(Adopted : 12/10/2002)

Chair George Bisso called the meeting to order at 0942.   Introductions were made around the tables.  DRAFT Minutes of the Oct 8, 2002, meeting were reviewed and approved.    

Members and guests in attendance: 15

Financial Report

Old Business

800 MHz IX   Discussion continues regarding the 800 MHz proposals made by several groups of agencies, and Nextel’s white paper from last November.  Steve Leonard and Harlan Ohlson talked about a meeting proposed for the area, to include all the 800 MHz local users, to review the issues, and make more recommendations.  (This type of cooperation is what WWCIC strongly encourages, and supports)  Perhaps a consultant would be included.  Contact Harlan, Steve, or “Wiz” for more details.  The collection of articles collected by Loren, about 800 MHz issues, is available for perusal at each meeting.  ((The collection is becoming substantial, and everyone is encouraged to review each month.  Please come early, or stay after.))  Nextel is getting prepped to possibly change their frequency arrangement in the Portland area, perhaps 390 down to 320 channel pairs.  (OPEN)

700 MHz Planning Meetings   The web sites are www.region43.org for Washington State, and www.region35.org, for Oregon, respectively.  Contact Jon “Wiz” Wiswell, Pat Buller or Kevin Kearns for more info.  A function problem on the Washington web site was corrected.  Meeting schedules and past meeting minutes are on their web sites.  Be sure to check there, for the latest information.  (OPEN)

WWCIC web site   No new issues.  (ALWAYS OPEN)

Technical Seminars at meetings   There was a presentation by Ted Buehner, from NWS and NOAA, about EAS and Amber Alert systems.  Ted did 29 power-point slides, and left lots of handout material describing a variety of the NWS stations and other capabilities.  “Thank you” to Ted, for a thorough and detailed presentation.  NWS is looking to install a new site on W Tiger Mt, per cooperation with 4 other site users.  Washington State leads the nation in weather-related disasters.  The word is, “Don’t sleep through the warnings.”  Listen for the new voices on the weather radio stations.  They are “Craig”, and “Donna”, nice computer synthesized voices…   For future technical presentations, George suggested that Loren send out the variety of subject areas gathered earlier from a contact made by Harlan, but rather, Loren will bring copies for consideration at a later meeting.  (OPEN)

XM Radio    Per George, Sirius, another satellite radio system provider, is now trying to become a ‘network’, and be able to have ground-based repeaters.  That would probably become a concern to our membership, if they operate like the ones that XM has.  (OPEN)

Planning for WWCIC/WCTC Joint meeting 2003     George contacted Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, about space, costs and food.  Discussion included info that George had gotten from them about various menus and room configurations.  If we opt for a number of 65, for example, it would represent a package deal for specific prices, but if less than the target number attended, we would still be charged for a set package.  Several suggestions were considered, and will be discussed further at up-coming meetings.  Kris McGowan and Jayson Clairmont will help w/ arrangements.  We should also begin to develop our ideas for discussion content.  Forward questions or concerns to the Officers, or bring them to the meetings.  The 2^nd week of June 2003 is Monday 6/9-Friday 6/13.  Check your calendars for any potential conflicts, and perhaps we can set the date in the next couple months.  (OPEN)

APCO report or news   Pat Buller mentioned APCO put a petition before the FCC for all coordinators to have access to all spectrum.  Comment before Dec 12.  The next regional Conference is Feb 10-14, 2003, in Las Vegas.  Contact Pat for more APCO-related details.  APCO has a lot if information on their web site, at www.apcointl.org/.

IX Issue   At the Oct 2002 meeting, Pat Buller mentioned a problem of IX at 155.7675 MHz, which interfered with Bremerton PD at 155.775, over 75 miles away, even though the systems had met all the criteria for coordination.  There was an issue between narrow-band and wide-band deviation, which are sometimes not compatible.  Another set of frequencies was assigned, and cured the situation.  (CLOSED)

New Business

MRT Magazine   Prime Media has bought out the old publisher.  The magazine is now to be used as a publicity vehicle for the IWCE Conference.  There is only one person left from the original crew, per discussion among the attendees.

Items of Information

FCC   Mike Rothe mentioned a news release entitled, “Time is right for Spectrum Reform”.  It is ET Docket 02-135.  To mention again, the local FCC office has a new Engineer recently assigned, Jayson F. Clairmont.  Mike and Kris talked about more problems in telecommunications.  Continue to contact Kris if bothered by CRAM’ing, SPAM'ing or SLAM’ing.  All those practices have some characteristics that are illegal, and FCC, as well as the WUTC in Washington State, is intervening.  Tower lighting and painting continue to be emphasized by FCC, and some companies are encountering “voluntary contributions” for their violations.  Talk to any of the FCC staff to understand what a “voluntary contribution” refers to.  Most FCC documents can be found on FCC’s website www.fcc.gov.  If you would like help with documents, please contact Dennis Anderson.

Meeting adjourned at 1115.  Next meeting is on Dec 10, 2002, again at the WSP District Office in Bellevue.  See the WWCIC web page for detailed directions to the location.  Thanks to everyone for your interest and support for WWCIC.  

Respectfully submitted,

Your most humble Secretary/Treasurer,

Loren H. Postma