturday, 11 December 2004: USECA Christmas Dinner. Cost is $15 with reservations required and all hams are invited. Inquiries to George Schutte at k8geo@arrl.net. Sunday, 16 January 2005: Hazel Park ARC Swap. Details at http://www.qsl.net/w8hp/ Sunday, 13 February 2005: Livonia ARC Swap. Details at http://www.larc.mi.org. Wednesday-Thursday, 19-20 February 2005: Ham University by USECA with a two day intense study for ham radio licensure. Details not yet entered on http://www.useca.net. Saturday, 19 March 2005: ARRL - Great Lakes Division Convention –Toledo Mobile Radio Association. Details at http://www.tmrahamradio.org. Saturday, 16 April 2005: Milford ARC Swap. Details at http://www.qsl.net/w8ydk. (6). Comments from Ken Barnes, N8COQ: Thanks go to everyone who came to help the Special Event Station, W8OAK at the Bloomfield Township Police Department Open House on 10 October 2004. Those who participated were Mark Raymond, KB8LMY; Gary Sklar, K8IKW; Bill Wallace, KC8JAY; Paul Timmons, KC8QAY, Rebecca Gaznay, KC8UMP; Bob Adams, W8BHT, Alan Craddock, KC8PEH, Jim Walden, N8DHZ, and Ken Barnes, N8COQ. Recognition and well wishes were given to Ken Barnes, whose work is requiring his moving to the Chicago area. Respectfully submitted, James R. Murphy, N8SML Secretary Oakland County ARPSC 4 November 2004