[FADCA] Lets get busy!!!

[Bill Sinbine]

Hi All
This is what happens when I get home from work in the WEE hour in the 
morning and don't have much email to look at.
First of all I would like to say Happy Easter to all.

Below is a copy of the minutes from our meeting at the Orlando Hamfest. We 
have talked about a lot of things there and I just wanted to touch base 
with what is going on if anything that we talked about at the meeting. The 
list has been kind of slow so lets "kick it up a notch" and review the 
minutes and talk about what is being done about them.

Enough for now, it is 4:15 and time for bed...


73, Bill N4XEO






MINUTES OF FADCA ANNUAL CORPORATE MEETING
FEBRUARY 14, 2004 (ORLANDO HAMCATION)

(A list of those in attendance is at the end of these minutes.)

A quorum being present, President Sinbine called the meeting to order at 
1705Hrs.

President Sinbine stepped down from the Chair and V. President Welcker 
assumed the gavel calling for nominations for the office of president. John 
Green, WA4MOZ, nominated Bill Sinbine, N4XEO; the nomination was seconded. 
No others being offered, nominations were closed, and V. President Welcker 
indicated he would accept a motion for a unanimous ballot. John Green moved 
for a unanimous ballot which was seconded and passed.

President Sinbine called for nominating petitions for directors in 
even-numbered districts whose terms are expiring. There being none, 
President Sinbine appointed all current directors in even-numbered 
districts who had responded earlier to nominations to continue serving in 
their present capacities.

President Sinbine noted that he had not heard a response from Eric Owen, 
KD4MZM, Director in District 6. Sec/Treasurer Thompson noted that under the 
by-laws, the president may appoint a new director to replace one who has 
not responded and for which there has not been a nomination petition. It 
was also noted that both District 6 and District 1 presently do not have 
active directors.

A short report was given on the recently-held FADCA Directors' meeting and 
it was noted that minutes of that meeting along with these minutes will be 
posted on the FADCA web site early next week.

Sec/Treasurer Thompson announced completion of the FADCA, Inc. 
re-instatement with the state of Florida, the opening of a new FADCA 
checking account, that the year-end financial statement had been posted on 
the website, and a treasurer's report reflecting additional funds collected 
since the first of this year will be posted this coming week.

A general discussion on the growing LAN and backbone coverage of the 
network included the recent return of several TABAY LANS, a new test 
LAN/digi at Clermont, and much interest in District 6 from Ft. Myers to 
Sarasota. It was noted that once the Orlando switch is moved to a better 
location and the Clermont site is converted to FPAC, all that is needed is 
a backbone link to Tampa to complete a cross-state like from 
Melbourne/Orlando/Deland/Daytona to Tampa. Gary, KC5QCN reported 
possibilities for a tie between Clermont and Tampa at Plant City or at 
Bartow. Two cross-state links are presently active in the southern part of 
the state. When the Orlando switch is relocated, coverage from Boca to 
Jacksonville, part of which will be at 9.6kb, will be 24/7. With the new 
switch at Clermont the area along the Central Florida ridge from 30-35 
miles south of Clermont to Gainesville should be well covered with LANs and 
backbones. The most needed links remain westward from Gainesville to 
Tallahassee (and beyond).

N0IA commented that we need more LANS and a lot more links to better cover 
the populated areas of the state. He noted the growing FADCA bank account 
and suggested FADCA could help with some equipment and perhaps funds for 
areas where there was little or no local club support for a switch. (Of 
course technical help is just a FADCA e-mail reflector request away.)

Doug, KN4YT, reminded the group that John Fleming of the State Warning 
Point (SWP) had indicated ARES/RACES ham groups could use the TCP/IP serial 
port on the E-Satcom units in most of the counties. This could be another 
layer on the Florida Layered Network. President Sinbine appointed KN4YT and 
KC5QCN as an ad-hoc committee of two to investigate the possibility and see 
if they can get E-Satcom working between their EOCs and report back through 
the FADCA e-mail reflector. N0IA indicated that Rick, KN6KB might be able 
to give some technical assistance on the project.

KC5QCN reported that he and Chuck Hast, KP4DJT would soon be trying to 
configure a LINUX FPAC box. N4XEO reported he had good success up to the 
point of trying to work with the single, rather than two configuration 
files used by DOS FPAC. KC5QCN will keep the group informed though the 
FADCA e-mail reflector.

A discussion on establishing reliable NTS message routing on the packet 
network included Earl Leach, WX4J, reminding all that summarily passing NTS 
traffic from one BBS to another is not proper support for NTS. N0IA 
referenced two packet articles on the FADCA web site that explain the 
basics of routing NTS messages as well as the status in Florida at the time 
the articles were posted. N0IA also advised the group that there must be 
more NTS-trained people on packet to take responsibly for processing NTS 
messages once they land on a Home BBS. WX4J volunteered to develop a list 
of NTS people who are interested, which ZIPFIVE and/or NTSXX messages each 
can process, and the Home BBSs on which the ZIPFIVE and/or NTSXX messages 
should be left. N0IA volunteered to compile a list of participating Florida 
packet BBS, their location and LAN, and any ZIPFIVE they can properly 
handle. WX4J and N0IA will compile an NTS routing scheme for Florida Zip 
codes and for NTS traffic going out of state.

N0IA noted that it is important for each LAN to have a store-and-forward 
BBS for local users to call 'home' as well as for proper routing and 
processing of NTS messages. In the near term, such a BBS would likely be a 
focal point for digital messaging in support of EMCOMMs.

N4XEO indicated he thought FADCA should have some informal get-together on 
a quarterly basis as had been done earlier in the more active days of 
packet. KC5QCN suggested he would like to see one of these 'meetings' be a 
working group to help install a switch at Bartow to make the link between 
Clermont and Tampa.

President Sinbine asked the Sec/Treasurer to suggest a few dates in about 
three months for a get- together and start a FADCA e-mail reflector thread.

N0IA suggested anyone interested in digital communications, FADCA member or 
not, should subscribe to the FADCA e-mail reflector.

There being no more business before the group, President Sinbine adjourned 
the meeting at 1800hrs.

Respectfully submitted,


Lore, E. 'bud' Thompson N0IA
Secretary/Treasurer FADCA