| NIHRAC (K3YGG) NIH Building 13 Room G-903 Bethesda, MD 20892 |
Emergency Communications Center NIH Building 11 Room 308 phone: 301 496-5311 |
NIHRAC Web site http://nihrac.od.nih.gov
The next meeting will be held at noon on January 7, 1999 at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, 12709 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville MD. Further details and suggestions for carpooling from the NIH campus will be distributed before the meeting. We are to be the guests of Tom Vegella K1FEX who will show us the anechoic chamber used for RF measurements and other facilities used in their investigations.
The meeting was called to order by Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Chuck Sherman at 12:12 p.m. The minutes of the November 5, 1998 meeting were accepted after making the following correction to the e-mail version. The correct callsign of new member Gary Shipley is N5GQD. A few changes and corrections to the membership list dated November 10, 1998 have been received. An updated version is available to those requesting a copy.
Members attending the meeting included Akihiro Hashimoto AA3RV, Bill Hook W3QBC, John
Muller W3QF, Frank Putnam N3ZPQ, Chuck Sherman N3WTO and Tom Vegella K1FEX.
Those participating included Seth Glass N3JFW, Aaron Hartman KA3ZKX, Harold Holmes N3BRM, Bill Hook W3QBC, Hume (Charles) McClure NI3A, Larry Martin W3IBO, John Muller W3QF, Andy Mitz WA3LTJ and Harold Simon N3PXK. A report is attached to these minutes.
John Muller, Trent Smith and Bill Hook were again on board at the NIHRAC ECC to operate K3YGG and MEMA Unit 48. Six exercise messages were copied using the Davidsonville 147.105 MHz repeater and the MEMA Voice Network frequency. Contact was also made with the Rockville EOC using the 220 and 440 MHz bands. No MEMA exercise is scheduled in the month of December.
Power Plant Asks NIHRAC Members to Sign In At Engineer's Desk
Following the announcement made at last month's meeting, Jim Hobbs was given additional information by Power Plant personnel who said that regardless of the time or day, persons entering the ECC should first sign in at the engineers desk on the G level. When leaving Building 11 please sign out on the same line in their logbook. In the case of meetings, one person can sign in for all. It is not necessary to list names of all attendees. John Muller was thanked for signing us in and out for this meeting. The Power Plant's intent is to permit notifying ECC occupants in the event of an emergency requiring a building evacuation.
The application submitted by Edward Gordon KB3DBX for Full Membership was approved by unanimous vote.
Those in attendance came up with good topics for discussion at future meetings. These included:
a) Mysterious Noises - identifying unusual signals heard in the ham bands such as PACKET, RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR, PACTOR, GTOR, SSTV etc. If we can capture these sounds on cassette tape they'll be played at a meeting and a contest held to see who can identify the greatest number.
b) What is trunking? How does it work?
c) Amateur Radio in space including satellite transponders, SAREX and Mir.
d) Elements of the NIHRAC infrastructure including our FM repeaters, transceivers, antennas, test equipment and the packet- Internet connection.
It had been suggested that for the purpose of justifying our existence it may be useful to adopt a Mission Statement that defines in a sentence or two what NIHRAC's goals now are. This would supplement but not amend wording in the NIHRAC Constitution that defines our purpose as follows:
a. To develop and maintain a capability, in personnel, technique and equipment, to provide emergency communications for the National Institutes of Health.
b. When feasible, to provide communications and assistance in the areas of Civil Defense and Disasters.
The above was written at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s and while it's not recommended that we change the Constitution, it may be worthwhile to update our thinking. For example, because of rigorous competition for space in the radio spectrum by commercial interests, Amateur Radio frequencies are in jeopardy. We should encourage activities that in addition to those mentioned above will help to protect the amateur bands.
It was the sense of those in attendance that the wording of the Constitution was adequate but that the term "Civil Defense" is outmoded. Our activities in assisting other federal as well as state, county, and community entities should be considered. Suggestions for a current Mission Statement are requested and further discussion of the subject will be held at a future meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 pm.
Reminder - the January 7 NIHRAC meeting will be held at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) lab in Rockville. Free parking will be available but carpooling is suggested.
Andy Mitz advises that the Amateur Radio Listening Post has made the "hot list" of 20 active web sites in the book titled "WebDeveloper.com Guide to Producing Live Webcasts" by J. Novak and P. Markiewicz. You can access the Listening Post via the NIHRAC web site.
W3QBC:120998 /ex