Meeting Minutes for September 13, 2005

Web Page: www.wwcic.org

Information Line Phone Number: 425-820-6271

Dates for WWCIC meetings for 2005   Meetings will be held on the 2nd Tuesday like always, with no meeting in August and June joint meeting with our Canadian counterparts subject to change.  The current location is the Washington State Patrol Office in Bellevue.

Financial Report  

Checking Account Balance

$2,838.80 

Savings Account Balance

$   862.87 

Total Bank Balances

$3,701.67 

 

Business Reports

Chairman’s opening comments: Chairman George Bisso called the meeting to order at 09:40AM, at the WSP office in Bellevue.  Introductions were made around the tables.  Members in attendance today: 12.

Adoption of draft minutes of last meeting: Meeting minutes for July’s meeting were approved as drafted.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee Report:  None. (OPEN)

Web Site Report: Open invitation letter is posted and available for downloading, keep one handy to give to a perspective presenter.  (OPEN)

FCC Report:  Seattle district director position will probably not be filled for six months. The daily digest shows reduced activity however the field offices are still busy issuing NAL’s. License call sigh and FRN associations in the ULS system do not track if the license was issued prior to 2003 and FRNs got associated to incorrect items or multiple FRNs were assigned. The Seattle office has helped a number of licensees with this issue. Some local agencies are reviewing their licenses for accuracy as part of general housekeeping and preparation for 800Mhz realignment.  (OPEN)

 

Old Business

BPL Issues: Seattle City Light is investigating use of BPL. There is a company studying using the magnetic field of power lines for data transmission. All the wide area infrastructure grids (gas, fiber, water, etc.) are being looked at as a potential transmission medium.    (OPEN)

450 MHz IX: Action Communications reported an interfering signal on the input frequency to a Tiger Mtn. trunking system home channel. The signal was periodic and appeared to be some type of data. The FCC was contacted, responded quickly and had resolved the problem within hours.  The source was an electronic score card system used by a golf tournament. The equipment could operate on a number of frequencies so they were switched to another channel with less interference potential.  (OPEN)

FRS Issues: Nothing new to report.  (OPEN)

700 MHz Planning & Meetings: The state dept and Canada are engaged in treaty negotiation.  The 700 MHz web sites are www.region43.org for Washington State, and www.region35.org, for Oregon.    (OPEN)

800 MHz IX and Nextel issues:  The Portland area rebanding is going well. Nextel is turning channels off 30 days before transition dates and should get use of the replacement spectrum 90 days after the transition date. Fixed location BDAs require carrier authorization.  Several boats in the Seattle area had them installed and were generating interference, is it fixed or mobile? The boat owner and installer were issued a NAV. Nextel has gone in and cleaned up several poor customer installations usually insufficient isolation between antenna systems. One of the offending dealers has a Washington state contract.  (OPEN)

Technical Seminars at WWCIC Meetings:  Tektronix has responded to our request for a presentation at the October meeting.  (OPEN)

XM and Sirius Satellite Radio News: Sirius wants to add terrestrial transmitters to provide better competitive service. XM has 19 sites around Puget Sound, 9 of them are 40Kw ERP.    (OPEN)

APCO business or reports and general frequency coordination news:  No report.  (OPEN)

License-free or Spread-Spectrum technology issues: No report. (OPEN)

Amateur radio activity:  The question was raised can C4FM or the P25 digital modulation be used in the Amateur bands? Kris will inquire as to the FCC position. Dick Olsen a retired WSP communications manager was featured in a local TV news spot about amateur radio hurricane relief support.  (OPEN)

 

New Business

Industry Canada has contacted the U.S. and the Society of Broadcast Engineers for input on frequency coordination for the Winter Olympics.

Wiztronics asked for ideas regarding a local fire department VHF repeater system having difficulties.

Garmin has a firmware upgrade for surveying GPS units that were transmitting signals exceeding the allotted bandwidth.

Items of Information

In light of recent emergencies a question to ponder arises, what does being prepared mean and how is it best accomplished? As demonstrated along the Gulf coast most of the resources for emergency preparedness had problems. The magnitude of the events overwhelmed the systems capabilities and poor decisions were made which if they had occurred in relatively isolated incidences would just have minor consequences however the aggregated effects were disastrous. Is it possible to be prepared to handle all contingencies? There are a few agencies that have prepared a small cache of communications equipment that is stored in a protected environment up to EMP suppression. Would this level of preparedness be prudent on a wide basis?

 

Moved and seconded to adjourn at 11:10 AM.

   

Respectfully submitted,

Steven Mayes,  Secretary/Treasurer

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