[South Florida DX Association] Monthly Southern Florida Section News Summary

[Bill Marx]

It's 6 weeks till hurricane season.  Are you ready?  County Emergency
Management officials are talking to the media and organizations about
personal
and business preparations.  We should be checking batteries, rigs, etc. Is
the
phone list for your county up to date?  Is the phone list for your family up
to date?

Amateur communications and EOC coordination is lacking in some counties. The
ARRL, not the COUNTY EOC or the local amateurs manage ARES®.  ARES Emergency
Coordinators are appointed by the ARRL Section Manager and Section Emergency
Coordinator, not the county Emergency Manager or by a vote of the local
hams.
We have several counties without appointed ECs, several counties with ECs
who
do not report or keep their contact information current, and several
counties
where the ECs will soon be relocating out of the section.  Pitch in and
volunteer to be an EC, assist your EC to find a replacement, assist your EC
in
gathering data and filing monthly reports.

Also, remember that ARES® is to be used on all web sites, brochures and news
releases. NO EXCEPTIONS.  For full details on permissions to use the
registered trademark go to:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/ARES-Registered-Trademark.pdf

ECs (and counties) filing reports for March 2005: AD4RZ (Okeechobee), WA4GUK
(Lee), WA4ASJ (Indian River), N5KFR  (Glades), N1XC (Martin), KG4CHW
(Broward), KA4HLO (Miami-Dade), AA4BN (Hendry), N4LEM (Brevard)& KF4IHX (St
Lucie).  These 10 counties reported 77 drills, tests & training sessions and
2
Public Service events.  The 10 counties have 1,332 ARES members, an increase
of 34 since last month.  Counties not reporting are Osceola, Collier, Monroe
and Palm Beach.  Imagine what the numbers would look like if all counties
responded and all events were reported.

District 2 ECs and AECs attended a March 28th meeting, hosted by St Lucie
EOC
-- thanks Ernie, KF4IHX.  The district is compiling and sharing a contact
information list and a master list of frequencies and modes used.  Bruce,
K9SHT District 2 DEC is working on a classroom based training program for
the
ARRL Level I communications course. The format of the class will be in a
workshop form where participant break down into small groups and do
assignments together and then report back to the rest of the class. The test
will be given at the end of the workshop.  This program will travel
throughout
the district and maybe the section. More later.

In the event of needing amateur radio assistance in your county, please do
the
following: Contact your DEC or if he can not be reached, SEC Jeff Beals,
WA4AW. They will find out where the resources are located. Then they will
tell
you where to direct the message from your EOC to the county where the
resource
is located. In this way, you will know where to send the message to and get
the tracking number that your county needs.

New Skywarn forum -- In hopes of increasing more interest in PBC Skywarn,
Melissa KE4WQB has created a new forum to post messages, ask questions, post
general comments, etc about Skywarn. Feel free to join even if you don't
belong to PBC Skywarn. Go to: http://12.freebb.com/?freebb=pbcskywarn

Reports:

SAR MARCH 2005
KA4FZI 266, WA2YL 185, K4FQU 169, WA4EIC 132, KE4UOF 92, AI4GE 68, AA4BN 45,
W6VIF 33, KB0DKD 24, KG4ILJ 16, KG4MLC 9, WY4F 7, K0TIW 5, W3JI 5
==================
PSHR MARCH 2005
KE4UOF 150, KA4FZI 120, K4FQU 112, WA2YL 110, WA4EIC 100, AI4GE 100, AA4BN
86,
KG4ILJ 40, W4YF 15
==================
NETS MARCH 2005
NET                      Abbreviation Sessions      QNI     QTC      MGR
Fla Amateur SSB Traffic   FAST           30         168     30       KC4ZHF
Florida Medium Speed      FMSN           31         199     51       AG4RJ
Martin County ARA         MCARA           4         49       4       KE4UEI
Palm Beach Co. ARES       PBCAN           5         247     10       AF4OR
Saint Lucie Rptr Assoc.   SLRA            4         45      4        KE4UEI
Southeast Florida Traffic SEFTN          62         949     76       AG4RJ
Southwest Florida Traffic SWFTN          24         403     96       K4FQU
Southern FL ARES          SFAN            2          28      3       AF4NR

Help Wanted
Technical Specialists - We need technical specialists in the following
counties: Lee, Monroe, St. Lucie, Osceola, Miami-Dade, Glades & Hendry
Amateurs willing to speak to community groups - If you have spoken to
community groups, or if you would like to speak but aren't sure how to get
the
gigs, send me an e-mail. The list is growing! Be a part of the recruiting
effort. Send an email to me (w4stb at arrl.org) or to Stephanie
(k4mvo at titustek.com) if you are interested in participating.

Last, but not least...  Where is your group holding Field Day?  Can
prospective hams and prospective club members find your field Day site?
Send
me a brief e-mail with the name of your group, the site of your Field Day
and
directions from the Interstate or other major highway.  Several Assistant
Section Managers and I will be visiting your sites this year but we need to
know where you will be.  I'll post information about all sites at
www.arrl.org/sections/SFL.html when you contact me (don't assume we know
where
you will be or how to get there).

73,
Sherri, W4STB


--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Southern Florida Section
Section Manager: Sharon T. Brower, W4STB
w4stb at arrl.org