[MRIC] Agenda for November 10 Meeting

[BrettHam at aol.com]

All Maryland RACES Officers:
 
As promised, please find below the agenda for the next MRIC meeting this  
coming Saturday November 10 from 10:30 until 15:00. I am waiting on  confirmation 
on the meeting location at Howard County, but there is a potential  conflict, 
so we might be meeting at the Anna Arundel County EOC again. I will  let you 
know via this email reflector before Tuesday morning and provide  you with an 
address so you have plenty of time to mapquest directions.
 
There are 3 big things we need to accomplish at this meeting. First, we  need 
to set a meeting schedule for next year, so please bring your calendars  with 
you. Second, we had previously agreed to vote on frequencies for a  
state-wide HF RACES network to be used in the event local repeaters are down,  such as 
may be the case after a hurricane. Dan Blasberg (PG) will be sending an  email 
out to this MRIC reflector in the next day or two so you have  time to get 
freedback from some of your HF RACES Operators prior to our vote. If  you have 
any serious objections to Dan's proposed frequencies, please provide  feedback 
to all via this reflector so we have time to work out any problems  prior to 
the vote. And finally, we will hear presentations on three different  modes of 
digital communications to consider for a state-wide digital network. We  will 
hear about Winlink, MT63, and D-STAR. If someone makes a motion to adopt  one 
of these technologies, we will have a vote unless the majority choose to  
table it until the next meeting. Personally, I think it would be better to  "sleep 
on it" until our next meeting to get feedback from our staff, but if the  
group wants to vote, we will vote.
 
This is an important meeting, so if you cannot come yourself, please send  me 
an email letting me know who will be voting in your stead so that all  
jurisdictions are represented. I must receive an email from the RO by Friday or  
your substitute will not be allowed to vote. If we do have a vote on a  digital 
network, we will take a 10 minute recess prior to the vote to allow time  for 
your substitute to call and brief you on the presentations and debate.
 
I will be sending out updated RO Contact, Frequency and Minutes for your  
review prior to the meeting.
 
Regarding next years meeting schedule, I would suggest January, late April  
or early May, and November. This worked out pretty well for us this year, but  
whatever the group decides is fine with me.
 
Also, remember to bring a few dollars to contribute toward the pizza lunch,  
or of you have dietary restrictions pack a lunch. I will provide sodas. Please 
 plan to arrive 15 minutes early to get parked and seated as we will begin  
promptly at 10:30 so we can be dismissed promptly at 15:00.
 
Thank you again for your service to the citizens of our state, and I look  
forward to another very productive meeting.
 
Brett Hammond - K3TAL
Chairman,  MRIC
410-745-0079
 
AGENDA for November 10, 2007
 
Welcome
Approval of Minutes
Updated MD RO Contact List
Updated MD RACES  Frequency List
Web Site Update
2008 Meeting Schedule
State-wide HF Network Frequencies (VOTE)
Winlink Presentation
MT63 Presentation
D-STAR Presentation
Adjourn
 

In a message dated 10/3/2007 12:10:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
BrettHam at aol.com writes:

All Maryland RACES Officers:

Welcome back  to MRIC after a well  deserved summer break. I want to thank 
you 
all  again for the hard work you put  in this spring. We accomplished a  lot:

1. Assembled contact info for all  Maryland ROs.
2.  Coordinated frequencies for all MD RACES  organizations.
3. Identified  frequencies for initial contact during an  emergency for each  
jurisdiction.
4. Standardized the inter-jurisdiction RACES  traffic  format to be ICS-213. 
This has subsequently been ratified by the   Maryland Emergency Management 
Association. Congratulations!
5. Started  work  on a state-wide HF net.
6. Started work on a web site and  repository for our  documents.
7. Identified future priorities (HF net,  then state-wide digital  
communications).

By the end of the  year, we should have a state-wide HF  net in place and be 
well on our  way toward identifying a technology (mode) for a  state-wide 
digital  network. This is a huge accomplishment for any organization  in just 
one  
year, let alone their first year. You should be very proud of the  work  you 
have 
done at MRIC. Thank you for your hard work and cooperation.  You  have 
exceeded 
my expectations.

As I have said many times  before, you  decide what direction we go, and I'll 
keep things moving  along in that  direction. To that end, it is time for me 
to 
start  pushing again.

Per  earlier agreement, we will be voting on  frequencies for an HF net at 
our 
next  meeting on November 10. As  discussed during the last meeting, we 
should 
attempt  a state-wide HF  voice net before our vote. Perhaps we could try 
this 
during or  after  the COMMEX on October 9, which will be the last COMMEX 
before our  meeting.  If this is not possible, then perhaps another time 
before  
November 10. I will  defer to Dan to take the lead here.

I think  it was Dave that was working  on a web site for our approved 
documents.  Hopefully we can have something in  place before the next 
meeting. Let us  
know if you need help.

The  following folk offered to make  presentations at the next meeting:

Dan  Blasberg - Proposal for  state-wide HF net (including freqs)
Joe Krystoforski  -  MT63
Associate of Brett Hammond - APRS packet
Associate of Dan  Blasberg-  WinLink
Associate of Dan Blasberg - ATV
Associate of Joe  Krystoforski -  DSTAR

Since our last meeting, we at Talbot County  RACES have worked out  the kinks 
in our Winlink system, and have a  fully operational PMBO and 4 remote  
stations operating 9600 baud over  UHF. This is the highest speed in Maryland 
and  one 
of two PMBOs in  Maryland (only about 30 EMCOM PMBOs in the US). We operated  
4 stations  during the Pandemic drill in August and had one station operating 
 
from  the hospital parking lot off of batteries sending email to the Internet 
 
via  our EOC. I have done several Winlink presentations lately based on  the 
slides  from Steve Waterman's presentation that many of you have  seen, but I 
greatly  simplified them to make it easier to understand. I  can replace or 
supplement  Dan's Winlink presentation. Also, we could  move the ATV 
presentation to 
the  following meeting if needed.

I  very much look forward to the presentation  on DSTAR. This is a very  
exciting new technology that offers huge potential to  link all the  
jurisdictions 
with a backup broadband IP network for voice and   data.

The next MRIC meeting is scheduled for November 10, 2007 at  the  Howard 
County EOC from 10:30 until 15:00. I do not have an address  or directions  
yet. 
Perhaps our host can give us the address so we can  mapquest it for detailed  
directions from our homes.

The 2008  MRIC meeting schedule will be  discussed and decided at the 
November 
10  meeting. Please bring your  calendar and be prepared to make commitments  
on dates.

A detailed agenda  will be sent out about a week prior  to the meeting. If 
anyone else would like to  make a presentation on a  proposed digital mode 
for 
state-wide communications,  please let me  know. All are welcome.

Thank you for your commitment and  continued  support.

Sincerely,

Brett Hammond - K3TAL
Chairman,   MRIC

p.s. - remember in order to send email to MRIC, it must be from  your  
registered email address, and in plain-text format.
 



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