THE WCF SECTION PRESSER – ISSUE #5 – MAY 2015
THE WCF SECTION PRESSER: ARRL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION NEWS
Issue #5 – May 2015
By Darrell Davis KT4WX
ARRL West Central Florida Section Manager
AMATEUR RADIO PARITY ACT OF 2015 (H.R. 1301) INTRODUCED INTO CONGRESS:
US Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced the bill on March 4 with 12 original co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle — seven Republicans and five Democrats. The following I will quote from the page on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301: “HR 1301 would require the FCC to amend its Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to include homeowners’ association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs). At present, PRB-1 only applies to state and local zoning laws and ordinances. The FCC has been reluctant to extend the same legal protections to include such private land-use agreements without direction from Congress.”
Be sure to contact your representative in the House of Representatives. This issue of amateur radio operators living in Covenant, Conditions, and Restriction (CC&R) neighborhoods and not being able to have antennas at all is a major problem for many in amateur radio and in our Section. Some accommodation is better than none, so be sure to make those contacts and encourage them to support this bill. If you prefer you can send your letter of support to the ARRL and they will send it on to the House of Representatives. For specific instructions go to http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301.
SILENT KEYS DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL 2015:
I am sad to report to you the following amateur radio operators that became Silent Keys during the months of March and April 2015:
John Hamilton KE4UNO
Warren Elly W1GUD
Bart Houser AF4TK
Please remember their families in your prayers and thoughts during the difficult days ahead. Please note, we do not publish Silent Key notices until we receive confirmation of one’s passing from either an obituary or funeral home notice to avoid disseminating erroneous information.
WCF SECTION INFORMATION NET MOVING TO TUESDAY EVENING AT 1900:
The West Central Florida Section Information Net will be moving to a new date and time slot, effective on Friday May 1, 2015. Starting in the month of May, the West Central Florida Section Information Net on the NI4CE Repeater System will be moving to Tuesday evening at 1900 (7:00 P.M.), in order to increase attendance and reach more amateur radio operators with Section news and information.
The West Central Florida Section Information and ARES Net on 3911 KHz (or 3913 KHz if 3911 is busy) will be staying in its slot on Saturday at 0830 (8:30 A.M.). Only the net on the NI4CE Repeater System will be moving to a new date and time slot.
WCF SECTION 15TH BIRTHDAY QSO PARTY – NOW IN PROGRESS THRU JUNE 26:
The ARRL West Central Florida Section turned 15 years old on January 15, 2015. It seemed appropriate that we celebrate the 15th birthday of the Section. The period of the WCF Section QSO Party has been revised and began on April 15, 2015 and will end on June 26, 2015, the day before ARRL Field Day. The full contest rules have just been published on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/west-central-florida-section-qso-party/. Also we are planning to have K4WCF portable operations at least once in each of ten counties of the WCF Section. If your an amateur radio club, group, or even an individual and are interested in running K4WCF for a day in your county, please fill out the Contact Form on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/contact-info/. All modes and frequencies, including repeaters will be allowed. This will allow many of our new hams who do not as of yet have HF privileges to get on and make contacts during the West Central Florida Section QSO Party.
MS CITRUS BIKE TOUR – SATURDAY MAY 2 AND SUNDAY MAY 3:
On the date you will receive this newsletter, the MS Citrus Bike Tour will be held this weekend on Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3. The event starts at the Fantasy of Flight in Polk County near I-4 and go through parts of Polk, Osceola, and Orange Counties and ends at the Royal Caribe Hotel in south Orlando. Jason Triolo KD4ACG, the amateur radio coordinator has requested an extra two or three volunteers to help out with the event even at this late hour. You may contact him via email at jtriolo@verizon.net
Thanks to all of you from the West Central Florida Section who have volunteered to participate in this event with most of you returning from previous years and with much experience. Communications for the MS Citrus Bike Tour will be held on the WC4PEM Repeater System in Polk County (443.900 MHz, 444.625 MHz, 444.950 MHz, and 146.985 MHz ) and the 443.100 MHz K4ZPZ repeater at Lake Buena Vista near Orlando.
WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION FIELD DAY 2015 CARAVAN:
Once again this year there will be a West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan. However you will see different people on the caravan. The Field Day Caravan this year will be Ben Henley KI4IGX, our Section Emergency Coordinator, and myself. So be sure to register your Field Day operation on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator as we will use that list to generate a travel itinerary and get to stop by and see your club or group Field Day operation. Be sure to register your Field Day site with the ARRL by Saturday May 23 if you wish a visit from the WCF Section Field Day Caravan and look forward to seeing many of you on ARRL Field Day.
NEXT WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION ARES MEETING AT THE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY EOC – SATURDAY JULY 11:
After some changes in the Section calendar, the next WCF Section ARES Meeting which will be held at the Hillsborough County EOC which is located at 2711 E. Hanna. Av., not far from Hillsborough Av. In Tampa. The meeting will begin at 1300 (1:00 P.M.). The meeting will be preceded by an WCF Section ARES Luncheon at the Taco Bus on Hillsborough Avenue at 1100 (11:00 A.M.). For specific information about the location of the luncheon go to http://arrlwcf.org/event/wcf-section-ares-luncheon-2/ and for specific information about the location of the Section ARES meeting go to http://arrlwcf.org/event/wcf-section-ares-meeting-3/.
STATION APPOINTEE MONTHLY REPORTS – NOW FILE THEM ON LINE:
If you are serving as an ARRL Station Appointee, please be sure to file a monthly report by the 5th day of the month following the month being reported. For example for the month of January, your report would be due by February 5th. To those who have been filing their monthly reports, a sincere thank you for your effort. If you wish, you may now go to our Section website and fill out your monthly report there. Go to the section in the menu called Section Forms which is at http://arrlwcf.org/section-forms/arrl-net-manager-monthly-report-form/ or Select the appropriate report form in the Section Forms menu. Upon successful submission you will receive an on screen confirmation and almost immediately you will receive an email confirmation for your records that also goes to the Cabinet member that oversees your program. Your report is then filed and you are all done for the month. Regular reporting is an ARRL requirement to hold an ARRL Station Appointment.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MONTH OF APRIL:
On Saturday April 4, Christine Duez KK4KJN, Ben Henley KI4IGX, Randy Payne K4EZM, Geoff Haines N1GY, and I attended and participated in the First Annual West Central Florida Section Technical Conference. A detailed report is given later in this newsletter.
On Saturday April 18, I attended TARCFest #33 at the Tampa Amateur Radio Clubhouse in Tampa. TARCFest #33 was very well attended and a good time was had by those who attended. Ben Henley KI4IGX conducted and Randy Payne K4EZM atttended the West Central Florida Section ARES Meeting on that afternoon, that was postponed from Saturday April 11, and held instead at the Hardee County EOC in downtown Wauchula, with lunch preceding the meeting at the Panda Restaurant. I attempted to make it to the meeting following his attendance at TARCFest #33 but did not arrive in Wauchula until the meeting had concluded.
The meeting was postponed one week due to the memorial service for Warren Elly W1GUD, to accommodate those who wishes to attend the funeral and also the Hillsborough County EOC was not available due to nearly all of the Hillsborough County ARES staff being at W1GUD’s funeral.
AN OUTSTANDING SUCCESS – A REPORT ON THE FIRST ANNUAL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION TECHNICAL CONFERENCE:
The First Annual West Central Florida Section Technical Conference was held on Saturday April 4, 2015 at the Bert J. Harris Agri-Civic Center in Sebring. The conference was well attended, with 43 registered and signed in at the conference and a head count was taken in the afternoon and 48 were observed in attendance. The conference was very well received by all in attendance and everyone was looking forward to the conference next year.
We are looking to go to either Hillsborough or Pinellas County for the Second Annual West Central Florida Section Technical Conference which will be tentatively held in early 2016 and we promise will not be on Easter weekend next year. Many of our speakers are tentatively slated to return next year with new programs including Bob Allison WB1GCM from ARRL Headquarters. We will publish the date, time, and location as soon as this is determined, which we hope to be in the next 30-45 days, on the Section website and in the subsequent issue of THE WCF PRESSER.
SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGERS REPORT FOR MARCH 2015 – By Doug Williams N2DW:
Station Activity Reports (SAR):
Call Sign Originate Receive Sent Delivered TOTAL
N2DW 0 8 6 0 14
K4EEI 0 41 57 1 99
W8IM 1 20 11 0 32
Public Service Honor Roll:
N2DW 109
W8IM 82
West Central Florida Section Net Activity Reports:
Net Name Session Stations Traffic Minutes Net Manager
AIN 3 30 1 52 WA4ATF
EAGLE NET 31 1066 31 892 W4PXE
SPARC 40 580 32 1139 W4TSP
UPCOMING HAMFESTS IN THE SECTION:
Hamfest season is now over until late next fall. We only have two hamfests coming up in the Section between now and November.
Saturday May 23: Wormfest 2015 – Freedom Lake Park – Pinellas Park, FL
Saturday August 22: TARCFest #34 – TARC Clubhouse – Tampa, FL
For more information on hamfests and events in the Section , please visit our website Section Calendar at http://www.arrlwcf.org/events for more information.
SECTION MANAGERS CONTACT INFORMATION AND CONCLUSION:
Here is my contact information. Much of this is listed now on Page 16 of QST.
U.S. Mail: 6350 Mills Road Fort Meade, FL 33841
Telephone: (863) 245-9923
Email: kt4wx@arrl.org
Website: http://www.kt4wx.org.
That is all for this issue of THE WCF PRESSER. See you all here next month and hopefully I will get to see many of you at a meeting, hamfest, or talk to you on the air.
73 de Darrell KT4WX