Author: Darrell Davis KT4WX

24TH ANNUAL FIELD DAY CARAVAN AND SPECIAL EDITION OF THE EAGLE NET FOR ARRL FIELD DAY.

In keeping with tradition, once again this year our Section Manager and some of the Assistant Section Managers will be doing the 24th Annual West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan.  The following are participating in the caravan:  Mike Douglas W4MDD our Section Managers and Assistant Section Managers Russ Delaney N4RTD and Darrell Davis KT4WX.  They will be split into two teams.  For areas of coverage and APRS tracking information you may go to the West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan page at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/west-central-florida-section-field-day-caravan/.

For those wishing to send NTS Radiograms to our Section Manager, Section Emergency Coordinator, or anyone else for bonus points, there will be a special extended edition of the Eagle Net on Saturday June 22, 2024 at 2030 Eastern Time.  Dave Rockwell W4PXE, our Section Traffic Manager, will be Net Control of this special edition and will be NCS from W4ACS, the station at the Pinellas County Emergency Operations Center.

Also on the West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan page there are instructions on what should be included in an NTS Radiogram to our Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator and suggested way in which clubs, groups, or individuals may send that NTS Radiogram as well.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section wishes everyone a successful 2024 ARRL Field Day.

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FLORIDA QSO PARTY SET FOR LAST WEEKEND OF APRIL 2024

The Florida Contest Group recently announced the 26th Annual Florida QSO Party will be held on Saturday April 27, 2024 from 1600Z (Noon EDT) through 0159Z (9:59 PM EDT) and on Sunday April 28, 2024 from 1200Z (8:00 AM EDT) and 2159Z (5:59 PM EDT), which is a 20 hour total operating period.   The 40, 20, 15, and 10 Meter bands will be used.  All 67 Florida Counties will be eligible for activation.

For all the details on the Florida QSO Party, including the Florida QSO Spelling Bee, please go to their Florida QSO Party website at https://www.floridaqsoparty.org.  For the Florida QSO Party 2024 Flyer, please go to https://floridaqsoparty.org/wp-content/uploads/CQ-FL-HAMS-FQP-2024-Announcement-REV-A-12-15-23.pdf

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BIKE MS CITRUS TOUR NOW BIKE MS SUNCOAST CHALLENGE AND STILL IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS.

The Bike MS Citrus Tour, which ran for 36 years, has been rebranded and relocated.  The BIke MS Citrus Tour is now the Bike MS Suncoast Challenge.  The 2024 Bike MS Suncoast Challenge will be held on Saturday April 20, 2024.  The ride is now a one day event instead of two days.  The starting point is now on the south end of Lakewood Ranch. The ride will still have 25, 50, 75, and 100 mile routes, that will run from the south end of Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County, to the south end of Sarasota County near the Nokomis and Englewood Area.  The ARRL West Central Florida Section is the sponsor of the amateur radio communications for the Bike MS Suncoast Challenge.

The 2024 Suncoast Challenge will be using the Verna NI4CE Analog repeaters, which are on 145.430 MHz and 442.950 MHz,as “stand alone” repeaters and will be separated from the NI4CE Analog repeater system for the duration of the Bike MS Suncoast Challenge.

The Bike MS Suncoast Challenge, due partially to its move, is still in need of several rest stop operators and SAG vehicle operators.  If you wish to volunteer, please sign up at the following website:  https://suncoastchalllenge.org.  Once you have registered, someone will get back with you on getting you assigned.

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10TH ANNUAL TECHCON SPEAKING SCHEDULE AND LIST OF PRESENTATIONS NOW AVAILABLE.

The Speakers Schedule and List of Presentations for the 10th Annual TECHCON are now available in PDF format on the TECHCON webpage at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.  Please note that these documents could have minor updates between now and Thursday 2/22/24 and those documents will be updated and loaded to the same location.

The primary track will be streamed live on the Section YouTube channel which is located at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFA4-HEjr-lYMFisVG_Nk5A.  The second track will be recorded.  Both primary and secondary track will have post-production editing done to them by Russ Delaney N4RTD, one of our ARRL Technical Specialists, to add any slides into them, to make the video a complete product.  They will all be available in one to three weeks after the conference once the editing work is complete.

Just a reminder, that if you are planning on attending the 10th Annual TECHCON and have already done so, please register at http://arrlwcf.org/section-forms/wcftechconfregistration/.  This will allow us to prepare properly for TECHCON.

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FRIDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOP CANCELLED.  FRIDAY EVENING SOCIAL AND SATURDAY SESSION GO ON AS PLANNED

Due to a number of circumstances the Friday Afternoon Workshop scheduled for the 10th Annual TECHCON has been cancelled.  Darrell Davis KT4WX, Technical Coordinator and Chairman of the Conference made the following statement about the cancellation, “Being we did not have someone to step forward and volunteer to pick it up, and I have been battling illness on and off since late December, I have not been healthy enough to properly prepare for it.  Therefore I had no choice but to cancel the Friday Afternoon Workshop.  My apologies to all for the cancellation.”

All other activities scheduled for TECHCON will go on as planned.  The Friday Evening Social and the Saturday General Session.

If you are planning on attending the Friday Evening Social, please fill out the Contact Form on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/section-forms/contact-info/.  Please include how many in your party are attending.  The location of the Friday Evening Social, and all other TECHCON information may be found on the TECHCON webpage at: http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.

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TAMPA BAY HAMFEST FORUM HIGHLIGHTS.

Coming this Friday and Saturday, will be the 48th Annual Tampa Bay Hamfest and the 23rd Annual ARRL West Central Florida Section Convention in Plant City at the Strawberry Festival Grounds TECO Expo Center.  The following are highlights from forums being offered at the Tampa Bay Hamfest on Saturday December 9, 2023:

NXDN Forum – Paul Toth NB9X:  This forum will cover the latest developments in NXDN and the NI4CE NXDN system.

Net Operations Forum  – Dave Rockwell W4PXE:  This forum will cover the basics of Net, Net Control duties, Net Liaison, and the role of the Net Manager.

World Radiosport Team Championship Forum – Lu Romero W4LT:  Come and hear about the WRTC 2022 Competition from Lu, who was there while he was on summer vacation.

ARRL Section and Division Forum – Mike Douglas W4MDD:  This forum will announce the winner of the Ellen White W1YL Award, and a discussion on the latest Section and Division happenings.

West Central Florida Group Annual Meeting:  This is annual membership meeting of the West Central Florida Group who operates and owns the NI4CE Analog and NXDN Repeater Systems.

SKYWARN Training – Dan Noah WX4DAN:  This is a full fledged, and in-person, SKWARN training session.  This will be Dan’s last session conducting SKYWARN training before his retirement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For the times of these forums, location of the forums at the hamfest, and other hamfest information, please go to the Tampa Bay Hamfest website at https://tampabayhamfest.org.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section will have a table at the Tampa Bay Hamfest staffed by our Section Manager and other Section staff and officials.  Also there will be ARRL QSL Card checking table at the Tampa Bay Hamfest.

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DATE AND VENUE FOR 10TH ANNUAL TECHCON IN 2024 SET

The date and venue for the 10th Annual TECHCON have been set.  The date for the 10th Annual TECHCON, the Annual Technical Conference for the ARRL West Central Florida Section, is Friday February 23, 2024 and Saturday February 24, 2024.  The venue for the 10th Annual TECHCON will once again be the Hillsborough County Public Safety Operations Complex, located at 9450 E. Columbus Dr., Tampa, FL 33519, on the east side of Tampa, just on the west side of I-75.

The 10th Annual TECHCON primary track will be available for viewing on the Section YouTube channel.  The second track, that runs simultaneously will be recorded for later viewing on the Section YouTube channel.  The Section YouTube channel is located at  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFA4-HEjr-lYMFisVG_Nk5A.

Registration for the 10th Annual TECHCON is now open.  We are looking for presenters for TECHCON.  To have a successful TECHCON, we must have those who are willing to be presenters, especially those who have not been a presenter before.  The topic of presentation is, as always, the choice of the presenter, as long as the topic is related to amateur radio.

You may register to either attend or make a presentation for TECHCON at http://arrlwcf.org/section-forms/wcftechconfregistration/.  For more information about TECHCON you may go to the TECHCON webpage on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.  Please note that the TECHCON

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NWS RUSKIN ACTIVATING WX4TOR FOR SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY 2023

Coming up on Saturday December 2, 2023, will be the 2023 Skywarn Recognition Day.  Skywarn Recognition Day.  Skywarn Recognition Day was started in 1999 and has been done annually ever since. For more information about Skywarn Recognition Day you may go to the Skywarn Recognition Day information page, which is in PDF form, at https://www.weather.gov/media/tbw/skywarn/srd2023.pdf

The National Weather Service Office in Ruskin will be activating WX4TOR for Skywarn Recognition Day.  WX4TOR will be monitoring the Analog and NXDN NI4CE repeater systems if you would like a quick check-in during the event.  For information on the NI4CE Repeater Systems, either Analog and or NXDN you may go to https://www.ni4ce.org.  WX4TOR will also be trying to contact as many hams as possible HF and possibly EchoLink.  The hours of operation of WX4TOR will be on Saturday December 2, 2023 from 0800 EST until 1600 EST.

If you are interested in operating WX4TOR for a time slot, please contact Dan Noah WX4DAN, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, via email at daniel.noah@noaa.gov.

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SPECIAL SESSIONS OF THE EAGLE NET PLANNED FOR CHRISTMAS EVE 2023 AND NEW YEARS EVE 2023.

On Sunday December 24, 2023 and Sunday December 31, 2023, Darrell Davis KT4WX our Assistant Section Manager – Technology and ARRL Technical Coordinator, will continue his annual tradition of being the Net Control for the Eagle Net on the Christmas Eve and New Years Eve editions of this net.

The Eagle Net is the NTS Traffic Net for the ARRL West Central Florida Section and normally meets daily at 2030 Eastern Time on the NI4CE Repeater System, 365 days a year.  The only day(s) the Eagle Net is not held is if the NI4CE Repeater System is being used to support gathering of information for the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, in a tropical storm incident, hurricane incident, or other severe weather outbreak.  For more information on the NI4CE Repeater System, including a list of repeater frequencies go to https://www.ni4ce.org.

On Christmas Eve, those who check in will be asked to share a favorite past Christmas experience, or a favorite Christmas present which they either gave or received. On New Years Eve those who check in will be asked to share a project and or resolution completed this year.  Alternatively, those who check in could share a project and or resolution planned for the New Year. This will be the 6th year of this tradition, which Davis started in 2018.

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