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NEWS ARTICLES -->
1996
News, Events and Activities
The
following contains a brief summary of PEACESAT News, Events, and
Activities. The information is not complete and dependent on
information provided by PEACESAT Sites.
December
29, 1996 -- U.S. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE -- Norman H. Okamura
received notification from Mr. Ed Young of the U.S. National
Weather Service in Honolulu that the prototype collaboration
project with the National Weather Service in Pohnpei has
been approved. This project was conceptualized by John
Miller of the Guam NSW, Norman Okamura, and Lori Mukaida. The
project is intended to experiment with a collaborative relationship
involving the FSM National Emergency Management Office, Pohnpei
State Emergency Management Office, the FSM Health Ministry,
Pacific Islands Health Officers Association, Pacific Region
Office of the National Weather Service, and PEACESAT to deliver
improved information access and data services in emergency
management. |
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The
objectives of the project are: (a) to determine whether the
NWS can provide technical support for the electronic mail
systems in Pohnpei that are being developed by PIHOA/PEACESAT
Electronic Post Office Project; and, (b) to test the voice
systems capabilities of Digital PEACESAT. Mr. John
Miller, NWS-Guam, is the project Point of Contact for the
U.S. National Weather Service. |
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December
10, 1996 -- PREL, CHALLENGE GRANT -- PREL and Pacific Islands
education leadership from Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Yap review
Challenge Grant Proposal -- James Bannan (Pacific Region
Educational Laboratories), Norman Okamura, and Christina
Higa hosted a meeting with educational personnel from the
Pacific Islands to discuss the results of a grant proposal
to the U.S. Department of Education. Participating in the
meetings were: |
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December
13, 1996 -- APIL -- Norman Okamura and Christina Higa hosted
a meeting with Senator Herman Semes (Pohnpei, Federated States
of Micronesia), Representative Santus Wichimai (Vice Speaker,
Yap State Legislature), Greg Calvo, Executive Director of
the Association of Pacific Islands Legislatures, and David
Nada (Branch Chief, Product Promotion Branch, Department
of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBED&T). |
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December
4, 1996 -- REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS -- Christina
and Tom hosted U.S. Ambassador to RMI Joan Plaisted, RMI
Ambassador to the U.S. Banny deBrum, Russell Edward, Tom
Kean, Lt. Commander Doug Smith of CINCPAC, and Lt. Col. John
Cole, DoD and Department of State. Christina Higa, Acting
Director, and Thomas Okamura, Manager of Systems and Programs,
used PEACESAT to network in Dr. Andy Kuniyuki of the College
of the Marshall Islands. A specific issue that was
discussed was whether PEACESAT could facilitate voice and
data services to Ebeye, one of the atolls of the RMI. Ebeye
is approximately 2 miles from Kwajalein and has a ferry between
the two atolls. |
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November
12 to December 6, 1996 -- TRAVEL AND MEETING IN PACIFIC ISLANDS
BY PEACESAT -- William Jahn (Director of Telecommunications
Policy for Micronesia and Mexico, U.S. Department of State),
Pat Henry (Telecommunications Specialist, Department of Interior),
Lori Mukaida (Director of PEACESAT), and Norman H. Okamura
(Telecommunications and Information Specialist, Social Science
Research Institute) visited the Pacific Island economies
of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated
States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), Guam,
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of
Palau. The purposes of the trip were to participate
in Ministerial meetings in the RMI and Republic of Palau
mandated by the Compact of Free Association and to meet with
Emergency Management Agencies. Existing PEACESAT Sites were
also visited. The trips were busy and eventful. |
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October
31, 1996 -- FEMA -- The new Director of the Pacific Area
Office of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mr.
William Carwile, visited the University of Hawaii to obtain
a briefing on the PEACESAT network, programs, and operations. |
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October
18, 1996 -- PACIFIC CAUCUS OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS -- An extensive
workshop on the PEACESAT network, data communications, networking
and services was given to the Pacific Caucus of Emergency
Managers at Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel. |
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October
15, 1996 -- SAIPAN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE -- Mr. Robert
Guerrero, Director of the CNMI Emergency Management Office,
and staff visited PEACESAT to discuss the data applications. |
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October
7, 1996 -- NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE -- Christina Higa, Norman
Okamura, and Thomas Okamura gave a presentation on PEACESAT
and the Emergency Management Network to regional representatives
of the U.S. National Weather Service meeting in Honolulu. |
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September
23, 1996 -- PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE -- Mr. John Walmsley from
the Office of Pacific Health, U.S. Public Health Service,
visited PEACESAT to discuss the status of the Emergency Management
Network. |
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August
23, 1996 -- GERARD PASCUA, CHARGES DES' AFFAIRES, US EMBASSEY
IN PALAU -- Mr. Gerard Pascua visited PEACESAT to obtain
a briefing on the program. Christina Higa, Acting Director
of PEACESAT, and Thomas Okamura, conducted the briefing. |
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August
18-23, 1996 -- APEC Human Resources Development -- Norman
Okamura participated in an APEC Human Resources Development
meeting in Vancouver, Canada. |
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August
7, 1996 -- POHNPEI -- Ms. Marilyn Lee, Attorney General,
Federated States of Micronesia visited PEACESAT to discuss
the status of the EMN Site Installation. Picture of the completed
base were provided. |
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July
30, 1996 -- PALAU -- Ms. Judy Dean, Assistant to the Vice
President, Republic of Palau, visited PEACESAT to discuss
the Emergency Management Network Project. |
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July
29, 1996 -- FORUM FISHERIES AGENCY -- Mr. Albert Carlo of
the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) visited PEACESAT to discuss
the Digital PEACESAT networking capabilities. |
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June
25, 1996 -- CHARGES DES' AFFAIRES -- Mr. Don Ahern and Ms.
Cheryl Martin (Charges de' Affaires for the Republic of the
Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia)
visited PEACESAT at the University of Hawaii to obtain a
briefing on the program. Norman Okamura, Christina Higa,
and Thomas Okamura gave presentations on the network prior
to the discussions. |
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April
17, 1996 -- PTFP PROPOSALS, GUAM, HAWAII, AMERICAN SAMOA
-- Three proposals to the Public Telecommunications Facilities
Program (PTFP) were submitted. The University of Guam
submitted a proposal for a Hub Site. Bruce Best, John
Woodard, and PEACESAT Honolulu collaborated on the preparation
of the proposal. The American Samoa Government submitted
a proposal for a Hub Site. Ms. Susan Yakutis, Mr. Jerry Norris,
and PEACESAT Honolulu (Norman Okamura, Christina Higa, and
Thomas Okamura) collaborated on the preparation of the proposal. PEACESAT
Headquarters submitted a proposal to plan for the extension
of PEACESAT services outside the urban areas in Guam, Saipan,
and American Samoa. This proposal was prepared by Lori Mukaida,
Norman Okamura, Christina Higa, and Thomas Okamura. PEACESAT
Honolulu coordinated the proposals and assisted in the writing
of the grants. |
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February
20-21, 1996 -- ARMY EDUCATION -- The Army regional education
program requested and received a demonstration of PEACESAT
and discussed distance learning programs in the military. |
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February
20-21, 1996 -- DEMONSTRATIONS OF DIGITAL PEACESAT -- PEACESAT
held a roll-out of the Digital PEACESAT network. The rollout
described the new digital PEACESAT capabilities and demonstrated
digital voice, data and Internet access, and video teleconferencing.
Dr. Donald M. Topping opened the session. Ms. Lori Mukaida
welcomed participants and introduced the program. Dr. Norman
Okamura summarized the Digital PEACESAT developments. Ms.
Christina Higa directed the demonstrations, including digital
compressed voice teleconferencing. Mr. Thomas Okamura explained
and demonstrated compressed video teleconferencing and Mr.
Lew Meteliz showed Internet WWW access and electronic mail. |
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February
16, 18, 1996 -- FREQUENCY CHANGES FOR PEACESAT SITES -- To
avoid the possibility of frequency interference with the
French SPOT satellite, PEACESAT recommended to NTIA that
a conversion of frequencies be made. The request was approved
by NTIA and PEACESAT Sites completed frequency changes through
thumbnail changes. The conversion went very smoothly thanks
to the training and information provided by Christina Higa,
Tom Okamura, and the PEACESAT engineers. |
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February
1, 1996 -- AMBASSADOR JOAN PLAISTED -- Newly appointed Ambassador
to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Joan Plaisted, visited
PEACESAT at the University of Hawaii to obtain a briefing
on the program and to discuss the interest of the RMI to
locate the PEACESAT Hub Site in Majuro. Lori Mukaida, Norman
Okamura, and Christina Higa gave presentations on the network
prior to the discussions. |
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January
19, 1996 -- ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC ISLAND LEGISLATURES --
Mr. Jerry Norris, Executive Director of the Pacific Basin
Development Council; Dr. Norman Okamura, Principal Investigator
of the Emergency Management Network; and Mr. Dave Kennard,
EMN Project Manager gave presentations to the Association
of Pacific Island Legislatures on the EMN Project. |
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January
19, 1996 -- PEACESAT FORUM -- PEACESAT hosted a forum to
discuss PEACESAT and telecommunications development in the
Pacific. Mr. Edmond Durand (Director, Telecommunications
Division, Forum Secretariat), Professor Toshio Kosuge (University
of Electro-Communications), and others participated in the
information exchange and discussion. |
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January
15, 1996 -- MARINE-AIR SYSTEMS and DIGITAL PEACESAT -- Mr.
John Leary, Chief Engineer and Project Manager for Marine-Air
Systems (MAS) of New Zealand arrived in Honolulu to work
on the final tests for Digital PEACESAT. |
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January
14-18, 1996 -- PACIFIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE '96
-- PEACESAT participated in the presentation of several papers
related to telecommunications and the PEACESAT Program. |
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Norman
Okamura and Ed Durand (Forum Secretariat) presented a paper
on the Pacific telecommunications and information infrastructure. |
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Christina
Higa, David Kennard (FEMA), Marilyn Shigetani (American Red
Cross/FEMA), and Jerry Norris (Pacific Basin Development
Council) presented a paper on emergency communications. |
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Lori
Mukaida, Jimione Samisoni (Fiji School of Medicine), Scott
Norton (Tripler Army Medical Center), Greg Dever (Pohnpei
Medical Officers Training Program, University of Hawaii),
and Steve Bice (U.S. Public Health Service) presented a paper
on telemedicine experiments in the Pacific. |
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Thomas
Okamura and Bruce Best (PEACESAT Manager, University of Guam)
presented a paper on extending communications to very remote
islands. |
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