Oakland A.R.E.S. Newsletter July 11, 1998

<Announcements / Calendar>

• Meeting schedule: August 1 (Leona, Barbecue) September 10 (Red Cross?)
• Fire Dept. Mutual Aid Drill, June 27 9AM - 10AM (tentative)
• Field Day: June 27 11AM - June 28 2PM
• Monthly Fire Station net: Thursday, July 2
• Fire Patrol: July 4 weekend

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This newsletter is being mailed several weeks in advance of the monthly meeting to cover numerous scheduling changes beginning with Field Day activities. As always, check in on the Thursday 7:30 PM net for the latest story. As of this printing here's what's changed: There will be a drill involving the Oakland and Berkeley Fire Departments the morning of Field Day, so Field Day setup will commence at 11AM, not 8AM as originally agreed. Please note that the July meeting will be at Kaiser Offices, the barbecue will be postponed until the August meeting which is confirmed at Leona Lodge, the September meeting location is uncertain, but is hoped to be at the new Oakland Red Cross, and the October and later meetings are scheduled for Leona Lodge.

<RACES Report>

At the June meeting Jim K6JAT read a letter to the OES requesting reinstatement of face-to-face meetings. The group hoped to resume a working relationship with the city starting with the fire patrol. The new "Call 911" magnetic sign, stored at Fire Station 25 was demonstrated. Construction at the EOC finally broke ground and is expected to be completed in about a year. Thanks to David WB6NER for the following report of the meeting with the city OES:

Jim K6JAT , Mark N6RCG , and David WB6NER , at the invitation of Henry Renteria, Emergency Services Manager, met at City Offices for an hour on Tuesday, June 9, to discuss the recent exchange of letters with the objective of getting the parties' emergency communications programs back into sync. Renee Domingo, Assistant ES Manager, also participated. The following outcomes were achieved:

ARES/RACES will resume and continue to meet regularly at the Leona Lodge monthly, on the first Saturday mornings with two exceptions (learned later), July and September, when our meetings are shifted to the second Saturday due to holidays. We looked at the possibility of having a meeting at the Red Cross for July, however it is unavailable due to anticipated remodeling.

Therefore, the July 11 meeting will be held at Kaiser's downtown offices, 1950 Franklin St. in Converence Room F. Although parking will be a bit of a hassle, the accommodations will compensate (another look at the Kaiser EOC)! Talk-in on 146.88 for room specifics and bicycle parking!! Optional lunch at Hunan Restaurant after the meeting.

The long standing regular one hour monthly meetings between ARES/RACES and OES staff will (after an April/May hiatus) resume on July 9. There was a strong consensus that these meetings greatly facilitate mutual and effective communication and assure the progress of joint activities.

Henry Renteria will attend the July ARES/RACES meeting.

Oakland OES is very supportive of the ARES/RACES Field Day activity. Press releases for Field Day will be initiated under the auspices of the newly formed ORCA.

A Fire Patrol activation of ARES/RACES volunteers is desirable over the July 4 weekend, the details of which (days and hours) will be coordinated with Fire Operations and communicated to ARES/RACES as quickly as possible. The City will initiate a press release when a plan has been adopted.

<Special Events>

Fire Dept. Mutual Aid: There will be a mutual response exercise between the Berkeley and Oakland Fire Depts. similar to the SET exercise, from 9AM to 10AM on Saturday, June 27. Chris KQ6JZ is looking for volunteers to ride in one of 3 engines plus an operator at dispatch and at a Fire Station. We may also deploy APRS trackers similar to that used at Baker to Vegas. Contact Chris if you have a portable APRS setup.

Field Day: City Stables, at 13560 Skyline, is about 1 mile south of Redwood Road. Look for Cathy Lane on the right, then make the first U-turn. Setup, originally scheduled for 8AM will be delayed to 11AM, the start of Field Day, allowing us to operate until 2PM on Sunday. Bring your own camping gear and tent if you are staying overnight. The food plan is to bring your own lunches and drinks, and order group pizzas for Saturday dinner. There will also be camping stoves available for cooking breakfast. Chris KQ6JZ is heading the power committee and will arrange for a generator.

Training: The "Relay Race" was postponed due to a busy meeting schedule. Chris, KQ6JZ reported on the Training Committee's plans to certify one's capabilites through training classes and ownership of various pieces of equipment. Topics include programming your radio, net control, packet, and APRS. A looseleaf training manual will be put together. Brian is looking into pre-building some standard connectors and buying/reselling bulk coax. There was a request to put a copy of the net control preamble in the newsletter. It's now in the back of the newsletter "envelope."

ORCA Minutes>

The first annual meeting of the ORCA board of directors was called to order on Saturday, June 6 by Jim K6JAT. Present were: K6JAT, KB6MP, WB6NER, KQ6JZ, K6EHQ, W6LL, KE6IUE, KF6CZL, KE6MQW, and W6THD. Brian W6LL on behalf of Jim KB6MYV asked why the club could not reuse the Oakland Radio Club name. Jim K6JAT explained that the IRS has been requesting tax forms from this other club, and we wanted ORCA to be clearly a new entity. The bylaws were reviewed, typos fixed and bylaws adopted unanimously. The articles of incorporation and bylaws were signed. A slate of K6JAT(2) President, N6OIK(1) Vice President, KB6MP(3) Secretary, KE6IUE(1) Treasurer, WB6NER(2), KQ6JZ(3), K6EHQ(3), KF6CZL(1), and W6THD(2) was presented and accepted unanimously, term lengths in () picked out of a hat.

ORCA will seek ARRL affiliation as a Special Services Club. We established dues at $12/year, renewed each January and prorated for start of membership. Oakland ARES/RACES members who join ORCA will be exempt from dues until 1999. It's expected that Oakland ARES/RACES will affiliate itself with ORCA. ORCA will accept charter membership at the City Stables Field Day site.

A newsletter/publicity committee was formed consiting of KB6MP and WB6NER. A new web site will be started. A fictitious business name will be applied for to allow the name "ORCA" on checks. KE6IUE will then establish a new checking account.

<Tidbits>

Web sightings: The Oakland ARES web site is now back in operation at a slightly new location: http://dcorn.ousd.k12.ca.us/~mpompa/ares/

<Attendance Sheet>

The Oakland ARES meeting came to order at the OFD Training Center at 9:30 AM. Present were:

Robin Bartoo	KF6CZL		Doug Faunt	N6TQS		Gerald Morris	K6QY
Adele Bertaud	KE6HKY		Bob Firehock	KE6IUE		David Otey	WB6NER
Herbert Bowen	WA6CUY		Dave Harnish	KF6EQA		Chris Peeples	KE6MQW
Chris Burgardt	KQ6JZ		Alan Horn	KF6GYW		Jim Ploss	KB6MYV
Jim Carter	K6LWA		Edward Kilmartin	KE6WPG		Mike Pompa	KB6MP
George Chong	W6BUR		Bill Knepper	KF6KWK		Bernard Schormann	KE6TYY
Dale Choy	KD6KMU		Bob Mayes	KE6DVT		Donald Street	K6EHQ
Louis Cobet	K6MDH		Dave McGuinness	KF6EPQ		Jim Tiemstra	K6JAT
Dave Cudaback	KF6GRL		Art McLaughlin	W6THD		Brian Treusch	W6LL
Cathy Diez-Lickie	KM6MY		Cherie Morris	W6BBK		Lynn Urry	pending

Meetings are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.