British Columbia Amateur Radio Coordination Council Minutes of AGM, 2004 March 28 At NSEMO, 147 E. 14 th St., North Vancouver

Transcription

1 British Columbia Amateur Radio Coordination Council Minutes of AGM, 2004 March 28 At NSEMO, 147 E. 14 th St., North Vancouver 1. Meeting opened 1000 hrs, Ed Frazer, VE7EF, in the chair. 2. Welcoming remarks The Chair introduced the following special guests: - Jody Sydor, VE7JYS, Director of the North Shore Emergency Management Office (NSEMO), who welcomed delegates to the premises operated by NSEMO. - Barry Skeldon, VE7HBS, president of the North Shore Amateur Radio Club which sponsored the meeting and provided refreshments. Barry also welcomed delegates. 3. Introduction of Guests and Delegates -- The Chair introduced special guests Mike Krenz, representing Industry Canada, Pacific Region; and David Cameron, VE7LTD/VA7IP, the inventor of IRLP. The Chair then requested delegates to introduce themselves to the meeting. 4. Introduction of Directors, Officers and Coordinators -- The Chair introduced directors, officers and coordinators: Directors for the past year are: Wilf Mulder, VE7OHM, of North Okanagan Radio Amateur Club, for the South Interior Romy Malinab, VE7RMY, of Pinoy Amateur Radio Enthusiasts, for the Lower Mainland Mike Holley, VE7AVM, of Langley Amateur Radio Association, for the Fraser Valley Brad Abbott, VE7IA, of Victoria Amateur Radio Repeater Organization, for the South Island Bill Tracey, VE7QQ, of North Shore Amateur Radio Club, for the Lower Mainland Ed Frazer, VE7EF, of Point Grey Amateur Radio Club, for the Lower Mainland Les Corris, VA7LC, of Oceanside Radio Communications Association, for the North Island Terry Paton, VE7UP, of Nechako Radio Club, for Northern BC Officers are: Al Muir, VE7BEU, Past President Ed Frazer, VE7EF, President Bill Tracey, VE7QQ, Secretary/Treasurer Coordinators are: George Merchant, VE7CHU, Chief Coordinator Al Muir, VE7BEU, coordinator for 6 and 10 metres Rob Kuse, VE7BKU, coordinator for VHF/UHF in the Lower Mainland Tim Mitchell, VE7TES, coordinator for VHF/UHF on Vancouver Island Phil Baker, VE7PHB, coordinator for VHF/UHF in the Interior (not present) Joe Rieberger, VE7CRJ, coordinator for VHF/UHF in Southeastern BC (not present) Frank VanderZande, VE7AV, coordinator for VHF/UHF in Northern BC (not present) 5. Correspondence a letter report has been received from Fred Orsetti, VE7IO, BC Section Manager for RAC. That report is dealt with later in the minutes.

2 6. Minutes of 2003 AGM -- Minutes of the 2003 AGM had been distributed to attendees. Moved by Bill Tracey that the minutes of the 2003 AGM be adopted as distributed. Moved by Ian Soutar, VE7DJI, that the last paragraph of Item 17 be amended to add if not monitored, locally or remotely. Carried. Business Arising Business Arising from the Minutes -- From item 10 and item 13: Bill Tracey apologized for not having sent letters of appreciation to coordinators and the web master and web host for their work an oversight he hoped not to repeat. The work of those persons is very much appreciated, as was recognized in the published minutes. From item 16: RAC has not yet removed from its web site all references to British Columbia frequency listings other than those of BCARCC. The Secretary will follow up with RAC. From items 18 through 21: actions to shift internet-linked operations into the range MHz and other simplex and packet operations into the range below 147 MHz have been implemented on Vancouver Island and elsewhere; however, emergency organizations in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley are reluctant to make the shift. Meetings to attempt to resolve the issue will be held with those organizations in the next month or two. From item 22: Kevin Hartley, VE7OVY, spoke to the importance of urging new users to install internet-linked services in the 220 and 440 MHz bands. Apparently few are doing so. Reports President s Report Ed Frazer presented the President s report and welcome, attached to these minutes as Appendix B. Moved by Ed Frazer that the President s report be received. Carried. 9. Treasurer s Report -- Bill Tracey presented the Treasurer s report with financial statements, attached to these minutes as Appendix C. Surplus of revenue over expense during 2003 was $543, and retained surplus at the end of 2003 was $2,988. However, the need to cover travel expenses for directors will be increasing now that we have a Northern BC director, and the Board anticipates a small deficit for Moved by Bill Tracey that the Treasurer s report be received. Carried. Moved by Bill Tracey that dues for 2005 remain at the current figure of $15.00 per delegate. Carried. 10. Review of Financial Reports Moved by Les Corris, VE7LC, that future financial reports be "audited (reviewed by an independent BCARCC delegate) prior to being presented at each AGM. Carried. (Action required Treasurer) 11. Coordinators Report George Merchant, VE7CHU, gave a report of coordination activities for The Chief Coordinator s report and the reports of the several Coordinators are attached as Appendix D. Items to be noted are: - conflicts over the use of frequencies are becoming less frequent as Amateurs throughout the province have become accepting of and cooperative with the policies established by BCARCC; - coordinators continue to do their work of assisting applicants to achieve coordination when new repeaters are proposed or repeaters are re-located;

3 - the difficulty of maintaining an accurate and complete database continues to plague the coordinators; - the existing Policy Guidelines and Coordinators Duties documents now are eight years old and it is time to review and update the documents; - BCARCC needs to do a better job of publicizing the policies for changes to repeater sponsorship, trusteeship, location, coverage area, frequency, mode and access methods (many changes are being made but not reported, probably because operators are not aware of the need to report the changes) 12. Area Directors Reports -- Terry Paton (Northern BC) commented particularly on the growth of repeater linking in the north. He presented a diagram titled Northern BC Repeater Map, which is attached as Appendix E. The diagram shows 34 interconnected repeater locations and two future locations. Repeater operators have standardized on a common access tone in each area. Terry also reported making a number of visits to clubs in the north, a practice he intends to continue in the coming year, to encourage participation in BCARCC. Mike Holley (Fraser Valley) reported that the previously reported conflict between the Clearbrook Seniors and ORCA repeaters had been resolved by the use of CTCSS tones, and all are happy now. He also mentioned the upcoming issue of BPL (Broadband Power Line) data transmission, now being tested in the USA. Les Corris (Northern Vancouver Island) reported that progress is being made on completing the linking of Parksville and Qualicum into the Island net. He also made brief mention of the incident of interference to air traffic on MHz for aircraft overflying the Nanaimo area. Although the problem had been occurring since December, 2003, when it was eventually reported to BCARCC in mid-february it was tracked down and cleared up within two days with the cooperation of Amateur repeater operators in the Nanaimo area. Brad Abbott (Southern Vancouver Island) gave a brief report, including recommendations for setting the date of future BCARCC AGMs. His report is attached as Appendix F. 13. IRLP Report Ian Soutar, VE7DJI, gave a report on the first year of the BCARCC internet linking band plan. The full report is attached as Appendix G. His conclusion is that the band plan agreed to at last year s AGM is working well. Good cooperation from packet operators and from Amateur emergency groups on the Island has been a major contributor to that success. Their assistance is very much appreciated, and they are to be congratulated. Although some emergency groups initially were skeptical about using fewer simplex frequencies, it seems that they have now found it to be an advantage, as explained in the report. Ian noted that the RAC band-planning committee finds the BCARCC plan to be in line with their policies, but not sufficient demand in other parts of the country for internet linking to justify including internet linking in the RAC plans. Ted Nawrocki, VE7TIN, spoke about PropNET, which uses MHz and MHZ and APRS type of protocol for probing of propagation. He also described HamIM, which posts messages for rovers to make contacts on 2m SSB. (A description of PropNET can be found at Moved by Ian Soutar that the BCARCC 2m band plan be amended to show MHz as available for PropNet, HamIM and similar nationwide operations. Carried. (Action required Board) Guest Presentations --

4 14. The Chair invited Mike Krenz to speak on matters relating to Industry Canada and Amateur Radio. At IC, Mike has responsibility for emergency telecommunications. He spoke briefly about his work, and remarked that he is interested in learning more about Amateur capabilities and attitudes with regard to that task. Mike also mentioned that recent changes in responsibilities for Amateur Radio regulation (away from the Region and to Ottawa) make it important to review the existing Memorandum of Understanding between IC and BCARCC to be sure it reflects current realities. Mike has reviewed the MOU with the various District Managers, and they all have found it useful and worthwhile renewing. The delegates expressed their appreciation to Mike for attending and speaking to the meeting. 15. The Chair referred to the written report received from Fred Orsetti, VE7IO, RAC Section Manager for BC (Fred was travelling out of the country and could not attend the AGM). The full report was distributed and is attached as Appendix H. The Treasurer summarized the report briefly for the meeting. Fred emphasized the responsibility of individual Amateurs to notify IC of any change of address or other information relative to their radio licences. Fred also expressed concern about the apparent increase in cases of malicious interference, and proposed setting up a committee made up of a representative of BCARCC, repeater owners and large Amateur Radio clubs. He asked for our thoughts on this. We will respond that we are willing to cooperate with RAC on this, reminding Fred that BCARCC itself is a council made up of delegates from BC Amateur Radio clubs, including many repeater owners. 16. The Chair invited David Cameron, VE7LTD, to update the delegates on current progress with internet linking. David did so, and mentioned that he hopes to have IRLP play a significant role in communications for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver/W histler, especially in providing communications for visitors who want to talk back home. The delegates expressed their appreciation to David for attending and speaking to the meeting. New Business Interference Moved by Claude Leduc, VE7LC, that BCARCC create an Interference Committee, to provide a common voice and to produce a guideline protocol/process for interference tracking/reporting, working with IC to provide guidance as to what action can and should be expected by Amateurs and by the authorities. Carried. (Action required Board) 18. Firestorm 2003 The Chair invited Bob Piggott, VE7CYU, (Emergency Radio Coordinator for NSEMO) to summarize the Filmon report on Firestorm 2003, which is available at Bob pointed out that the report makes specific mention of the value of Amateur Radio as a means of providing communication between a multiplicity of agencies, and of the resourcefulness and ingenuity of Amateur Radio operators working under difficult conditions. However, the report says that value of Amateur Radio was not generally recognized early in the event. The report lends strength to the position that Amateurs should not be reluctant to make their communities aware of their capabilities, nor reluctant to solicit support for their activities. Bob observed that the Filmon report offers an ideal opportunity for Amateur radio clubs to promote the hobby and its capabilities to local authorities. It also offers an opportunity to approach those authorities for financial support to better prepare themselves for emergencies.

5 19. Funding for Amateur organizations Richard Fryer, VA7AA, spoke about ways of accessing various funding programs to further the activities of Amateur Radio clubs. Richard has been very successful in obtaining funding through the access grant program of BC Lotteries, and offered some guidelines for preparing funding applications. Those guidelines will be made available online to BCARCC member clubs. Other delegates spoke regarding funds received by their clubs, all positively. The Sunshine Coast club receives regular core funding from the local regional district. 20. Web site the Chair spoke in recognition of the BCARCC web site and of the contribution to BCARCC made by web host Peter Anderson, VE7PSA, of SFU School of Communications, and web master Peter Bennett, VE7CEI, of Triumf. 21. Date for Next AGM As suggested by Brad Abbott in his report, the date for the next AGM will be determined in early January, 2005, after reviewing the RAC event listing. BCARCC member clubs will be notified of the AGM date before the end of January, to allow delegates time to make arrangements to attend. (Action required Board) 22. Development of Band Plans for 220 and 440 MHz In response to queries from the members, the Executive undertook to develop BCARCC band plans for 220 and 440 MHz within the next six months. Kevin Hartley, VE7OVY, offered to help with that task, re IRLP. (Action required Board) 23. Election of Directors The following representatives were duly nominated as directors for (two-year term), to take office at the end of this AGM: For the Lower Mainland: VE7EF, Ed Frazer, nominated by VE7CND, Mike Sankey For the Lower Mainland: VE7CND, Mike Sankey, nominated by VE7IA, Brad Abbott For Southern Interior: VE7KBB, Fred Mulcaster, nominated by VE7CYY, Allan Ross For Southern Interior: VE7EJE, Rob Dover, nominated by VE7UP, Terry Paton, For Fraser Valley: VE7AVM, Mike Holley, nominated by VE7TES, Tim Mitchell There being no other nominations, VE7CIJ, James Hatch, moved nominations close. Carried. At this point, Fred Mulcaster withdrew his nomination. There being only one nominee for each vacancy, the Chair declared the remaining nominees elected unanimously. 24. The Chair thanked the retiring directors Wilf Mulder, VE7OHM and Bill Tracey, VE7QQ, for their service to the Council. 25. The Chair thanked the NSEMO and NSARC for their hospitality and assistance with the meeting logistics, and thanked the West Vancouver Seniors Centre for use of their van and Jeff White, VE7CZY, for arranging for and driving the van. 26. Adjournment There being no further business, the Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 1230 hrs. Note: Unless stated otherwise, all motions shown as carried were carried unanimously. Subsequent events:

6 At the directors meeting immediately following the General Meeting, Ed Frazer VE7EF was reelected President and Brad Abbott VE7IA was elected vice-president. The Directors reappointed Bill Tracey VE7QQ as Treasurer and appointed Terry Paton VE7UP as Secretary (subject to his wife s approval), for the period until the next Annual General Meeting. Al Muir VE7BEU remains immediate Past President and will continue to work with the executive. Al Muir was appointed Chair of the Policy Committee, with Brad Abbott, Mike Sankey, Rob Dover and Bill Tracey as members of the committee. The first issue to be dealt with by the committee will be interference management. The committee also will do a review of the policy guidelines and of the MOU with IC to be sure they reflect current conditions and practices. George Merchant VE7CHU was re-appointed Chief Coordinator, and all other coordinators were re-appointed until the next AGM.