03-Sept-2015 LPARC Minutes
Attendees:
Austin Lesea, AB6VS, President
Bert Bailey, KG6MBA, Vice President
Bill Rose, KG6VMX, Treasurer
Gary Watson, K6PDL, ARES EC
Kay Fanucci, KI6POL, Member
Cap Pennell, KE6AFE, Member
Austin called the meeting to order at 7:04pm.
Approval of the August 6, 2015 minutes
Austin recommends approval of minutes -accepted
Treasurer’s Report
Bill reported that the club current balance is $1365.08 and has not changed for months.
Nets
Sept. 08 - Bert
Sept. 15- Bill
Sept. 22 - Kathi,
Sept. 29 – Austin
Equipment
Austin reported that all three repeaters, AB6VS, KC6TYG and AE6KE were working fine. Austin even mentioned that the 24hour timer on KC6TYG actually worked to reset the repeater when it was needed this last month.
ARES EC Report
Gary had the following comments:
1) There was a fire at the school on 30 August and the club lost of some its equipment.
2) There exists a mutual aid trailer that that Scott Morse, SEC, said would be available if needed in an emergency. The trailer has various transceivers and antennas.
3) The Santa Cruz Triathlon, on 27 Sept. from approximately 6:30AM to approx. 1PM, is looking for some HAM volunteers. This is a swim around the Santa Cruz wharf, bicycle to Davenport and back, then run along West Cliff drive and back. The swim is scheduled to start at 8:00 at the main Santa Cruz beach to Davenport depending on the assignment.
This event mainly benefits the athletics programs for local schools. Their website is www.santacruztriathlon.org
4) Gary sent a notice the next day stating that Sherriff’s office is looking for volunteers for the Santa Cruz County Fair on 16-20 Sept.
Cap had the following comments:
1) That the emergency coordinator, Patsy Gasco, of Central Red Cross was informed of our loss and may be able to help us.
2) KSBW TV station stated that there was a fund being setup for losses at the School.
3) There was a Disaster in Paradise Event at Home Depot parking lot in Soquel on 13 September 2015.
Kay had the following comment:
1) The Loma Prieta Foundation may be able to assist us in recovering to our former capabilities at the school.
President’s Report N/A
New Business
Once again the big story of the meeting was the Fire at the school. The fire was reported at ~11:30 on 30 August. Bert went to the school the next day and talked to Tom, who would not let Bert go examine the equipment, as the Sheriff’s Substation was still smoking and the roof continued to fall in. Bert presented a list of equipment and its status. This was reviewed by the club and improvements were made. Bert was given the action to create 2 lists of equipment. The first list would identify the items lost in the fire. The second list would define what is really needed to perform the ARES functions at the school. Bert will generate the list and Austin will review it. After review, Bert will forward the lists to Paul Horvat, the EMComm equipment coordinator for Santa Cruz County.
Cap also mentioned that there were various Grants given to emergency services and some funds that were not yet spent that may be available to help the club recover.
Bert also mentioned that some of the existing transceivers were very old and were no longer supported by the Vendor (Icom). He suggested that this may be a good time to ask the county to upgrade the transceivers to more recent vintage. It was also mentioned that a suggested architecture for the school equipment suite should contain as least a packet station (VHF) and a voice station (UHF/VHF). Consideration should be given to the voice station to have dual band transceivers to be able to listen to both tactical and command nets simultaneously. A Further comment was made that the transceivers should all be the same, as this will allow the club to; 1) only have to learn one transceiver, 2) have available backup in case of a failure, and 3) have to purchase fewer cable types.
Training N/A
Bert briefed his ongoing activities in support of his plan to get the LPARC personnel trained up on packet operations. Bert had purchased 2 Kantronics KPC3+ TNC’s and their associated cables and AC/DC power converter for the club. Bert also mentioned that he had to rewire one of the purchased cables, substitute a laptop AC/DC power converter (The club’s one dies. Fortunately Gary has a spare.) and return one of the TNCs as it experienced “infant failure.” Bert also presented his costs which were approved by the club. Bill provided a check to Bert during the meeting.
Bert will continue with the second stage of the club packet training plan, namely generation of a “cheat sheet” that will allow club members to configure and operate the packet hardware and software. Bert will also start on a chart package to utilize for the packet training class. Gary mentioned that Sam Sjogren, WB6RJH, the San Lorenzo EC, is interested in supporting the Training and demo efforts. Sam is doing a similar thing for the San Lorenzo folks. Bert is to provide draft documentation to Austin for review this month.
Cap mentioned that there are lots of free software which allows such capabilities as formatted message generation or HF packet capabilities. It was decided by that initially Bert will train folks on just RMS Express and equipment setup to be able to send packet e-mail via Telnet and VHF radio.
Old Business
Bert motions meeting adjourned at 7:57 pm, Gary seconds, adjourned.