Meeting Minutes for September 9, 2003

Web Page: www.wwcic.org

Information Line Phone Number: 425-820-6271

Vice-Chair Jon “Wiz” Wiswell called the meeting to order at 0935, at WSP in Bellevue.  Introductions were made around the tables.  Chairman George Bisso was called away to a meeting, so not able to be here today.  DRAFT Minutes of the July 8, 2003, meeting were reviewed and approved.  Members and guests in attendance today: 16.  Please be sure to sign in at each meeting, as your Sec/Treas looks at that info every time when preparing the minutes, to get or make updates, and to yield the most current member and guest information, or to correct the e-mail distribution list. 

Financial Report

Checking Account Ending Balance

$2841.85

Savings Account Balance

$856.39

Total Bank Balance – (all accounts)

$3,698.24

Old Business

800 MHz IX   Discussion continued about the IX happening in various locations around the State.  Steve Leonard of Nextel met w/ Harlan & WSDOT.  They are going to work w/ Adcomm Engineering to do some further testing along the I-5 corridor, 15 places.  Joe King may be having some more IX issues in the Sumas area, but at the time noted, the Nextel site was off.  Seattle is having some trouble w/ BDA’s.  There are many BDA’s being used in the 800 bands.  Steve L told of one place in the International District near King St Station.  There may have been an equipment problem, w/ a Kaval.  See info at www.kaval.com.  Seattle is working more toward using fiber-connected BDA’s & phasing away from wired ones.  Less noise is the result.  Some are already in use at U of W, & going to more places.  Also they plan to add more signal schemes from other vendors, not just the proprietary string from Kaval.    Wiz & Harlan talked about RSSI mods.  Nextel has more sites under construction around the State, Spokane, Tri-Cities, & Walla Walla.  John Woodcock asked if there were any problems keeping signal inside a bldg, Wiz responded Seattle has not seen many problems with that aspect.  More is expected, as our discussion continues, w/ fresh updates at each meeting.  This is quite abbreviated, & more information was covered.  Please come to the meetings to get the most from what is discussed, as it is just not practical to attempt to get the whole discussion into an interpreted form by your Sec/Treas.  (OPEN)

 

700 MHz Planning Meetings   Wiz reported.  The last conference call was cancelled.  There is a new DRAFT version 3 of the plans on the web site, and the group is striving to get a semi-final version done by Sept.  They want to submit to FCC by Nov.  Comments on the drafts are welcome, and the info on the web site is extensive, w/ pdf files there to print if desired.  Comments are solicited at the group’s meetings, and can be considered to incorporate, as well as those made on the web site, to be reviewed at the next meetings.   See the web for the meeting schedule, and consider using the list-server.  Sign up for that, to receive the info by e-mail.  They meet at 1000, to allow traveling attendees to get there.  Recall, they also try to set up the conference phone for each meeting, to take call-in’s.  The phone number is (253) 512-7310.  The 700 MHz 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.  Meeting schedules and past meeting minutes are on the web sites.   Be sure to check them for the latest information in this important planning step for both 700 and 800 MHz use in the future.  (OPEN)

WWCIC web site   Alan Robinson will research a counter to be placed on our site to total the number of visits that are made.  He is spending some “personal time”, maybe on his boat, so not able to attend today.  Have fun Alan!  (ALWAYS OPEN)

Technical Seminars at meetings   TXRX not able to present for the meeting today.  Kim Torp-Pedersen will try to re-schedule for Oct or Nov, depending on George’s plans.  Another future possibility is a tour of the WSDOT Dispatch Center in Lynnwood, w/ George working one that.  Jay Schmierer confirmed that we can use the facility at WSP Bellevue all of next year, 2004, if we so desire, & decide.  Other locations may also be considered.  (OPEN)

Satellite Radio - No further news to report, as George was not present today.  (OPEN)

APCO report or news   Pat Buller reported.  He attended the National conference in Indianapolis.  There were several “super-sessions”.  The 800 MHz issues were quite heated.  There is a Washington State Chapter web site at www.apcowa.org where more information may be found.  The 2004 APCO Regional conference will be in Spokane, WA.  Narrow-banding is coming from FCC, final report and order will stipulate narrowband applications for 12.5 KHz, so no more wide-band voice channels can be coordinated, perhaps after Sept or Oct 2003.  A stipulation that equipment manufactured for 12.5 KHz will also need to be compatible for 6.25 bandwidth is also contained in the new rules coming in January 2004.  There are still lots of issues for manufacture of radios capable of meeting the 6.25 KHz spec, particularly with receiver technology.  Contact Pat directly for more APCO-related details.  APCO International has a lot if information on their web site, at www.apcointl.org/.  (OPEN)

Unlicensed technologies, Spread-Spectrum systems, and Noise Floor Measurements 

Chuck Z told about more problems w/ “blanking”, where too many systems are operating in a small local area.  http://www.seattlewireless.com/ is a site to watch, as they are going into business.  http://www.seattlewireless.net/ still seems to be more oriented toward the “tinkerers”, or experimenting.  There is a lot to be gleaned from the 2 web sites, for those interested in the happenings of non-licensed radio.  802.11G devices are backward compatible w/ the older 802.11 B standard.  (OPEN)

New Business

(NONE WAS OFFERED.

Items of Information

FCC   No one was able to attend today’s meeting from FCC.  Most FCC documents can be found on FCC’s website www.fcc.gov.  If you would like help with documents, please contact Dennis Anderson.

Miscellaneous

TECHNICAL SEMINAR   Pat Buller & Harlan Ohlson presented short seminars.  Pat covered some aspects of antenna design, illustrating some principles using the white board.  Harlan presented a summary of information in 5 handouts he had prepared.  Everyone was provided w/ a copy.  Sec/Treas has more copies, if desired.  Thank you very much, Pat and Harlan. 

Meeting adjourned at 1115.  Next meeting is on Tuesday, Oct 14, 2003, at WSP in Bellevue.  See the WWCIC web page for details about our regular meetings and directions to the locations.  Thanks to everyone for your interest and support for WWCIC.   

Respectfully submitted,

Your most humble Secretary/Treasurer,

Loren H. Postma

Return to Newsletter Menu - Return to Home Page