Minutes of the January 6, 1996 Meeting
The Oakland ARES meeting came to order at the Oakland Red Cross at 9:00 AM. Present were:
|
MacNoel Alvarez |
KE6MLQ |
|
Dan Grassetti |
KD6TWL |
|
Lori Pettegrew |
KE6SVS |
|
Modesto M Alvarez |
KE6KPK |
|
Lawrence Harris |
KE6IKG |
|
Morgan Pike |
WA6KSX |
|
Le Roy Anderson |
KE6USF |
|
Jean Pierre Heulin |
KC6JET |
|
Jim Ploss |
KB6MYV |
|
Debbie Barragan |
KE6MRK |
|
Tim Ingham |
KD6CTG |
|
David Pompa |
pending |
|
Chris Burgardt |
KE6SSW |
|
Eric P Jacobs |
KK6MD |
|
Mike Pompa |
KD6PLN |
|
Kathy Burgardt |
KE6SSY |
|
Roger Jung |
KE6STB |
|
Deborah Reisman |
KE6MQV |
|
Elaine Carter |
K6SZT |
|
Marvin Kay |
K6GHE |
|
Theodore Stewart |
W6NPB |
|
Jim Carter |
K6LWA |
|
Edward Kilmantin |
KE6WPG |
|
Donald Street |
K6EHQ |
|
Elizabeth Charlton |
KO6XP |
|
Bob Mayes |
KE6DVT |
|
Jim Tiemstra |
N6OIK |
|
Doug Faunt |
N6TQS |
|
Gerald Morris |
AC6GF |
|
Brian Treusch |
KJ6LL |
|
Bob Firehock |
KE6IUE |
|
Cherie Morris |
KE6MRB |
|
Mark Violet |
N6RCG |
|
Richard Gabor |
KO6TI |
|
David Otey |
WB6NER |
|
Jamie Wasson |
AB6WJ |
All meetings are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.
The next meeting will be Saturday, February 3, 1995 at 9:00 AM
at the Red Cross Headquarters, 2111 E. 14th Street, Oakland 535-2800
The Oakland City Council has declared a city wide emergency drill for Thursday, April 25. Schools and City Hall will be evacuated at 10AM, CORE will be activated. The Office of Emergency Preparedness has asked for our participation. Either our group will have a parallel scenario from Fire Station 1 or we may act as observers of the City Hall evacuation to aid in the evaluation of the effort and to provide instant communication if participants get injured for real during the drill.
KCBS reporter Bob Stafford interviewed Jim Tiemstra, N6OIK during the December meeting and produced several sound bytes aired over the week. We heard one of those at the January meeting.
There was a lively discussion about the December wind/rain storm. PG&E has had a hard time keeping up with repairs. Also, some power outages have happened with no apparent explanation, although there were a few cars taking down utility poles recently. One pole fell and burned up. We also discussed the fallacy of the prevailing public belief that cellular phones would be usable during a major emergency.
Piedmont hams are working on an MOU with Piedmont. There has also been some talk about merging Piedmont into Oakland RACES. John, KD6YJY is on the committee representing Piedmont. We welcome this kind of cooperation.
The county OES had an open house on January 15. Santa Clara ARES has invited us to one of their breakfast meetings. We probably won't attend because of the time involved.
A team of 9 operators, David, WB6NER; Chris, KE6SSW; Bob, KE6IUE; Willie, KE6EMX; Brian, KJ6LL, Mike, KE6HCG; Roger, KE6STB; Ed, KE6WPG and Sid, KE6GYN, converged on Fire Station 8 (51st and Telegraph) at 10am last Saturday (1/27) and completed all work in three hours! It was another super team effort with tons of help from Firefighter Hams and support of the Station Captain.
The enthusiasm of the morning bore a spontaneous idea...that is to do a least one fire station install each month after the regular ARES meeting! Of course, as there are about 20 more to go, one other Saturday each month should surely wrap this project up by year's end! Station 15 is scheduled for installation after the February meeting! Teams of 6-9 are about right....sign up during the next meeting.
Please note this correction in the URL for the Pacific Division of the ARRL. It is: http://www.pdarrl.org
The Oakland pages are waiting to be uploaded to the server. Mike, KD6PLN is trying to find donated server space so he can upload changes directly. Meanwhile, Mike is looking for electronic forms of any Oakland ARES/Races documents and for volunteers with computers to transcribe printed documents, such as the LOU with the City. From there, it's a simple matter to transform them into web pages. The Organizational Charter and Fire Patrol Manual are good candidates for future web page updates.
The City Planning Commission is reviewing a request for a cellular tower on Monterey Blvd. The City of Oakland is hammering out the details of a proposed $900 fee for a conditional use antenna permit. Deborah Reisman, KE6MQV has informed the lawmakers of the desire to draft langage to exclude Amateur Radio antennas from this fate. Meanwhile, California Assembly Bill 104 voids and makes unenforceable land use CC&Rs that prohibit the use and installation of small antennas designed for receiving ground or satellite TV.
Brian, KJ6LL and Jim, KB6MYV have begun the no-code tech class. On March 6 and 13, they are scheduled to talk about how radios are used during emergencies. What is a net, a shadow, a VIP? You are invited to attend these meetings as a guest.
Tim reported that Yellow Jackets are acceptable to the Fire Dept. provided they are clearly labeled. Possible labels for the back are "City of Oakland" and "Amateur Radio Emergency Services." A baseball cap with the Fire Dept. logo is also acceptable.
Do you have an emergency kit ready to go at a moment's notice? A recent weekly net asked what people put into their go packs. A kit for Amateur Radio would include a portable radio, spare batteries (ni-cad, alkaline, gel cel) and antennas, a modular power connector, a BNC to UHF connector adapter, a map, a pad and pencil, Oakland RACES and FCC id cards, an ARES roster, a flashlight with spare bulb and batteries, swiss army knife, water and snacks. Keep a scanner, broadcast radio, first aid kit, flares, paper towels, blankets, jacket, helmet, boots, a wrench, a shovel, rope, a fire extinguisher and additional food handy, if you have them. Store these items in two different locations in case one is inaccessible.
Volunteer with computer needed to maintain the Roster and print mailing labels.
David, WB6NER explains what the mailing label codes mean: It's all in an effort to be efficient with ARES/RACES resources, as U.S. Mail isn't cheap. Next month, a date will be added to the label which will indicate the last month you'll receive a monthly Newsletter without taking one of the actions noted below. I will propose at February's meeting the following ground rules to receive the monthly newsletter. Currently, a letter "O" indicates a ARES roster listing from 1995 with no returned postcard or attending the 12/95 meeting. If your label has an "O" your last Newsletter will be mailed for the March 96 meeting. "M" labels indicate a returned postcard or attendance at a meeting within the last three months, entitling you to another three Newsletters. "C" labels indicate you are receiving a courtesy copy of the Newsletter for the year 1996. "P" indicates you have contributed an annual(for 1996) donation of $12.00 to defray ARES/RACES mailer and other costs and this entitles the person to receive the newsletter for 1996 regardless of attendance at meetings.
The GOOD NEWS is that OAKLAND ARES/RACES has received 57 paid donations for 1996!!!!! Congratulations, all!!!