[MRIC] Minutes from Jan meeting

[brettham at aol.com]

Please find below, the minutes of our January meeting. If you have any 
corrections, please do not respond via email, but bring them with you 
to the meeting and they will be incorporated then. Thank you.

Brett

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Maryland RACES Interoperability Committee (MRIC) Meeting Minutes for 
January 12, 2008:


Dan Blasberg hosted the meeting at the Prince George's County Fire 
Service Building. The facility was more than adequate for our needs.


The meeting was called to order at 10:45. The following ROs were in 
attendance:

Anne Arundel - Frank Winner – N3SEO
Baltimore City - Lou Linden (Acting RO) - KI5TD     
Calvert - Leslie Dickey – N3YR
Charles - Mike Tackish – KA3GRW
Kent - Bob Lovell – KB3ENU
MEMA - Al FitzSimons – W3YRS
Montgomery - Fred Bader – K3CSX
Prince George’s - Dan Blasberg – KA8YPY
Queen Anne’s - Chuck Hodell – N8ADN
Talbot - Brett Hammond – K3TAL


The following agenda was reviewed and approved by unanimous consent, 
without objection:

Welcome
Attendance
Review Agenda
Approval of Minutes
Updated MD RO Contact List
Web Site Update
Revisit November 2008 Meeting Date
HF Net Test Results - Roy Bates
60 meter HF - Dan Blasberg
Discussion and Vote on Maryland RACES Digital Network (MRDN) mode
Lunch
MRDN Network Architecture
MRDN recommended Equipment List
Next Meeting Agenda
Vote for MRIC Chairman
Adjourn


A motion was made by Paul Tackish, seconded by Bob Lovell, to approve 
the November minutes as distributed. The motion passed by unanimous 
consent.


A motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Bob Lovell, to approve 
the RO contact information as presented at the meeting. The motion 
passed by unanimous consent.


A Motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Paul Tackish, to create 
a Yahoo group as a repository for our minutes, files, etc, but to still 
use the QTH MRIC reflector for email. The motion passed by unanimous 
consent.

Fred Bader volunteered to set it up and administer it, with Dan as a 
backup moderator.


A motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Frank Winner, to change 
the date of the November meeting from the 8th to the 15th. Motion 
passed by unanimous consent.


There was some discussion about the HF net testing:

On Saturday January 5, 2008 at 19:30 several stations tested in 
preparation of the COMMEX. AAC and MEMA communicated well. They could 
hear STMA and WICO but not enough to pass traffic.

For the Tuesday COMMEX, AAC, WASH, STMA, attempted to communicate, but 
were unsuccessful. Note there is a Florida Net every day on 3.950 MHz 
at 19:30. 7.250 MHz was too noisy to communicate.


A motion was made by Al FitzSimons, seconded by Frank Winner, that if 
there is conflict on the MRIC HF frequencies, that net control will 
attempt to find an available frequency by going up 3 KHz, if still not 
available then down 3 KHz, if not available then down 6 KHz, if not 
available then up 6 KHz from the original frequency. If none are 
available, Net control will find an available frequency. Net control  
will move the net to the available frequency. Also that MRIC members 
report any nets found on the MRIC frequencies and the day-of-the-week, 
time, and frequency, be compiled by MRIC and posted on the web site for 
future reference.

Motion passed by unanimous consent.


Chuck Hodel will look into a procedure for determining which band to 
use based on conditions at the time of the net (i.e. protocol).


A motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Bob Lovell, to use 
channel 1 on the 60-meter band for Maryland RACES HF communications, in 
addition to the 40 and 80 meter MRIC frequencies. If channel 1 is busy, 
net control will move to successive channels in ascending order until 
an available frequency is found.

Motion passed by unanimous consent.


A motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Fred Bader, that MRIC 
adopt the Winlink2000 platform for the Maryland RACES Digital Network 
(MRDN), using email as the mode of communications between Maryland 
RACES organizations.

A roll-call vote was taken:
Yes - Anne Arundel - Frank Winner – N3SEO
Yes - Baltimore City - Lou Linden (Acting RO) - KI5TD       
Yes - Calvert - Leslie Dickey – N3YR
Yes - Charles - Mike Tackish – KA3GRW
Yes - Kent - Bob Lovell – KB3ENU
Yes - MEMA - Al FitzSimons – W3YRS
Yes - Montgomery - Fred Bader – K3CSX
Yes - Prince George’s - Dan Blasberg – KA8YPY
Yes - Queen Anne’s - Chuck Hodell – N8ADN
Yes - Talbot - Brett Hammond – K3TAL

The motion passed unanimously, 10 to 0.


A motion was made by Fred Bader, seconded by Dan Blasberg, that the 
MRDN will consist of, as a minimum, an HF Winlink2000 station per 
jurisdiction.

A roll-call vote was taken:
Yes - Anne Arundel - Frank Winner – N3SEO
Yes - Baltimore City - Lou Linden (Acting RO) - KI5TD       
Yes - Calvert - Leslie Dickey – N3YR
Yes - Charles - Mike Tackish – KA3GRW
Yes - Kent - Bob Lovell – KB3ENU
Yes - MEMA - Al FitzSimons – W3YRS
Yes - Montgomery - Fred Bader – K3CSX
Yes - Prince George’s - Dan Blasberg – KA8YPY
Yes - Queen Anne’s - Chuck Hodell – N8ADN
Yes - Talbot - Brett Hammond – K3TAL

The motion passed unanimously, 10 to 0.


The following items agreed to be added to the next meeting Agenda:
- Coordinate HF net
- Presentation on when to use 40/60/80-meter bands by Chuck Hodel
- Recommended Winlink Equipment list and costs
- Winlink Equipment Inventory and costs


Brett Hammond yielded the Chair to Frank Winner to conduct elections 
for MRIC Chairman for 2008. The floor was opened for nominations, and 
none were made, other than Brett's nomination made at the previous 
meeting. A written ballot was taken and Allan Hubbert (KH6ILR - PG ARO) 
witnessed the ballot counting. The vote was unanimously in favor of 
Brett Hammond, 10 to 0, with no abstentions.

Frank Winner yielded the Chair back to Brett Hammond.

A motion was made by Al FitzSimons, seconded by Mike Tackish, to 
recognize Brett Hammond for his extremely productive first year as 
Chairman of MRIC. He has overcome obstacles and kept the group focused 
on achieving the many objectives that have enhanced the RACES program 
in Maryland.

The motion passed unanimously, 10 to 0.

A motion was made by Dan Blasberg, seconded by Lou Linden, to adjourn. 
The motion was unanimous by voice vote, and the meeting adjourned at 
15:23 (7 minutes early).

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