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

[Bill Marx]

Hi Everyone,

We are more than one third of the way through this hurricane season.  The
active part of the season is yet to come so do not neglect the training and
the spare batteries.

FIELD DAY: Bonus points were available for message origination to the 
Section
Manager:  I received NTS messages with all of the required information from
HIARC, VBARC, W4ZE, LARA, TARC, and PWARC.  I also received several NTS
messages without all the required information about participants, and 
e-mails
with information about the activities at the sites and these don't qualify
for bonus points.  I also noted that several stations had difficulty with
word count.  A handy way of counting the words in the text is to write only 
5
words on each line when copying or composing the message. You can see at a
glance if you have the correct count as indicated in the CK. Remember, for
the check to be correct  items like EOC count as one word and Emergency
Operations Center is three words.

Many groups had educational sessions on Field Day to get bonus points and
train new hams.  Please send me an e-mail and tell me what your group did 
and
I will share the ideas next month.

Field Day also brought some publicity to the area.  Most groups were able to
get an announcement in the media prior to the event. MACARA and ARES had
reporters from 2 newspapers that wrote articles for the Sunday editions.
LARA  and VBARC had media coverage after the event.  Bert, AG4BV and Craig,
KG4QKN taped a radio showed which aired on several stations the week prior 
to
Field Day.  Unrelated to Field Day, yours truly was interviewed by a Scripps
Treasure Coast reporter and the article appeared the following week.

OUR IMAGE:  Often we are worried about our stereotyped image.  We really 
need
to look at  our image at public events.  Is there a beer can? (I received
several photos with these and I will not put them on the website).  Are all
members dressed in clean clothes without offensive slogans on the shirt?  Is
the literature up to date? Are the members that are speaking to the public
knowledgeable about various aspects of amateur radio?  Do your displays and
your net control station at public service events have club brochures and
information on how to obtain an amateur radio license?

Another image we need to be careful of is how we sound on nets.  The general
public can listen on scanners.  Are there other radios or a television
playing in the background?  Are there children or family members audible in
the background?

TRAINING: We have some changes in the Section staff.  Hugh Connolly, AG4HC 
has
stepped aside as ASM for training.  Hugh gets a bigs THANKS from all of us
for his work on the powerpoint presentations for the ARECC courses.
Moving into the ASM for training position is David Fowler, K4DLF. David has
done many training sessions, forums, and meeting presentations in Palm 
Beach,
Martin, and Broward counties this year.

The average person retrains for a new job title about four times in a
lifetime.  Licensed professionals such as doctors, attorneys, CPAs,
cosmetologists, teachers, firefighters, etc are required to obtain a certain
number of hours of continuing education each year.  If we consider ourselves
professional communicators why are we balking at training requirements?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Did you know? If your read twenty minutes per day you will
read approximately one million words in a year.

REPORTS:
ARES members: 766 in the 9 counties reporting.
Nine active ARES nets held 30 sessions  and five had NTS liaison.
ECs reporting:  N4LEM, WA2DQX, N5KFR, AA4BN, WA4ASJ, WA4GUK, AI7Q,AD4RZ,
WN7YJJ reporting for Osceola
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 44, Person hours:
144
Number of public service events this month: 8, Person hours: 398
No emergency operations this month.
Total number of ARES operations this month: 52, Total Person hours: 690

SFL ARES Net Report ---         QNI 24          QTC 2           Time 36 Min.

SAR June 2008:
KA4FZI 174, KE4CB 101, AA4BN 53, KC4TM 10, W7GXW 6
PSHR June 2008: KA4FZI 120, KE4CB 105, AA4BN 84

SFL NETS-- ABB., SESS, QNI, QTC, MGR
All Florida CW Traffic Net, QFN, 60, 391, 238, AD4DO
Broward Co. Emergency Prep. Net, BCEPN, 4, 72, 17, KI4WDQ
Florida Amateur SSB Traffic Net , FAST, 30, 261,  63, K4SCL
Florida Medium Speed Net, FMSN, 30, 74, 29, AG4RJ/AB4XK
Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group, JTRG, 7, 55, 19,AG4BV/W4FK
Palm Beach County Ares Net, PBCAN, 8, 101,  32, K4DLF
Saint Lucie Repeater Association, SLRA, 5, 69, 2, KE4UEI
Southeast Florida Traffic Net, SEFTN, 30, 647, 39, AG4RJ/KI4IQZ
Southwest Florida Traffic Net, SWFTN, 26, 40, 85 KE4CB/N9WS
Total QNI = 2110, QTC = 524

I hope to see many of you at the Fort Pierce Hamfest on August 9.  Here is a
link to the flyer which also lists the forums:
http://www.qsl.net/w4akh/index_files/Hamfest%20Flyer%202008.pdf.  The FEC DX
Club will hold a business meeting after the DX Forum.  I will also be at the
State convention/Melbourne Hamfest on October 11 and 12.

I have updated the section page at www.arrl.org/sections/SFL.html.  Scroll 
all
the way down for the latest photos and sources for additional Field Day
photos.

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