Palms West Amateur Radio Club

Update:

Thanks to the generous donations of several people we have met our goal and completed this project. The changes were immediately noticeable with incredible coverage improvements in the entire county. All of the repeaters are clearer and have significant increased coverage.  Please jump on one and let us know how it sounds.

147.045 PL 110.9 – 443.975 PL 110.9 – DMR 442.9375 CC 1

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to this project. If you want to contribute to the general upkeep of these systems (it is very expensive) you can still click the Donate Now button below.

============================================================

I am writing you today to ask for your help.

If you are already aware of this project and want to donate now,
you can skip to the bottom for donation options.

As many of you already know, the 2020 Palm Beach County Hamfest has been canceled for this year dues to Covid-19, We hope to see you all next year.

Because the Hamfest is our only big fundraiser of the year and because of its cancellation we are asking you to help out with this important project

The PWARC runs 2 wide area repeaters and shares our antennas with the Palm Beach Packet Group for the benefit of all amateurs in South East Florida. From time to time there is maintenance required to these systems and the funds from the hamfest help support this service.

Our primary repeater on a frequency of 147.045 Mhz is for SKYWARN, supporting the National Weather Service (NOAA) in reporting of severe weather and is also the primary repeater for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the FEMA-managed Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service for Palm Beach County. In non-emergency times it is used for casual communications and training for all amateurs. Other repeaters at that site support SARNET, a state-wide emergency communications network in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation on a frequency of 443.975 Mhz, and the Palm Beach Packet Groups DMR digital repeater on a frequency of 442.9375 Mhz tied into world-wide communications and the Internet.

We recently had to replace an antenna on the tower and replace aging non-maintainable equipment.. Although the tower space and electric power is gifted to us, maintenance of the equipment and antennas are not, nor the cost of commercial tower climbers.  This hit us with a $3,000 bill which depleted our treasury.
At this time, another antenna needs replacement and we need to install six hundred feet of new coaxial feedline cable which was donated to us.  The bill for this will be about $10,000, money we do not have. For us that is a huge number.  We have secured some modest private and corporate donations and have a generous matching-gift donation of up to $3,000 to encourage club members to donate, but we are still short about $5,000.

With your help, we can keep our communications system running for many years to come – a vital part of our county’s backup emergency plan.  Larger donations can be made as a “Designated Gift” to our sister, the Palm Beach Packet Group, a 501(c3) non-profit corporation, so your donation will be considered Tax Deductible and you can take advantage of some special tax deductions for 2020. See below the donation links for the special tax incentives available to you for 2020 Only

If you or your organization can contribute to this vitally important project you will be part of ensuring the safety of all our residents and the future communications in SE Florida for many years to come.

For more information on our club and our mission please visit www.PalmsWestRadio.org
If you would like more information about this very important project please email me at KS4EC@ATT.net

If you would like to help there are 3 ways you can contribute to this worthwhile project. The easiest is to click the donate button and you will be taken to our Secure Paypal site (You do not need to sign up with Paypal to use this)

You can easily donate now thru Paypal by clicking the button below

Or you can mail your donation to the following addresses:

More info on the tax deduction from John Green at the PBPG:

I recently came across an article relating to making a donation to a 501(c)3 organization and taking a 2020 tax deduction (this is in addition to the standard deduction). The following is taken from Foundation Group website: Universal Deduction for Donations Up to $300 For the over 9 out of 10 people who no longer itemize their charitable giving, the CARES Act will allow these individual taxpayers to deduct donations to charity of up to $300 on their 2020 federal tax return, even though they take the standard deduction. Married-filing-jointly taxpayers will get an above-the-line deduction of up to $600. The Palm Beach Packet Group, Inc (PBPG) is a 501(c)3 organization.

The board of the PWARC wants to thank you for your time:

Robert Pease KS4EC

President: Palms West Amateur Radio Club