Happy New Year to all Southern Florida Section Amateur Radio Operators.

Thank you for being an ARRL member. Your ARRL membership is very
important for all of us in Amateur Radio and for our Section.

I have two important announcements to make:

First, I would like to announce that I have appointed Jeff Beals,
WA4AW, as Assistant Section Manager. He is my second in command and my
backup. As most of you know, Jeff lost his bid to be re-elected as the
Southeastern Division Vice Director, but he will remain very active
with the ARRL for our Section. We have a large Section with many
things to do, and Jeff has the experience and dedication to really help
us out. Many of you know Jeff personally. Feel free to contact either
one of us with your questions, concerns, issues, ideas, etc.

Second, I want to remind everyone that next Saturday (January 15th) is
our Section Convention at the Ft. Myers Hamfest. Norm Fusaro, W3IZ,
will be coming down from ARRL headquarters to talk about Logbook of The
Word (LoTW). If you use LoTW or you are curious about it, you won't
want to miss his forum. We will also have an ARRL Section forum. The
senior management of our ARRL section will be well represented with
myself, Jeff Beals, WA4AW, Steve Lowman, N4SGL, our Affiliated Club
Coordinator, Ted Huf, W4ZE, our Section Emergency Coordinator, and
Phyllisan West, KA4FZI, our Traffic Manager. If you are at the
Hamfest, plan on attending the ARRL Section forum whether you have an
ARRL field appointment or not and bring your questions, comments,
concerns, issues, ideas, etc. The ARRL Section forum will also have
door prizes.

I hope to see many of you at the Ft. Myers Hamfest!

73