[MRIC] Fwd: T-MARC VHF Simplex from MRIC

[brettham at aol.com]

Maryland RACES Officers:

Please find below the email that I sent to T-MARC today. I used the 
email address they posted on their web site for contacting the T-MARC 
Board.

Also, I removed appendix A from the approved capabilities document and 
converted the document to PDF. Fred will post it to our yahoo site and 
send directions on how you can retrieve it, or you can send me an email 
and I can reply with an attachment since our email reflector does not 
support attachments.

Since the proposed April Meeting Minutes I emailed last week were 
approved yesterday without any change, I will not be sending them again.

I will send the latest frequency list in the next few days, and will 
forward Appendix B (Recommended Equipment) in a few weeks when we have 
modified it per yesterday's suggestions. That way you have plenty of 
time to review it before voting on it at our January meeting.

Don't forgot to put next year's meeting dates on your schedule, to 
participate in the HF exercises, and to talk to your EMs about whether 
or not it makes sense for us to participate in the Pandemic drill next 
year. Thanks!

Brett Hammond
Chairman, MRIC

-----Original Message-----
From: brettham at aol.com
To: t-marc at columbiaara.org
Sent: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 6:35 pm
Subject: T-MARC VHF Simplex from MRIC


Dear T-MARC Board, 
 
The Maryland Emergency Management Association created a subcommittee 
two=2
0years ago to address RACES interoperability issues in Maryland. The 
subcommittee is called the Maryland RACES Interoperability Committee 
(MRIC) and consists of the RACES Officers of all Maryland 
jurisdictions, each with one vote, and meets three times per year. 
 
Based on some discussion at the last T-MARC meeting this past summer, 
there was some concern that T-MARC may be considering reducing the 
number of VHF frequencies currently set aside for VHF simplex 
operation. Many jurisdictions have these frequencies written into their 
emergency operations plans to use if repeaters are not operational, or 
for local or interjurisdictional traffic regardless. We have 
coordinated these frequencies among ourselves to ensure we do not 
interfere with each other during an emergency. 
 
Yesterday, MRIC unanimously approved the following resolution: 
 
"MRIC resolves and recommends that T-MARC not make frequency 
allocations in the following ranges: 146.400 to 146.580 MHz; and 
147.420 to 147.570 MHz (i.e. the frequencies currently assigned by the 
ARRL band plan for simplex)." 
 
Thank you for considering our position in future band-plan changes. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Brett Hammond - K3TAL 
Chairman, MRIC 
410-829-6749 (cell)