ARRL West Central Florida Section

SECTION NET CANCELLATIONS FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

The Section ARES and Information Net for Saturday May 26th at 0730 on 3940 KHz and the Section ARES and Information Net for Monday May 28th at 1930 on the NI4CE Repeater System are cancelled in observance of Memorial Day.  The Section ARES and Information Net on Saturday at 0730 on 3940 KHz will resume normal operation on Saturday June 2nd and the Section ARES and Information Net on Monday at 1930 will resume normal operation on Monday June 4th.  All other Section nets will continue to operate their normal schedules through this period.

The ARRL West Central Florida Section wishes to encourage everyone to take time to remember those in our armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the giving of their life for our country and to those who in the law enforcement community who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the giving of their life for our community.

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MIKE BRESSE W2YS APPOINTED ASSISTANT SECTION MANAGER

On Thursday February 1st, 2018, Darrell Davis KT4WX appointed Mike Bresse W2YS as an Assistant Section Manager for the Special Project of the Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Bresse is the new amateur radio coordinator for the Bike MS Citrus Tour starting this year and had previously been the SAG vehicle coordinator for a number of years.  Jason Triolo KD4ACG stepped down as amateur radio coordinator after the Bike MS Citrus Tour in 2017, to concentrate on developing the Bike Marshal program.  Following the Bike MS Citrus Tour 2017, Darrell Davis KT4WX, the Section Manager for  the ARRL West Central Florida Section, in agreement with the Craig Shapiro N1MSS the logistics coordinator for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Jason Triolo KD4ACG the amateur radio communications coordinator Bike MS Citrus Tour in 2017, agreed that the West Central Florida Section would provide sponsorship of amateur radio communications for the  Bike MS Citrus Tour.  Volunteer levels had slightly declined and it was felt that with assistance of the West Central Florida Section that recruitment of new volunteers could fall under “one banner” and be given concerted effort.

Darrell Davis KT4WX, Section Manager of the West Central Florida Section made the following comments about sponsoring the Bike MS Citrus Tour: “Being that approximately 98 percent of the Bike MS Citrus Tour is in the Polk County and therefore the West Central Florida Section, it made sense for the communications group to have an official sponsoring organization and to help with recruitment of volunteers.  Everyone who has been doing all their respective assignments will continue to perform their assignments as they have been doing them with no changes.  Mike W2YS is the amateur radio coordinator and will continue in his new role as he has before and is doing a great job with the new Citrus Tour website as well.  We shall continue to welcome help from all those who have helped in the past and hopefully we will see a lot of new volunteers this year.”

The Bike MS Citrus Tour has had volunteer help for many years from counties in all three Florida Sections, with one volunteer traveling all the way from Coral Gables in Dade County.  The Bike MS Citrus Tour for 2018 will be Saturday May 5, 2018 and Sunday May 6, 2018.  New and returning volunteers are now being accepted.  If you are new you may register at the Bike MS Citrus Tour website at http://www.citrustour.org.  If you are a returning volunteer all you have to do is to login to the website with the username and password you previously used and upon login you will be asked to confirm all your contact information and preferences.

Note:  This WCF SECTION PRESS RELEASE has been edited to correct the name of the Bike MS Citrus Tour from MS Citrus Bike Tour.

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THE WCF PRESSER ISSUE #30 JANUARY 2018 IS NOW PUBLISHED

The WCF PRESSER Issue #30 January 2018, has been published on the Section website, and the ARRL website. An announcement of the publication of the WCF PRESSER will be disseminated on the ARRL remailer shortly.  Please note that the WCF PRESSER is no longer disseminated on the ARRL remailer due to the expanded graphical content in the WCF PRESSER.

For the PDF version of this newsletter and past issues in PDF format go to http://arrlwcf.org/home/the-wcf-section-presser-arrl-west-central-florida-section-news/.

Please note that there was no published issues of the WCF PRESSER for the months of October, November, and December 2017 due to the college and job workload of Darrell Davis KT4WX, the newsletter editor.   Our apologies to all for not having a WCF PRESSER for these past few months.

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KJ4KSG IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2017 WHITE AWARD

The recipient of the 2017 White Award will be Lemuel “Woody” Furman KJ4KSG who resides east of Bradenton in Manatee County.  Woody will be presented with the 2017 White Award at the ARRL forum at the Tampa Bay Hamfest on Saturday afternoon.

Woody is the Assistant Net Manager of the Eagle Net, the NTS traffic net of the ARRL West Central Florida Section,, and an ARRL Technical Specialist.  Woody was nominated due to his tireless work in keeping substitute Net Control Stations lined up (often on short notice) for the Eagle Net, helps Dave Rockwell W4PXE the Net Manager with collecting net control reports, and does this work often with ongoing health problems and even in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in which he sustained damage to his home.  Woody also assisted Ed Skalecki NI4MX with Manatee County ARES during Hurricane Irma when Ed was suddenly hospitalized right before Hurricane Irma made landfall on the Florida Peninsula.  Woody is also active in the Manatee Amateur Radio Club and the Bradenton Amateur Radio Club.

Woody is originally from the outer banks of North Carolina and was professionally a plummer.  Woody is also an amateur musician.

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MIKE COREY KI1U TO BE THE ARRL HEADQUARTERS REPRESENTATIVE AT TAMPA BAY HAMFEST THIS WEEKEND.

The 42nd Annual Tampa Bay Hamfest and the 17th ARRL West Central Florida Section Convention will be conjointly held on Friday December 8th and Saturday December 9th at the Expo Center on the Florida Strawberry Festival Grounds in Plant City.  The guest from ARRL Headquarters for the Tampa Bay Hamfest and the ARRL West Central Florida Section Convention will be Mike Corey KI1U, the ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager.

Mike has been the ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager since April 2010.  Prior to joining the ARRL Headquarters staff, Mike worked in law enforcement in Indiana and Mississippi. Mike has also served as an emergency management volunteer, disaster response volunteer, reserve police officer, law enforcement academy and public safety instructor, and on emergency operations center staff. Mike, along with Vic Morris, AH6WX, is the author of the ARRL publication Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio.

Mike has been licensed since 1988 and holds an Amateur Extra class license, additionally he holds Canadian basic and advanced qualifications and is licensed as VE9IU. Besides ARES and SKYWARN Mike’s interests in Amateur Radio are diverse; DXing, contesting, CW, satellites, digital modes, and being on the business end of the pile up are a few of his favorite activities.

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SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY THIS COMING WEEKEND

This coming weekend on Saturday December 2, 2017 will be Skywarn Recognition Day sponsored by the National Weather Service and the ARRL.  Many National Weather Service offices will be participating in this unique operating event.  The operation period is on Saturday December 2, 2017 from 0000 through 2400 UTC, which translates to Friday December 1, 2017 at 1900 EST until Saturday December 2, 2017 at 1900 EST.  For more details on the event nationwide please read the ARRL news release at http://www.arrl.org/news/skywarn-recognition-day-webinar-set-for-november-27.

The National Weather Service Office in Ruskin will be participating in this years Skywarn Recognition Day, running the callsign WX4TOR, as it has done since Skywarn Recognition Day was established in 1999.  The hours of operation for WX4TOR will be from Friday December 1, 2017 from 1900 until 2200 EDT and on Saturday December 2, 2017 from 0900 until 1700 EDT.  WX4TOR will be active on various HF bands and on the NI4CE Repeater System.  To download the PDF news release from the National Weather Service office in Ruskin go to http://www.arrlwcf.org/download/wcfevents/SRD_2017.pdf.

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