On March 18 , 2011 the Royal Harbor Amateur Radio Club officially announced the adoption of the Neighborhood HamWatch in their Royal Harbor Retirement community in Tavares, Florida by holding a one day field day event to demonstrate their ability to contact their Lake County Emergency Operations Center .

The Royal Harbor Amateur Radio Club members come from a wide area of the country and joined together to share their ham radio experience in a way that would benefit their neighbors . They heard about the Neighborhood HamWatch at the recent HamCation in Orlando, Florida and offered this service to Royal Harbor. The HOA management has made it part of their overall disaster preparedness program.

The Royal Harbor ARC- WX4RH made VHF, UHF and HF radio contacts throughout Lake County Florida as well as QSO ’ s across the United States and some foreign countries. The modes of operation used were SSB, FM, D-Star, D-Rats , Packet and EchoLink . A GMRS link was used to maintain contact with the Royal Harbor management office. The site selected for this event was the Royal Harbor Lighthouse that sits on a hill overlooking the community which is at the junction of Lake Harris and Little Lake Harris. There is a 360 degree view to the horizon from this location which makes it an excellent location from which to hit almost all the repeaters in Central Florida.

Some of the notable contacts other than the Lake County EOC were radio communications with Florida EOC personnel in Tallahassee and with the National Weather Service Office in Melbourne, FL. They made many contacts within Lake County on 2 meters and 70 CM as well as all over the state of Florida. Their neighbors were impressed with the foreign contacts made with Russia, New Zealand, Scotland, Latvia , Croatia and Spain. It proved how small but interesting the world can be through the use of ham radio.

During this field day event the RHARC was visited by Paul Eakin- KJ4G , North Florida ARRL Section Manager, who brought greetings from the ARRL and took part in a D-Rats demonstration as well as getting on the radio several times to work some of the hams who called in. Ron Mettler -WB4GHU , North Florida ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator. Came along to join in the fun and offer some of his D-Star expertise. Lake Amateur Radio Association members Ed Biederwolf -W9CHA and Paul Branch- K3NON set up the D-Rats demonstration of the radio to radio digital data exchange.

Garrett Collins-W2GGC brought his radio equipped golf cart which contains an Icom 706 MK2G as well as antenna systems for all frequencies from 40 meters all the way to 70 CM. The main HF antenna was an Eagle One telescoping vertical set up on a tripod adjacent to the lighthouse. For 2 meters and 70 CM two dual band J-poles and one mobile 2 meter/440 antennas were used. Through the use of one of the dual band J-Poles on a 20 foot telescoping pole they were able to access 10 D-Star Gateway repeaters in the Central Florida area.

The Lake County ARES-EC Strait Hollis- KT4YA and the Disaster Assistance Coordinator from the Lake County Department of Public Safety visited with the group which reminded us all of the serious need for emergency communications during times of natural disasters . This county has had it’s share of hurricanes and deadly tornados in the past so it is necessary to take part in events such as this to ensure our readiness to provide radio communications when needed.

For more information about ham radio activities in Lake County, FL. Go to the following web sites. www.n4fla.org and www.k4fc.org

John T Luebbers K1AYZ

Royal Harbor ARC P.I.O.