THE PETITION

TEXT OF THE PETITION

I, the undersigned, hereby petition the American Radio Relay League to change the boundaries of the West Central Florida Section will consist of the following Southern Florida Section Counties:

Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota.

I affirm to the ARRL that I am a resident in the proposed West Central Florida Section and a member in good standing of the American Radio Relay League.

(The petition and signatures were attached here in the submission to the ARRL.)

THE PROPOSAL


THE LEADERSHIP


The West Central Florida Section Committee was duly constituted on January 23, 1999 to develop and promote the creation of the 71st Administrative Section of the American Radio Relay League. The Committee leadership includes the following:
�
Chairman                                         
Paul Toth
K2SEC�����
Pinellas

Vice-Chairman
Frank Morton
AC4MK���������
Manatee

Secretary
Paul Knupke, Jr.
KR4YL����������
Pinellas

Affiliated Club Liaison
Dave Armbrust
AE4MR
Sarasota

Candidate�s Committee Chairman
Biff Craine
K4LAW
Hillsborough�

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP


Dave Armbrust, AE4MR
Sarasota, Sarasota County
Vice President, Sarasota Amateur Radio Association
Coordinator, Sarasota County Skywarn

Clyde Barrenger, KF4LEA
Zolfo Springs, Hardee Co
Applicant for Emergency Coordinator, Hardee Co.
Owner of the only repeater in Hardee County, 146.625 MHz

John Belich, WB4PBF
St. Petersburg, Pinellas Co.
Assistant To The President, St. Petersburg Times Co.
Regional Coordinator, EMWIN

Doug Christ, KN4YT
Nocatee, DeSoto County
Emergency Coordinator, DeSoto County
Public Information Office, DeSoto County

Biff Craine, K4LAW
Tampa, Hillsborough County
Vice-President, Tampa Amateur Radio Club

James (Darrell) Davis, KT4WX
Fort Meade, Polk Co.
Past Emergency Coordinator, Polk Co.
Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Polk Co.
Board Member, Polk Experimenters Group

Bill Dibble, KE4WU
Lake Placid, Highlands Co.
Secretary, Highlands Co. Amateur Radio Club
Bulletin Manager, Southern Florida

Phyllis Dibble, KD4CQG
Lake Placid, Highlands Co.
Vice-President, Highlands Co. Amateur Radio Club
Public Information Officer, Highlands Co.

Demos Doulou, KR4US
Pinellas Park, Pinellas Co.
Radio Officer, Pinellas County Auxillary Communication Service (ACS)
Deputy Emergency Coordinator, Pinellas County ARES
WX4TBW Station Trustee, West Central Florida Skywarn Group

Jerry Eichhorn, W4WDK
Lake Placid, Highlands Co.
Emergency Coordinator, Highlands County
Past Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator Southern Florida

Joe Gigliotti, W4EMI
Tampa, Hillsborough Co.
President, Tampa Amateur Radio Club

Paul Knupke, Jr. KR4YL
Largo, Pinellas County
President, Clearwater Amateur Radio Society
District Director, Florida Repeater Council
Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Pinellas County

Neil Lauritsen, W4NHL
Clearwater, Pinellas Co.
Emergency Coordinator, Pinellas County
Member at Large, Clearwater Amateur Radio Society
Deputy Radio Officer, Pinellas Co. Auxiliary Communication Service

Rod McCausland, KE4TVT
Sarasota, Sarasota Co.
Treasurer, Sarasota Amateur Radio Association

Frank Morton, AC4MK
Bradenton, Manatee Co.
President, Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council
Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Manatee County
Public Information Officer, Manatee Co.

Jon Pearl, W4ABC
St. Petersburg, Pinellas Co.
Chairman/Co-Founder, West Central Florida Scout Radio Network�

Chris Schwab, N4BSA
Largo, Pinellas County
Past President, Clearwater Amateur Radio Society
Past President, Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council

Brian Sugden, KR4SP
Frostproof, Polk Co.
Emergency Coordinator, Polk Co.
Past President, Lakeland Amateur Radio Club

Paul Toth, K2SEC
Seminole, Pinellas Co.
Secretary, Clearwater Amateur Radio Society
Past Section Emergency Coordinator, Northern New Jersey Section
Past Assistant Division Director, Hudson Division
Past Public Information Coordinator, Northern NJ Section
Amateur Radio Coordinator, West Central Florida Skywarn Group

Allen Turck, KE4MPQ
Bradenton, Manatee Co.
Emergency Coordinator, Manatee Co.

Nash Walters, W8SEL
Port Charlotte, Charlotte Co.
Public Information Officer, Charlotte Co.

Ron Wetjen, WD4AHZ
Sarasota, Sarasota Co.
Emergency Coordinator, Sarasota Co.
Vice President, Sarasota Emergency Radio Club
Vice President, Florida Contest Group

Paul Womble, AJ4Y
Highland City, Polk Co.
Coordinator, Polk Co. Skywarn
Assistant Emergency Coordinator, Polk Co.
Treasurer, Florida Contest Group
Trustee, K4LKL Lakeland Amateur Radio Club

OBJECTIVES


In accordance with the procedure outlined by the ARRL for Section Creation and Boundary change, the West Central Florida Section Committee offers the following proposal for the League�s consideration.�The West Central Florida Section Committee believes the creation of a new ARRL Administrative Field Section is needed to:

  • Promote growth in ARRL membership through an aggressive education and public information effort.

  • Increase the visibility of the ARRL in the proposed area and awareness among members and non-members of the League�s purpose, functions, programs and benefits to all Radio Amateurs.

  • Provide improved, localized support for League members on local and regional issues.� Provide improved Section coordination and support for the Affiliated Clubs.

  • Provide improved, localized coordination and support for the �Served Agencies� including the National Weather Service, American Red Cross, Salvation Army and other organizations.� Provide improved, localized coordination and support for the ARES program and its interface with Emergency Management organizations in the affected area.

  • Promote the role Amateur Radio plays in our communities through a more aggressive interface with community organizations and the media.

  • Promote experimentation and advancement of the Amateur Radio art by research, development and experimentation.

Continuation and promotion of an effective National Traffic System.

THE WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA ACTION PLAN


The Committee and subsequent Section Manager and Cabinet would provide the leadership to create and sustain programs to raise the level of awareness about the League, its lobbying efforts and many other programs it is engaged in to benefit the membership, the Affiliated Clubs and Served Agencies. This has been already been started with aggressive interaction with the membership at Affiliated and non-affiliated Club meetings and functions, hamfests and other activities. 

  • Continuing activities to enhance League awareness include:

  • Regular visits to club meetings by Section officials 

  • Attendance in an official capacity at all hamfests 

  • Maintain a Section Web Page. 

  • Make available an open electronic (email) mailing list (remailer.)

  • Publish a regular section-wide newsletter and distribute on the section web page, through the section mailing list and through packet bulletin boards.

  • Institute a Section-wide Speaker�s Bureau of Section cabinet officials and Affiliated Club leaders to work with Service Organizations, Served Agencies and the Media to increase the level of awareness about the League and Amateur Radio in general.

  • Institute an aggressive Club-based and Section supported Education program to promote the growth of new Amateur Radio operators and the continuing education and advancement of existing operators. This program would be multi-faceted aimed at individuals as well as organized group like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. A greater emphasis would be made to bring Amateur Radio to our youth.

  • Support an active and visible Official Observer Program as part of the Section�s Education and Self-Regulation effort. This program would be coordinated with the Official Observer programs in the other Florida Sections

The new West Central Florida Section would also take advantage of several synergies that bind the ten county region together. 

  • These include an extensive transportation network, including two major Interstate highways that allow Section officials to travel to any destination in the ten county area in less than two and a half hours. This is a MAJOR ENABLER for increasing visibility and contact with Section officials. The reduced travel time required for Section officials will virtually eliminate the overnight travel expenditures currently incurred by Section officials when traveling to Clubs and Amateur Radio related events in the current SFL Section.

  • The major portion of the proposed section part of this country�s fourteenth largest media market enabling a less fragmented approach to news and information about Amateur Radio.� The geographic size of the West Central Florida Section can effectively use linked repeaters on bands above 50 MHz through which section-wide nets and communication can take place. Two linked repeater systems are currently under construction in the ten county area including one that will support SKYWARN activities and another for the Boy & Girl Scouts.�

  • HF will also continue to be used to communicate through out the West Central Florida Section.��

  • Recruit and promote an active Local Government Liaison program.

  • Support, promotion and participation at all levels of the NTS including the sharing of the management duties now shared by the two existing sections.

  • The West Central Florida Section Committee strongly supports the implementation of the recommended ARES leadership structure including the appointment of District Emergency Coordinators and County-based Emergency Coordinators to better organize and run the ARES program in the West Central Florida Section.

  • The Section Emergency Coordinator would establish lines of communications with the other Florida Sections to maximize resources and cooperation during an emergency.

  • Communication to the State EOC will follow already established protocols and HF nets in conjunction with the NFL Section, the same as SFL Section currently does. High Speed Data linking is also a goal of the WCF Section.

  • The Committee supports the appointment of Assistant Section Managers to oversee and direct the Section Education Program, support of Section-wide Public Service support and a more aggressive Section Governmental Liaison program.

  • The Committee supports programs that would institute programs to seek out clubs that are currently non-affiliated and bring them to affiliated status. The Affiliated Club Coordinator would over see these programs and be involved with implementing better communication and help coordinate with the clubs and organizations to minimize event conflicts (hamfests, etc.)�


The Committee believes the current South Florida Section is geographically too large to be easily and effectively managed. For example, drive time from one end of SFL to the other is a minimum of eight hours. This makes regularly scheduled Club visits and appearances at Hamfests and other ARRL sanctioned functions by the Section Manager and other Cabinet level officials difficult and cost prohibitive. The total area of the Southern Florida Section precludes the use of bands over 50 MHz for regularly scheduled Section Nets to maintain effective contact with League members and non-members alike.�

The Committee believes the creation of West Central Florida Section will allow the Section leadership to be focused on the amateurs, clubs and activities in West Central Florida.

DESCRIPTION OF BOUNDARIES

The existing Southern Florida Section consists of twenty-three counties. Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola and Brevard Counties make up the northern boundary with Key West being the southern most point in SFL.

The West Central Florida Section would consist of ten counties from the existing Southern Florida Section. These counties include Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota. These ten counties cover 8,320 square miles or roughly 15.4 percent of the state�s landmass. The combined population of these counties, according to the 1998 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, is 3,448,040. This is approximately one-fourth of Florida�s total population. U.S. Census figures also show double digit growth in the ten county area, with up to twenty percent growth in some counties since 1990. This makes the proposed West Central Florida Section one of the fastest growing areas in Florida and the U.S. Other important facts about the proposed West Central Florida section include:�

The ten county area has four major Standard Metropolitan Statistic Areas (SMSA). They include Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Lakeland-Winter Haven, Bradenton-Sarasota and Fort Myers-Cape Coral.

Florida�s current Amateur Radio population, in excess of 40,000, ranks second largest in the country. The proposed West Central Florida Section has an estimated 11,000 Amateur Radio licensees. This is approximately one quarter of the Amateur Radio population in Florida

ARRL membership, according to figures released by The Field Services office is just over 2,900 members. This would rank the proposed West Central Florida Section 21st when compared with the current League membership of all other Sections.�

Two major Interstate highways, I-4 running East-Wide and I-75 running North-South through the proposed Section, provide major transportation conduits and access through the area.�

Much of the ten county area is served by the Tampa-St Petersburg media market, the fourteenth largest in the country. This market has grown in rank steadily during the last two decades and now rivals the state�s other Top Twenty media Market, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. Additional television media support comes from several stations in the Ft. Myers area in the South part of the proposed Section. Major newspapers in the area include the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times which publish daily. Other daily newspapers are published in Bradenton, Sarasota, Lakeland, Sebring and Ft. Myers. Weekly newspapers serve a number of other communities.� All counties in the proposed Section are served exclusively by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Ruskin. �

The American Red Cross operates Chapter Houses in Polk, Highlands, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota and Lee Counties.�

ARRL members support numerous charitable and community service organizations by providing communications support for a broad range of events.�

The proposed West Central Florida Section is covered by three Area Codes, 727, 813 and 941. A fourth Area Code to cover the Southern portion of the proposed Section has been announced and is expected to be in effect within one year.

[Note: Lee County/Ft. Myers was removed from the WCF Proposal by a letter submitted to the ARRL in May]


HOW THE PROPOSAL WAS PROMOTED

The West Central Florida Section Committee undertook an open and democratic approach to its activities. All meetings were conducted in an open, public manner with ample publicity and notification prior to each meeting.


The Committee used the power of the Internet and established a Website, the contents of which are attached to this document. Links to other Clubs in the ten county area as well as the ARRL Website were established and vice versa. An automated Internet Remailer was also activated to provide up-to-the-minute information to League members and others.


The Committee conducted an aggressive Personal Appearance/Presentation Campaign with the Affiliated Clubs and at ALL the Hamfests in the ten county area since beginning in January. A schedule of the Hamfests and Affiliated Club appearances is attached.�

Also attached are copies of News Releases to the general media, copies of articles published in the media, copies of articles that appeared in Ham Radio based media including This Week In Amateur Radio, and copies of Club Newsletters that contain information and articles about the Section proposal.

�
Committee members also spoke with League members and other Hams on Club Nets that were conducted regularly in the ten county area.�
Articles about the West Central Section Proposal were published in a number of Affiliated Club newsletters which are attached.

COMMENTS

(Resolutions from the clubs were included here in the submission to the ARRL)

MEMBER & AFFILIATED CLUB CONTACT

Committee members conducted extensive discussions with hundreds of ARRL and non-ARRL members who have attended Hamfests and the many Club meetings and events attended. These discussions covered nearly every topic of interest in Amateur Radio.

The Committee�s Calendar of Appearances includes:

JANUARY, 1999
Manatee Co. ARES Monthly Meeting
Pinellas Co. ARES Monthly Meeting
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Clearwater Amateur Radio Society Monthly Meeting
Pinellas Park Boys & Girls Club Benefit Hamfest
Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council
DeSoto County Hamfest � Arcadia

FEBRUARY, 1999
Lakeland Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Manatee Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Sarasota Emergency Radio Club
Sarasota Amateur Radio Association
Tampa Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Tampa Bay Amateur Radio Society Monthly Meeting
Charlotte Amateur Radio Society
Ft. Myers Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Sarasota Hamfest

MARCH, 1999
Metropolitan Repeater Assoc. Monthly Meeting � Pinellas Co.
Sebring Hamfest
Englewood Hamfest
Highlands Co. Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Brandon Amateur Radio Society Monthly Meeting
DeSoto Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting
Sun City QCWA Meeting
Lighthouse Amateur Radio Club Monthly Meeting � Pinellas Co.

WHO WILL RUN THE NEW SECTION

In accordance with the League�s established procedure for Section Boundary Change and Creation of New Sections, the West Central Florida Section Committee, as a whole, created a Section Candidate�s Sub-Committee. The purpose of this Sub-Committee was to seek out qualified ARRL members in the ten county area to serve in elected and appointed Field Services positions. 

The Candidate�s Sub-Committee aggressively sought out candidates for all positions by:

  • Publishing a listing of all available positions using the Committee�s web page as well as handouts distributed at Affiliated Club meetings, Hamfests and other Amateur Radio events. 

  • Sending a personalized mailing to existing ARRL appointees living in the ten county area.�

  • Interacting with Hams throughout the region during on-the-air Nets�


Attached are �Letters of Intent To Serve� received from qualified ARRL members.

SUMMARY

The West Central Florida Section Committee believes the creation of a third ARRL Section is clearly in the best interest of the League and Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio�s survival in the 21st century will depend on a commitment of service by the ARRL at all levels. Grass roots growth of our hobby will require a coordinated local approach to recruitment, education of new and existing hams, and promotion of the hobby and the services it provides to community organizations and the public.The time has come to enable those who are closest to our communities to carry the banner, the message and the commitment of Amateur Radio forward where we call home � West Central Florida.�The West Central Florida Section Committee urges the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors and all in a leadership position to approve the creation of the West Central Florida Section at the earliest possible opportunity.
On behalf of the West Central Florida Section Committee, this proposal is
Respectfully submitted,
�
Paul J. Toth; K2SEC
Chairman
[email protected]

Paul E. Knupke, Jr.; KR4YL
Secretary
[email protected]

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