Category: News

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.

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SPRING 2026 ARRL WCF SECTION ARES MEETING RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE

On Saturday March 21, 2026, at 1900 EDT, the Spring 2026 ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES Meeting was held via Zoom.  The video recording of the meeting is now available for viewing on the Section YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/@arrlwcf.

Also on the Section YouTube channel are the presentations from each TECHCON since the 7th Annual TEHCON in 2021, and now there are playlists for each TECHCON since 2021.  There is now another playlist for Section ARES Meetings that were recorded.

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THE WCF PRESSER FOR MARCH/APRIL 2026 IS NOW PUBLISHED

THE WCF PRESSER for March/April 2026, issue #70, has just been published and is now available for download from the Section website at https://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-section-presser-arrl-west-central-florida-section-news/.  In this issue you will find several features articles and many thanks to those authors who submitted them.

THE WCF PRESSER production team is composed of Darrell Davis KT4WX, Assistant Section Manager for Technology, as editor, and Russ Delaney N4RTD Assistant Section Manager for Digital Communications, as layout coordinator.  In order to continue to publish THE WCF PRESSER, content is needed.  The editors are not “mind readers” and your submissions are definitely needed.  If your amateur radio club or group is having an activity or event, write it up and send it to Darrell Davis KT4WX via email at kt4wx@arrl.net.  The submission format does not matter and the production team can work with any format.  Pictures being included is encouraged.

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12th ANNUAL TECHCON VIDEOS AND PAPERS NOW AVAILABLE

The 12th Annual TECHCON was held on Saturday February 28, 2026 with about 35 to 40 in attendance personally.  However, there is a “silver lining” in this cloud.  Russ Delaney N4RTD, Assistant Section Manager, has processed all the videos, added the speaker slides to them, and they are now available for viewing on the ARRL West Central Florida Section YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@arrlwcf.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager and Technical Coordinator, has added the links to the slide presentations developed by all our presenters and they are available on the 12th Annual TECHCON webpage at https://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.

Later in the year, the 12th Annual TECHCON webpage will be archived for historical and future reference and will always be accessbile via the TECHCON webpage.

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CHRISTINE DUEZ K4KJN APPOINTED AS ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER

On Saturday February 14, 2025, Darrell Davis KT4WX appointed Christine Duez K4KJN as an Assistant Section Manager – Served Agencies Liaison.  Duez had previously served in several cabinet positions including Section Youth Coordinator, Section Emergency Coordinator, and most recently as Public Information Coordinator.  Duez has served as Emergency Coordinator for Polk County ARES since July 2020.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, made the following comments about the appointment of Duez as an Assistant Section Manager, “Christine is a skilled communicator, and is an excellent people oriented person.  She will do very well as a liaison between various served agencies such as Emergency Management, the American Red Cross, and other served agencies.”

Duez in her professional career, served in numerous capacities as an American Sign Language interpreter since 1989 and holding certification with the national Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf since 1989.  Duez has obtained an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences during her professional career and retired from Polk County Public Schools as an ASL interpreter for Southwest Middle School in Lakeland.  Duez still does part time work as an ASL interpreter in retirement.  Duez other interests include playing the piano for the Spanish ministry of her church, participation in Toastmasters (an organization that helps people build leadership and public speaking skills), growing flowers at home, and traveling.

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THE WCF ARES COMMUNICATOR FOR MARCH 2026 IS PUBLISHED.

The March 2026 issue of THE WCF ARES COMMUNICATOR, is now available for download on the WCF ARES COMMUNICATOR page located at https://arrlwcf.org/home/wcf-ares-communicator.  This issue features guest columnist Christine Duez K4KJN, ARES Emergency Coordinator for Polk County ARES discussing the 2026 ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES Simulate Emergency Test called Operation Dark Start.  Also the monthly ARES reports for January 2026 are listed as well.

All issues will be archived on this page for current and historical reference.

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12th Annual TECHCON List of Presentations and Speakers Schedule Published

The List of Presentations and Speakers Schedule for the 12th Annual TECHCON are now published on the TECHCON webpage located at https://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.

The Friday Evening Social venue is also finalized.  It will be held at the Golden Corral located at 815 Providence Road on the west side of Brandon.  The Friday Evening Social will begin at 1800 and go until 2000.

The presentation slides and handouts will be available on the TECHCON page starting Saturday morning also located at https://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/wcftechconference/.  The presentations for TECHCON will be recorded and made available one to two weeks after the conclusion of TECHCON on the Section YouTube Channel which is located at https://www.youtube.com/@arrlwcf.  Due to the difficulty of logistics, there is no longer a live stream of TECHCON.

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NTS DIGITAL TRAFFIC NETWORK NEED VOLUNTEERS

The ARRL and Radio Relay International (RRI) are working to reinvigorating the National Traffic System (NTS). Traffic handling was once a core element of amateur radio operations. When sending telegrams was expensive, ham radio operators offered a free alternative for noncommercial messages. With the development of the internet and text messaging on our phones, the NTS has seen a significant decline. Passing radiograms is still a critical part of our emergency communications and a component of our public service toolbox.

The Digital Traffic Network (DTN), a team effort by ARRL and RRI, has taken over a considerable portion of the NTS workload. DTN operates message servers where a local Digital Traffic Station (DTS) receive and download message for local traffic nets (e. g. our Eagle Net or the Florida Phone Traffic Net – FPTN). These digital stations then serve as liaison between DTN and the local voice or CW net (what we call the “last mile” in communications).

We need more DTS operators in our section. One advantage is you can download the traffic on your own schedule though you would need to sign into one of the local traffic nets to pass the radiograms to the recipient. If you would be interested, checkout the information at the following websites:  ARRL National Traffic System – https://arrl.org/nts, and the Digital Traffic Network – https://nts-digital.net/mw/index.php/Main_Page

If you are interested in being part of Digital Traffic Network, please contact our Section Traffic Manager, Dave Rockwell W4PXE via email at w4pxe@arrl.net.  Rockwell will provide your information to a point of contact from the National Traffic who will assist you in getting started.

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ARRL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST IS CONCLUDED

The ARRL West Central Florida Section Simulated Emergency Test (SET), called Operation Dark Start, is now successfully concluded.  ARES and ACS groups from all ten counties of the ARRL West Central Florida Section participated in today’s exercise, which simulated a widespread power grid failure that escalated from a simulated single power plant failure.  The ARRL West Central Florida Section extends its thanks to everyone who participated in the SET, no matter what their capacity.

A detailed report on Operation Dark Start will follow as an article in an upcoming article in a future issue of THE WCF PRESSER, the bimonthly newsletter of the ARRL West Central Florida Section.

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ARRL WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION SET SCENARIO IS ANNOUNCED

Tonight on the Eagle Net, the following simulated scenario was announced for the ARRL West Central Florida Section Simulated Emergency Test (SET) which takes place tomorrow morning from 0900 through 1200.

“The following is a drill message.  At around 0700 EST today a fire at the transformer station next to the Nuclear power plant in Dade County, FL caused multiple power generating facilities to go offline.  The automatic protection systems created a domino effect, and has darkened most of the Gold Coast and Space Coast in eastern Florida.  A complicating factor is the recent opening of an AI Hub just west of Vero Beach, putting a heavy strain on the electrical grid.  The State has alerted all 67 counties, and local emergency managers are monitoring the progress of power restoration.  This is a drill, repeat this is a drill!!

ALL WCF Section ARRL Emergency Coordinators should plan on joining in on a radio planning net at 1000 Eastern Time, Saturday February, 7 2026 on the NI4CE analog repeater system.

All ARES personnel are to stay in communication with your local ARES Emergency Coordinator in your county for any instructions on how to participate in the SET.

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