Category: News

WCF EXPERIMENTER SPRING 2020 ISSUE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

The WCF EXPERIMENTER Spring 2020 issue is now available for download. To download the Spring 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 Summer 2020 of the WCF EXPERIMENTER in the month of July.  We are looking for articles for 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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WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA SECTION FIELD DAY CARAVAN GOING VIRTUAL FOR 2020

After much consideration, and in consultation with the members of the Field Day Caravan team, Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager for the ARRL West Central Florida Section, has decided to cancel the in person ARRL West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan for 2020, out of a sense of precaution to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  The ARRL West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan will be held virtually, most likely using teleconferencing, instead of conducting the caravan in its traditional format.  Details of the virtual ARRL West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan will be published on the Field Day Caravan webpage on the Section website which is at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/west-central-florida-section-field-day-caravan/ as soon as they are finalized.

 

The ARRL West Central Florida Section Field Day Caravan has been conducted by the Section Manager and other section cabinet members since the creation of the ARRL West Central Florida Section in 2000.  For many years the caravan was conducted by the Section Manager and the Section Emergency Coordinator.  Starting in 2017, the caravan began to operate in multiple teams of two section cabinet members each to allow the caravan to visit all the Field Day sites on Saturday during daylight and evening hours.

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WORMFEST 2020 CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19

On Thursday May 7th, 2020, Bill Williams AG4QX, President of the Glorious Society of the Wormhole announced via email that the Wormfest 2020 scheduled for Saturday May 23, 2020 at Freedom Lake Park in Pinellas Park has been cancelled.  The cancellation was due to the fact that Freedom Lake Park will not be open to the public through the end of May due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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NEXT SKYWARN TRAINING OPPORTUNITY – 5/12/20

The next training opportunity for SKYWARN training from the NWS Office in Ruskin will be on Tuesday May 12, 2020 from 1000 until 1100.  The training will be conducted by Dan Noah WX4DAN, the Warning Coordination Meterologist for the National Weather Office in Ruskin, which covers all of the ARRL West Central Florida Section and four other counties.

The training is FREE of charge but pre-registration is required.  The training will be conducted by the Go To Meeting online conference platform.  To register for the training, please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5571275302588365584.

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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. As for the retiree, he can spend most of his leisure days on sites like 케이카지노.

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.

END OF PRESS RELEASE