countries all over the world to serve Yachtsmen, RVers, and Radio Hams with their needs.
The latest addition to the System is the W4VLG FPAC Switch which uses Rose Node Addressing. It provides Telpac (RMS Packet through W4VLG-10) services as well as Internet access. The Switch which operates under the call W4VLG-8 allows the users to connect with the North Florida Loop by using Rose addressing. These addresses, listed under X-121, are available to users on the FADCA site and on this webpage elsewhere. The Switch is currently running at my QTH (W5TWR) but will be transferred to the Villages Regional Hospital soon. At the time of the transfer, the node will change to a frequency of 145.050 mhz as coordinated by FADCA and FRC. A map is provided on this site and the FADCA site showing the Switches in the Northeast Florida Loop showing the locations and Rose addresses.
The Villages Amateur Radio Club and Sumter County ARES (under the guidance of Judd Wright, the Emergency Manager, and Ed Crowell, W5TWR) are proud to be able to provide this System to the Citizens of our Three County Area. This is done under the Aegis of the Amateur Radio Charter from the Federal Communications Commission. The Winlink 2000 System has been promoted by the American Radio Relay League Emergency Service as the system of the future for secure robust emergency digital messaging in the United States.
Stay tuned, we have just started acquiring equipment for deployment of the D-Star System in Sumter County. Requests for coordination of frequencies for 2 meter, 70 centimeters, and 23 centimeters for Digital Voice and Digital Data services have been made. These Repeaters are operating all over the U.S. but most prominently in the State of Alabama where they link stations from Mobile to Huntsville continuously along the Interstate Highways. This development should be very exciting to the Amateur Group in this region. A Grant has been applied for by our Emergency Manager, Judd Wright, to help finance this system!
This period of development of our System and the support mechanisms here in Sumter County would prove to be very exciting for the Members of Sumter County ARES and the Citizens of the County. Only by preparing for future can we be ready to protect the people, their property and justify the existence of the Amateur Radio Service.
