[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff - WA4AW

[Bill]

Greetings to all,


We had a great time at the Dayton Hamvention held on May 15-17. Ran
into a good number of SFL members partaking in the weekend festivities.
The WX mostly cooperated with a minimum amount of rain and moderate
temperatures. The ARRL Expo, where Gold Coast DEC Charlie, WB2SSN and
myself were assisting at the Public Service booth, had huge crowds
visiting the various exhibits and the ARRL Store. If you have never
been to Dayton, you are missing one of the premier events in Amateur
Radio.


I know that I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, however, we
cannot lose our momentum with going forward with our support of the
Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015-HR 1301. If you have not already done
so, please contact your Congressperson. Write a letter of support,
forward it to ARRL for distribution and make an appointment to visit
with them. Ask
them to support HR 1301 and to co-sponsor the bill.  I cannot over
emphasize how important it is for everyone to sign on with this
effort.
For more info, please visit http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301


Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015: 55 Cosponsors — and Climbing


The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 — also known as H.R.1301 — has
attracted 55 cosponsors as of May 12. The bill, introduced earlier this
year in the US House of Representatives by Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL),
would direct the FCC to extend its rules relating to reasonable
accommodation of Amateur Service communications to private land use
restrictions. This weekend’s Dayton Hamvention will offer an
opportunity for ARRL to speak with individual radio amateurs and
encourage them to seek their House member’s support. ARRL Regulatory
Information and Legislative Action Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, said
those stopping by his booth at ARRL EXPO, in about a minute, can have a
letter addressed to their representative and personalized with their
contact information, printed and ready to sign.

“The ARRL will collect these signed letters and have them
hand-delivered to the various Congressional offices by our DC
legislative action team,” Henderson explained. “This easy-to-use
process has succeeded at several major hamfests already this year and
helped generate several hundred letters.”
The latest lawmakers to sign aboard H.R. 1301 include Representatives
Pete Olson of Texas, Ed Perlmutter of Colorado, John Shimkus of
Illinois, Dr Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, and Roger Williams of Texas.
Henderson said that the typically high number of attendees at Dayton
Hamvention presents an excellent opportunity for Amateur Radio
operators to get involved in the HR 1301 grassroots legislative
effort.
Henderson said the League is also working on securing an original
sponsor and co-sponsor for a companion Amateur Radio Parity Act bill in
the US Senate. He encouraged all who may not be attending Hamvention to
visit the ARRL’s HR 1301 page, where they can download a letter that
can be personalized for your member of Congress.

“Once you have printed and signed the letter, send it to ARRL
Grassroots Letter program, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111,”
Henderson said. “Once received these will be sorted and sent to the
ARRL DC team for hand delivery on Capitol Hill.”
“We have gotten off to a good start on H.R. 1301, but we have a long
way to go,” Henderson said. “We need every ARRL member to get
involved with this important fight.”



June 1st marks the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane season. WX4NHC
at the National Hurricane Center conducted their annual station test on
May 30th. This should signal to all of us to prepare for what might come
our way this season. As the Florida DEM often reminds us, “Get A
Plan” And sign up with your local ARES group to assist in providing
the needed communications support for our communities.


June events in the SFL Section:


June 2nd- Palm Beach County Commission proclaims “Amateur Radio
Week” in Palm Beach County, June 24-30, 2015. At the meeting to
receive the proclamation were PBC ARES DEC Charlie Benn, WB2SNN, PBC
ARES Training Coordinator Barry Porter, KB1PA, PBC LGL Rick Byrnes,
KJ4ZHO and Palms West ARC President John Samuels, K2CIB.

June 13th- ARRL EC-001, Introduction to EmComm course and exam to be
conducted at the American Red Cross chapter house, 1250 Northpoint
Pkwy., West Palm Beach from 9AM-5PM. For more info and to register,
contact PBC ARES Training Coordinator Barry Porter, KB1PA at
BarryP13 at mac.com


June 21st-   Kids Day         Kids Day is designed to give on-the-air
experience to youngsters and hopefully foster interest in getting a
license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance
to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children.
     For more info, pse visit http://www.arrl.org/kids-day


June 27th & 28th-  ARRL Field Day-   Field Day is the most popular
on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth
weekend of June, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their
clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Many clubs around the section will be participating. Find the club
nearest to you with the Field Day Station Locator-
www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

I will be on my annual SFL Field Day Tour during the weekend and will
be using the FD Locator to plan my visits, so pse list your club event
on the locator map.

For more info on Field Day, pse visit http://www.arrl.org/field-day



Updated Amateur Radio Emergency Service Manual Now Online


The latest edition (March 2015) of the Amateur Radio Emergency
Service® (ARES) Manual now is online.
This edition includes various Incident Command System (ICS) forms for
ARES use, clarifies the role of the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service (RACES), contains an improved chapter on ARES training, and
includes all current ARRL memoranda of understanding/agreement.
ARES consists of Amateur Radio licensees who have voluntarily
registered their qualifications and equipment for communication duty in
the public service, when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur,
regardless of ARRL membership, is eligible to apply for ARES
membership.



  
FCC Eliminates Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Regulatory Fee


The FCC is eliminating the regulatory fee to apply for an Amateur
Radio vanity call sign. The change will not go into effect, however,
until required congressional notice has been given. This will take
at least 90 days. As the Commission explained in a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking, Report and Order, and Order (MD Docket 14-92
and others), released May 21, it's a matter of simple economics.

"The Commission spends more resources on processing the regulatory
fees and issuing refunds than the amount of the regulatory fee
payment," the FCC said. "As our costs now exceed the regulatory fee,
we are eliminating this regulatory fee category. The current vanity
call sign regulatory fee is $21.40, the highest in several years.
The FCC reported there were 11,500 "payment units" in FY 2014 and
estimated that it would collect nearly $246,100.

In its 2014 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding the
assessment and collection of regulatory fees for FY 2014, the FCC
had sought comment on eliminating several smaller regulatory fee
categories, such as those for vanity call signs and GMRS. It
concluded in the subsequent Report and Order (R&O) last summer,
however, that it did not have "adequate support to determine whether
the cost of recovery and burden on small entities outweighed the
collected revenue or whether eliminating the fee would adversely
affect the licensing process."

The FCC said it has since had an opportunity to obtain and analyze
support concerning the collection of the regulatory fees for Amateur
Vanity and GMRS, which the FCC said comprise, on average, more than
20,000 licenses that are newly obtained or renewed, every 10 and 5
years, respectively.

"The Commission often receives multiple applications for the same
vanity call sign, but only one applicant can be issued that call
sign," the FCC explained. "In such cases, the Commission issues
refunds for all the remaining applicants. In addition to staff and
computer time to process payments and issue refunds, there is an
additional expense to issue checks for the applicants who cannot be
refunded electronically."

The Commission said that after it provides the required
congressional notification, Amateur Radio vanity program applicants
"will no longer be financially burdened with such payments, and the
Commission will no longer incur these administrative costs that
exceed the fee payments. The revenue that the Commission would
otherwise collect from these regulatory fee categories will be
proportionally assessed on other wireless fee categories."

The FCC said it would not issue refunds to licensees who paid the
regulatory fee prior to its official elimination.


ARRL to Change Administrator for Insurance Plans

Effective May 26, 2015, the ARRL will be changing the program
administrator for its sponsored Equipment and Club Liability insurance
plans. Beginning on that date, all program administration including
policy application, issuance and claims administration will be handled
by Risk Strategies, a privately held, national insurance brokerage
firm. The ARRL programs will be administered from their offices in
Chicago, Illinois.
This move is being made based on the results of numerous comments from
the ARRL membership relative to the former administrator, Hays Affinity
Group which is based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The transaction, unlike previous changes, will involve a transfer of
the total program business from Hays Affinity to Risk Strategies.
Participants in the programs will retain their current insurance
policies and the details of the coverage and the cost of coverage will
remain unchanged, as will the insurance company, Hanover Insurance
Company. An e-mail will be sent to all the current participants in the
programs describing the changes and what, if anything, they need to do
to access their on-line information.
The web address for the programs will be the same,
www.arrlinsurance.com, but will take on a new look with improved
functionality. The 800 numbers will also remain unchanged for
contacting the new administrator. There will be a short delay in
bringing up the new site once the programs have been transferred and we
appreciate your patience while Risk Strategies makes the programs
operational.
As a leading US insurance broker, Risk Strategies offers sophisticated
risk management advice and insurance placement for property & casualty
and employee benefits risks. Risk Strategies serves middle market
commercial companies, non-profits, public entities, and individuals,
and has access to all major insurance markets. Ranked in the top 30
insurance brokers in the country, the company is headquartered in
Boston, Massachusetts.





April EmComm report from SEC Larry, W4LWZ



Total number of ARES members: 382

Change since last month (+, -, same): -11

Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 12

Number of ARES nets active: 11

Number of nets with NTS liaison: 5

Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 72

Person hours: 364

Number of public service events this month: 2

Person hours: 17

Number of emergency operations this month: 3

Person Hours: 92

Total number of ARES operations this month: 77

Total Person hours: 473

Comments: We held a section wide EC meeting on April 25,2015 at the
Palm Beach County EOC.  We had 12 county ECs attend and it was a good
opportunity for me to meet all these people and for them to meet me.
We covered a lot of ground including the importance of monthly EC
reports, county amateur radio emergency plans, and Florida State
requirements for emergency amateur operators.



April Traffic report from STM Mike, KM2V


SAR - CALL TOTAL

WA4BAM 237 KE4CB 057 KA4FZI 015 K9GZT 007 KK4KAH 005 K4KFF 074 KA3PYO
005 KR4ST 012 NT4TS 005 KM2V 038



PSHR - Callsign Total

WA4BAM 135 KA4FZI 086 KE4CB 160 KM2V 13


NETS-NET ABB. QNI QTC QND SESS MGR

All Florida CW Traffic Net QFN 303 94 409 30 WA4BAM
Florida Medium Speed Net FMSN 262 98 554 30 AG4RJ/AB4XK
Southeast Florida Traffic Net SEFTN 584 65 952 30 KM2V
Southwest Florida Traffic Net SWFTN 465 15 1425 26 KE4CB/N9WS
Broward County Emer Prep Net BCEPN 39 5 104 5 K2MOL
Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group W4JUP 36 0 260 10 K4VMS
Jupiter Farms CERT JFCERT 12 0 45 4 AG4BV





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


Robert P. “Bob” Broderick,Jr., WE4B of Ft. Lauderdale. Bob was a
long-time President of the Palmetto ARC and an ARRL OO and VE.

Dennis M. Hamilton, W4FSI of Okeechobee. Dennis was a former EC and RO
in Palm Beach County and active with clubs in Palm Beach and
Okeechobee.


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.

Vy 73,

Jeff, WA4AW

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