[South Florida DX Association] Late October News Items - Sherri, W4STB

[Bill]

Hi Everyone,

I have a few mid month news items to share.

First, Please take a look at the following if you are involved in
EmComm:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/20/11151/?nc=1

As the guidelines statement on the appropriate use of amateur radio
approved by the ARRL Board suggests, the responsibility lies with each
amateur to be familiar with the rules and guidelines and come to their
own rational decision within the rules on a specific activity.

Paid employees of private hospitals, United Way, Salvation Army, church
groups, Red Cross and similar organizations cannot make transmissions
for the employer during drills.  A drill is not the real thing so the
rules fully apply. And since an ARES SET is not a government sponsored
disaster drill, a waiver isn't going to be granted.

A petition for rule making has been filed with the FCC to allow paid
employees with amateur licenses to participate in drills and training. 
Here is a link to that filing:
http://n5fdl.com/storage/ARPC%20Part%2097%20Petition%20Final.pdf

================
Announcing a new web site dedicated to Public Service Events (PSE) in
the ARRL South Florida Section (SFL). This group (SFLPSE) maintains, in
calendar form, events within the ARRL South Florida Section where you
can find many volunteer opportunities. You may view these events on the
calendar and receive email notifications about upcoming events.
On the calendar, click on the event and the details including contact
information will show. It is up to you to make the contact with the
name(s) given.
*Important Note: This web site is NOT a mandatory process. Nothing
prevents you from contacting an event coordinator directly if you'd
like to.*
This site serves several purposes:  It provides you with an opportunity
to browse through some public service opportunities that you might not
know about, it provides event organizers a method of publicizing their
upcoming PSE's (Public Service Events).
Every time an event coordinator puts up an event, you automatically
receive email telling you about it. 
This site is not in place of anything you are doing now. It's just an
additional aid in helping you find events. You could participate in a
public service event every week and never use this site. It's only
there to help you IF you want it. 
After the group owner's approval, you will receive an email message
welcoming you to the Group.
The web site address (URL) is: http:www.groupsyahoo.comgroupSFLPSE
Cut and paste this address into your browser.
This site is to make it easier for everyone to volunteer and to find
volunteers for the public service events.  It does not manage the event
or sort volunteers.  What it does do is offer a way to match volunteers
and opportunities, especially when the volunteer did not the attend the
meeting or net session where the event was announced.

The site is managed by our Assistant Section Manager for Public Service
Events, Warren Rothberg, W4WR.  He will moderate the group and assist
you in publishing your event for SFL members to see.  He is not going
to coordinate your events - you still have to do that part of the job.
=======
Lastly, a few helpful web sites.
Want to know how many amateur licenses there are in your county?  Use
the call sign search function at qrz.com. 
There are about 654,000 licensees in the USA and about 2.5 million
world-wide.
(www.ah0a.org is a great resource for stats and data)
This site offers a different kind of information that might be useful
to us: www.floridapublicnotices.com
Here you can find legal notices published in the local newspaper.  The
site also allows them to send you a daily e-mail for selected notices
in your local paper, such as towers.  All agencies do not purchase
newspaper listings so you may still need to go to the agency website
and check their meeting agenda items.
======
That's all for now.  Watch for the regular monthly news and reports in
a few weeks.

73,
Sherri, W4STB

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