[FRC] Florida Repeater Council Information

Sun Oct 2 23:52:32 EDT 2016

I'm pretty sure that I am not an FRC member, though not  certain..as I have 
not had any form of  "Minutes of meetings" in ages -if  ever.
    I had thought that the unusually slow processing speed  was a "due 
diligence" effect , and a nuisance at best ..however I have heard of  "Paper 
Repeaters" existing and even a story of certain frequencies/pairs being  held 
from general use only to be "sold" to some well  healed or politically 
influential entities.
    How any of the above -if true- equates  to the  proper management of  
frequency assets worries me , and throws the  otherwise best  practices book 
into the Chipper.
     If your efforts would include  an  immediate  sweep for DEAD WOOD and 
Paper machines ...count me in. 
     If it was truly the best the current FRC  could do, God bless them for 
the effort , but If stories of malice are  true ..an intervention is 
clearly needed.
      However , I can't help thinking that  previous performance of the FRC 
and the attrition of  Hams capable of  ginning up a repeater .,constitute a 
rapidly approaching drain. 
      In my travels over the last few years , I  have heard a shocking ebb 
in repeater activity ,and even the once friendly   VHF Spx 146.52 is near 
desolate of  travel companions.
  I fear that  HAMS willing to put up with the "WE SAY SO Company  " ethic 
of the recent FRC...are likely to believe a new FRC would be  just  
rearranging the deck chairs on the "S.S. Minnow"  .
       Yours,
 Dave Fragale 
   KA4CNP
 444.4/449.4 192.8
  Seminole

In a message dated 10/2/2016 10:23:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
Bryan at bryanfields.net writes:

Greetings and welcome to the Florida Repeater Discussion  List, 
I am Bryan Fields, W9CR.   
I’m involved in amateur radio in the Tampa Bay area,  with membership in 
four local clubs and chairman of the Technical Committee  for my local group.  
Professionally I am a Network Architect with a major  telecom company.  I’
ve been a  licensed amateur since 1995 (over 2/3 of my life), hold a 
GROL+Radar and have  a background in cellular/microwave networks.  
Fellow Amateurs, the FRC  is an organization run amuck.  Incompetent 
directors are managing it,  flouting the bylaws, violating Florida Law, and 
ignoring member needs.  I am asking for your proxy for the  upcoming FRC meeting. 
It has failed in its  ability to coordinate operations of amateur radio 
repeaters in the following  ways: 
    *   <!--[if !supportLists]-->Publication of the FRC database on a 
public  website  
    *   This database dump in MySQL format  and the associated webpages 
show without a doubt the level of incompetency  in the programming behind the 
database.  This is nothing but gross  negligence on the part of Director 
Rodakis and Director Lavender.     
    *   Per the coordination policy,  locations are to be kept secret, 
however a Reddit user was kind enough to  post a Google earth KML showing the 
coordinated location of every repeater  in the state.  
    *   All your personal data, phone, email, home  address, repeater site 
address and Repeater Site GPS coordinates are  published.

    *   Length of the coordination process is  unacceptable!  
    *   As of this writing coordination  applications post 1/25/2016 have 
not been processed.  It’s October!  
    *   If the coordinator cannot process  applications in a reasonable 
time, he needs to step  down.  
    *   Renewals have not been processed  post 5/7/2016!   As most  
coordinations expire on 9/30/2016, this means no members may vote under  the 
bylaws!  This applies to  the board as well.

    *   <!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->Violation of the 
coordination policy by the  directors  
    *   Willful violation of the bylaws by  the directors  
    *   Willful violations of FS 617 regarding members  request for 
information  
    *   Acknowledged receipt of this by  President Kassis 
    *   Publicly stating the policy of the FRC is “is  unable to search for 
available frequencies”, when this is the FCC definition  of a frequency 
coordinator.   
    *   When they do suggest frequencies  there active repeaters on them, 
some even coordinated well under the  radius.  
    *   Inventing new coordination polices on the fly  without approval of 
the board 
The FRC must be reformed  if it wishes to keep its legitimacy.   Frequency 
coordination is voluntary in amateur radio, and there is  little reason for 
amateur radio operators in Florida to seek coordination from  the FRC under 
this current administration. 
My goal is to transform  this organization into a healthy helping hand for 
repeater operators and other  amateur spectrum users.  No one  should be 
answered with contempt for months after putting an application in  for 
coordination only to be told “fill it out again, we can’t edit it”.  This should 
not be an organization  which exists as a good-ol’-boy system breading 
contempt; rather one which  operates in the open, in accordance with its bylaws, 
and accountable to its  members. 
The FRC should ask how  to say “Yes” rather than saying “No” in working 
with their members and other  amateurs.  
My plan to get us on the right track  is:
    *   <!--[endif]-->Remove the current directors for gross  incompetency 
and exposing the organization to liability:  
    *   Ray Kassis, N4LEM  
    *   Dana Rodakis, K4LK  
    *   (Glenn) Mike Fletcher, NI4M  
    *   Chuck Lavender, W4CLL 
    *   Demand new elections for existing  directors in compliance with the 
bylaws.   
    *   Establish a bylaw committee to rewrite the  bylaws and change the 
organization structure to better serve all amateurs in  Florida.  
    *   Establish a development process for new  policies from the 
membership   
    *   Encourage input from the membership based on  sound technical 
policies  
    *   De-centralize coordination by having a web  enabled database be 
accessible to the public showing all history of an  application through 
coordination.  
    *   No one person should be the  gatekeeper of the database.    
    *   Make all records of the FRC open to the public,  as any non-profit 
serving the public interest must be.  
I will make a motion to  accomplish this at the next meeting at the 
Melbourne Hamfest meeting.   To make this happen, I am asking  for your proxy, if 
you’re a member of the FRC.   You will need to print out this  form and sign 
it, then send a scan or legible picture of it to me via email or  text 
message. If you can attend the meeting, please do  so. 
It’s $10 to become a  member on the FRC website and it buys the right to 
have a say in the future of  amateur radio in Florida.      
http://florida-repeaters.org/donate.htm 
I fully expect to be  shouted down by the board, but as members we cannot 
be ignored.  I wish to resolve this via the  membership, but if ignored I do 
intend to comply the board, by any legal  means, to follow the bylaws and FS 
617. 
I need your proxy by the  Friday, October 7, 2016.    
73’s and see you at  Melbourne,   
Bryan Fields, W9CR 

P.S. Please feel free to discuss this on  list.  If you wish to not be a 
part of this discussion you can remove  yourself using the link at the bottom. 
 I'm happy to oblige your wishes  via direct email as well if you have any 
questions.  

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