[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff
Bill
bmarx at bellsouth.net
Wed May 31 18:51:28 EDT 2017
Greetings to all,
June 1st marks the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane season. WX4NHC at
the National Hurricane Center conducted their annual station test on May
27th. 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 provide the needed
communications support for our communities.
Our SFL ARES leadership team met on May 27th at the Palm Beach County
Red Cross Chapter house in W. Palm Beach for their annual pre-season
meeting. 17 ECs and AECs representing 8 SFL counties participated in the
lively session conducted by SFL SEC Larry Zimmer, W4LWZ and ASEC Barry
Porter, KB1PA. Gold Coast DEC Charlie Benn, WB2SNN and SM Jeff, WA4AW
rounded out the presenters at the meeting. Our thanks to my XYL Myra,
K3PGH for preparing the continental breakfast served before the meeting
and the Red Cross for our afternoon snacks.
At the May 10th South Florida DX Association meeting held at the Ed and
Joanne Dauer Classic Car Museum in Ft. Lauderdale, SFL SM Jeff Beals,
WA4AW, presented co-authors Kai Siwiak, KE4PT and Rich Quick, W4RQ with
the March 2017 QST Cover Plaque Award for their article “Does Your
Antenna Need a Choke or Balun?” Congratulations, Kai and Rich !!
Important Notice — New MF and LF Bands are Not Yet Available to Use!
The new 630-meter and 2200-meter bands are not yet available for Amateur
Radio use. The effective date of the recent FCC Report & Order (R&O)
granting these allocations has not yet been determined, and until the
start date has been set, it is not legal under an Amateur Radio license
to transmit on either band.
The fact that the new rules contain a new information-collection
requirement — notification of operation to the Utilities Technology
Council (UTC) — complicates the matter of determining an effective
date. According to the FCC R&O, the Office of Management and Budget
(under the Paperwork Reduction Act) must first approve the
information-collection requirements in §97.303(g)(2), which must be in
place before radio amateurs can use the new bands.
Once that happens, the FCC will publish a notice in The Federal Register
“announcing such approval and the relevant effective date.” ARRL
will announce the UTC notification procedures and the effective date to
use these new bands as soon as these are known.
June events in the SFL Section:
June 6th- The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners proclaims
“Amateur Radio Week” during the week of June 19-25, 2017. PBC ARES
and club representatives have been invited to receive the proclamation
at the June board meeting.
Proclamations have also been received from the cities of Belle Glade,
Delray Beach, Mangonia Park, Wellington and West Palm Beach in Palm
Beach County. If your club or ARES group has requested and received
local proclamations, please let me know.
June 18th- 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, please visit http://www.arrl.org/kids-day
June 24th & 25h- 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
ASM Barry, KB1PA and SM Jeff will be on the annual SFL Field Day Tour
during the weekend and will be using the FD Locator to plan our visits,
so please list your club event on the locator map
Have fun, be safe and look for you during FD weekend.
For more info on Field Day, please visit http://www.arrl.org/field-day
FCC Personal Radio Service Revisions Will Affect GMRS, FRS, CB, Other
Part 95 Devices
In a lengthy Report and Order (R&O) in a proceeding (WT Docket No.
10-119) dating back 7 years, the FCC has announced rule changes
affecting the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), the Family Radio
Service (FRS), the Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS or “CB”), as
well as other applications that fall under the FCC’s Part 95 Personal
Radio Services (PRS) rules and regulations. Part 95 devices typically
are low-power units that communicate over shared spectrum and, with some
exceptions, do not require an individual user license from the FCC. As
the R&O explains, common examples of PRS devices include
“walkie-talkies;” radio-control cars, boats, and planes; hearing
assistance devices; CB radios; medical implant devices; and Personal
Locator Beacons.
“This draft Report and Order completes a thorough review of the PRS
rules in order to modernize them, remove outdated requirements, and
reorganize them to make it easier to find information,” the FCC said
in a summary attached to the R&O. “As a result of this effort, the
rules will become consistent, clear, and concise.”
GMRS and FRS devices are used for personal communication over several
miles; compact FRS handhelds, often sold in pairs, are widely available.
While GMRS and FRS share spectrum, GMRS provides for greater
communications range and requires an FCC license; FRS does not.
“The rules will increase the number of communications channels for
both GMRS and FRS, expand digital capabilities to GMRS (currently
allowed for FRS), and increase the power/range for certain FRS channels
to meet consumer demands for longer range communications (while
maintaining higher power capabilities for licensed GMRS),” the FCC
explained.
The amended rules eventually will eliminate combination FRS/GMRS radios
for the most part, but allow up to 2 W PEP output for FRS transceivers.
“[M]any current users of GMRS/FRS combination radios do not obtain
licenses to operate over the GMRS frequencies in those radios,” the
FCC said. “Much of this problem likely arises as a result of the mass
consumer marketing of combination devices for sale to the public in
large quantities to users who do not know about or do not understand the
licensing requirements attached to such radios and obligations
associated with operating in the GMRS.”
The FCC said it no longer will certify FRS devices that incorporate GMRS
capabilities or capabilities of other services. Existing GMRS/FRS
combination radios that operate at power levels of less than 2 W ERP
will be reclassified as FRS devices; existing GMRS/FRS radios that
operate above that power level will be reclassified as GMRS devices,
requiring an individual license. Radios that can transmit on GMRS
repeater input channels will continue to be licensed individually and
not by rule.
“We believe the 2 W limit for FRS is appropriate, because many of the
existing combination GMRS/FRS radios already operate under that level
with no significant complaints about interference or other problems, and
it provides a reasonable balance between the desire for increased range
over the prior FRS power levels and battery life,” the FCC said.
The FCC said changes to the decades-old Citizens Band (CB) rules will
remove outdated requirements, including certain labeling requirements.
DXing on Citizens Band will become legal too. Once the new rules are
effective, CBers will be allowed to contact stations outside of the
FCC-imposed — but widely disregarded — 155.3-mile distance limit.
The revised CB rules further clarify how hands-free devices can be used
with CB radios and will allow the use of wireless microphones with CB
radios. “We find the record persuasive regarding the consumer demand
for this feature, and it will promote safety on the highways by reducing
driver distraction for those using CB [radios],” the FCC said. The FCC
left in place the current power limits for the CB Radio Service.
The rule changes will phase out the use of voice-scrambling or
“obscuring” features in all Part 95 devices, and it will ultimately
prohibit manufacture, importation, or sale of any devices incorporating
such features, “regardless of whether the Commission has previously
certified that radio.”
Overall, the FCC said, its action “achieves a thorough review of Part
95 rules and creates a new rule structure where common administrative
rules are consolidated to reduce duplication, and individual subparts
are structured with a common numbering scheme.” The FCC said the
changes remove “outdated and unnecessary rules, while clarifying
others.”
Most of the new Part 95 rules will become effective 30 days after their
publication in The Federal Register.
Midway and Kure Islands Reinstated as DXCC Entities
On March 31, 2017, the DXCC desk announced the deletion of Midway Island
and Kure Island from the DXCC entities list. The stated reason for this
action was because of changes in the administration resulting from
changes in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, formerly known
as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, of which
the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and the Battle of Midway
National Memorial, the Hawaii State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll, and
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge, of which they are
all included.
After further review it has been found that the deletion of these two
entities is not supported by the changes that were made to the relevant
administrations. Therefore, the deletions from the DXCC list should not
have occurred and the two entities, Midway Island KH4 and Kure Island
KH7K, will return to the DXCC list as separate entities.
Updated ARRL “US Amateur Radio Bands” Charts Now Available
ARRL has revised and updated its “US Amateur Radio Bands” charts,
and these now are available for download. These are PDF documents,
available in color or grayscale presentations.
The revised charts reflect the new 630- and 2,200-meter bands, but also
emphasize that these bands are not yet available for Amateur Radio use.
The effective date of the recent FCC Report & Order granting these
allocations has not yet been determined, and until the start date has
been set, it is not legal under an Amateur Radio license to transmit on
either band.
The FCC will publish a notice in The Federal Register “announcing such
approval and the relevant effective date.” ARRL will announce the UTC
notification procedures and the effective date to use these new bands as
soon as these are known. ARRL will update the Amateur Radio frequency
charts at that time.
These reference guides are available for purchase in 11 × 17 and 8.5 ×
11 formats in packs of 50 from the ARRL Store. Both include an ARRL
Worked All States (WAS) map on the reverse side.
Some comments from ASM Barry, KB1PA
I have been doing a lot of observing, listening and learning lately.
There are
17,750 Licensed Amateur Radio Operators in the Southern Florida Section.
The general
public and many government officials view us as elderly members of an
archaic hobby that
uses outdated equipment, and whose members are physically unable to
assist if called
upon.
We are seen as a liability. My conclusion, we have a serious image
problem. When we
interact with non hams, we need to show off modern high tech amateur
radio. We need to
open our minds and learn how to use new radio tools to keep up with the
times and prove
we are still a relevant hobby and service. We need to actively recruit
younger hams and
warmly welcome the newcomers to our hobby. They are our future. This
along with many
other
topics will be discussed at the Annual ARES meeting at the end of May.
Jeff and I will be making the annual Field Day tour in a few weeks
(yikes its coming
fast).
I suspect this years Field Day is going to be very challenging with
propagation being a
big problem. I look forward to meeting everyone, seeing what kind of
interesting
antennas are being used and listening to your ideas and feedback.
Please stay positive and promote our wonderful hobby.
April ARES report from ASEC Barry, KB1PA
Total number of ARES members: 401
Change since last month (+, -, same): +2
Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 7
Number of ARES nets active: 19
Number of nets with NTS liaison: 2
Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: K4BH, K1UQE, WA4ASJ, W9GPI. WW4RX, N4ZIQ,
KM4EDR
Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 20
Person hours: 275.5
Number of public service events this month: 3
Person hours: 45
Number of emergency operations this month: 0
Person Hours: 0
Total number of ARES operations this month: 29
Total Person hours: 365.5
Comments: No reports received from Brevard, Glades, Hendry, Miami-Dade,
Monroe, Okeechobee Counties
April Traffic report from STM Ed, W2PH
SAR - April 2017
SAR
WA4BAM ?
W9GPI 7
KR4ST 4
NT4TS 5
W4ZE 16
W2PH 59
KE4CB 40
W4CMH 18
KM4WNF 12
K4R4ST 4
K9GZT 4
KR4PI 5
NT4TS 5
KM4OWA 2
W2PAX 1
PSHR - April 2017
PSHR
WA4BAM ?
KE4CB 95
W2PH 130
NETS - April 2017
Net Information
All Florida CW Net (QFN)
Manager: WA4BAM
QNI ?
QTC ?
QND ?
SESSIONS ?
Florida Med Speed Net (FMSN)
Manager: AG4RJ/AB4XK
QNI ?
QTC ?
QND ?
SESSIONS ?
SE Florida Tfc Net (SEFTN)
Manager: KD4ZFW
QNI 517
QTC 43
QND 1039
SESSIONS 27
SW Florida Traffic Net (SWFTN)
Manager: KE4CB/N9WS
QNI 466
QTC 75
QND ?
SESSIONS 26
Tropical Fast Net (TFN)
Manager: W2PH
QNI 392
QTC 140
QND 451
SESSIONS 30
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
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ARRL Southern Florida Section
Section Manager: Jeff Beals, WA4AW
wa4aw at arrl.org
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