Dates for WWCIC meetings for 2009   Meetings will be held on the 2^nd Tuesday like always, with no meeting in August  .  The current location for regular meetings is the Washington State Patrol Office in Bellevue.

Business Reports

Chairman’s opening comments: Chairman George Bisso called the meeting to order at 9:38 am. Introductions were made around the tables. Attendance today: 17.

Secretary-Treasurer Finance and Correspondence Reports: Checking account, no activity ending balance of $1008.46. Starting balance in Savings $685.35, interest for the month of October $.15, ending balance of $685.50.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee Report:  Suggestions for technical presentations at meetings are always welcome. (OPEN)

FCC Report: DTV is the primary focus at the commission right now. The test in Wilmington, NC showed despite all the advertising and preparation there were still many problems and unprepared viewers. The result will be a stepped up educational campaign.  

Qwest was fined $30,000 for not including DTV information in it’s billing notices.

Some TV stations are aggressively getting the word out by news stories, programs and seminars some are barely mentioning it.  

Misleading information about DTV is being put forth by satellite and cable TV companies.

XM receivers are causing interference to other vehicle radios/electronics. XM in lieu of fines the FCC is requiring them to educate users and provide free of charge suppression hardware (ferrite cores) to prevent interference. 317 of over 400 two kilowatt terrestrial transmitters need to be adjusted to be compliant with their license. XM is paying for a full time FCC employee to oversee technical operations and training.

A report by the congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee accuses FCC chairman Martin of mismanagement and abuse of power.

As a result of Comcast realigning channels basic cable subscribers may need a converter. Comcast has stated that the first three converters per subscriber will be free.

The commission continues to hand out significant fines for unsolicited FAXes.

The local office of the FCC tracked down the source of interference to a VHF logging company repeater on Cultus Mtn. after receiving a complaint that the company experienced coverage problems due to a wide band (30KHz dev) data signal on the input frequency. The repeater has been licensed for over twenty five years. The signal was briefly heard at the Kirkland FCC office and could only be received at higher elevations up north. Direction finding pointed to the north into Canada. Industry Canada located the interfering station in Coquitlam, a 2 watt ERP licensed station. IC issued a new frequency to correct the interference issue.

Several other interference problems were resolved quickly.

Old Business

150/450 MHz IX: No new reports. (OPEN)

FRS Issues: Nothing new to report. (OPEN)

700 MHz Planning & Meetings:  The Region 43 committee met in late November. No consensus on D block so they elected not to reply to the latest request for comments on the D block auction. The City of Seattle, King County and several others did make comments separately. King County Metro’s application for the new frequencies was denied by the FCC because a new license was not approved by Canada even though they are approved in the state plan.

800 MHz IX and Nextel issues: The TA is projecting Washington’s wave 4 new public safety frequencies to be published by the end of 2008, others think this is optimistic. Subscriber Equipment Deployment (SED) contracts for the City of Seattle have been drafted and sent from the TA to Sprint/Nextel for signature so the City can start subscriber unit modification/replacement. All radios need to be capable of the new channel plan before rebanding can be done. Logistically the new equipment will be programmed with the old frequencies until the new frequencies are available. When the new frequencies are available they will have to reprogram. The 30 month window is starting in the fourth quarter of 2008. The City anticipates it will take 24 months for their replacement cycle.

Proposed ICALL repeaters are located in Vancouver (Canada), Tumwater, and several other sites, the US is moving to new channels creating an interoperability issue. (OPEN)

Technical Seminars at WWCIC Meetings:  Topics of grounding, surge suppression, R56 standards, and where to find information were suggestions for future seminars. (OPEN)

APCO business or reports and general frequency coordination news: APCO offers good training for dispatchers and other public safety related subjects.  http://www.apcowa.org/  (OPEN)

License-free or Spread-Spectrum technology issues: Snohomish County is testing out radios made by Tristar for internal intercommunication (emergency) in their office buildings. The FCC is to make a decision December 18 on AWS-3. (OPEN)

4.9 GHz: Nothing new to report. (OPEN)

Amateur radio activity: The 146.920 repeater has moved from the Mt. Pilchuck site to the SERS Granite Falls site. IBM has made a commitment to use BPL. (OPEN)

New Business

Mike Rothe was presented with a plaque from the WWCIC to recognize his contributions to the committee and radio communications in general, he will be missed.

Items of Information

Organizers for the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia have asked for help from US telecommunications and broadcast companies.

Moved and seconded to adjourn at 10:35 AM.

Respectfully submitted,