Florida Amateur Digital Communication Association
Promoting packet radio in the State of Florida


Mail Address:
L. E. "bud" Thompson
1131 Abady Court
Deltona, FL 32725


FADCA meeting minutes - May 1997



FADCA Meeting Minutes - May 31, 1997
The meeting was called to order at 1200 by president Bill, N4XEO,
with the following in attendance:

WB4MOZ John H. Green WPB
K4VJI Wyatt Bishop SRQ
N4XEO Bill Sinbine Ft. Pierce President
WA2LKI Tom McDonald SRQ District 6
WB4KGY Doug Welcker WPB
N4KOX Russell Oder Clay
District 3
KP4DJT Chuck Hast TPR
WB4TEM Joe Kuntz Boca Raton Vice President
District 2
KP4AWG Frank Rodriguez Heathrow
KE4AUR Karl Hartong Orlando District 5

The minutes of the last meeting were accepted as published.
They can be viewed on the FADCA WEB page.

Frequency Coordinator. Russell Oder, N4KOX, accepted the
position of FADCA Frequency Coordinator. The records/files were
turned over to Russ by President Bill. There was discussion
concerning updating the TAPR database and keeping the FADCA Web
page up to date. Some concern was expressed about The TAPR
recommendation to not publish link and trunk frequencies. Many
feel that all coordinated frequencies should be published in
order to provide exposure to the use of the amateur bands and not
give the impression that the frequencies are not in use. Several
question were left with Russ for further investigation:
1 - What is the reasoning behind TAPR's position?
2 - What database will be used?
3 - How is the FADCA Web page updated?

Pending further information, Russ will express FADCA's concern
about not publishing the link/trunk frequencies.
President Bill will write a note to TAPR naming Russ the FADCA
Frequency Coordinator. Once the registration process is complete
The FADCA data can be listed in the TAPR database and the Web
page updated.

FADCA Beacon. Everyone present felt that the FADCA Beacon
should continue to be published quarterly, just prior to the
FADCA meeting. The problem is that we NEED articles to keep it
interesting. If you have an article that can be used, short,
long, uncorrected, whatever, or an idea for an article, get in
contact with the Beacon editor, Joe - WB4TEM@WB4TEM, he will be
glad to assist.

Renewals of frequency coordination. It was decided to put out
the word that updating your coordination is a yearly requirement.
Renewal forms will be made available through the use of
bulletins, attachment to the Beacon and on the Web page.

A letter was received from the Alabama frequency coordinator
via FRC listing some 440mhz frequencies they are planning/using
for voice operation near the Florida border. Appreciation was
expressed for their open communications. It was noted that there
is only one frequency on the list (446.450mhz) that effects FADCA
and it was recommended that this be listed in the FADCA database
as in use in an adjoining area.

New directors for districts 1 and 5. Harry Decker, KC4HQS, has
moved to the Miami area and has accepted the district 1 director
position thus leaving a vacancy in district 5. Karl Hartung,
KE4AUR, has been named to replace Harry as District 5 director.
We still have no director for district 8, if you know of someone
willing to serve get in touch with the FADCA president, Bill -
N4XEO@N4XEO.

A request from Tom, WA2LKI, was made to move Desoto County
from district 4 to district 6. Reason was that one of the
assistant directors for district 6 lives in Desoto County. After
discussion it was decided to leave the boundaries as they are.
Since there is no precedent or explicit rules in the by-laws
concerning this issue it was decided to leave things as status
quo.

440mhz Frequency Usage. Correspondence was received from the
FRC frequency coordinator, Dana Rodakis, K4LK, asking for
permission to coordinate voice repeaters in the 441.500 to
441.975mhz and 446.500 to 446.975mhz frequencies. Several
important points were brought up in the ensuing discussion:
- There is an agreement between the FRC board of Directors and
FADCA that allows FADCA to coordinate the use of the frequencies
assigned to FADCA. Thus, any use of these frequencies, be it
data, voice or whatever, should be coordinated by FADCA.
- There are some coordinated packet users in the suggested
frequencies that should be honored.
- The suggested frequencies in addition to FADCA Coordinated
frequencies, include voice links and other misc. use of these
frequencies. The question is - how are these being coordinated
for present and future use?
FADCA will send a formal reply to FRC, Bill, N4XEO, will draft
this for approval by the FADCA Board of Directors.

FADCA Membership database. There was some discussion about
providing Bob, AA4RU, assistance in keeping the membership
database up to date and getting the info published in the Web
page. John, WB4MOZ, volunteered to help since the Beacon mailing
list is very similar. Joe, WB4TEM, will check into this.


Frank, KP4AWS, being new to packet radio, asked for assistance
in getting things up and running. It was discovered that he lives
approximately 6 miles from the new district 5 director, Karl,
KE4AUR. They got their heads together and hopefully we will soon
see Franks call on some messages going thru the networks.

Melbourne Hamfest. FADCA has a booth at the Melbourne Hamfest,
stop by for info on a variety of packet subjects. Volunteers are
needed to help man the booth.

Next FADCA meeting. The next meeting will be at Stacey's in
Altamonte Springs (just north of Orlando) on Aug. 23, 1997. The
meeting will start at 11:30 or soon there after (when most
everyone is done eating from the very good buffet).

Motion to close meeting by Joe, WB4TEM. seconded by Tom,
WA2LKI, motion carried - the meeting was closed at 1331.

Submitted by John, WB4MOZ
(SITTING in for Bob, AA4RU)



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