ARRL West Central Florida Section

7th ANNUAL TECHCON TO GO VIRTUAL

The 7th Annual TECHCON, scheduled for Friday February 26 and Saturday February 27, 2021, which was scheduled to take place at the Polk County EOC, will transition to a virtual conference to be held via the Section Zoom account.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Chairman of TECHCON, made the following comments about the 7th Annual TECHCON going virtual, “I deeply regret this decision and it was not made easily.  After consulting with those who are scheduled to speak and our Section Manager Mike Douglas W4MDD, I decided it was in our best interest to have the 7th Annual TECHCON as a virtual event, due to rising numbers of COVID-19 infections in the State of Florida, and also due to the reservations that many of our presenters and even some of our attendees had expressed in doing TECHCON in person.  This will allow for continuity and not put us into the position of not having TECHCON in 2021 at all.”

As of press time, the Friday Afternoon Workshop and the Saturday General Presentation will go forward and the Friday Evening Social, scheduled on Friday February 26, 2021 from 1800 through 2100 has been cancelled.  There will only be one General Presentation Track on Saturday.  Depending upon how many presentations are finally scheduled, the Saturday General Presentation Track could be slight expanded or some presentations can be held on Friday morning before the Friday Afternoon Workshop.

The Section Zoom account will be used for both days of TECHCON.  TECHCON is still free of charge but our attendance at any given time will be limited to 100, due to the terms of our Zoom account.  A final speaking schedule will be available 1 to 2 weeks before TECHCON. Registration will continue to be open and registration is encouraged so we will have an idea who is attending.   The TECHCON workshop and general sessions will be recorded for later viewing.

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WINTER 2021 QUARTERLY ARRL WCF SECTION ARES MEETING TO BE HELD VIA ZOOM

The Winter 2021 ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES Meeting will be held on Saturday January 16, 2021 at 1400 EDT, as a Zoom meeting, instead of a “face to face” meeting due to the continuing COVID-19 situation.  The information to log into the Zoom meeting is located the Section ARES page at : http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-section-programs/ares/

The Zoom meeting will be open for attendees to check in 15 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start at 1400, to allow participants time to log in and be sure their video and or audio is functioning.  Everyone is welcome to attend the Zoom meeting, but due to the terms of our Zoom account we are limited to a seating of 100.

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DARRELL DAVIS KT4WX APPOINTED ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER AND TECHNICAL COORDINATOR.

Mike Douglas W4MDD, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, appointed Darrell Davis KT4WX to be an Assistant Section Manager.  Davis will serve as the Executive Assistant Section Manager.  Dave Birnbaum K2LYV, Technical Coordinator of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, had decided to step down as Technical Coordinator on Thursday December 31, 2020.  Douglas appointed Darrell Davis KT4WX, as the new Technical Coordinator for the ARRL West Central Florida Section.  Davis has previously served as Technical Coordinator from 2000 through the middle of 2004.

Douglas had the following to say about the appointment of Davis, “Darrell Davis, KT4WX will remain an integral part of the West Central Florida Section of the ARRL. As I transition into the new post of Section Manager I will continue to rely on Darrell’s expertise. I do not plan, in the immediate future, on making any changes to staff of the WCF. The Section has been running quite smoothly. I have no desire to reinvent the wheel”.  Davis said the following about his appointments, ” I feel honored to serve on Mike’s cabinet as one of his Assistant Section Manager’s and to serve for the second time as Technical Coordinator.  I got my start in the West Central Florida Section serving as Technical Coordinator and I really enjoyed serving in that capacity.  Building and experimenting with radio, electronics, and computers is my first love in amateur radio.”  Davis also will continue to serve as Chairman of TECHCON, the ARRL West Central Florida Section Technical Conference as part of his responsibilites as Technical Coordinator.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section extends its sincere thanks to Dave Birnbaum K2LYV for his service as Technical Coordinator for the later part of 2019 and 2020.  Birnbaum will continue as an ARRL Technical Specialist and regular contributor to the section newsletters, the WCF PRESSER and the WCF EXPERIMENTER.  Birnbaum has also been an annual presenter at TECHCON and plans to continue in that role as well.

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SARA AND SERC SET TO MERGE ON NEW YEARS DAY 2021

The Sarasota Amateur Radio Association, (SARA: http://www.saraclub.org) and the Sarasota Emergency Radio Club (SERC: http://www.n4ser.org) entered into negotiations to merge the two clubs into one club on Thursday October 15, 2020.  Both clubs share many of the same members and the two clubs felt that consolidating each club’s efforts into one unified organization brings strength and continuity to the local amateur radio community.

The Sarasota Amateur Radio Association was formed in 1962 from a group of amateur radio operators looking for technical information for the benefit of its members, knowledge for the ever-growing hobby of amateur radio, and to share this information with each other to further their knowledge.

The Sarasota Emergency Radio Club was formed in 1976, and was the first organization to put an amateur radio repeater on the air in Sarasota County.  The Sarasota Emegency Radio Club has overtime expanded with multiple repeaters and Winlink gateways in the Sarasota and Venice Communities.

The merger of SARA and SERC will be complete and take effect January 1, 2021. SERC members look forward to warmly welcoming the SARA members into our organization. SERC is extremely excited about this merger and welcome the many talented hams from SARA to be members of the SERC family.  For more information, please refer to the SERC website at http://www.n4ser.org.

Thanks to Gary Wells WB9AYD, President of the Sarasota Emergency Radio Club, for the information used in this press release.

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SECTION NET CANCELLATIONS FOR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS HOLIDAYS.  SPECIAL EAGLE NET SESSIONS FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

As is traditional with the Christmas and New Years Holidays, the following nets will be cancelled for the following holidays:

(1) The ARRL West Central Florida Section Technical Net – Thursday 2100: Thursday December 24, 2020 will be cancelled in observance of Christmas, and Thursday December 31, 2020 in observance of New Years Day.  (2) The ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES and Information Net on the NI4CE Repeater System – Monday 1930:  Monday December 21, 2020 will be cancelled in observance of Christmas and Monday December 28, 2020 will be cancelled in observance of New Years Day. (3) The ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES and Information Net on 3940 KHz – Saturday 0730:  Saturday December 26, 2020 in observance of Christmas, and Saturday January 2, 2021 in observance of New Years Day.

The Eagle Net, our NTS traffic net that meets daily at 2030, will operate as scheduled during the holidays.  There will be special sessions of the Eagle Net on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve with Darrell Davis KT4WX, our Section Manager as Net Control.  Darrell will have some trivia questions for those who check in on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve and are willing to answer the trivia questions.  All other nets will resume normal operations on Monday January 4th, 2021.

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RANDY PAYNE K4EZM IS THE 2020 WHITE AWARD RECIPIENT

Randy Payne K4EZM, of Sebring, has been named the 2020 White Award recipient.    The White Award, established in 2016 in honor of Ellen White W1YL, is to name the amateur radio operator who has made the greatest contribution to amateur radio in the ARRL West Central Florida Section.

Payne was first licensed in 1957 as KN4KTI, later upgrading to a Conditional Technician with the call of K4KTI, which he allowed to expire while in college.  After Payne graduated from college in 1965, he passed his Advanced class license earning his current callsign of K4EZM.  While living in Homestead in the mid 1960’s Payne participated in the local RACES/CD (Civil Defense) group, developing the main area of his interest in Amateur Radio: emergency communications. That interest led to his enrollment in ARES around 2002 in Highlands County. In March of 2005 Payne was appointed as the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Highlands County ARES. In 2015, Payne was appointed as an Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator by Ben Henley KI4IGX, and as an Assistant Section Manager by Darrell Davis KT4WX.

Payne enjoys building antennas, small pieces of equipment including Morse code keys, and dreams of constructing an HF transceiver.  Payne is also a Drake Radio equipment enthusiast which includes owning two Drake TR-7s and several Drake tube receivers and transmitters, all of which need some restoration.

Payne in his professional career was a school teacher, a church pastor and assistant pastor in several churches, and as an adjunct professor and Reference Desk Assistant at South Florida State College, from which he retired in 2012. Payne earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Stetson University in 1965, a Master of Arts degree in Theological Studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1975, a PhD in Church History in 1981, and a Master of Library Science degree from University of South Florida.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section congratulates Randy Payne K4EZM on being named the 2020 White Award Recipient.  The 2020 White Award was presented at the ARRL forum during the Tampa Bay Hamfest on Saturday December 12, 2020.  Payne will also receive a one year ARRL membership compliments of the West Central Florida Group, who operate the NI4CE Repeater System for the being the recipient of the 2020 White Award.

For all the details and history of the White Award you may go to http://arrlwcf.org/wcf-special-events/white-award/

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STEVE MULLER KM4VRK IS A SILENT KEY

Steve Muller KM4VRK, an Assistant Section Manager for the ARRL West Central Florida Section, became a Silent Key on Saturday December 12, 2020, due to complications following a prolonged battle with cancer.  Muller was 69 years old.

Muller became an amateur radio operator in 2016.  Upon relocating to Hardee County in 2016, Muller became active with Hardee County ARES, and serving for two activations of Hardee County ARES: Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma in 2017.  Muller had also served as a net control station for the Eagle Net and the Hardee County ARES Net.   Muller was an ARRL Official Emergency Station, an ARRL Technical Specialist, and was appointed as an Assistant Section Manager in 2018.    Muller was also active, until recently, with the Coast Guard Auxiliary helping to provide communications.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the ARRL West Central Florida Section, made the following statement about Muiller’s passing, “Steve was very dedicated to public service through ARES and the ARRL West Central Florida Section.  Steve gave fantastic service in his deployment during Hurricane Irma even with facing damage to his home from the storm.  Steve will be missed by all who knew him and myself in particular.  I am praying for his wife and children during this difficult time.”

Muller is survived by his wife Abby and five children.  At press time, no details were known about a memorial service or internment.

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SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY 2020 TO BE HELD AS ONLINE EVENT ONLY DUE TO COVID-19

SKYWARN Recgnition Day, which is held on the first Saturday in December of every year, will be held on Saturday December 5th but with some changes due to COVID-19.  The following information was received from Richard Rude KE4EXL, who is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Ruskin, concerning how Skywarn Recognition Day 2020 will take place this year.

“The National Weather Service has SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD 2020) scheduled this year on Saturday, December 5th.  However…due to COVID-19 restrictions the event will be conducted online. Unfortunately there will be no amateur radio operations at weather service offices.  Here at the Tampa Bay Area office in Ruskin we will be monitoring and posting to FaceBook and Twitter (#Skywarn20) throughout the afternoon of the 5th. In addition, for people with access to NWS chat, we will be logged into the “tbwhamchat” room. Some of the operating details are still being finalized but the attached PDF gives some details and includes links for the SRD 2020 website and for FaceBook.”

You may download the PDF document at the following link:  http://arrlwcf.org/download/wcfevents/AWARE_Nov2020_SkywarnRecogitionDay2020Information.pdf.

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