[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff - WA4AW

Tue Dec 1 06:11:11 EST 2015

Holiday greetings to all,

We hope you and your families had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday. No
hamfests to report on in December in SFL, however, many clubs hold
their annual holiday parties this month. Join with your fellow club
members and their families for a festive evening to celebrate the
holiday season.

Mark your 2016 calendars for the upcoming Southern Florida Section
Convention at the Southwest FL Hamfest in Fort Myers on January 15 &
16.

Southern Florida Section Convention

Start Date: 01/15/2016
End Date: 01/16/2016
Location: Gulf Coast Church of Christ
9550 Six Mile Cypress Parkway
Fort Myers, FL 33901
Website: http://swflhamfest.info
Sponsor: Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club
Type: ARRL Convention
Talk-In: 147.345 (PL 136.5)
Public Contact: Lawrence Zimmer , W4LWZ
1719 NW 21st Street Cape Coral, FL 33993
Phone: 239-282-1526
Email: W4LWZ at arrl.net

If you need to satisfy your hamfest cravings this month, visit our
friends in the West Central Florida Section at their convention at
Plant City on December 11 & 12.

West Central Florida Section Convention (Tampa Bay Hamfest)

Start Date: 12/11/2015
End Date: 12/12/2015
Location: Strawberry Festival Agriculture Center
2508 West Oak Avenue
Plant City, FL 33564
Website: http://www.tampabayhamfest.org
Sponsor: Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council
Type: ARRL Convention
Talk-In: 146.940 (PL 146.2)
Public Contact: Bill Williams , AG4QX
3215 West Tambay Avenue Tampa, FL 33611-1539
Phone: 813-837-3833
Email: ag4qx at arrl.net

And don’t forget the 2016 ARRL National Convention in Orlando. Hope
to see you at these events in 2016.

ARRL National Convention (Orlando HamCation®)

Start Date: 02/12/2016
End Date: 02/14/2016
Location: Central Florida Fairgrounds
4603 West Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32801
Website: http://hamcation.com
Sponsor: Orlando Amateur Radio Club
Type: ARRL Convention
Talk-In: 146.760 (no PL tone)
Public Contact: Lidy Meijers , KJ4LMM
PO Box 574962 Orlando, FL 32857
Phone: 407-841-0874
Email: info at hamcation.com

Looks like we got by another hurricane season unscathed. Makes you
wonder how long our luck will hold out. Not that I’m complaining,
however, as we have said many times before;  Don’t become complacent.
Continue to be active with your ARES groups, practice your skills and be
ready for what might come our way throughout the year.  SFL ARES groups:
  Don’t forget to send your SET reporting forms to ARRL with a copy to
SEC Larry, W4LWZ.

SFL Webmaster Barry, KB1PA has been busy setting up the calendar
feature on the sflarrl.org website. Visit the website and check out the
calendar listings. Contact Barry to add your club or ARES event to the
calendar. He can be reached at kb1pa at arrl.net

Congratulations to SFL PIOs  Paul, KC2LXV and Gary, N1PZB for a FB
article in the September edition of “Vero Beach Magazine”  Paul and
Gary work as a team promoting the Vero Beach ARC and Indian River County
ARES. The article covers the group’s public service activities within
the community and their participation in Field Day. Good show, guys !

The Davie-Cooper City ARC, Broward ARC, Gold Coast ARA and South FL DX
Association will celebrate the founding of Broward County 100 years ago
with a special event station on December 20th at Vista View Park in
Davie. Using the call K4B, vintage QSLs will be available to stations
contacting them during the event.

My thanks to all of you who answered the call to contact Senators
Nelson and Rubio in advance of the Senate committee vote on S 1685. The
committee passed the measure to be forwarded to the full Senate for
their consideration.

Amateur Radio Parity Act Passes Senate Committee, Gains Cosponsors

The Amateur Radio Parity Act S. 1685 has been endorsed by the US
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In the
voice vote on November 18, two Senators - Bill Nelson (D-FL) and
Brian Schatz (D-HI) - asked to be recorded as voting "no." The
Committee held an executive session to consider the various
legislative measures and nominations.

"Our work is not finished on the Senate side of Capitol Hill,
although this is a huge step forward," said ARRL President Kay
Craigie, N3KN.  She urged ARRL members to continue to write, call
and e-mail their Senators about S. 1685 to build up its support for
the future. "We know that members' response to the call for a
communications blast last week made all the difference for some
Senators on the committee."

S. 1685 picked up another Senate cosponsor on November 18, when Sen
Jerry Moran (R-KS), who sits on the Commerce Committee, has signed
aboard the bill. "ARRL members in Kansas should contact his office
to say thanks," President Craigie said. "Having an additional
cosponsor who's on the Committee is especially good news."

On hand to observe the Committee mark-up session were ARRL Hudson
Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ,
and ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD.

President Craigie encouraged ARRL members in Florida and Hawaii to
keep contacting Senators Schatz and Nelson, urging them to change
their minds about the legislation. "Don't be harsh or angry," she
advised. "Keep it factual and courteous, and don't give up."

On November 5, US Sen Al Franken (D-MN) signed on as the second
cosponsor of S. 1685. That legislation and its US House twin, H.R.
1301, call on the FCC to extend the limited federal pre-emption of
PRB-1 to cover private land-use restrictions such as deed covenants,
conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs). If the legislation becomes
law, radio amateurs living in antenna-restricted communities would
have the opportunity to negotiate with homeowners associations to
install an antenna that reasonably accommodates Amateur Radio
communication.

H.R. 1301 has 114 cosponsors as of November 18. President Craigie
said ARRL members should continue to urge their Representatives to
cosponsor H.R. 1301 and to thank those who already have signed on.

The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 page on the ARRL website has
more information on how you can become involved.  The Amateur Radio
Parity Act of 2015 can be found on the web at,
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act .

December Special Event W1Q Will Mark QST Centennial

Special Event station W1Q will be on the air December 1-15 to celebrate
QST’s 100th anniversary. The first QST was published in December
1915.
ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and volunteer operators will be on the
air. This is not an official ARRL operation, and Kramer will handle all
details, QSL cards, and LoTW entries.
He will post additional information on his QRZ.com page under WJ1B.

Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards

The ARRL is inviting nominations for awards that recognize
educational and technological pursuits in Amateur Radio. Nominations
are also
open for the League’s premier award to honor a young licensee.
The Hiram Percy Maxim Award recognizes a radio amateur and ARRL member
under age 21, whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most
exemplary nature within the framework of Amateur Radio activities.
Nominations for this award need to be made through your ARRL Section
Manager, who will then forward the nomination to ARRL Headquarters by
March 31, 2016.
The ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award honors an ARRL
volunteer Amateur Radio instructor or an ARRL professional classroom
teacher who uses creative instructional approaches and reflects the
highest values of the Amateur Radio community. The award highlights
quality of and commitment to licensing instruction. Nominations are due
by March 15, 2016.
The ARRL Microwave Development Award pays tribute to a radio amateur or
group of radio amateurs who contribute to the development of the Amateur
Radio microwave bands. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016.
The ARRL Technical Service Award recognizes a licensed radio amateur or
group of radio amateurs who provide Amateur Radio technical assistance
or training to others. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016.
The ARRL Technical Innovation Award is granted to a radio amateur or
group of radio amateurs who develop and apply new technical ideas or
techniques in Amateur Radio. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016
The Knight Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize
exceptionally notable contributions by a Section Manager to the health
and vitality of the ARRL. The nomination deadline is April 30, 2016.
The ARRL Board of Directors selects recipients for these awards.
Winners are typically announced following the Board’s July meeting.
More information about these awards is on the ARRL website, or contact
Sean Kutzko, KX9X, tel (860) 594-0328.

Revamped FCC Website Expected to Debut on December 10

The FCC has announced that its large-scale website redesign will be
completed by December 10. The switch to the new site is set to begin on
December 10 at 0100 UTC and will be completed about 4 hours later.
“While the transition to the revamped site is expected to be
completed almost instantaneously, there will be an ongoing process
following this transition that will continue to involve user feedback,
fixes by the FCC’s Information Technology team, and content updates
by policy bureaus and offices,” the FCC said in a November 24 Public
Notice.
The FCC said the new website has been designed to provide “better
functionality, an improved design, and better searchability and
navigability.” Earlier this year the Commission’s IT Department
opened a beta-test version of the site and has been gathering user
comments.
“Extensive user research revealed how the FCC could improve the
website’s information architecture to make content easier to find,”
the Public Notice said. The FCC said its new website has been designed
to operate on tablet and mobile device browsers with the display
optimization based upon the device. The site utilizes a “toggle”
navigation that allows visitors to browse either by “Category” or
“Bureau and Office.”
When the new site comes online, the familiar current FCC website will
no longer be available. The FCC said web pages and files on
transition.fcc.gov that have not already migrated to the new site will
remain available, and existing bookmarks will be redirected to the
appropriate content on the new site. While the Commission has already
upgraded some of its interactive systems, including the Consumer Help
Center, and is working toward improvements on similar systems,
including the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), these systems
will not be directly impacted by the December 10 migration.
“This migration will impact the look and functionality of web pages
that are coded in HTML and managed through a content management system,
such as the homepage and individual bureau pages,” the FCC Public
Notice said. The FCC said the change to a new website design was, in
part, driven by a need to start using a more modern, open-source
content management system to upgrade the site’s look and
architecture, and to transition to a system that is compatible with the
latest website innovations.
FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray has written blog posts about
the website development process, and the beta site has been publically
available and soliciting feedback since April. Two additional public
outreach sessions will be held before the December 10 changeover to
explain the new site and its functionality to interested stakeholders.

October ARES Report from SEC Larry, W4LWZ

Total number of ARES members: 311

Change since last month (+, -, same): +4

Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 9

Number of ARES nets active: 9

Number of nets with NTS liaison: 3

Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: WW4RX, N4ZIQ, KK4ENJ, K1UQE, K4FLL, KB1PA,
AD4RZ, WA4PAM, W9GPI.

Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 49

Person hours: 483.5

Number of public service events this month: 2

Person hours: 35

Number of emergency operations this month: -0-

Person Hours: -0-

Total number of ARES operations this month: 51

Total Person hours: 518.5

Comments: Eight Counties participated in SET drills in October.  A
couple of others will hold SET drills in November.

October Traffic Report from STM Mike, KM2V

SAR - October 2015

CALL	TOTAL
WA4BAM	172
W9GPI	010
K9GZT	004
KK4KAH	005
K4KFF	116
KA3PYO	006
KR4ST	033
NT4TS	005
KM2V	197
W4ZE	020

PSHR - October 2015

Callsign	Total
WA4BAM	110
K4KFF	110
KM2V	150

NETS - October 2015                                      	

All Florida CW Traffic Net 	QFN	        311	54	 349	 31	 WA4BAM
Florida Medium Speed Net	FMSN	190	53	428	31	AG4RJ/AB4XK
Southeast Florida Traffic Net	SEFTN	615	77	971	32	KM2V
Southwest Florida Traffic Net	SWFTN	455	54	989	31	KE4CB/N9WS
Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group	W4JUP	32	0	80	4	K4VMS

Silent Keys- It is with deep regret that we report the passing of the
following SFL members:

Felipe L. Calderon, K4FLC of Coral Gables. Felipe was a former EC for
Miami-Dade County and was a very active member of the Dade RC ,
Miami-Dade ARES and Coral Gables RACES.

Joel L. Yates, Jr., N4JOA of Boynton Beach. Joel was a founding member
of the Palm Beach Packet Group and has maintained a portion of the
packet radio infrastructure since the formation of the cross state
packet system.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.
My thanks for all that you do
for Amateur Radio. Get on the air, Elmer a new ham, support your local
club and ARES group but most of all, have fun with ham radio.

On behalf of the entire SFL volunteer Field Organization Team, Myra and
I wish you the very best of the holiday season and a happy, healthy New
Year.

Vy 73,

Jeff, WA4AW

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Southern Florida Section
Section Manager: Jeff Beals, WA4AW
wa4aw at arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe from messages, go to:
http://p1k.arrl.org/oo/6e6925d00e2557c0ec26550c6be31a93