ARRL West Central Florida Section

NEW NET MANAGER APPOINTED FOR THE WCF SECTION TECHNICAL NET

On Friday April 2, 2020, Burt Wizeman K4SRQ, an ARRL Technical Specialist, was appointed to be the new Net Manager for the ARRL West Central Florida Section Technical Net.  Wizeman succeeds Geoff Haines N1GY, who retired as Net Manager and Technical Coordinator for the ARRL West Central Florida Section in late 2019.

First licensed in 1982 as KB4BPP, has been involved in the technical side of amateur radio since being licensed.  During this time Wizeman helped with the installation of the first digipeater in Lake Wales and built from kit form an early version of the original TAPR TNC for packet radio and even used packet radio to send and receive DOS program source code as text files via packet radio, an advanced feature for the time.  Today Wizeman’s interests in amateur radio include working with Windows and particularly Linux programming, doing projects with the Raspberry PI computer, kit building, wire antenna design,and computer repair.  The best Chicago IT companies also look for opportunities to collaborate with him. Wizeman is active with the Sarasota Emergency Radio Club, the SERC Annual Hamfest, and maintaining the SERC Facebook page.

Wizeman in his professional career had previously worked for Heathkit in Tampa in the early to mid 1980’s , doing stand up comedy in the 1990’s and in Information Technology, and more recently as a Christian school teacher and working in Information Technology for the Christian school he taught in and currently working in IT for Saraota County Board of County Commissioners.  Wizeman’s other interests include being involved in his church ministry and spending time with his wife Nancy and his children Hanna and Daniel.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section had the following to say about Wizeman’s appointment, “Burt will make an excellent Net Manager for the WCF Section Technical Net.  Burt is really good with people and has a real good technical background, a very effective combination especially on the Tech Net.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank Phil Wilson N8IPS for filling in as an ‘interim net manager’ unofficially until Burt was appointed as Net Manager.”

The ARRL West Central Florida Section Technical Net is held every Thursday evening at 2100 hours on the NI4CE Repeater System.  The ARRL West Central Florida Section Technical Net is an question and answer net for technical topics, with participants giving updates on projects as time permits.

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EAST PASCO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY HAMFEST SPRING 2020 CANCELLED

On Monday 4/27/20, it was announced on the East Pasco Amateur Radio Society Facebook page that the East Pasco Amateur Radio Society Spring 2020 Hamfest that had been scheduled for Saturday 5/09/20 in Dade City, has been cancelled to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Any further hamfest or special event cancellations will be announced via a WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE.

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UPCOMING SKYWARN TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Dan Noah WX4DAN, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service Office in Ruskin has announced three upcoming SKYWARN Spotter online training sessions.  The following are the dates and times currently scheduled:  Tuesday, April 28,  from 1000 through 1100, Tuesday April 28 from 1900 through 2000, and Thursday April 30 from 1400 through 1500.

The online training is free of charge but pre-registration is required.  To register for whatever session you wish to attend please go to the SKYWARN Registration Page.  The training will be virtual using the Join Me meeting platform and the training session will be 60 minutes or less.  The training session details will be sent the day of the training to those who have signed up.

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WCF EXPERIMENTER WINTER 2020 REVISED ISSUE RELEASED.  ARRL RELEASES QEX AND NCJ ONLINE EDITIONS

Due to the accident omission of a graphic and the proper publication credit notation in the lead article “Automatic Tuner for Small Magnetic Loop Antennas“, an updated version of the Winter 2020 edition of the WCF EXPERIMENTER has been posted to the Section website.  Our apologies to all for this unintentional oversight and thank you in advance for your understanding.

In addition, ARRL HQ brought digital editions of QEX and NCJ online this morning.  Now all four ARRL magazines will be available in digital format as a standard ARRL membership benefit.  The four digital journals are:  QEX, On The Air, QEX, and NCJ.  You may access them one of two ways.  The first method is through the Android, iOS, or Amazon Kindle app called “ARRL Magazines”.  The second method is through the ARRL website at the ARRL Magazines page:  http://www.arrl.org/arrl-magazines.  For full details of this new ARRL membership benefit please read the ARRL news article entitled, “ARRL Announces New Benefits for Members” on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-announces-new-benefits-for-members.

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WCF EXPERIMENTER WINTER 2020 ISSUE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

After another long delay, the WCF EXPERIMENTER Winter 2020 issue is now available for download. To download the Winter 2020 issue and any other previous issues please go to the WCF EXPERIMENTER webpage at http://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-experimenter-technical-newsletter/.  The WCF EXPERIMENTER is published quarterly, and on occasion a supplemental issue as needed.

We are targeting release of the Spring 2020 in early to mid May, following the release of the May WCF PRESSER.  We are looking for articles this next edition and future editions of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER.  If you would like to submit an article, please send those submissions to Jim Weslager K3WR via email at weslager@gmail.com.

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NEW EMERGENCY COORDINATOR FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY ARES/RACES APPOINTED

On Monday March 30, 2020, Bill Miller N1CDO, was appointed as the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Hillsborough County ARES/RACES due to the declining health of Roy Drury K4DCT, who subsequently passed away on Wednesday April 1, 2020.

Miller, first licensed in 1980, has been extensively involved with ARES and MARS since he was licensed.  After retiring from a career with the United States Navy, Miller moved to Ruskin, to be close to his parents, where he became involved with Hillsborough County ARES/RACES serving as the Assistant Emergency Coordinator for HF operations and most recently as the executive Assistant Emergency Coordinator.  Miller is also involved with the Kings Point Amateur Radio Club serving as a volunteer examiner and taking care of several repeaters.  Miller also has been providing service for several years with the annual BIke MS CItrus Tour,  Miller is also an ARRL Life Member.

Miller in his professional career served in the United States Navy, having served in numerous locations and had been an Electronics and Operations instructor.

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ROY DRURY K4DCT IS A SILENT KEY

Roy Drury K4DCT passed away on Wednesday April 1, 2020, after a prolonged period of illness.  Roy was serving as ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Hillsborough County ARES/RACES up until shortly before his death and was serving as an ARRL Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for the ARRL West Central Florida Section.  Roy had previously served as an Assistant Emergency Coordinator for Hillsborough County ARES/RACES.  Roy is survived by his wife Dawn K2WLS, who is currently serving as an ARRL District Emergency Coordinator and an Assistant Emergency Coordinator with Hillsborough County ARES/RACES, his son and daughter who are both licensed amateur radio operators.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section had this to say upon Roy’s passing, “Roy never thought about himself but only the good of his family and serving others.  Roy provided great leadership for Hillsborough County ARES/RACES and great service to the amateur radio community and .  He will be missed by all who new him.”

A GoFundMe account has been established to help the Drury family with final expenses and medical expenses.  For more information please go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/druryfamilycare.

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NWS TAMPA BAY TO OFFER VIRTUAL SKYWARN TRAINING ON 4/01/20

The National Weather Service Office in Ruskin just announced a virtual SKYWARN training class, that will be held at 1400 on Wednesday 4/01/20.  To participate in the virtual SKYWARN training class you must register before the class at the following link:  https://goo.gl/rx4qpH.  Seating is limited, so please register ASAP.  The virtual SKYWARN class is free of charge.  Once you are registered you may join the virtual SKYWARN training class at https://www.join.me/NWSTampaBay or by telephone at (866) 231-8384.  The passcode for the training is 813 645 2323.

The following is where you may download the supplemental materials to go along with the class:  Download the Weather Spotters Field Guide at https://go.usa.gov/xnDYC and the Local SKYWARN Severe Weather Spotter page is http://weather.gov/tampa/skywarn.

If anyone has any questions concerning this class you may contact Dan Noah WX4DAN, the Warning Coordination Meterologist at the NWS Office in Ruskin, via email at daniel.noah@noaa.gov.  It is the hope of the National Weather Service to offer more of these virtual SKYWARN training classes in the future.

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FLORIDA QSO PARTY SCHEDULED FOR 4/25/20 AND 4/26/20

The Florida Contest Group has announced the Florida QSO Party will be held this year as scheduled.  The Florida QSO Party is scheduled for Saturday April 25, 2020 and Sunday April 26, 2020. At the present time, mobile operation will be allowed this year as in years past.  For detailed information on contest rules, suggested frequencies of operation, and log entry – submission information go to the Florida QSO Party website at http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/.  The Florida Contest Groups has also establied a Florida QSO Party groups.io list and is open for anyone to join.  Anyone wishing to subscribe to the Florida QSO Party email reflector may send an email request to George Wagner, K5KG at k5kg@k5kg.com, who is administrator of the list.  Upon receiving your request to join, George will send you an invitation to subscribe to the reflector.  When you receive the invitation, simply follow the instructions, and sign yourself up.

The Florida Contest Group simply requests that everyone follow the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and enjoy the contest.

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