[FRC] Florida Repeater Council Information

Mon Oct 3 09:33:37 EDT 2016

Bryan,

I am the Repeater Trustee for our Radio Club and we have three (3) active  
repeaters currently.  I managed to get my coordinations submitted (and  
received, hopefully) on Sept 29.  The coordinations included 3 for active  
repeaters and a fourth coordination to release a coordinated pair, we are no  
longer using.  

I have been dealing with the FRC for several years and have found them to  
be responsive.  This year I sent a request to the DBM (Data Base Manager)  
for the information they had for our repeaters, and received it within two  
days.  I'm happy with that.  Normally, I would expect a response for  our 
coordination updates to be received within a week.  I'm expecting  it to take a 
bit longer this year since it appears that just about everyone is  
coordinating on Sept 30.  Hopefully, they will spread that out over the  next year 
or two.

Ron,

Thank you for your comments.  I'm aware of your experience and your  
extensive work with repeaters.  

All,

I'm not happy about the FRC web site being hacked.  I've worked with  
computers (yes, mainframes, too) since 1958, as a programmer, systems  
programmer, systems analyst, systems manager, etc.  Some idiot hacking the  database 
does us all harm.  I hope the FRC catches them and has them  arrested.  They 
need to pay for the crime.  (Yes, I was a computer  security specialist for 
awhile, too).

While the FRC may need some reorganization, we should do it within the  
rules, for valid reasons, and not in a fit of anger.

73, Steve  KI4LVH  (Extra, with code)

In a message dated 10/3/2016 9:11:36 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
mccrpt at tampabay.rr.com writes:

Bryan, 

I ask have you built and maintained a repeater in Florida???  Not just  set 
on a board in a club.   I see nothing in your Ham resume that states  this. 
 Being a Network Architect qualifies you for little in repeaters  and in 
electronics. 

I've worked with the FRC for over 20 years and find they do have problems,  
but for repeater coordination are one of the best I've seen.

73, ron, n9ee/r a know code Extra

Ron Wright, N9EE/R  
BSEE
Micro Computer Concepts
352-683-4476

mccrpt at tampabay.rr.com

____________________________________

From: FRC-Info  <frc-info-bounces at lists.keekles.org> on behalf of Bryan 
Fields  <Bryan at bryanfields.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 10:22  PM
To: frc-info at lists.keekles.org
Subject: [FRC] Florida  Repeater Council Information  

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: 
    *   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.

    *   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:
    *   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 
acc_essible 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_ 
(http://florida-repeaters.org/donate.htm)  

_How to  become a member of the Florida Repeater Council_ 
(http://florida-repeaters.org/donate.htm) 
florida-repeaters.org
We  must make it clear that it is NOT necessary to donate to receive the  
services of this A.R.R.L.-recognized agency for Florida amateur repeater  
coordination.

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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