Summer Conference - APCO-NENA

WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
2011 Public Safety Communications
Summer Conference
June 22 - 24, 2011
Three Rivers Convention Center
7016 W Grandridge Blvd
Kennewick, WA 99336
See page three for the Summer Conference schedule-at-a-glance!
See page two for details on:
Tuesday, June 21st
911 Director’s Meeting
APCO-NENA Chapter Meeting
APCO-NENA Chapter Dinner
APCO-NENA Entertainment
Conference Hotel Information:
Red Lion Hotel, Columbia Center
1101 N Columbia Center Blvd
Kennewick, WA 99336
$99.95 per night
(509) 783-0611
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
The Three Rivers Convention Center offers an expansive 75,000 square feet of space. The Convention
Center’s sparkling 14,000 square foot foyer is perfect for social activities, receptions, meeting registrations
and more. At full capacity, the Convention Center’s show piece, the Great Hall, offers 21,600 feet of meeting
or exhibit space, or divide it to create more personalized settings. Nine additional meeting rooms are
available for breakout and office space, perfect to
complement the Great Hall and offer variety to
meet the complex needs of multi-day programs.
The Cyber Café features all of the amenities
required of a business traveler, including high
speed internet access, essential business services,
and quick and convenient refreshments, served in
a comfortable atmosphere. Convention Center
delegates will find numerous hotels, restaurants,
retail shopping, and galleries all within close
proximity to the Convention Center.
WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
Don’t miss Tuesday, June 21st!
8 AM Continental Breakfast (for Director’s Meeting attendees)
9 AM Director’s Meeting, Red Lion Inn (Room TBD)
3 PM Chapter Meeting (Officer Elections), Three Rivers Convention Center
5 PM Chapter Dinner and Murder-Mystery Show, Three Rivers Convention Center
Ye Merrie Greenwood Players
Present A Murder-Mystery
SPEAKEASY
This very popular Mystery is set in 1928
Chicago. Mob Bosses and Gun Molls set the
tone as rival Jazz Club owners vie for
business in illegal booze. Hollywood stars
and champion boxers mingle with politicians
and police captains. The audience gets to
have the final say as they pick the guilty
party. It doesn’t matter who they pick,
we’ve got an ending written for it. The body
count may surprise you!
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
To publish articles on the
APCO Washington website,
Facebook, Twitter and
newsletter, contact any APCO
-NENA Executive Committee
Representative.
2010-2011 APCO-NENA Executive Committee:
President
President Elect
APCO Treasurer
NENA Treasurer
Exec Council Rep
West Side at Large
East Side at Large
Secretary
Commercial Advisory
Past President
K.D. Seeley
Keith Flewelling
Richard Kirton
Amy McCormick
Peggy Fouts
Deanna Wells
Jackie Jones
Sheryl Mullen
Mark Enfield
Stephanie Fritts
Contact information can be found at: http://www.apcowa.org/
TCOMM911
CRESA
CENCOM
Spokane County 911
Grays Harbor E911
Cowlitz County 911
RiverCom 911
NORCOM
Westek Marketing
PACCOM
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
Friday, June 24, 2011
APCO-NENA SUMMER CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
March Coordinator Forum
Shawn Messinger, Jackie Jones, Steve
Romberg, Deanna Wells and Laurie Masse
Virginia Boyd having fun at
the APCO-NENA dinner
The 2011 March Coordinator Forum was a partnership of the
State E911 Office and Washington APCO-NENA. On Tuesday,
March 15th, several APCO-NENA members met in Olympia
with lobbyist Scott Sigmon to learn the latest and gain insight
on the legislative front. Several members spoke with State
Representatives to bring forth the important initiatives that
impact 911. On Wednesday, March 16th, attendees were
treated to an excellent training put on by APCO-NENA.
Instructor Janice Corbin presented “Conducting Effective and
Defensible Investigations”. After the day long training, APCONENA held a chapter meeting. The night was rounded off
C.I. Shenanigans Gang: Deb Welsh, Keith Flewelling, Peggy Fouts,
Brenda Cantu, Grace Larsen, Jean Nealy and KD Seeley
with a well-attended social event at C.I. Shenanigans in
Tacoma. A sumptuous dinner of carved roast beef top sirloin
and salmon entrée with lemon caper sauce was served. As
the night got started, attendees were treated to a spectacular
view of Puget Sound, then, a beautiful strong double-rainbow
appeared over the water and was admired by all! On
Thursday & Friday, March 17 and 18, the Advisory Committee
meeting and NG-911 presentation by Jim Quackenbush. Two
sections of the APCO-NENA TERT Plan were presented by Tim
Lenk with the goal of a complete plan being presented for
discussion at the Summer Conference in Tri-Cities.
Has your center done something interesting that you
could share with your APCO-NENA peers? We’d like
to highlight your special training class, interesting
policy, equipment change, etc. in a future newsletter!
Please send your article and pictures to
[email protected] or
call Jackie Jones at 509-662-4662
Lorri Gifford and Dave Cooper are all smiles with
the amazing rainbow appearing in the background.
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
Mentoring Committee
The Mentoring Subcommittee has plans to be very active this
year at the Summer Conference! On Thusday, June 23rd, in
addition to a Speed Networking session (similar to the very
popular one at International last year), we’ll also be holding a
Mentoring Roundtable session from 10:45 to 12:00 p.m. Plan
to attend and share your thoughts about mentoring within
this career field, and how we can better aid and prepare the
next generation of leaders, both within APCO-NENA Chapter
as well as the field of 9-1-1. If you are interested in being a
part of the Mentoring Subcommittee, please contact Deanna
Wells at [email protected] to join. New members
always welcome, and new ideas always needed!”
A MENTORING STORY by Jackie Jones: On March 15th,
RiverCom Administrative Services Manager Criselia Grupp and
I participated in the Washington Chapter of APCO-NENA
Legislative Day in Olympia. Neither one of us had experience
going to the State Capitol and contacting our legislators to
discuss issues that impact 911. When we arrived, we met
with our mentor, APCO-NENA President K.D. Seeley (Thurston
County). Lora Ueland, Operations Manager of Valleycom was
also there to be mentored as a first time attendee.
K.D. has plenty of experience and is part of the APCO-NENA
Legislative Committee. The first thing we learned was how to
determine our State Representatives. Each one of us lives
within a legislative district. Each legislative district consists of
a Senator and two State Representatives.
We logged onto the Washington State Legislature home page:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx and we used the
“Find Your Legislator” link to determine our district and
legislators. You can click on each legislator to learn what
building and office number to contact. K.D. then showed us
what she would say and do when contacting a legislator.
Our goal this day was to present a message about why the
Governor should not divert $6,000,000.00 from the State 911
excise tax fund. This is a dedicated fund for the purpose of
providing universal access to 911 statewide, including the
modernization of 911 equipment to allow for the receipt of
text messaging, pictures and video (NG911). This revenue
does not come from the State’s General Fund; it comes from
an excise tax levied on telephones and communications
systems that are able to dial 911. During this past year, 37 of
the 39 county Boards of Commissioners adopted ordinances
in support of an increase in the State excise tax. The State
911 Program Office has barely begun to collect the additional
revenue and now the Governor wants to divert six million of it
to other programs to balance budget shortfalls. The message
Jackie Jones, Representative Mike Armstrong and Criselia Grupp
is important as we are just now beginning the threephase process of implementing Next Generation 911
(NG911) statewide.
We didn’t make an appointment ahead of time, so the
chance to meet one of our legislators was slim. We were
fortunate to be able to meet with 12th District State
Representative Mike Armstrong.
Representative
Armstrong talked with Criselia and I for quite some time.
He gave an excellent tour of the Legislative Building and
showed us the different chambers. We sat in his chair on
the House Floor and presented our issue to him in the
Caucus Chamber.
It was a rewarding day at the Capitol.
Please consider a donation to support the APCO/NENA legislative efforts and our other important work.
You can use any major credit or debit card or your PayPal account using the link below:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=SWGCBX6ES8J9A
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
Hope to see you at the APCO-NENA Awards Banquet
The WA State Chapter of APCO-NENA is proud to announce the award
winners for 2010. Be there to celebrate as they receive their awards at
the APCO-NENA Awards Banquet on Thursday, June 23rd at Three
Rivers Convention Center.
TELECOMMUNICATOR OF
THE YEAR TEAM AWARD
Patricia Stevens and Lacy Storey
Okanogan County
Communications Center
TECHNICIAN OF THE YEAR
FOR SUSTAINED
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Corinne Choy
SUNCOMM
TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR
FOR EXEMPLARY HANDLING
OF A CRITICAL INCIDENT
TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE
YEAR FOR SUSTAINED
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
Christopher Scott
Thurston 911 Communications
Richard Garman
Grays Harbor Communications E9-1-1
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
APCO-NENA BYLAWS CHANGE NOTICE
At the Chapter Meeting on March 16th, there were two bylaw changes
presented to the Membership:
1. Change in how voting for Commercial Representative is handled—all members vote instead
of only commercial members. There will be more discussion on this proposed change at
the Chapter Meeting, June 21st.
2. Change in number of days prior to
the election by which additional
Chapter Officer nominations must be
received upon request of four active
members. (Change from fifteen days
to twenty-five days to accommodate
the absentee ballot process—
absentee ballots must go out twentyfive days in advance of the election).
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WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
APCO-NENA OFFICER ELECTIONS
June Conference not only brings great training and entertainment
but also the time of the year when many of our leaders are able to
get together and meet and conduct necessary business to keep all
our centers on the leading edge.
For those of you who have been around this is not new to you, but
for those of you first timers to the conference the week starts off
Tuesday night with the Chapter Meeting and Dinner. The Meeting is
where you get valuable information about the organization and see
how the chapter business is conducted. During the June meeting
nominations and elections are completed for those positions that
are up for re-election. In February 2011 a
nominating committee was appointed by WA
APCO-NENA President KD Seeley. The role of this
committee was to propose a listing of qualified
candidates for each expiring Chapter office. At the March 2, 2011
meeting of Washington APCO/NENA Executive Committee, the
proposal of the nominating committee was approved by the
Executive Committee. As required by the WA APCO-NENA Bylaws,
the recommendation of the nominating committee is being provided
to the membership. Additional nominations shall be added to the
ballot upon request of four Active Members. Complete requests
must be received by the WA APCO/NENA Secretary, Sheryl Mullen,
on or before June 6th, 2011. The President will call for nominations
from the floor during the chapter meeting on June 21st, 2011 prior to
the commencement of voting.
Nominations on the floor may not appear on the ballot, however,
sufficient write-in-space will be provided.
The Chapter Meeting adjourns on Tuesday night followed by dinner
and entertainment. The meeting will reconvene on Thursday night
with the swearing in of the 2011 elected Chapter Officers during the
Awards Banquet dinner.
MEET THE NOMINEES:
President Elect Nominee:
Brenda Cantu is the Assistant
Communications Manager at SUNCOMM in
Yakima. Brenda has been in this profession for 23
years. Positions held include Dispatcher, Trainer,
Supervisor and Manager. Brenda is also an
instructor for the Telecommunicator Program for
the WA Criminal Justice Training Commission. She
has been an instructor since the start of the
program in the early ‘90’s. Brenda has been a member of APCO
since 1993. She has been the Chair of the Awards Committee for the
past ten years. She has also served on the Chapter Services
Committee. Brenda completed APCO’s RPL course in 2010. Brenda
has been nominated for President-Elect.
NENA Treasurer Nominee: Jean Nealy’s Public Safety career began
in July of 1993, she has been a WA Chapter Member since June
2005. She currently serves for WA APCO/NENA on the Chapter
Services Committee, Legislative Committee, and the TERT
Committee. In 2010 Jean was appointed as a member of the
National APCO 9-1-1 Emerging Technologies Committee and became
the PIO for our State Chapter. Along with APCO
she is actively involved with NENA being a member
of the Accessibilities Committee, ESI Network
Development Group, NG9-1-1 Messaging Group,
Next Generation 9-1-1 Transition Planning
Committee and the Next Generation 9-1-1 GIS
Model Committee. Jean has a strong belief to keep
up to date with new technologies, legislation and such, it is also
important to stay involved at the state level. Doing so, she is
currently a member of the Washington State 9-1-1
Communications Sub-Committee, Geographic Information System
(GIS) Sub-Committee, NG9-1-1 Sub-Committee, Strategic Planning
Sub-Committee and the WAC Rewrite Sub-Committee. Jean’s
nomination comes as no surprise due to her commitment and
credentials and will be a great asset to the organization if elected.
Eastside Member at Large Nominee: Jackie Jones is the
Operations Manager at RiverCom 911, the Public Safety Answering
Point for law, fire and medical in Chelan and Douglas Counties.
Jackie is also the 911 Coordinator for Douglas County. She brings
16 years of experience in public safety
communications and has been an active member
with our state chapter since April, 2007. Jackie
has served on the Chapter Services Committee
since 2008, becoming the Chapter Services Chair
in 2009. She also is currently serving on the
Historical Committee for APCO International as of
fall 2010. Jackie has served as the APCO-NENA East-side Memberat-large since June of 2009 and is up for re-election this year. She
would be proud to serve another term and represent for the Eastside and the state chapter as a whole.
APCO WA International Executive Committee Representative
Nominee: Peggy Fouts, ENP has been involved with the Chapter
since June, 1993 and I could write pages on her commitment and
credentials. She started out volunteering for the Conference
Committee taking on Registration and then ran for the West-side
Member-at-large representative in 1999. She
then made her way through the chairs of
President Elect (2001), President (2002),
Immediate Past President (2003), and then
position of Executive Council Representative
when Chris Fischer ran for International Office in
2005 and officially elected for the position in
2007. Peggy is also active at the State level, currently holding
positions of Chair of the State 911 A/C Training Committee, Vice
Chair of the State 911 A/C and Vice Chair of the State 911 A/C
Communications Committee.
As your Executive Council
Representative, if re- elected, she will keep us informed and able
to provide resources to our members when needed as to the ever
changing legislation and funding changes that involve our industry.
Peggy wanted to remind all members, if you ever have a question
about APCO, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the
Washington Chapter Executive Committee members, they are here
to help answer your questions and be your voice.
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org
WASHINGTON STATE
APCO-NENA CHAPTER
APRIL 2011 NEWSLETTER
TECH TALK
dB or not dB, Now what was the question?
“What is the level?” :”About 3 dB.” “That’s too high, it should be about -6 dB.” “Ok, I will decrease it by 9 dB.”
Similar dialogs often go on between radio technicians when setting levels. While the term “dB” was misused a
couple of times, the technicians likely knew what was meant and the level setting was done correctly. However,
often the term “dB” is used without really understanding what it means and as Sir Topham Hatt would say “That
can cause confusion and delay!”
A full explanation of the dB would take more space than I have. However, I will try to cover the basics here to
help gain some additional understanding. As we move more towards digital communications, the need for level
setting will go down. Unfortunately, digital systems are often less forgiving of inaccurate analog level setting. So,
while there may be less level setting, what is left will be more critical.
The term decibel or dB references the ratio between two power levels. It is not an absolute signal level. Note also
that the correct abbreviation for decibel is dB not DB, db or Db. Since a reading in dB is a ratio, reporting a level
as – 6 dB is technically incorrect since there is no reference level given. Saying the level is – 6 dB from where it
originally was is ok. The formula for calculating the ratio is:
:
Note that when using voltage instead of power, the multiplier is 20. This is because power is the square of the
voltage for constant impedance.
If dBs are a ratio and not an absolute level reading, what does a dB meter do? A dB meter which usually refers to
a transmission impairment measuring set (TIMS) or a level meter, measures the level as a ratio to some
reference level. Remember, dB is always a ratio. So, to measure in “dB” the reference level has to be defined.
This can be virtually anything. Some common ones are:
dBm = dB measured to a reference level of 1 milliwatt
dBW = dB measured to a reference level of 1 Watt
dBV = dB measured to a reference level of 1 Volt
dBuV = dB measured to a reference level of 1 microvolt
dB(SPL) = dB measured to a reference level of 20 micropascals
The letter after the term dB defines the reference level. The complexity in making dB measurements is that
virtually all meters actually measure voltage and the reading is then given in dB based on the reference power.
So, the typical TIMS when selected to measure dBm measures it against the impedance selected on the front
panel, often 600 ohms. If the actual impedance is different, the reading will be incorrect. This is a common mistake
made when measuring levels, the TIMS is set to the wrong impedance or is set for “bridging” which means it is set
to high-impedance. I wish I had a dollar for every time I wasn’t paying attention and ended up with levels
incorrectly set because I didn’t check the impedance of either the TIMS or the circuit I was measuring. Getting in
the habit of checking the impedance settings every time a measurement is made will save time and those extra
trips to the site. However, if it is sunny and 70 going to the site wouldn’t be so bad. Never works out that way!
Questions or comments? - Joe Bl aschka Jr. PE [email protected]
DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SUMMER CONFERENCE AT OUR WEBSITE: www.apcowa.org