[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff

[Bill]

Greetings to all,

The New Year sure has started with a “bang” here in the SFL
Section. In addition to club meetings, I attended the annual Festivus
club picnic sponsored by the Gold Coast ARA , the Winter FD picnic
sponsored by the Palms West ARC, the Southwest Florida Hamfest
sponsored by the Ft. Myers ARC at their spacious new venue and the
Tropical Hamboree sponsored by the Dade RC of Miami. A great time was
had by all at these events as well as record attendance at both
hamfests. My thanks to all these clubs for their dedication and hard
work.

Later this month, the ARRL Southeastern Division Convention held at the
Orlando Hamcation will take place on Feb.13-15. Many ARRL officials will
be on hand to meet you including ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B from HQ.
Looking forward to seeing many of you at Hamcation this year.

Mark your calendars for the upcoming Palm Beach County Hamfest on March
14th and the Southern Florida Section Convention to be held at the
Stuart Hamfest on March 21st. More info here next month or visit
http://www.palmbeachradiofest.com/  and  http://www.stuarthamfest.com

During the ARRL forum at the Ft. Myers hamfest, I was pleased to
present a special ARRL award to former Section Manager Phyllisan West,
KA4FZI for her many years of service to the SFL Section as SM, Section
Traffic Manager , Net Manager and NTS traffic representative.
Congratulations, Miss Phil !

After a couple of postponements by NASA , the Everglades ARC of
Homestead completed a successful ARISS contact on Jan. 15 at the
Richmond Heights Middle School in South Miami. Assisted by members of
the Dade RC of Miami, the group completed their tasks to make the
contact and the kids were just thrilled to speak to the astronauts on
the ISS. Kudos to all that participated in this teamwork effort.


School Club Roundup is February 9-13!

School clubs are busily prepping their stations for The
“Winter/Spring Term” School Club Roundup, which gets under way
Monday, February 9 at 1300 UTC, and continues through Friday, February
13, at 2359 UTC.
  The twice-yearly event is an opportunity for school club stations —
from elementary school to college — to get on the air for a friendly
radio activity. Sponsored by the ARRL, the ARRL Hudson Division
Education Task Force, and the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club
(LIMARC), the contest aims to foster contacts with and among school
radio clubs.

Participation in the School Club Roundup is easy, and there’s a club
category for everyone: Elementary/Primary, Middle/Intermediate/Junior
High School, Senior High School, College/University Club, and
Non-School Club. There is also an Individual category.
Stations exchange signal reports, class (“Individual”, “Club,”
or “School”), and US state, Canadian province/territory, or DXCC
entity. Stations may operate on all amateur bands except 60, 30, 17 and
12 meters (no repeater contacts and VHF/UHF contacts must be on
recognized simplex frequencies, except calling frequencies). Stations
may operate phone, CW, and digital modes, or a combination.

The most popular time for younger students is during the after-school
hours, but older students may be on the air anytime. All groups are
limited to one transmitter on the air. Stations may operate no more
than 6 hours in any 24-hour period (up to a maximum of 24 hours).
If you just want to get on the air and hand out contacts, enter in the
Individual category. Tune around in any mode and listen for SCR
stations calling CQ, or call CQ yourself and see who answers. Call
“CQ School Clubs” or “CQ SCR” on CW, if you aren’t a club
station. After the contest is over, submit your log online (preferred)
or by paper.
Logs are due no more than 15 days after the operating period end and
can be submitted online via the WA7BNM website. Claimed scores are
displayed and the logs are reviewed by LIMARC before final results are
posted.

The top three entries in each category — Elementary,
Middle/Intermediate/Junior High School, Senior High School
College/University — will receive an Award Certificate. Non-school
clubs or multiop groups and individuals are also eligible for
certificates.
See “Getting Organized for School Club Roundup” for some helpful
tips! Stay up to date on SCR by subscribing to the School Club Roundup
reflector.



FCC “Paperless” Amateur Radio License Policy Goes into Effect on
February 17

Starting February 17, the FCC no longer will routinely issue paper
license documents to Amateur Radio applicants and licensees. The
Commission has maintained for some time now that the official Amateur
Radio license authorization is the electronic record that exists in its
Universal Licensing System (ULS), although the FCC has continued to
print and mail hard copy licenses. In mid-December the FCC adopted
final procedures to provide access to official electronic
authorizations, as proposed in WT Docket 14-161 as part of its
“process reform” initiatives.

Under the new procedures, licensees will access their current official
authorization (“Active” status only) via the ULS License Manager.
The FCC will continue to provide paper license documents to all
licensees who notify the Commission that they prefer to receive one.
Licensees also will be able to print out an official authorization —
as well as an unofficial “reference copy” — from the ULS License
Manager.
“We find this electronic process will improve efficiency by
simplifying access to official authorizations in ULS, shortening the
time period between grant of an application and access to the official
authorization, and reducing regulatory costs,” the FCC Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) said. According to the WTB, the new
procedures will save at least $304,000 a year, including the cost of
staff resources.
In comments filed November 5, the ARRL had strongly recommended that
the FCC “give serious consideration to continuing a default provision
for sending an initial paper license document to new licensees in the
Amateur Radio Service, along with detailed, simple instructions for how
to make the elections set forth in the notice relative to future
modified or renewed licenses.”
Under the new procedures, a new license applicant who already has an
FCC Registration Number (FRN) and provides a valid e-mail address under
“Applicant Information” in the ULS will receive an official
ULS-generated electronic authorization via e-mail. New license
applicants lacking an FRN will receive in the mail an FRN and a
temporary password to access the Commission Registration System
(CORES).
New applicants will no longer automatically receive a license document
and must request one by changing their "Paper Authorization Preference"
in the ULS License Manager.

The ARRL and other Amateur Radio commenters also worried that unless a
license document is printed on distinctive paper stock, its
authenticity could be questioned in such situations as obtaining vanity
call sign license plates. To address this, the FCC said the watermark
“Official Copy” will be printed on each page of an official
authorization that a licensee prints out from the ULS. The WTB recently
stopped using distinctive paper stock to produce hard copy licenses and
has been printing these on “standard, white recycled paper.” The
Bureau noted that the distinctive paper stock it had used was six times
more expensive than the plain recycled paper it now uses.
The ULS License Manager now includes settings that allow licensees to
notify the WTB that they prefer to receive official authorizations on
paper. Once the final procedures go into effect designating electronic
access as the default, licensees can change the ULS License Manager
setting so that the Bureau will print and mail a license document.
Licensees also may contact FCC Support via the web, telephone or mail
to request paper licenses.

The FCC rejected as “outside the scope of this proceeding” an ARRL
argument that Section 97.23 of the Amateur Service rules be amended to
replace “licensee mailing address” with other alternatives,
including e-mail, for use in Commission correspondence. The rule, which
requires that any licensee mailing address be in an area where the
licensee has US Postal Service access, has precluded FCC issuance of
location-specific call signs in such areas as Navassa Island (KP1) and
some Pacific islands.


SEC Report for December from Larry, W4LWZ


Total number of ARES members: 221

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

Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 6

Number of ARES nets active: 6

Number of nets with NTS liaison: 2.

Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 18

Person hours: 132

Number of public service events this month: 1

Person hours: 1

Number of emergency operations this month: 0

Person Hours: 0

Total number of ARES operations this month: 19

Total Person hours: 133



STM Report for December from Mike, KM2V


SAR - DECEMBER 2014

CALL TOTAL

WA4BAM 214, KA4FZI 052, KM2V 039, W4ZE 016

PSHR - DECEMBER 2014

Callsign Total

WA4BAM 100, KA4FZI 110, KM2V 129

NETS - DECEMBER 2014

NET ABB. QNI QTC QND SESS MGR

All Florida CW Traffic Net QFN 365 116 617 31 WA4BAM
Florida Medium Speed Net FMSN 383 114 615 31 AG4RJ/AB4XK
Southeast Florida Traffic Net SEFTN 695 67 1097 31 KM2V
Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group W4JUP 15 0 50 5 K4VMS
Jupiter Farms CERT JFCERT 10 0 50 5 AG4BV
Palm Beach District ARES North PBDAN 36 0 90 6 KB2BX


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

Norman W. “Norm” Cherry, NC3F of Cape Coral. A member of the Ft.
Myers ARC and a very active traffic handler, Norm held the Official
Relay Station appointment and will be missed by the entire NTS
community.

Gordon C. Groves, K3GG of Lighthouse Point. Gordon was a member of the
Gold Coast ARA, the club's ARRL VE team and a member of the QCWA Palm
Beach Chapter 111.


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.

Vy 73,

Jeff, WA4AW

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