[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff

Thu Mar 1 12:24:42 EST 2018

Greetings to all,

February was a busy month beginning with the ARRL Florida State
Convention held in conjunction with Orlando Hamcation.  The WX was just
beautiful during the weekend and I had the pleasure to meet with many of
you during the show.  In addition, I attended the W. Palm Beach ARC club
picnic, the Jupiter Lighthouse Park Sea Fest with the Jupiter Lighthouse
RG, and the PBC ARES meeting. During the ARRL forum at Hamcation, I had
the pleasure to present Maurice “Mo” Dake, K9EE, an award honoring
him for his 12 years of service as Palm Beach County Skywarn Coordinator
upon his retirement. Congratulations, Mo !

ARES groups in Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach
counties participated in drills during February. These drills are part
of the ongoing training program as specified in our SFL Section ARES
plan.

Congratulations to Osceola County EC Joe Reilly, N4ZIQ and his ARES team
for their recognition by the Osceola County Board of County
Commissioners. They proclaimed the week of February 12-18, 2018 as
Amateur Radio Emergency Service Week in Osceola County.

Look forward to seeing you at these SFL activities during  March and
April:

Palms West ARC Flea Market
03/10/2018

Location: JFCS of Palm Beach County
5841 Corporate Way
West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Website: http://www.palmswestradio.org
Sponsor: Palms West Amateur Radio Club

Talk-In: 147.045 (PL 110.9)

Public Contact: Robert Pease , KS4EC
Phone: 561-358-9999
Email: ks4ec at att.net

Southern Florida Section Convention
at Stuart Hamfest
03/17/2018

Special Guest: Bob Allison, WB1GCM
Test Engineer with the ARRL Lab

Location: Martin County Fairgrounds
2616 SE Dixie Highway
Stuart, FL 34994

Website: http://www.stuarthamfest.com
Sponsor: Martin County Amateur Radio Association

Talk-In: 147.060+ (PL 107.2)

Public Contact: Doug Shields , W4DAS
Phone: 772-349-7820
Email: hamfest at mcaraweb.com

Titusville Tailgate

03/31/2018

Location: Fox Lake Park
4400 Fox Lake Road
Titusville, FL 32780

Website: http://titusvillearc.org
Sponsor: Titusville Amateur Radio Club

Talk-In: 146.97 (PL 107.9)

Public Contact: Sherry Ferguson , KU4ZO
4835 Santa Rosa Avenue Titusville, FL 32780
Phone: 321-269-2796
Email: Ku4zo at cfl.rr.com

FORT PIERCE HAMFEST

Start Date: 04/07/2018

Location: Indian River State College
3209 Virginia Avenue
Fort Pierce, FL 34945

Website: http://FPARC.org
Sponsor: Fort Pierce Amateur Radio Club

Talk-In: 147.345 (PL 107.2)

Public Contact: John Sweigart , KK4SHF
4103 Smokey Pines Court Fort Pierce, FL 34951
Phone: 772-905-3552
Email: johnsails at hotmail.com

Cy Harris Free Flea

Start Date: 04/07/2018

Location: Collins Center
3900 NE 3rd Avenue
Oakland Park, FL

Website: http://browardarc.net/free-flea/
Sponsor: Broward ARC (W4AB)

Talk-In: 146.91 (PL 110.9)

Public Contact: Tony Becker , N4AEB
3721 West State Road 84, Unit 102 Davie, FL 33312
Phone: 954-612-9303
Email: N4AEB at arrl.net

Flamingo Net / UMARC Free Flea

Start Date: 04/21/2018

Location: University of Miami Physics Parking Lot
5101 San Amaro Drive
Coral Gables, FL 33114

Website: http://FlamingoNet.8m.net
Sponsor: Flamingo Net / University of Miami ARC

Talk-In: 147.150 +600 (PL 94.8)

Public Contact: William Moore , WA4TEJ
1451 NE 102nd Street Miami Shores, FL 33138
Phone: 305-715-1874
Email: wa4tej at juno.com

I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Loughney, AJ4XM as our
new SFL Section Youth  Coordinator (SYC)  Tom has always been an
advocate of our SFL Youth program and we look
  forward to working with him to bring more young people into ham radio.

After years of trying, we were able to secure an appointment as ARRL
DXCC Awards Manager aka Card Checker for Pete Rimmel, N8PR. Pete is
extremely qualified for this assignment and will provide additional
opportunities for our active DXCC community. Thanks for hanging in
there, Pete !

KE4PT and W4RQ Win the February QST Cover Plaque Award

The winning article for the February 2018 QST Cover Plaque award is
“Live Trees Affect Antenna Performance” by Kai Siwiak, KE4PT, and
Richard Quick, W4RQ.The QST Cover Plaque Award -- given to the author or
authors of the most popular article in each issue -- is determined by a
vote of ARRL members on the QSTCover Plaque Poll web page. Cast a ballot
for your favorite article in the March issue today!

ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees

ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees
to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY
and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The FCC has
not yet invited public comment on the proposals, which stem from
recommendations put forth by the ARRL Board of Directors’ Entry-Level
License Committee, which explored various initiatives and gauged member
opinions in 2016 and 2017.

“This action will enhance the available license operating privileges
in what has become the principal entry-level license class in the
Amateur Service,” ARRL said in its Petition. “It will attract more
newcomers to Amateur Radio, it will result in increased retention of
licensees who hold Technician Class licenses, and it will provide an
improved incentive for entry-level licensees to increase technical
self-training and pursue higher license class achievement and
development of communications skills.”

Specifically, ARRL proposes to provide Technician licensees, present and
future, with phone privileges at 3.900 to 4.000 MHz, 7.225 to 7.300 MHz,
and 21.350 to 21.450 MHz, plus RTTY and digital privileges in current
Technician allocations on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The ARRL petition
points out the explosion in popularity of various digital modes over the
past 2 decades. Under the ARRL plan, the maximum HF power level for
Technician operators would remain at 200 W PEP. The few remaining Novice
licensees would gain no new privileges under the League’s proposal.
ARRL’s petition points to the need for compelling incentives not only
to become a radio amateur in the first place, but then to upgrade and
further develop skills. Demographic and technological changes call for a
“periodic rebalancing” between those two objectives, the League
maintains.

“There has not been such a rebalancing in many years,” ARRL said in
its petition. “It is time to do that now.” The FCC has not assessed
entry-level operating privileges since 2005.
The Entry-Level License Committee offered very specific, data- and
survey-supported findings about growth in Amateur Radio and its place in
the advanced technological demographic that includes individuals younger
than 30. It received significant input from ARRL members via more than
8,000 survey responses.
“The Committee’s analysis noted that today, Amateur Radio exists
among many more modes of communication than it did half a century ago,
or even 20 years ago,” ARRL said in its petition.

Now numbering some 378,000, Technician licensees comprise more than half
of the US Amateur Radio population. ARRL said that after 17 years of
experience with the current Technician license as the gateway to Amateur
Radio, it’s urgent to make it more attractive to newcomers, in part to
improve upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education “that inescapably accompanies a healthy, growing Amateur
Radio Service,” ARRL asserted.
ARRL said its proposal is critical to developing improved operating
skills, increasing emergency communication participation, improving
technical self-training, and boosting overall growth in the Amateur
Service, which has remained nearly inert at about 1% per year.

The Entry-Level License Committee determined that the current Technician
class question pool already covers far more material than necessary for
an entry-level exam to validate expanded privileges. ARRL told the FCC
that it would continue to refine examination preparation and training
materials aimed at STEM topics, increase outreach and recruitment, work
with Amateur Radio clubs, and encourage educational institutions to
utilize Amateur Radio in STEM and other experiential learning programs.
“ARRL requests that the Commission become a partner in this effort to
promote Amateur Radio as a public benefit by making the very nominal
changes proposed herein in the Technician class license operating
privileges,” the petition concluded.

JOTA 2018 Patches to be Available this Summer

The patch design for the US Jamboree on the Air 2018 (JOTA) has been
selected by the National Radio Scouting Committee. BSA Supply expects to
have patches available this summer.
National JOTA Coordinator Jim Wilson, K5ND, said it’s never too early
to begin planning for JOTA, and quite a bit of information to help in
planning is available, including JOTA Countdown, JOTA Station Planning,
and JOTA Event Tips. A podcast on JOTA-JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet)
operations from Scouting Stuff You Should Know may also be useful. “It
provides a Canadian perspective, but it’s sound advice for any
location,” Wilson said.

The National Radio Scouting Committee has developed a draft Troop
Meeting Plan for Radio. Looking ahead, next year is the World Scout
Jamboree at The Summit Bechtel Scout Reserve in West Virginia. To
recognize the first North American World Jamboree — hosted by Canada,
Mexico, and the US — the call sign NA1WJ has been secured for the
event.
More information is in the World Scout Jamboree Amateur Radio
Operational Vision document.

National Hurricane Conference in Late March to Include Amateur Radio
Session

The annual National Hurricane Conference is set for March 26 – 29, in
Orlando, Florida. The theme this year is “Improving Hurricane
Preparedness.” Some 1,500 attendees are expected. The Amateur Radio
session will take place on Tuesday, March 27, at 10:30 AM. Presenters
will address various aspects of the Amateur Radio response to hurricanes
Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, will discuss
ARRL’s unprecedented mission to Puerto Rico to support the American
Red Cross in the wake of Hurricane Maria, considered to be the worst
natural disaster of all time for Dominica and Puerto Rico.

A National Hurricane Center representative will discuss the importance
of Amateur Radio surface reports to the hurricane forecasting process.
Other presentation topics will cover the operations of several groups
during the 2017 hurricane season, including WX4NHC, the National
Hurricane Center Amateur Radio station; the Hurricane Watch Net; the
VoIP Hurricane Net; the Canadian Hurricane Centre; the Salvation Army
Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), and best practices in SKYWARN
activations.
The Amateur Radio session is typically open to hams, free of charge.

Amateur Radio Emergency Service Transitioning to New Online Reporting
System

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) will phase out the
traditional ARES report forms later this year in favor of an online
system called ARES Connect, a volunteer management, communications, and
reporting system. The new system will allow information to be logged by
ARES members and managed through the Field Organization. The advent of
ARES Connect was among other highlights in “The Amateur Radio
Emergency Service (ARES) 2017 Annual Report,” released this week.

“ARES Connect is a volunteer management system that covers event
signup, reporting, and roster management,” ARRL Emergency Preparedness
Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, said. “It does not change how ARES operates
when serving a partner entity; it is simply a system that will make
managing volunteers and events easier.” Beta testing of ARES Connect
will begin in March. ARES made changes to its report forms last year to
make it easier to process information at ARRL Headquarters and to
standardize the format for all forms. ARES Monthly Reports have been
posted to the ARRL website, providing regular information on Amateur
Radio public service communication activity, the report noted.

According to the 2017 report, ARES membership stands at 31,332, up by
nearly 13% from 2016. The number of emergency operations events reported
was up by 665 from the previous year, with 1,913 reported in 2017. The
top three states in terms of ARES membership in 2017 were California
(2,265), Texas (1,930), and Ohio (1,858).

Reported ARES events amounted to 51,673 in 2017 — a 4% increase —
accounting for 718,930 volunteer hours at a calculated value of more
than $17.3 million.

“There was a noticeable increase in reported activity during August
through November,” the ARES 2017 Annual Report said. “During this
period there was Amateur Radio response activity for hurricanes Harvey,
Irma, and Maria; wildfires in the western states, and the total solar
eclipse that occurred on August 21.”

According to the report, 26 states gained ARES members, while 13 lost
members.

ARRL Suggests FCC May Need to Intervene to Ensure Effective Antenna
Rights

Commenting in response to an FCC Public Notice (DA 17-1180) released
last month, ARRL addressed the extent of Amateur Radio’s response to
recent hurricane disasters and efforts needed to expand the use of
Amateur Radio services when it comes to planning, testing, and providing
emergency communication. The comments point out that Amateur Radio not
only has been “far more than a hobby;” it is a ubiquitous,
infrastructure-independent communication resource that’s always ready
to deploy effectively whenever and wherever needed. The League cited the
remarks of former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, that Amateur
Radio “oftentimes is our last line of defense.” ARRL raised three
areas where action by the FCC could ensure and enhance the ability of
radio amateurs to provide emergency communication, including the current
Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 (S. 1534), now in the US Senate.

“HOAs can preclude amateur antennas in common areas. HOAs can enact
reasonable written rules governing height, location, size and aesthetic
impact of, and installation requirements for, outdoor antennas and
support structures for amateur communications, but the effective outdoor
antenna requirement is paramount,” ARRL noted in its comments. “The
bill is currently before the Senate Commerce Committee. If, however,
Congress is unable, as has been rumored, to pass any telecommunications
legislation this term, it will be incumbent on the Commission to take
the action on its own initiative that would be called for by this
legislation. The future of Amateur Radio emergency communications is
dependent on it.”

ARRL asserted that it “is critical to have stations located at one’s
residence in order to regularly participate in disaster preparedness
training exercises and drills.”
Another “noteworthy and urgent need” that might call for some
regulatory involvement by the FCC, ARRL said, “relates to an outdated
regulation that limits data rates in HF Amateur communications,
precluding certain digital emissions that have recently proven extremely
important in Amateur Radio hurricane relief efforts.” ARRL noted that
the FCC has yet to act on the League’s Petition for Rule
Making(RM-11708), filed in November of 2013, proposing to amend the
Amateur Service rules to eliminate the symbol rate limit relative to
data emissions in allocations below 29.7 MHz.

That Petition also called for establishing a 2.8-kHz maximum occupied
bandwidth for data emissions in those bands. ARRL has argued that this
deregulatory action is necessary to allow the use of PACTOR 4, an
effective and efficient digital communication mode that has proven
valuable in disaster-relief efforts. In July of 2016, the Commission
released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in WT Docket 16-239, proposing
only to remove limitations on the symbol rate applicable to data
emissions.

“Equipment dispatched with the ‘Force of 50’ [volunteers] to
Puerto Rico included data transmission equipment capable of PACTOR 4
operation, but it could not be legally used in the Hurricane Maria
disaster relief effort,” ARRL noted. The League prevailed upon the FCC
to grant a temporary waiver to permit use of PACTOR 4 by radio amateurs
involved in the emergency response. “However, it should not have been
necessary to wait more than 4 years for the underlying rulemaking
proceeding to have been resolved, and it should not have been necessary
to ask for a temporary waiver of a hopelessly outdated rule that limits
data speeds for no useful reason,” ARRL added in its comments.
The League also called on the FCC to “take the action requested in
ARRL’s January 2017  Petition for Rule Making (RM-11785), proposing to
allocate the band 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz to the Amateur Radio Service on a
secondary basis, in accordance with the Final Acts of World
Radiocommunication Conference 2015.

“A contiguous band in the vicinity of 5 MHz will assist in conducting
emergency and disaster relief communications in the United States; with
the Caribbean basin; with Alaska and with other parts of North, Central
and South America,” ARRL told the FCC. ARRL has asked the FCC to
permit 100 W, as it does on the five existing 60-meter channels, and to
retain the four channels that are not part of the requested contiguous
frequency band.

APIC Sherri, W4STB, asked me to post this info from the PR reflector for
our Club and ARES PIOs. Thanks, Sherri !

Hello all,

As many of you may know, NBC’s “Left Field,” a new digital news
unit, produced a video news story about the vital role that Amateur
Radio plays in Hawaii’s emergency communications system --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO09aMGMizM&feature=youtu.be – and we
shared the story on all of our social media platforms, where it
generated a lot of positive feedback.

We were also given permission from the producer of the piece (Sky
Dylan-Robbins) to use this piece in any promotional way that we wanted.
So you and your organizations are free to show this seven-minute piece
at any gatherings where it would be appropriate. (NBC prefers that you
use the link to the video on You Tube rather than from the Left Field
web site.)

Dave

David Isgur
Communication Manager
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio®

disgur at arrl.org
(w) 860-594-0328; (c) 860-214-3961

Please let me know about any events that your club or ARES group are
sponsoring such as picnics, free fleas, operating events, etc. as they
can be added to this newsletter to better keep the members of SFL
informed of your activities.

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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