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

[Bill Marx]

Hello everyone,

We still have more of hurricane season, but so far so good.  Keep the
batteries charged and an eye on the tropics.

The weekend of October 6-7 was the suggested time for the ARRL national SET.
Many of our counties did some kind of a drill.  I sent an e-mail on Friday
afternoon to all counties asking for special NTS message during that weekend
and several counties replied.  We tested some Winlink routes, tried various
bands for section-wide communications, and even involved Army MARS.  For
those of you who will participate in a SET during the remainder of October
and November please consider asking your bordering counties to join your
exercise.  We'll discuss more about SETs at the ARES forum on Saturday at
Melbourne.

Looking for new hams and new ARES volunteers?  Did you know that in 2005 the
highest rate of volunteering of any age group was that of the baby boomers,
33.2%?  This is above the national average of 29%.  Boomers are those
individuals born from 1946 through 1964.



REPORTS FOR SEPTEMBER:
Total number of ARES members in the 10 counties reporting: 1068.  In those
counties there were 18 active nets that held 68 sessions.  NTS liaison was
maintained by 7 of those nets.
ECs reporting: N4LEM (Brevard), KF4MJJ (Collier), N5KFR (Glades), WA4ASJ
(Indian River), WA4GUK (Lee), AI7Q (Martin), K4FLC (Miami-Dade), N4QPM (Palm
Beach), AD4RZ (Okeechobee), and AJ4BP (St. Lucie)

There were 73 drills, tests and training sessions held this month, 1543 
person
hours.
The total number of ARES operations this month was 81.

SFL ARES Net Report ---         QNI 41          QTC 2           Time 70 Min.

Comments:
St. Lucie County: Welcomes Ted W4ZE as ARES HF Net liaison station.
Martin County: SKYWARN class and Session 1 of ARRL AREC 001 held this month
==========
SFL SAR for Sep 07: KA4FZI 488, KE4CB 114, K4FQU 63,
WA4EIC 51, AA4BN 39, KI4OUD 3, KC4TM 2
==========
SFL PSHR for Sep 07: K4FQU 120, KA4FZI 120,
WA4EIC 100, AA4BN 86, KE4CB 85, W4DKB 29
==========
FLORIDA NET REPORTS for Sep 07
NET, ABB, SESS, QNI, QTC, MGR
All Florida CW Traffic Net, QFN, 60, 517, 279, AD4DO
Florida Amateur SSB Traffic Net, FAST, 30, 183, 32, K4SCL
Florida Medium Speed Net, FMSN, 30, 207, 53, AG4RJ/AB4XK
Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group, JTRG, 4, 107, 28, AG4BV/KF4NJB
Palm Beach County ARES Net PBCAN, 8, 102, 22, KG4PFY
Saint Lucie Repeater Association, SLRA, 5, 42, 0, KE4UEI
Southeast Florida Traffic Net, SEFTN, 30, 480, 44, AG4RJ/AI4GE
Southwest Florida Traffic Net, SWFTN, 29, 235, 56, K4FQU
--------------------
Back reports for:
Palm Beach County ARES Net PBCAN KG4PFY net manager
Month Sess. QNI QTC
July 7 93 21
August 10 128 26


SPECIAL EVENT:
IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-stations of IARU member societies and stations 
of
emergency communications groups to participate in the Third EmComm party on
the Air on Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at 11.00 - 15.00 UTC. The operation
will take place on and near the emergency Center-of-Activity (CoA)
frequencies on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15 meters (+/-QRM).   Watch the news at
www.arrl.org for updates and special operating procedures.

SKYWARN:
The NWS went to a storm based warning system beginning October 1. Instead of
issuing warnings by county, they will warn by creating a polygon or box 
ahead
of the storm to define the warned area. By focusing on the true threat area,
warning polygons will improve NWS warning accuracy and quality. Storm-Based
Warnings will promote improved graphical warning displays, and in 
partnership
with the private sector, support a wider warning distribution through cell
phone alerts, pagers, web-enabled Personal Data Assistants (PDA), etc.  More
precision in storm reporting will be required.  As a SKYWARN spotter give
reports with an associated road intersection or street address...or even a
mile post marker on an interstate or the turnpike. (This will be included in
SKYWARN training in the future). This allows NWS to assign a LAT/LON to each
report and place it in or out of the polygon.  For more information visit:
http://www.weather.gov/sbwarnings/

That's all for now.  I'll send another e-mail when more club news is posted 
on
the web.  That message will also include a report on the activities at the
Melbourne Hamfest.

Stay safe and stay on the air.

73,
Sherri, W4STB


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