Yolo County ARES Meeting Minutes

Yolo ARES Meeting Minutes for 3/17/2009

YOLO ARES MEETING
March 17, 2009

The Yolo ARES meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. at the Yolo County Red Cross.

IN ATTENDANCE:

KG6FJL
K6KN
K6LAV
K6WLS
KG6SJT
WS6Z
KE6GCV
N6KLB
WA6TQJ
WB6ZEI

EVENTS:
Willett School Fun Run (Robert E. Willett Elementary in Davis) is April 25th, starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at about 11:00 a.m. They are looking for HAM volunteers. Contact Shayne@UCDavis.edu if you would like to volunteer. Greg (KG6SJT) will post additional information on the ARES Web site.

UC Davis Triathlon is April 12. Rick (N6KLB) will find out if they are seeking HAM volunteers.

Boy Scout Event at Rumsey area is March 28th at the Boy Scout Cabin in Rumsey. The scouts will be on the radio seeking HAM contacts from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. Frequencies are 14.290 and 7.190. The theme of the event is “Scouting Through the Decades.”

Bike Around the Buttes event is April 18th in the Yuba-Sutter area. Event generally goes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Todd (KE6GCV) will get additional information as to whether HAM assist is needed and sent that information out via e-mail.

CERT REFRESHER:
CERT Refresher course was held on February 26th and many ARES members participated. The program included a good overview of the CERT program condensed to a one hour video. Greg (KG6SJT) purchased a copy of the video.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EMCOMM UNIVERSITY:
Darrin (KG6FJL), Ken (K6WLS) and LaVonne (K6LAV) attended the Northern California EmComm University on March 14th in Stockton. The schedule included two presentations on Outpost and how it aligns with packet. These presentations are posted on the Internet at
http://www.outpostpm.org/#Presentations

The presentations included on two emergency call out systems, the California Healthcare Volunteers (https://medicalvolunteer.ca.gov) and the California Health Alert Network (CAHAN). The CAHAN is a secure web-based system accessible anytime and anywhere for emergency planning and response communication with public health partners. The Emergency Preparedness Office administers CAHAN to facilitate alerting and collaboration between Federal, State, Local County Health Departments, Clinics, Hospitals, and other public health emergency partners on a 24 x 7 x 365 basis. It is used widely in Yolo County; both the Woodland and Davis CERT programs use this system. Ken (K6WLS) is following up to see about Yolo ARES using CAHAN. CAHAN participants receive alerts via e-mail, fax, pager, PDAs or phone (landline or cellular).

NET CONTROL ASSIGNMENTS:
Additional ARES members need to sign up for Net Control. Darrin (KG6FJL) will contact those who have not yet signed up.

YOLO ARES EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS PLAN:
The Yolo ARES Emergency Communications Plan currently does not include a call out plan. Ken (K6WLS) will get together with the representative from the Yolo County Health Department because the CAHAN system can accomplish this.

EC Darrin (KG6FJL) requested that each ARES member review the Yolo ARES Communications Plan and bring suggestions for revisions to the April ARES meeting. The Communications Plan will be the focus of the discussions. The Plan is posted on the Yolo ARES Web site.

BAND PLAN:
The band plan can use updating regarding the standard channels, UHF/VHF, cross band frequencies. There are only three simplex frequencies listed for Northern California. Todd (KE6GCV) will prepare a recommendation.

ANTENNA INSTALLATIONS:
The antenna still needs to be installed at Fire Station 32 in Davis. Ken (K6WLS) and Darrin (KG6FJL) will be working on this.

Ken (K6WLS) will finish installation of the antenna at the Red Cross Chapter building.

Gary (WA6TQJ) reported on the UC Davis Amateur Radio Communications (UCDARC) group. The membership is now approximately 28, staff but not students yet. Their Net is Monday at 12:30 p.m. UCDARC has plans to put in a low level repeater atop one of the University buildings.

PRESENTATIONS:
Bill (K6KN) gave three presentations;
GPS functions
Connecting a PL259 connector to a RG213 coax cable (video)
Neighborhood Dispute on a Long Wire Antenna (video)

ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

NEXT MEETING:
The next Yolo ARES meeting will be held April 21 at 1900 hours at the Yolo County Red Cross, 120 Court Street, Woodland, CA.

Yolo County ARES