Category: News

WCF SECTION FIELD DAY CARAVAN INFORMATION POSTED

The information for the 16th Annual West Central Florida Section is now posted on the Section website at http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/west-central-florida-section-field-day-caravan/. This information includes information on how to track the caravan via APRS and the tentative itinerary of the caravan.

The caravan will consist of Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager, and Christine Duez KK4KJN, our Section Youth Coordinator.  The caravan will start in Polk County and go through the northern part of the Section on Saturday and the southern part of the Section on Sunday.  Darrell and Christine look forward to meeting all of you on Field Day.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

 

TROPICAL STORM COLIN CLEARS THE WCF SECTION – FINAL SPECIAL BULLETIN

Tropical Storm Colin made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida near 0000 early this morning, has already crossed the state, and has re-emerged out over the western Atlantic and is now centered near the North Carolina and South Carolina border. Colin is moving northeast at 33 miles per hour and is expected to transition into an extra-tropical system in the next 12 to 24 hours.

All Tropical Storm Watches and Warnings for the NWS Ruskin Coverage Warning Area (CWA) have been discontinued as of 0500.  NWS Ruskin issued its last Hurricane Local Statement at 0500 this morning as well.  The NWS Ruskin CWA, except for Levy County, is under an Area Flood Watch until 2000 this evening (6/07). The flood watch for Levy County was discontinued at 0500.

All SKYWARN certified amateur radio operators should monitor their local SKYWARN net frequencies in case of any SKYWARN nets due to severe weather for the remainder of the day.  All amateur radio operators in the West Central Florida Section are asked to monitor the latest advisories issued by the National Hurricane Center, as should be normal practice during hurricane season.

The West Central Florida Section wishes to thank all ARES personnel, SKYWARN spotters, and hams doing other tropical storm related service for your dedication and service during this event.  It is recommended that all ARES personnel document your hours of service to your local ARES Emergency Coordinator for inclusion in his monthly ARES report.   This will be the last WCF SECTION SPECIAL BULLETIN for Tropical Storm Colin.

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SECTION NETS ON NI4CE REPEATER SYSTEM THIS EVENING CANCELLED

Per the request of Ed Allen WA4ISB, trustee of the NI4CE repeater system, due to the severe weather potential with the landfall of Tropical Storm Colin and the operation of a SKYWARN Net, the WCF Section Nets on the NI4CE repeater system will be cancelled for Monday 6/06/16.  The nets to be cancelled are the Section ARES and Information Net at 1930 and the Eagle Net at 2030.  The Eagle Net will resume tomorrow evening at 2030, and the Section ARES and Information Net will resume on Monday 6/13/16.

Thank you to all for your understanding.

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THE WCF EXPERIMENTER – Summer 2016 – ISSUE HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED

The Summer 2016 edition of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER, the Official Technical Newsletter of the ARRL West Central Florida Section has just been published.  You may download the Spring 2016 edition at http://arrlwcf.org/download/wcfexperimenter/WCFExperimenter_3Q2016.pdf.  For all past issues of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER since its reboot a few years ago you may go to http://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-experimenter-technical-newsletter/.

This issue is one of the largest issues published recently thanks to the contribution of some articles by amateur radio operators who reside in the West Central Florida Section.  Geoff Haines N1GY, our Technical Coordinator for the West Central Florida Section is the editor of THE WCF EXPERIMENTER.  The next issue will be the FALL 2016 issue so now is the time to get busy writing an article for the next issue if you have a project or idea you would like to write about.  Send any submissions for THE WCF EXPERIMENTER to Geoff Haines N1GY at n1gy@arrl.net.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

TROPICAL STORM COLIN FORMS – WCF SECTION PREPAREDNESS

On Sunday morning at 0800 EDT, Tropical Depression #3 forms near the Yucatan peninsula, then is upgraded to Tropical Storm Colin at 1630 EDT Sunday afternoon.  Tropical Storm Colin was located as of the 1700 EDT advisory about 465 miles southeast of Tampa, FL.  The storm is moving north and is currently expected to turn northeast before making landfall in the big bend area of the Florida panhandle sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Tropical Storm Warning are currently in effect for Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties and for the gulf waters from Sarasota County through Pasco County.  An Area Flood Watch will be in effect on Monday 6/06 from 0400 through 2400.

All ARES personnel should stay in contact with their local ARRL Emergency Coordinator in their county in case of any potential activation.  All SKYWARN certified amateur radio operators should monitor their local SKYWARN net frequencies in case of any SKYWARN nets due to severe weather.  All amateur radio operators in the West Central Florida Section are asked to monitor the latest advisories issued by the National Hurricane Center,  any Hurricane Local Statements or any other related watches or warnings issued by the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, which covers all counties in the West Central Florida Section.

The website for the National Hurricane Center is http://www.nhc.noaa.gov and the website for the National Weather Service Office in Ruskin (Tampa Bay) is http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw.

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