[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff

[Bill]

Greetings to all,


During April, I visited with members of the W. Palm Beach ARC at their
Titanic Special Event and picnic, the Palms West ARC at their picnic
and meeting, the AREC Repeater Group and the Cy Harris Free Flea.


On April 9th, SFL ARES leadership officials and Cabinet members
traveled to West Palm Beach for our annual leadership conference at the
AJFCS Center. Led by SEC Larry Zimmer, W4LWZ and yours truly,
participants had the opportunity to network with their peers and come
away with the latest info to assist with their respective
responsibilities. My thanks to all SFL Field Organization volunteers
for their dedication to the Section and our members.


The ARRL National Parks on the Air event continues to be quite popular.
One of the most challenging sites is in our Section; Ft Jefferson/Dry
Tortugas NP on the southern tip of Florida accessible only by boat. A
team led by Ricky, K4JTT will activate this site on May 6-9th with the
call K4T. They will be looking for you.


New SFL Appointees:      Welcome to the SFL Team !

Dick Cassada, W4DAC   Tech Specialist in St. Lucie County

Bob Vastola, KK4ATI       South Palm Beach County EC



Upcoming events in SFL:

HURREX 2016   May 18, 2016


Members of SFL ARES will be participating in the State exercise
in conjunction with the Florida Div. of Emergency Management.
For more info, contact your local county EC.


May 20-22, 2016       Dayton Hamvention

HARA Arena, Trotwood, Ohio

Info-  www.hamvention.com

Look for me in the ARRL Expo at the Public Service booth.


Fort Pierce ARC 2016 Hamfest
Start Date: 08/13/2016

Location: IRSC KSU Building
3209 Virginia Avenue
Ft. Pierce, FL
Website: http://fparc.org
Sponsor: Fort Pierce Amateur Radio Club
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 147.345 (PL 107.2)
Public Contact: Joe Lenartiene , KD4BTD
3209 Virginia Avenue, Building Q Ft. Pierce, FL 34981
Phone: 772-462-7815
Email: jlenarti at irsc.edu



ARRL Field Day     June 25-26, 2016     http://www.arrl.org/field-day


ARRL 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.
  
Field Day Locator      http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator


ASM Barry, KB1PA and yours truly will do the annual SFL FD Tour. Be
sure to list your activity
on the FD Locator so we won’t miss you.

This year additional bonus points are available to groups who appoint a
Safety Officer and use social
media to promote their event   Don’t forget to invite local youth
groups to your FD site. Hope to see
you during FD weekend.


Congrats to the Suncoast HS ARC as the only SFL entry in the ARRL
School Club Roundup. Looking
forward to seeing additional SFL entries during the next SCR.

Call Used	Category	School/Club Name	Participants
WS4FSC  	Senior High School	Suncoast High School Amateur Radio Club	2
Primary Operator/Sponsor:
Call	QTH	Name
KJ6VCH  	FL  	Charles Lindsay
Score	CW/RTTY/Dig Qs	Phone Qs	US	VE	DX	Clubs	Schools
130	0	5	4	0	0	1	4


Annual Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test Set for May 14

The US Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard will cosponsor the Armed
Forces Day Military/Amateur Radio Cross-Band Communications Test on
Saturday, May 14, 2016. The event gets under way at 1200 UTC, with
activity continuing throughout the day. Some military stations may not
operate for the entire period.
“New for Armed Forces Day this year, military stations and Amateur
Radio operators are authorized to directly communicate on the 60 meter
interoperability channels,” US Army MARS Program Manager Paul
English, WD8DBY, pointed out.
This year marks the 66th Armed Forces Day (AFD) observance, a week
later than the radio event. Armed Forces Day is observed this year on
May 21, but the Military/Amateur Radio Cross-Band Communications Test
is held earlier in order to avoid conflicting with Dayton
Hamvention®.
The annual communications exercise is an opportunity to test two-way
communication between amateur and military communicators and features
traditional military-to-amateur cross-band SSB and CW communication and
offers an opportunity for radio amateurs to utilize modern military
communications modes such as MIL-STD serial PSK and automatic link
establishment (ALE). These tests give Amateur Radio operators and
shortwave listeners (SWLs) a chance and a challenge to demonstrate
individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from military
radio stations. QSL cards will be provided to stations that contact
military stations during this event. The complete announcement of
stations, times, and frequencies— subject to change — is available
on the US Army MARS website.
  
Participating military stations will transmit on selected military
frequencies and listen for Amateur Radio stations on selected amateur
frequencies, which the military station operator will announce.
Contacts should be limited to a minute or two, so all participants get
a chance. Some stations will operate on Military Auxiliary Radio System
(MARS) frequencies; others will use CW.
  
Amateur Stations with automatic link establishment (ALE) capability can
contact military stations on specific half-duplex cross-band channels
established for this purpose. Military stations will scan and receive
certain Amateur HFLINK ALE frequencies, and transmit on the
corresponding military ALE frequency. Military stations will also
transmit ALE station identification (soundings) on each military
frequency at 30 to 90-minute intervals.
  
The traditional Secretary of Defense message will be transmitted via
Military Standard radio teletype modes, described in MIL-STD
188-110A/B. Reception of serial PSK will provide a technical challenge
to amateur stations to receive the broadcasts using a high symbol rate
serial PSK waveform not utilized in Amateur Radio, but found in all
modern military equipment. See the complete schedule for details.
Additional transmissions will use wide-shift FSK (RTTY), as this mode
represents a baseline in interoperability common in all radio services.
Most RTTY programs can be set to decode this mode. To accommodate
amateurs some stations will transmit the Secretary of Defense message
using common ham radio modes such as RTTY, PACTOR, AMTOR, PSK31, MFSK
and MT63.


Deadline is June 1 for US Radio Amateurs to Submit IARU Region 2 HF
Band Plan Suggestions

The deadline is June 1 for US radio amateurs to submit suggestions to
the ARRL Board of Directors’ HF Band Planning Committee regarding
possible changes to the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region
2 Band Plan. That band plan and other significant Amateur Radio spectrum
issues will be on the agenda for the IARU Region 2 General Assembly in
Chile this fall. The ARRL joins other IARU member societies in the
Americas in seeking input from the amateur community on the Region 2 HF
Band Plan. The HF Band Planning Committee will review the current plan,
consider comments from US radio amateurs, and recommend any changes to
the ARRL Board for submission to IARU Region 2.
“The ARRL HF Band Planning Committee wants to stress that the IARU
Region 2 Band Plan is a voluntary guideline and does not supersede FCC
regulations related to spectrum usage,” Committee Chairman and ARRL
Second Vice President Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, noted. He also pointed
out two other issues for radio amateurs to consider.
Most Region 2 countries outside the US do not have the sort of detailed
sub-band regulations contained in the FCC’s Part 97. For radio
amateurs in these countries, the Region 2 Band Plan may serve as the
only source of guidance on spectrum usage.
The designation of a calling frequency or band segment for a particular
purpose or mode in any IARU band plan does not convey any special rights
or exclusivity of use. On the other hand the absence of a calling
frequency or band segment associated with a particular purpose or mode
should not suggest that these have been overlooked or are viewed
negatively.
The Committee urges US radio amateurs who are considering suggesting
revisions to the IARU Region 2 Band Plan first to study the existing
IARU Region 2 Band Plan. They then should formulate a clear statement
of any proposed changes, including a brief explanation of why each
particular change would benefit all IARU Region 2 spectrum users.
Participants should include name and call sign.
Submit input via e-mail by June 1, 2016. Messages will be automatically
acknowledged.
Radio amateurs licensed in Region 2 countries other than the US should
contact their own IARU member society for information on how to
participate in the band-planning process.
The 19th IARU Region 2 General Assembly will take place in mid-October
in Viña del Mar, Chile. Held every 3 years, the Region 2 Conference is
attended by delegations from IARU member societies in throughout the
Americas.

  
Transcripts of the received text should be submitted “as received,”
without attempting to correct possible transmission errors. Provide
time, frequency and call sign of the military station copied, including
the submitter’s name, call sign, and address (with ZIP code). This
information should appear on the paper containing the test message.
  
Stations copying the Secretary of Defense message from Army and Navy
stations should send their entries to Armed Forces Day Celebration,
Commander Netcom, ATTN: NETC-ITSMD, Bldg 90549 Jim Ave, Fort Huachuca,
AZ 85613-7070.
  
Stations copying Secretary of Defense message from Air Force stations,
should send entries to Armed Forces Day Celebration, 38CYRS/Chief AF
MARS, 203W Losey St, Room 1200, Scott AFB, IL 62225.


FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on
Amateur Amplifiers

The FCC has put on public notice and invited comments on a Petition for
Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier
distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules regarding
maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America LLC of
Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by SPE in
Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation on amateur
amplifiers, spelled out in §97.317(a)(2). Expert asserts that there
should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers sold or used in the
Amateur Service.
“There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier
capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a
watt should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the United
States,” Expert said in its Petition.
Expert maintains that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded holdover
from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the FCC was
attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers by Citizens
Band operators. While the FCC proposed in its 2004 Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking and Order in WT Docket 04-140 to delete the requirement that
amplifiers be designed to use a minimum of 50 W of drive power and
subsequently did so, it did not further discuss the 15 dB amplification
limit in the subsequent Report and Order in the docket.
“Although no party advocated retention of the 15 dB limit, it remains
in place today,” Expert pointed out in its filing. “In the
intervening years, advancements in Amateur Radio transmitter technology
have led to the availability of highly compact, sophisticated low-power
transmitters that require more than 15 dB of amplification to achieve
maximum legal power output. Therefore, Expert seeks to remove the 15 dB
limit from §97.317 so that Amateur Radio manufacturers and distributors
will not be forced to needlessly cripple their amplifiers for sale in
the United States.”
Expert pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a linear
“inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of
amplification,” which would make it a suitable match for low-power
transceivers now on the market having output power on the order of 10
W.


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