[FADCA] Snips from HamCation 2010

[bud Thompson]

(Not an official report)

There was standing room only at the  Northern Florida ARRL Section
WL2K forum on Saturday - not that the topic was all that hot - the
classroom only held 20 comfortably and was the only room at HamCation
that was heated!  There were hams from throughout the state.

The discussion, however, was good and the interest in using e-mail for
EMCOMMs is obviously on the rise. Lots of discussion about the Layered
Packet Network - looks like it won't take much more effort to get
Gainesville and Ocala FPAC switches on the air and bridging the
network from Keystone to Gainesville to Ocala to The Villages.  There
are some folks between Gainesville and Tallahassee who may help fill
in the network.  The key now  is two new RMS Packet sites in
Jefferson County - only 20 miles east of Tallahassee.  A KA node will
be set up in Tallahassee (thanks to KJ4G) at a site that could
ultimately be an RMS Packet site.  Over the next several months the
ROSE switches at Daytona Beach and St. Augustine will be converted to
Linux FPAC.

It is likely that before the end of the year, more than 85 percent of
the population in Northern Florida will be covered by Packet LANS and
WL2K infrastructure.

At its meeting following the forum the FADCA BOD established a
mechanism to provide some financial support for sites where there is
virtually none.

In the next few days I'll see if we can get the power point show put
on the FADCA and/or Northern Florida websites.  Look for it there.

73,
bud N0IA
(No promises for better weather next year!)