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K4WCF |
Serving the needs of the Amateur Radio Operators in Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota Counties. | ||
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A Ten County Slice of Florida Paradise! |
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| Dee Turner, N4GD - Section Manager |
Page Last Updated: Sunday, May 19, 2013 (All web pages are written by Microsoft Front-Page for viewing on 1024x768 screen size) |
Dennis Griffin, W4DG - Assistant Section Manager, OOC & Webmaster
The West Central Florida Section is one of seventy-one administrative sections of the ARRL - The American Radio Relay League. The ARRL is the National Association for Amateur Radio in the USA. The WCF Section of the ARRL Field Organization serves amateur radio operators in ten counties in Florida: Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota. The WCF section includes the following cities: Bradenton, Clearwater, Lakeland, New Port Richey, Punta Gorda, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Sebring, Tampa and Winter Haven. This web page has information specific to the ARRL Field Services activities in West Central Florida.
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More News......... |
| Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club presentation to the MOAA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On March 28, 2013, Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club, Port Richey, FL., president, Bill Pfaff Jr. KI4QJK, gave a HAM radio presentation to the Military Officers Association of America, Sun Coast Chapter, Port Richey, Florida. The presentation consisted of the history of HAM radio, the hobby, community service and emergency communications. He had a typical HAM radio "shack" set up with all of the items found in most HAM shacks and brochures to hand out including hurricane preparation brochures from the Pasco County Florida, Office of Emergency Management. Those present were amazed at the current state of HAM radio and the advancement of the hobby and its importance in providing emergency communications. The fact that we can communicate with the International Space Station and the hobby is growing more now than ever, was amazing to them. Bill received a certificate of appreciation and a gift from the MOAA Chapter President Robert Ayers., Col U.S. Army (Ret) that showed their appreciation for his presentation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida Hams Prove that Ham Radio Works When Cell Phones Don’t | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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03/06/2013 After a day of exploring the Green Swamp Wildlife Management Area -- which covers 50,692 protected acres in Florida’s Lake, Polk and Sumter Counties -- with his grandson, Joe Cody, KE4WDP, of Winter Haven, Florida, saw that the roads were flooding and becoming hazardous. As he tried to drive out of the area, Cody’s small pick-up truck got bogged down in the mud. Since he was out of cell phone range, Cody tried calling for help on the Dade City 146.880 repeater. Richard Parker, KF4ORW, of Dade City, Florida, heard the call and answered. After hearing the situation, Parker called 911 in Pasco County, who put him in touch with the dispatch in neighboring Polk County. Cody passed his location on to Parker, who in turn passed it on to the Polk County Sherriff’s Office. “Polk County 911 took over trying to get help,” Parker said. “They called me back several times for more information and I was able to relay information from Joe to them. Then Ted Bulmanski, W4TKB, who is also from Dade City, started monitoring and copying Joe’s information.” About 30 minutes later, Parker saw a helicopter fly over and around Cody’s position, and after another 30 minutes, Cody radioed back on the repeater, saying he was on his way home -- thanks to a Lake County Deputy in a Sherriff’s Office truck that had a winch. “We learned that Joe was eight miles inside Lake County,” Parker explained. “That’s why the Lake County Sherriff’s Office responded instead of the Polk County authorities. The Polk County Sherriff’s Office called me back to say that the helicopter from Lake County found the truck inside Lake County and sent both a deputy from Lake County, as well as a Fish and Game Officer and winched him out of the mud. They called me back to thank us for assisting the stranded pair. Ham radio still works when other forms of communications don’t.” -- Thanks to ARRL West Central Florida Section Public Information Coordinator Kevin Poorman, KV4CT, for the information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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REPORT ON TAMPA BAY AMATEUR
RADIO SUPPORT FOR THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION 2012 TAMPA, FLORIDA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bill Williams AG4QX, Hillsborough County
ARES/RACES Operations Manager/Assistant Emergency Coordinator
and the Greater Tampa Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Liaison for the City of Tampa was asked by the Tampa Office of
Emergency Management to provide emergency back-up communications
for the City during the timeframe of the Republican National
Convention, August 24 through September 2, 2012. This tasking required amateur radio at four primary locations: the Tampa EOC, Tampa Fire Station #1, Tampa Fire Station #3 and the Tampa Fire Rescue Training Academy & Police Training Center staging area. Each location had ICOM Model IC-2820 radios pre-programmed with numerous D-Star and analog frequencies, any of which were tested and could be used for emergency communications. Two training sessions were conducted prior to the event, to familiarize the operators with the radio operation and the Incident Command System-compliant plans for the Convention coverage. This was treated for the City as a CERT event, and for the County, an ARES/RACES activation. Volunteer radio operators were scheduled for 24/7 coverage at the four locations, plus the Hillsborough EOC was available for any additional activations if required. Over 1800 volunteer hours were put in to prepare for and support the city and county for the week long operation. The city operated the Consequence Management EOC, staffed that was supported by the RNC, Secret Service, FBI, State Warning Point, Hillsborough County and surrounding counties Emergency Management representatives. A Joint Incident Command was established and operated nearby. Even the threat of Hurricane Isaac did not interfere with the operation. Under the county plan, ARES/RACES put out the call for more operators to support Hillsborough County and the Red Cross shelter operations, and the city support continued unfazed. The county RACES Officer and ARRL Emergency Coordinator, Keating Floyd KC4HSI, called on operators from the Tampa Amateur Radio Club to run a Resource Net until the storm threat passed. Hillsborough County experienced heavy rains and flooding but only minor damage was reported. All facets of the amateur radio operation were undeniably successful. The RNC went off with very few problems, and congratulations are due to Bill Williams for a job well done, along with all the CERT and ARES/RACES members who supported him and the Tampa Bay community. Budd Johnson WB4J Hillsborough County AEC - Club Liaison ARRL West Central Florida Official Emergency Station wb4j@verizon.net Additional comments so far received: All, I am pleased and honored to know that we have such a dedicated group of individuals that would be able to provide a critical service and function if the need arises. Bill and so many others have proven this time and time again. The events of this week reaffirm the fact that we are more prepared than ever for disasters. Enjoy a wonderful and un-eventful weekend. Thank you for all you do Preston Cook Director of Emergency Management Hillsborough County Fire Rescue This acknowledgment is well deserved. Bill, Keating and the rest of the CERT and ARES/RACES volunteers are remarkable citizens and very gracious with giving the city/county so much of their personal time and expertise.
Michael M.
Gonzalez, Ph.D. Bill, Thanks again for the dedication, effort, time and professionalism you always provide. The support you and your team provided to the City of Tampa and 2012 RNC is greatly appreciated and will not go unnoticed. My hat is off to all that supported and continue to support the mission. This go to show the willingness and support that volunteers and their agencies can and do provide, not just in times of a disaster but whenever the call go out. Thanks again for a job well done and the continued support you always have provided,
Oliver E. Greene, Jr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eric, KD4MZM & Bill K4FLV
put together an Island Activation event in
Sarasota! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A group of operators in Sarasota put Venetian Waterway Park in Venice on the air the weekend of May 19, 2012. Since the island was a never on the air before it received a designator of FL-488. The group make over 140 contacts on CW, SSB, PSK31 and BPSK63. The group of operators were: Eric KD4MZM, Bill K4LFV, Craig KI4SNR, Net N2RDX, Den W3DEN, Dick KI4EFJ, Eddie K4JP Louis WA2COP, Mark KV4FC, Scott KG4YHR, Tony KE4AWM, Jim W4JDB.
The link to the TV on
air spot is here, click on any text | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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*SPRING 2010* ISSUE OF THE WCF TS EXPERIMENTER NOW AVAILABLE in .pdf (Click on any text to link) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Revised" DATABASE OF THE WCF SECTION COUNTY HAM TOWER/ANTENNA RULES & REGULATIONS (05, 2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our WCF Section ASM & TC, Geoff, N1GY, has complied a list for our ten (10) WCF Section County Amateur (HAM) Tower and antenna rules and regulations. Click here to access this link! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page Last Updated: Sunday, May 19, 2013 15:40:21 |