WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE #26-16
DUWAIN HUNT W8JJV RECIPIENT OF THE 2025 FLORIDA CERT DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD.
In August 2025, Duwain Hunt W8JJV, was named the recipient of the 2025 Florida Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Distinguished Service Award . This honor recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions to the growth and development of CERT and Emergency Management communities in Florida.
Hunt first became an amateur radio operator in 1964. He was introduced to amateur radio by Francis Burton K8JRC. Burton was the teacher of his Math Class at Huff Jr. High School in Lincoln Park, MI, who had an amateur radio station set up in his classroom. Hunt was very thankful to Burton and Bill Pearson for inspiring a life long interest in communications and Amateur Radio. Hunt is very heavily involved in encomm, and hopes to finish his state certification for deployment with ARES in the State of Florida. Hunt has been an active contributor to the CERT program for almost a decade, not only in Charlotte County, where he is a regular instructor in both CERT basic and in advanced training, but throughout Southwest Florida. Hunt is also AUXCOM trained, an ARRL Official Emergency Station, an ARRL Technical Specialist and an ARRL Assistant Emergency Coordinator for Charlotte County ARES.
Hunt also enjoys building battery packs for use in the field, and serves as net control for numerous nets in his area on 2 Meters and 70 CM on a regular basis. Hunt even now has a Zenith Trans-Oceanic SW Radio (1955) just like the one he had when he was a kid and loves it!
The ARRL West Central Florida Section congratulates Duwain Hunt W8JJV on earning the 2025 Florida Community Emergency Response Team Distinguished Service Award.