Welcome to the Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club!

(West Central Florida Section, An ARRL Affiliated Club)

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We are located in Pasco County, West Central Florida just Northwest of Tampa. Everyone is welcome!!! Activities to include annual Field Day event, Club Picnics, Annual Club Ham Fest, Fox Hunts, ARRL/VEC exams, special events, local ARES/RACES support, Club VHF/UHF repeaters and more. 

Please email webmaster@gulfcoastarc.org with any suggestions, content (especially upcoming events), photos or Ham related items of interest.

Multi Band, Multi Mode EVENT
Starting at on 3/24/21 at 00:00
and running to 3/30/21 at 23:59
SSB, CW, FT8, DSTAR, DMR, YSF, Satellite, Echolink, AllStar and more.

Watch the
Promo Video

Reminder that is time to renew memberships for 2021 - 2022

for any Gulf Coast Amateur Radio members that have not already done so.

The club relies on membership dues for funding. Remember just because we can not meet in person yet the club still must pay for insurance, dues, state fees and repeater maintenance if needed.

Please go to http://gulfcoastarc.org/download/ and select the 'Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club Brochure'

After you download this form you can print it out and send it in to us.

Normally we would ask everyone to attend the next meeting and they can pay the dues there.
BUT Since we are not meeting in person until the covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Make checks payable to: Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club
Mail to: Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Club
Post Office Box 595
New Port Richey, FL 34656-0595

FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35

$35 FCC application fee in the Federal Register - does NOT take effect yet.

The final rule change was published in the Federal Register today March 19, 2021:  Federal Register - schedule-of-application-fees-of-the-commissions-rules

Even though the document has an effective date of April 19, the Amateur Radio fees will not yet be required.
The fee changes outlined in this order will not take effect until the requisite notice has been provided to Congress, the FCC’s information technology systems and internal procedures have been updated, and the Commission publishes notice(s) in the Federal Register announcing the effective date. This will most likely be in the summer.

The following application types will be subjected to the fee when the rule finally takes effect.

New, Modification (Upgrade and Sequential call sign change), Renewal, and Vanity callsign requests will be subjected to the $35 application fee. There will be no fee for Administrative Updates (email or mailing address changes, name changes).

The instructions on the FCC Fee Schedule are for the applicant to pay application fees directly to FCC via the License Manager System or Fee Filer System. VECs and VE teams will not have to collect the $35 fee at the session.

The ARRL VEC exam fee will remain at $15.
When the FCC application fee eventually takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the $15 exam session fee to the VE team as usual and then pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC.

FRNs Only at Exam Sessions

The FCC has indicated VECs/VE teams should no longer be accepting social security numbers at exam sessions.
Examinees should register in the FCC CORES registration system and receive an FRN before exam day.
FCC CORES User Account and Registration: https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do

No place to go? You can listen or watch some of these Ham Radio shows. No mask required.

Click for weather forecast

Please email request to advertise with us to webmaster@gulfcoastarc.org