Minutes of the General Membership of the Silver Springs Radio Club

September 19, 2005

The meeting was called to order by president Bill Britt @7:35 P.M.
Present
Bill Miller, Vice President, N6WGM
Jeanette Frantz, Treasurer, KG4DJA
Richard Cardinali, Secretary, KG4TLE
Ernie O' Berry, Board member, K4OSM
Russell Merkel, Board Member, WB9GIU
Maurice Schietecatte, Board Member, W4CEO

The invocation and Pledge of Allegiance were presented.

Members introduced themselves to the visitors.
Both the secretary and treasurer reports were accepted.
Visitors Bill Clayton, N4QYQ, Dave Gustafson WB9EEH

Old Business
Barbara Million reminded members of the Christmas Party.
Bill Miller reminded members of December Hamfest.

Reports
MARS Normal traffic was reported by Russell Merkel. Bill Britt added that the 4th region conducted 24 hour emergency operations during the recent hurricane on the Gulf Coast.

Charles Hensley KC4Q, reported that another class will start in January.

VE testing was conducted and one of the three passed according to Bill Britt.

Other News

Marion County Emergency Communications was briefly addressed by Jeanette Frantz and Charles Hensley.

Tony Blalock K4OCF reported that the club will participate in the October 15-16 Boy Scout Jamboree. He also mentioned that the Discovery Science Center requested the club conduct a demonstration of HAM equipment and capabilities on a Saturday chosen by the club. Contact Tony for additional information.

Membership

Two applicants, Gerald K3GRP and Mary WA3VUP Patton were accepted into membership.

Correspondence

A letter was received from the University of Florida Faculty advisor of the Gator Amateur Radio Club at the University. It stressed that any student coming to the university that is a HAM or interested in the field to contact him. His name is Jay Garlitz AA4FL and can be contacted at his email address: jgarlitz @ufl.edu.

Item of Concern

Bill Britt requested that we need volunteers for the upcoming election to select officials to conduct the business of the club. Three individuals are required. Only one person said he would volunteer to assist in this task. Charles Hensley KC4Q.

Several members of the present club officers have suggested that they may serve another term, thus completing their term limits as directed by the club charter. That left one position, the president, which definitely needed a person because Bill Britt has reached his term limits. There was some discussion of some members remaining on the board, but that needs closer attention at the next board and membership meeting. It would behoove the Oracle staff to editorialize the significance of selecting someone to head the club activities because that may effect the election process.

Bill Britt has served well with his with superior knowledge in the field. He had demonstrated wax enthusiasm in his duties and has been unselfish with his time. He has been an excellent role model for our club and the community.
The meeting adjourned at 8:22.PM
Richard Cardinali KG4TLE
Secretary

SSRC Board Meeting
October 3, 2005

The meeting was called to order by president Bill Britt@ 7:30 PM.

Present:

Bill Miller, Vice President , N6WGM

Jeanette Frantz, Treasurer, KG4DJA

Richard Cardinali, Secretary, KG4TLE

Ernie O'Berry, Board Member, K4OSM

Maurice Schietecatte, Board Member, W4CEO

Absent: Russell Merkel, Board Member, WB9GIU

Visitors: Phillip Frantz, Membership Chair, KF4QIC and Emily Cardinali, KI4BIH.

The treasurer's report was presented and accepted.

There was no board meeting last month because of the holiday.

Old Business:

Bill Miller, et.al., will reconnoiter the Fair Ground Annex in preparation for the upcoming Hamfest.

Bill Miller and others will visit the Boy Scout Camp site for placement of support radio facilities for the upcoming October 14 and 15 Scouting event.

Bill Britt announced that the two pieces of radio equipment for MARS are in and installed. He also reported that there appears to be a computer malfunction which has rendered the computer system non operational.

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM.

Richard Cardinali, Secretary

October 2005

Compiled by Bill Britton KB4VOL/AAM4AFL

THESE LISTS ARE ONLY AS ACCURATE AS THE INFORMATION RECEIVED. PLEASE SEND CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS---SEE BELOW. . SEND PL FOR REPEATERS WHERE NEEDED.

DATE                       LOCATION NOTES

Nov 5       Titusville At DAV Chapter 109, 435 Singleton Avenue, Talk-in on 145.490 PL 100; INFO: Bob, N6USP, n6usp@gnc.net

Nov 12       Largo FREE! At 311 Missouri Ave N INFO: Len, K4BDP (727) 585-4736

Nov 19       Coral Gables FREE! At Univ of Miami Physics parking lot, Talk-in on 146.865 PL 103.5, INFO: Bill, WA4TEJ (305)264-4465

Nov 26       Okeechobee At Agriculture Grounds US 441 N & 23rd St., Talk-in on 147.09 PL 100.0, INFO: Harry, KF4KDO (863) 467-7454

Dec 3/4       Palmetto Tampa Bay Hamfestm At Manatee Civic Ctr. One Haben Blvd., Talk-in on 145.190, INFO: Jim, KG4JSZ (407) 356- 3574.

Dec 10       Ocala At County Agriculture Ctr., 2232 NE Jacksonvlle Rd. Talk-in on 146.610 PL 123, INFO: Bill, N6WGM, n6wgm@cfl.rr.com.

For a complete listing of Hamfests in Florida, please visit the Florida Ham Website at its new location, http:// bellsouthpwp.net/k/b/kb4vol.

SILVER SPRINGS RADIO CLUB

HAMFEST

December 10, 2005

The Silver Springs Radio Club's HamFest will take place on December 10, 2005, at the Marion County Agriculture Center, located on Northeast Jacksonville Road.

The dates and times have not changed, but there's considerably more room at the Agricultural Center and the location has been confirmed.

Now, let's get behind this effort and make this event a smashing success!

Remember folks, this is YOUR radio club and your action or inaction determine its course.

League Asks FCC to Void

Florida RFI Statute

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 1, 2005--The ARRL has asked the FCC to declare invalid a Florida law that prohibits anyone making radio transmissions without a license or Commission "exemption" from interfering with a licensed broadcast station. In a Request for Declaratory Ruling to the Commission February 25, the League maintains that only the FCC has authority to regulate radio stations and RFI. By prohibiting interference to broadcasters, the ARRL contends, the Florida law could have the apparently unintended consequence of affecting ham radio licensees as well as operators of certain unlicensed Part 15 devices, such as cordless telephones.

"What is clear is that no radio transmissions, licensed or not, are permitted if they result in interference to public or commercial radio stations licensed by the Commission," the League said. "Thus, it would appear that Commission-licensed Amateur Radio stations in Florida are subject to felony prosecution if their transmissions interfere with interference-susceptible broadcast or other radio receivers used in listening to public or commercial radio stations."

The law also could subject operators of Part 15 unlicensed intentional radiators that interfere with broadcast stations to felony criminal prosecution, the League said, adding that it "could be interpreted to prohibit operation of Part 15 devices entirely."

Citing case law and legal opinions dating as far back as the 1930s, the ARRL requested a declaratory ruling from the FCC that the Florida statute "exceeds the jurisdiction of the State of Florida and intrudes on the exclusive jurisdiction afforded the Commission by the Communications Act of 1934 as amended, to regulate radio stations and to address interference phenomena."

The Florida Legislature enacted the law, §§877.27 of the Florida Criminal Statutes (under "Miscellaneous Crimes"), last year. It took effect July 1, 2004. Violations would be considered third-degree felonies in Florida.

The ARRL says it's not clear that Florida lawmakers intended the law to be as broad in its application as it reads, but that the new law--apparently aimed at unlicensed "pirate" broadcasters--"nonetheless on its face prohibits any person from causing interference" with an FCC-licensed broadcast station.

Although the Communications Act of 1934 does not specifically preempt state regulation of RFI matters, Congress clarified in 1982 that all telecommunications are interstate and subject to exclusive regulation by the FCC, the ARRL pointed out. It cited the Communications Amendments Act of 1982, Public Law 97-259 to support its stance.

"The legislative history of the Communications Amendments Act of 1982 demonstrates that Congress intended to completely preempt the regulation of RFI," and leave it solely in the hands of the FCC, the ARRL said. The League also noted that courts "likewise have refused to allow private lawsuits against commercial broadcasters to abate RFI problems."

In a 2003 case, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the FCC "held clearly that all attempts by states and municipalities to regulate RFI are void as preempted by the supremacy clause of the Constitution," the ARRL said. The League's petition concludes that the Florida statute "is void as preempted by federal communications law."

NOTICE OF ELECTION

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that election of officers of Silver Springs Radio Club will take place at the November 2005 General Membership Meeting. As of the September 2005 General Membership Meeting, there were vacancies on the Board of Directors and in the office of President.

Nominations will close at the end of the October General Membership Meeting.

Folks, your participation is imperative. Please step forward and do your part!

FCC HALTS ISSUANCE OF

VANITY CALL SIGNS

The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) has suspended the processing of Amateur Radio vanity call sign applications. A WTB staff member, speaking to ARRL on background, said the FCC halted vanity processing on or about September 23 after realizing that filing and regulatory deadline extensions for hurricane-affected licensees in certain states could adversely impact the vanity system. The WTB staffer pointed out that the filing extensions announced this month also apply to Amateur Radio's two-year "grace period."

"Because these extensions apply to the grace period, it could affect vanity processing," the WTB staffer told ARRL. "We stopped processing when it became clear that some call signs could be affected." No decision has been made on when vanity processing will resume.

On September 1, the FCC extended until October 31 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between August 29 and October 30 for licensees in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina. On September 24, it extended until November 21 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between September 20 and November 20 for licensees in Louisiana and Texas affected by Hurricane Rita.

The WTB staff member emphasized that the FCC intended the deadline extensions to apply only to licensees who have been directly impacted by the storms. "These are not statewide extensions," the staffer said.

Under Part 97, Amateur Radio licensees have two years from the date of license expiration to renew their tickets without having to retest or risk losing their call signs to a vanity applicant. The staffer confirmed that WTB had disabled the "auto-termination" feature of the Universal Licensing System (ULS) so that it will not automatically cancel licenses that have not been renewed by the end of the grace period.

"We can't assume based on address who might be affected," the staff member explained, "so we're not auto-terminating anything at this point." In the meantime, the FCC is encouraging radio amateurs to continue filing vanity applications as they normally would. "Everything will be held in queue," the WTB staff member said.--thanks to Dean Gibson, AE7Q, for alerting ARRL to this situation.

Reprinted from The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League website.

BOY SCOUTS JAMBOREE

ON THE AIR

The following information from Mike Kingery KE4AZN Amsat Vice President Operations, concerning the availability of the AO-51 satellite during JOTA.

73 Trevor M5AKA

Publicity Manager AMSAT-UK

Use of AO-51 During JOTA

The annual Boy and Girl Scouts "Jamboree on the Air" Amateur Radio event is scheduled for 15 and 16 October 2005. As this is an International Scouting event, amateur radio stations around the world are invited to participate. The AO-51 command team is scheduling the satellite for exclusive use by the Scouts, and Satellite operators communicating with the Scouts, for this weekend. Please allow the Scouts the opportunity to make as many contacts as possible via AO-51 during this short time period. Base stations, please remember that most of the JOTA stations
will be portable, so please use minimum power. The official times for the JOTA event will be from 1200 UTC on October 15 until 1200 UTC on October 17, 2005.

For the JOTA weekend, AO-51 will be configured in the Dual FM repeater mode. This will provide two independent FM repeaters (separate uplink and downlink frequencies) for use over the weekend. Both repeaters will be for use by the JOTA activity. This mode will run Monday through Friday before the event to allow amateur satellite stations to familiarize and test this mode. The configuration of the satellite frequencies for this mode is listed below.

AO-51 FM repeater #1 Downlink: 435.300 MHz

Uplink: 145.920 MHz with 67hz PL Tone

AO-51 FM repeater #2 Downlink: 435.150 MHz

Uplink: 145.880 MHz with NO PL Tone

(Reprinted from the QRZ.com site)

QRZ Forum Ham Radio News

Golden Opportunity To Promote Ham Radio

Special Event

Amateur Radio Operators once again have a unique opportunity to spread the word about our hobby with great media coverage this Veteran's Day and in September.

Amateurs have been asked by the Golden Corral Restaurants to celebrate Military Appreciation Monday this November, and give the people of our communities an opportunity to thank those that currently serve and have served in the Armed Forces. The event is held on the Monday after Veteran's Day, and falls on November 14, 2005 this year. During this event the restaurant provides free meals to active duty troops, and veteran's. Needless to say this generates large crowds. They provide thousands of free meals each year at Golden Corral's nationwide.

The SOLE purpose of amateur radio involvement is to promote our hobby, pay tribute to those that serve in the Armed Forces, and to provide a public service. We want to use this opportunity to make QSO's of appreciation between locations nationwide, and with other amateur's. We will not be promoting the Golden Corral Chain in anyway, or inviting people to support the chain. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate our hobby.

Last year amateur radio was invited to run special event stations from these restaurants as a means of exposing ham radio to the public, and as a way to say thanks to those that serve in a live forum. The event was announced to amateur's on short notice, however we were able to make our presence a success. As a result, of our involvement, we have been asked to expand our presence nationwide so that more people can witness amateur radio first hand.

Why not have your club, or just a group of local amateur's set up a small ham station at a local Golden Corral and run a Special event station. Make QSO's with other Golden Corral's, and with amateurs worldwide. The station can also allow the public to express words of thanks to our military members, and veteran's over the radio. Some stores have over 7,000 people attend the event, and many members of the Press cover this event, as it is a national attraction. This is an excellent way to showcase our hobby, and to provide a great public service for a few short hours.

Present this idea, as well as other ARMAD special event's to your club, and let's get some media coverage, and expousure for Amateur Radio. This is a great way to recruit new members to our hobby, and for amateurs to have some fun, and dust off the equipment.

Amateur's can run HF, PSK31, IRLP, and Echolink during the event. See the list of Frequencies and modes listed on the ARMAD webpage.

Visit www.armad.net for more information about ARMAD, and events that we put on to help grow our hobby. Let's "Ham It UP For The Troops."

This special event is not an endorsement of the Golden Corral, nor a promotion for them. It is an opportunity for amateur's to share messages of appreciation and thanks to our military members of the past and present.

www.armad.net or Google ARMAD or KC9HAJ

Interference Complaints Prompt FCC Queries to California Repeater Owners

NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 23, 2005--Following up on separate interference complaints, the FCC recently contacted two repeater owners in California to request additional information. Letters went out FCC Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth August 19 and September 1 to Jeffrey A. Stouffer, K6JSI, of Vista, and to H. R. Dixon, WB6NIL, of San Diego, respectively. The letters enclosed complaints that the two licensees were operating uncoordinated UHF repeaters said to cause interference to coordinated machines on the same frequency.

"The complaint indicated that you have been made aware of the interference and the apparent lack of coordination but that you have declined to resolve the interference," Hollingsworth told both licensees in the separate letters. As he's done in past such cases, Hollingsworth pointed out that §§97.205 of the Amateur Service rules, "the licensee of the uncoordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference."

Among other things, Hollingsworth asked Dixon and Stouffer to produce copies of their coordination documents and if either had received complaints regarding the operation of their repeaters. Copies of interference complaints accompanied both pieces of correspondence. Hollingsworth said the FCC's letter to Dixon was not deliverable to his address on record at the time in Oakhurst. He said the letter has been remailed to Dixon's current address in San Diego, which was updated in the FCC's database September 22.

In other enforcement news, Hollingsworth wrote Gary A. Jaworske, KB8ZNS, and Zachary J. Jaworske, KB8YYG, both of Strongsville, Ohio, August 19 to tell both licensees that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) had referred their renewal applications to the Enforcement Bureau for review.

"That action was taken based upon a complaint filed against you alleging that you are marketing non-certified radio transmitters and that you are modifying certified radio equipment to cause it to operate on unauthorized frequencies and at power limits that violate Commission rules," Hollingsworth told both licensees. The Jaworskes have the same address but their relationship is not known.

Both Jaworskes are Technician licensees. Zachary Jaworske's license expired on April 19, while Gary Jaworske's ticket expired May 17, 2005. Since their renewal applications were timely filed, both will be permitted to continue to operate, despite the fact that their renewal applications now are in "pending" status.

Hollingsworth said the complaint, if valid, "raised serious questions regarding your qualifications to retain an amateur license." He asked each to respond to the complaints within 30 days. Hollingsworth said that he's heard nothing from either licensee to date.

The FCC also wrote Anthony J. Lomenzo, ex-KD4DVW, of Sunrise, Florida, on September 1 citing "monitoring information" indicating that Lomenzo had been transmitting on various 2-meter repeaters in the Sunrise area. Lomenzo did not renew his license before it expired in 2002. Hollingsworth noted that FCC records indicate that in 1999, Lomenzo received a Warning Notice regarding interference to repeaters in the Sunrise area.

Silver Springs Radio Club, Inc. CLUB MEETINGS are the third Monday of each month 7:30 PM (Location to be Announced each Month), Ocala, Florida. Coffee & Doughnuts are available. BOARD OF DIRECTORS meetings are the first Monday of each month, 7:30 PM at the Facilities Management Building, in the Marion County Government Complex. K4GSO, club station, Green Clover Hall, is available to all members. Contact Bill, KQ4UJ, 694-1605. MARS, club station located at 161 Oak Circle, Silver Springs Shores. Phone number is 680-1528. Contact Bill KQ4UJ, at 694-1605. LICENSE TESTING, on the second Monday of each odd number month, except July, 7:30 PM at Green Clover Hall. Call Jack Scott at 622-4447. RADIO NETS are conducted over the club repeater, K4GSO, on 146.610 MHz (-600). LADIES AUXILIARY. Sunshine - Provides flowers and get-well cards for members or members' family. Also orders SSRC logo shirts and caps, Barbara Million, KE4ZTW, 694-5744. NOTE: For change of address or corrections (with SSRC) contact the Membership Chairman. SSRC NET, every Tuesday at 7:30 (local time). Contact Jeanette at (352) 489-0571. MERT (Marion County Emergency Radio Communications Team) NET, every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. LOCAL time. Contact Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA at (352) 489-0571 Repeater Trustee,(146.610)Bill KQ4UJ, at 694-1605 President Bill Britt, KQ4UJ 694-1605 V. President William Miller, N6WGM 873-2017 Secretary Richard Cardinali, KG4TLE 690-7500 Treasurer Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA 489-0571 Trustee Bill Britt, KQ4UJ 694-1605 Board Members: Russ Merkle, WB9GIU 624-2285 Ernie O'Berry, K4OSM 732-0374 Maurice Schietecatte, 245-1038 W4CEO Oracle Editor: Jeanette Frantz, KG4DJA 489-0571 Oracle _editor@prodigy.net Membership Phillip Frantz, KF4QIC 489-0571 Ladies' Auxiliary Barbara Million, KE4ZTW 694-5744 Email: funyet2@earthlink.net Silver Springs Radio Club Website: http://www.qsl.net/ssrc/   Ocala Radio Amateur's Candid Letter of Enlightenment SILVER SPRINGS RADIO CLUB P.O. BOX 787 SILVER SPRINGS, FL 34489 October 2005