Frisco, Colorado
9:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Call to Order and Welcome
The STIWG meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by the chairperson.
Welcome from Colorado Division of Water Resources
The host of the STIWG meeting, the Colorado Division of Water Resources, welcomed the STIWG members.
Review of Agenda
The agenda was reviewed and approved. The approved agenda can be viewed at the URL:
http://water.usgs.gov/datarelay/stiwg/meetings/20030624/stiwg20030624_agenda.html.
Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
The minutes to the last meeting were approved.
Treasurer's Report
The treasurer, Doc Carver of OFCM, was not present. The STIWG account has not changed since the last meeting. The only obligation that the STIWG currently has is the DOMSAT contract which is paid through 2004. A summary of the status of the DOMSAT contract is at URL:
http://water.usgs.gov/datarelay/stiwg/domsat/domsat_contract.html
Mention of the DOMSAT obligations led to a discussion of the DOMSAT funding. NESDIS indicated that they needed a formal request from the STIWG to exercise the option to extend the DOMSAT contract for another year ( option year 2) and authority to transfer funds to pay for the option.
A Steve Pritchett of NWS made a proposal to formalize the funding of DOMSAT. In past, the major users of DOMSAT contributed funds to the DOMSAT account whenever monies became available. After much discussion, Steve made a motion that the eight major agencies that use DOMSAT contribute yearly amounts loosely based upon their use. The motion was seconded and passed. Two action items resulted:
ACTION ITEMS:
The STIWG chairman will formally request that the DOMSAT contract be extended another year ( option year 2 ) and will authorize any needed transfer of moneys to fund the extension.
The major users of DOMSAT will consult and come up with a funding plan for DOMSAT that will assess each user of DOMSAT a yearly payment roughly proportionate to its use. The major users were determined to be:
Forest Service
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Reclamation
US Gelological Survey
US Corp of Engineers
National Weather Service
ORA/FSL/NOAA
NCDC/NOAA
GOES DCS Backup User Requirements (Dreyer – USGS)
There was a discussion of the need to provide requirements from the STIWG to the study that is being conducted by NESDIS to develop a backup to the Wallops Island receive facility. Ernest Dreyer agreed to incorporate the specific requirements discussed into a requirements document. This document can be viewed at this URL:
http://water.usgs.gov/datarelay/stiwg/workgroups/bup/goesbup_require.html
STIWG Terms of Reference ( Pritchett - NWS )
Steve Pritchett of the NWS presented the current Terms of Reference for approval.
A discussion ensued about whether or not voting members had to be present at a meeting to vote or could vote in absentia. It was decided to add to the terms of reference the voting members could vote by email if they could not attend the meeting in which a vote was to be taken. The Terms of Reference were approved by the STIWG and now must be approved by the parent organizations.
The Terms of Reference approved by the STIWG can be viewed at these URLs:
Proposed Terms of Reference: http://water.usgs.gov/datarelay/StiwgTor-new.html
ACTION ITEM:
The secretary of the STIWG will forward the Terms of Reference to the parent organizations for review and approval.
Transmitter Locator System (TLS) Proposal ( Metcalf - NESDIS)
Kay Metcalf reported on a proposal by a commercial company to provide a Transmitter Locater System ( TLS ) to identify illegal transmitters. She stated that one of the largest problems of GOES is unidentified interference. For example, currently channels 65 and 66 are unusable because of electronic interference whose source cannot be located and identified. The company requested funding to modify their location system to work with GOES and to provide a 1-year demonstration of their ability to locate and identify interference on GOES channels. Kay wanted to explore whether or not the STIWG could provide funding for this effort
There was much discussion about who was responsible for such abuse. Several members thought that the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) being the regulating organization for spectrum management for the Federal Government should be the responsible group. And indeed the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) under the NTIA seems to claim such a responsibility ( Website: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/roosa8.html ):
The Office of Spectrum Management (OSM), with offices in Washington, DC and Annapolis, MD, develops and implements policies and procedures for domestic issues regarding the use of the spectrum and assigning frequencies to the stations operated by the Federal Government in the United States. OSM develops long range plans and policies for the management of the spectrum, the review of Federal radio communication systems to make sure that sufficient spectrum is available for their compatible operation, the analysis and resolution of interference problems involving Federal radio communication systems, and the analysis of spectrum use in selected bands through the use of state-of-the-art analytic and measurement techniques.
It was also noted by a member that there was much expertise among Ham radio operators in tracking down spectrum abuse, and that perhaps they should be 'challenged' to find the culprits that are illegally using channels 65 and 66.
The general consensus that emerged after much discussion was:
that this was an operational issue that should be addressed by NESDIS funding,
that the NTIA should be contacted to see what assistance they might be able to provide.
ACTION ITEM:
Chairman of STIWG will write a letter to NTIA about the abuse of GOES frequencies.
NOAA Report on DCS Backup Study ( Metcalf - NESDIS)
( See section: GOES DCS Backup User Requirements )
DAPS-II Procurement ( McMath - NESDIS )
Al McMath provided a status report on the implementation of the Data Acquisition and Processing System II ( DAPS II ).
The planned phase over period the DAPS to DAPS II conversion is scheduled to start in November 2003 and be completed in December 2003. However, it is very likely that this schedule will slip.
HDR User Transition Subcommittee Report - (Shelley - USFS)
Kolleen Shelley of the Forest Service submitted the HDR transition plan for approval. The draft plan can be viewed at this URL:
Kolleen requested that STIWG members continue to review the plan and send any comments to her or any member of the work group.
Next Meeting and Adjournment
The next STIWG meeting was not set. It will be announced when there is a more definite schedule for the implementation and training for the DAPS to DAPS II phaseover.