Oakland County Amateur Radio Public Service Corp (ARPSC) Weekly Net: Thursdays at 8 pm on 145.250 MHz/100pl Web Site: http://www.qsl.net/w8oak Meeting Minutes for 5 November 2003 On 5 November 2003 at 7 pm, Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, Emergency Coordinator (EC) for the Oakland County ARPSC called the meeting to order in the County E.O.C. The order of business included: (1). Comments from Joel Goldberg, W8HIU, EC: The last batch of RACES card background checks by the sheriff have not come back. Requests continue for additional volunteer leaders and anyone interested should contact Joel. Hospitals that have amateur radio equipment up and ready now include Troy Beaumont, Botsford, Henry Ford-West Bloomfield. Beaumont-Royal Oak is anticipating that they will be ready next September with the completion of their new building. Attempts have been made to get the hospitals to purchase the same radio. With use of a single type transceiver, it is easier to program and use with various amateur radio personnel. Having three or four amateurs assigned to one hospital will enhance readiness. Jim A. Wades, WB8SIW (Allegan, Michigan) has resigned as (Michigan) Section Emergency Coordinator, effective 31 November 2003. Val E. Rose, N8EXV (Flint, Michigan) has been appointed Deputy Section Manager for ARPSC, working under the leadership of Section Manager Dale Williams, WA8EFK. ARPSC logo shirts, with short sleeves and no names imprinted, have been given the go ahead. There will be a General Membership Meeting, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 with a light supper. Awards will be presented. Bill Nelson, KC8IWQ, Troy Fire Chief, has offered to bring the emergency truck with radio equipment for us to view. He will have a presentation on this. In the next few weeks, a newsletter will be sent out with more information on the meeting, and Joel requests information for the newsletter be given to him ASAP before the newsletter is finished. TOP-EX emergency exercise of 25 September 2003 will be our Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for the year 2003. The Oakland County ARPSC has already accumulated about 1000 award points. In the future, efforts will be made to involve more ARPSC members in emergency activities. Funds for new equipment for the ARPSC Operation Center are thought to be available, according to an assistant of L. Brooks Patterson's (Oakland County Executive). A list of needs has been submitted: (1) replace operation center's five VHF/UHF radio with ICOM IC-2720 and (2) add two grab and go transceiver units. Oakland County ARPSC Net Manager, Larry Hornsby, KB8POD has resigned due to work conflicts. Rory Locke, KC8SZR will become the new net manager and is asking for net control volunteers for Thursday nights. Currently, our ARPSC has a backup repeater in operation being tested on the Pontiac Social Services Building. The Road Commission operates the Bald Mountain Site where our primary repeater is located. They are reviewing why the generator there failed during the Power Outage of 2003. The 440 repeater is not on the air at this time and is awaiting a repair of a needed spectrum analyzer. At last month's Oakland County Commissioner's Meeting, Oakland County ARPSC was awarded a plaque for meritorious services during the Blackout of 2003. L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Executive, commented that the ARPSC had help from nearly 80 amateur radio operators from around the county. At the last District 2 Emergency Coordinator's meeting, RACES cards and training programs were discussed. Val Rose, N8EXV stated that possibly starting in 2005, the process of issuing RACES cards will become the responsibility of Homeland Security/FEMA. RACES cards will no long be issued by the counties. Some certification may be needed to obtain these cards. Val did not want volunteer amateurs to be charged for required certification courses which are passed. The actual certification has not been determined, but may involve several courses by the ARRL. In the future, required training may become standardized for all counties throughout Michigan. This may make outside assistance more acceptable to the various county ARPSC groups. (2). Comments from Steve Iannucci, Emergency Response and Preparedness (ER&P): Two new forms were passed out to the members: (1) Community Threat Level Guidelines and (2) Oakland County ER&P – Important Telephone Numbers (with magnetic sticker). Steve would like amateur radio members to adopt a specific siren. (3). Comments from Barry Kaufman, WD8JWM, Deputy Emergency Coordinator (DEC): Barry believes that every siren in the county was covered this year. Questions to Barry: When are two-way self reporting sirens covered by siren nets? Answer is (1) if a new siren and is put on the hot siren list, and (2) once a year for visual testing. Can the monthly "hot list of siren" be made available to various members? Answer is that one should check into his area subnet for this to prevent double coverage of the same siren. (4). Comments from Jim Thompson, N8USP, DEC: The following FEMA classes are attached to our Oakland County ARPSC training: IS-2 IS-3, Radiological IS-5, Hazardous Materials – course now being revised IS-271, Anticipating Hazardous Weather – 7 took course this month; four report that they passed the exam. IS-7, Citizens Guide to Disaster Assistance IS-270, Orientation to Community Disaster Exercises IS195, Basic Incident Command The next class being planned is FEMA-IS 195. This will be headed up by Lloyd Suter, N8NGQ with the assistance of Ted Davis, N8ZSA; Gary Sklar, K8IKW, and Jim Thompson, N8USP. The class has a tentative date of Saturday, 10 January 2004 from 9 am to 1 pm. (5). Comments from Gary Sklar, K8IKW, Public Service Information: Activities Coming Up (a). 15-16 November 2003, Fort Wayne Swap – Indiana State Convention. http://www.fortwaynehamfest.com (b). 7 December 2003, L'Anse Creuse Swap. http://www.n8lc.org (c). 13 December 2003 OCARS Christmas Party and Raffle. (d). 18 January 2004, Hazel Park ARC Swap. http://www.qsl.net/w8hp (e). International Police Association Radio Club has nets on various frequencies at http://www.iparc.org/ (f). Michigan Section ARPSC has a website with message board for members only at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MIARPSC or general view at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/races_41757_7.pdf (6). Comments by Murray Scott, KE8UM: Joel Goldberg has requested him to make a multiple headphone plug-in into the operation center's main VHF/UHF radio. On 24 November 2003, Hams are needed to attend at the Troy City Hall. The Troy City Council meets at 7:30 pm and after two years of deliberation is expected to adopt new rules regulating amateur radio towers. Amateurs are requesting a maximum height of 75 feet. (7). Comments by Randy Love, WF5X: Motorola NMO Style Larson Magnetic Mounts (NMO-MM with NMO 2/70 antenna) do not seem to work on the 440 band when mounted onto metal ceiling ducts. This may also apply when used on cars. The problem appears to be the center button or pin on newer units is narrower compared to the older units and throws off the capacitance on the 440 band. (8). Presentations by Ken Barnes, N8COQ: Old business: Oakland County ARPSC received 1480 points for ARPSC/RACES Field Day 2003. Those earning participation certificates from Catalpa A.R.S. included – Barry Kaufman WD8JWM, Sean Fleming K8KHZ, Dell Brown KC8IJF, George Schutte K8GEO, Randy Love WF5X, Rory Locke KC8SZR, Robert Russell KC8CHQ, Frank Williams KC8TPK, Hank Goldberg W8PSO, Jerry McGinn K8CFY, Gordon Helm N1CKG, Louis Helm KC8YCA and Bob Adams, W8BHF. New business: Certificates were given out for those who helped at the Bloomfield Police Department Open House which include: Pete Matejcik AA8GK, Gary Sklar K8IKW, Rebecca Guzman KC8WWP, Paul Timmins KC8QAY, and Bill Wallace KC8JAY. (9). Comments by other members: DTE approached the ham radio community at the District 2 Meeting, wanting amateurs to back them up in the event of a power outage. It was pointed out that they are a corporation for profit. However, their own corporation has ham radio operators who work for them who could volunteer in-house assistance. Dan Hancock, EC for Wayne County offered to help them develop an up-to-date ham station at their present location. 6 December 2003 is the 2003 Skywarn Recognition Day from 0000 – 2400 UTC. This day cerebrates Skywarn radio operator assistance to the National Weather Service. During the day, Skywarn operators can contact other operators across the world in a participation contest. More details are at http://hamradio.noaa.gov/ Respectively submitted 7 November 2003 Jim Murphy, N8SML Secretary, Oakland County ARPSC