Author: Darrell Davis KT4WX

THE PRESSER: ARRL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION NEWS

Issue #2 – February 2015

By Darrell Davis KT4WX

ARRL West Central Florida Section Manager

(NOTE: This newsletter with hyperlinks included is located online at http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/west-central-florida)

NEW ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER APPOINTED – RANDY PAYNE K4EZM:

On Monday January 25^th, Randy Payne K4EZM was appointed to be an Assistant Section Manager for Administration for the West Central Florida. Randy will be assisting me with Administrative duties of the Section. For the full press release go to http://arrlwcf.org/news/2015/01/29/wcf-section-press-release-6-12615/.

THE FIRST ANNUAL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION TECHNICAL CONFERENCE:

The First Annual West Central Florida Section Technical Conference will be held on Saturday April 4, 2015 from 9:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. at the Bert J. Harris Jr. Agri-Civic Center, 4905 George Blvd, Sebring. Welcome and last minute registration will begin at 8:15 A.M. If you are planning on attending, please go to the WCF Section Technical Conference Registration Page at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/ and fill out the online registration form. You will receive an online and email confirmation of your successful registration. There you can also download the conference flyer, and look WCF Section Technical Conference Event Page on the WCF Section Events Calendar, which has a Google Map showing the location of the Agri-Civic Center. The direct link to the Section Calendar Event Page for the WCF Section Technical Conference is at http://www.arrlwcf.org/event/first-annual-arrl-wcf-section-technical-conference/.

We are still looking for more speakers. If you have an area of expertise in any area of amateur radio or amateur radio related technology consider being on of our speakers. Having a PowerPoint slide show and or PDF handouts is a great addition but not required if you wish to speak. We will have a section on our website for PDF handouts and or PowerPoint presentations that will go live when the conference begins, so those who attend the conference will be able to view and or download these materials on their tables and or smart-phones for viewing during the presentations.

The conference schedule will be finalized in mid March and the conference schedule will be published on the Section website mid to late March. We will have hourly door prizes and several door prizes at the end of the day. You must be present to win one of the door prizes. Also we will have a guest speaker for one of the conference slots from ARRL Headquarters. Anyone from inside or outside of the Section is welcome to attend or be a speaker af the conference.

WCF SECTION 15TH BIRTHDAY QSO PARTY:

The ARRL West Central Florida Section turned 15 years old on January 15, 2015. It seemed appropriate that we celebrate the 15^th birthday of the Section. The WCF Section QSO Party will be held from April 1, 2015 until June 30, 2015. We will have the complete WCF Section QSO Party rules published during February on the Section website. 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 for the 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 club or group is 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/.

STATION APPOINTEES PLEASE REAPPLY:

To those of you who have re-applied for your various ARRL Station Appointments, thank you very much. If you have been serving as an ARRL Station Appointee (Emergency Coordinator, Official Relay Station, Net Manager, Official Emergency Station, Official Observer, Local Government Liaison, Technical Specialist) and have not reapplied, please go to our newly redesigned Section website and reapply on the Online Station Appointment Form at http://www.arrlwcf.org/wcf-section-programs-2/station-appointee-application-form/ in the Section Program tab to continue your appointment. This allows us to know who is interested in continuing to serve as an ARRL Station Appointee and who is no longer active. Please be sure to do so by the end of this month.

STATION APPOINTEE MONTHLY REPORTS:

Also if you are serving in one of these appointments, please be sure to file a monthly report by the 5^th day of the month following the month being reported. For example for the month of January, your report would be due by February 5^th. This can be simply an email to the Cabinet member that is the coordinator over your Station Appointment or myself, telling us what you did last month or anything you feel is worth including. No particular format is necessary. Even if you were not active for that month, simply put something like, “No activity for this month to report”. Regular reporting is an ARRL requirement to hold an ARRL Station Appointment.

ARRL Emergency Coordinators you now a report form for you to use on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/section-forms/emergency-coordinators-monthly-report-form/. We will have online Report forms for the other Station Appointees by the end of the month available for your reports. Time was not available to finish the forms for the other Station Appointees.

SECTION CALENDAR – CALL FOR YOUR CLUB MEETING, RADIO NETS, AND REPEATER INFORMATION:

To those who have already sent us their club meeting information, thank you for sending in that information. If you are contact for your radio club or group, please help us getting out your club meeting, radio net, and repeater information in the right places on our Section website by filling out a Contact Form at http://arrlwcf.org/contact-info/. You will receive an online and email confirmation of what you submitted. Then we can compile this information and put it on the Section website in the appropriate places.

UPCOMING HAMFESTS IN THE SECTION-FORMS

We have the following hamfest coming up in the Section for the month of February:

• Saturday February 13-15: Orlando Hamcation: Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando.
• Saturday February 21: Highlands County Hamfest: Lake Josephine Baptist Church, between Sebring and Lake Placid.

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.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MONTH OF JANUARY:

January was a busy month for your Section Manager and staff. On Saturday January 10^th, the first quarterly WCF Section Cabinet and WCF Section ARES meeting was held in the morning and afternoon respectively at the Highlands County EOC. On Saturday January 17^th, I attended TARCFest #32 at the Tampa Amateur Radio Clubhouse on the north side of Tampa. The Tampa Amateur Radio Club is blessed with a nice clubhouse and club station. On Saturday January 24, Ben Henley KI4IGX (ASM and SEC), Randy Payne K4EZM (ASM and ASEC) and I attended the Desoto County Hamfest, then paid a visit two SPAR Winter Field Day sites. One of these was with the Sarasota Amateur Radio Association held at a Baptist Church on Palmer Blvd in Sarasota, and the other was put on by the Manatee County ARES near Lakewood Ranch. On Friday January 30^th and Saturday January 31^st, Ben Henley KI4IGX and I carpooled together to the Miami Hamboree at the Dade County Youth Fairgrounds in West Miami, to represent the West Central Florida Section. Jeff Beals WA4AW (SM SFL) and his team made us feel welcome and right at home.

SECTION TRAFFIC REPORT:

Starting in the next issue of THE PRESSER we will include the monthly Section Traffic report. Doug N2DW always does a great job with generating these monthly reports and is changing the format so it can be included in THE PRESSER. Thanks Doug for your dedicated labor.

SECTION MANAGERS CONTACT INFORMATION:

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 PRESSER. See you all here next month. Hopefully I will get to see many of you at a meeting, hamfest, or talk to you on the air.

73 de Darrell KT4WX

SECTION MANAGER VISITS TARCFEST XXXII ON JANUARY 17TH

Your Section Manager and his staff have been busy lately.  On Saturday January 17th Darrell Davis KT4WX paid a visit, and presented the ARRL table, at the first TARCFest XXXII, the first TARCFest for 2015.  This is a great tailgate put on by the friendly hams at the Tampa Amateur Radio Club (TARC) located at their clubhouse on North 22nd Street in Tampa, that occurs three times a year.

This club is one of the few in the section that have their own clubhouse and club station.  TARC, as they are called, is one of the oldest clubs in the West Central Florida Section and operate several repeaters in Tampa.

TARCFest XXXIII will be held on Saturday April 18, 2015.  For more information on the Tampa Amateur Radio Club (TARC) or the TARCFest you may visit their website at http://www.hamclub.org

END OF PRESS RELEASE

RANDY PAYNE K4EZM APPOINTED AS AN ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER – ADMINISTRATION

Darrell Davis KT4WX has appointed Randy Payne K4EZM as a new Assistant Section Manager.  Randy has been serving as Emergency Coordinator for Highlands County ARES since 2005 and new appointed ARRL Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Administration, and also an ARRL Technical Specialist.  Randy is joining the Section Cabinet to assist Darrell with various administrative duties.

Randy has been a licensed amateur radio operator and an ARRL member since the 1960’s, and has lived much of his life in Highlands County.  Randy has served previously by pastoring several churches, also working as a college professor, and in his last job was a librarian at South Florida State College library, and is now retired.  In addition to amateur radio, Randy still serves in the church ministry in several capacities and makes time to still go fishing, his other life long hobby.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION!!

Thursday January 15, the ARRL West Central Florida Section will turn 15 years old.  The West Central Florida Section began operation on January 15, 2000.  The Section was created by the ARRL Board of Directors in October 1999, following a grass roots movement of ARRL members in nine counties in and near the Tampa Bay Area to create the Section in the spring of 1999.   The ARRL Board of Directors authorized a ballot of these nine counties and the result of the ballot was in favor to create the Section by 92 percent.  The original section did not include Pasco County.  ARRL members in Pasco County, following a similar procedure as was used in the creation of the Section, voted in favor of joining the new West Central Florida Section and became part of the Section in March 2000.

The first quarterly ARRL West Central Florida ARES meeting for 2015 was held at the Highlands County EOC in Sebring. Ben Henley KI4IGX presented a plaque to Neil Lauritsen W4NHL, our former Section Emergency Coordinator who just retired after 10 years of service as SEC. Also Ben presented ARRL Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators appointment certificates to the following: Neil Lauritsen W4NHL, Paul Womble K4FB, and Randy Payne K4EZM, and Larry Ruegger KO4QS (who could not make the meeting today).

Ben Henley KI4IGX, our Section Emergency Coordinator, presented ARRL Emergency Coordinator certificates to those EC who were present: Roger Weatherly W3IGM (Charlotte EC), Ed Skalecki NI4MX (Manatee EC), Robin Retzloff (Polk EC), Randy Payne K4EZM (Highlands EC), and Darrell Davis (Hardee EC). Ben recognized the ARRL Emergency Coordinator appointments of the other EC’s who could not attend the Section ARES meeting today.

Over 25 attended the WCF Section ARES Luncheon at the Sebring Diner and 41 attended the WCF Section ARES Meeting. The next WCF Section ARES meeting is scheduled for Saturday April 11, 2015 at the Hillsborough County EOC in Tampa.

END OF WCF NEWS PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE #2 – 1/05/15: Attention all amateur radio clubs, radio groups, and radio net managers in the ARRL West Central Florida Section:

We are compiling information for a new Section Radio Club/Group Meeting page for the Section website. If you have a club/group meeting, whether you are ARRL Affiliated or not, please fill out a Contact Form on our new Section website and give us that information so your club/group meeting will be on the list.

We also are compiling a Radio Net Page for the Section website. If you are the net manager for a radio net that you would like to see on these list please fill out the Contact Form on our new Section website and let us know that information.

The Contact Form on our new website is located at http://arrlwcf.org/contact-info/. You will receive a confirmation on the website when you submit the information as well as an email confirmation of what you submitted. Thank you very much to all for your assistance to help better serve your needs.

We will be releasing brief biographies of our new Section Manager and our Section Cabinet members as they become available

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY – Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager

Darrell had been fascinated with amateur radio since seeing old issues of QST at a used bookstore in Winter Haven, FL in 1983, when he was 14 years old.  Darrell was first licensed in May 1989, as Novice class (no longer issued) with a callsign of KC4KGN.  Darrell upgraded to Technician class in July 1989, upgrading next to Advanced class in April 1990, skipping General class.  Darrell changed callsigns to KT4WX, which was sequentially issued and is not a vanity.  Then on April 15, 2000 upgraded to Extra when the next to last license restructuring took place.

Darrell started out as an Assistant Emergency Coordinator in 1990, followed by being appointed as Emergency Coordinator from 1993 – 1998 for Polk County.  Darrell became the first Section Technical Coordinator in 2000 when the ARRL WCF Section was created, and served until 2004.  Darrell was appointed as an Assistant Section Manager January 2004.  After moving out of the Section for two years and coming back was appointed as Emergency Coordinator for Hardee County and a Technical Specialist.  Darrell was appointed an Assistant Section Manager again in February 2014.  Darrell then submitted an Application for Nomination to be the next Section Manager in June 2014.  Darrell was declared elected on September 8, 2014, being no other candidates ran for election.

Darrell’s full biography is on his website at http://www.kt4wx.org

END OF PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE (1/01/15): We have introduced THE PRESSER.  It is the monthly newsletter of the ARRL West Central Florida Section.  You may read it at http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/west-central-florida.

It also will be disseminated via the ARRL Division and Section e-mail list.  You must be an ARRL member and have chosen that option to receive e-mails from ARRL HQ with Section and or Division News.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

The ARRL West Central Florida Section would like to also thank Kevin Poorman KV4CT for his service as Public Information Coordinator, and Bill Johnson WJ4G for his service as Affiliated Clubs Coordinator.  Poorman and Johnson decided to step down and not to continue in their former positions due to commitments with their employment.   We wish them well in their future endeavors