Central Florida Cypress Chapter

The Cypress Chapter was founded on July 30th, 1975. About one year later in March of 1976 the Cypress Certificate was ready to be issued. All you had to do to qualify for a Cypress Chapter Certificate, was work one of the local chapter members (number below 100) or work any other five chapter members. Since then, well over 1600 members have met the basic requirements and joined the chapter from a number of countries from around the world making the Cypress Chapter a true international organization.
The initial Chapter Head was K4TSY (Dex), Certificate Manager was WA4JRD (Damon) and Secretary K4HTU (Bob).

Later in 1976, the Cypress chapter issued the special OAK and SENIOR Medalions. These round medalions, were crafted from printed circuit board material and embossed with the certificate number. The chapter issued a total of 53 OAK Medalions which were earned by working 10 local chapter members (number under 100). The chapter also issued 336 Senior Medalions which were earned by working a total of 65 points. An OAK Medalion counted as 5 points, a chapter founder was worth 4 points, and all other Cypress numbers counted as 1 point. Unfortunately, these awards were discontinued and no longer are available from the chapter.

In 1977, another award was created called the Founders Certificate. This certificate required the operator to work 100 Cypress Chapter members including #1 (K4TSY) and #2 (K4HTU). To date, 110 Founders Certificates have been issued. The Founders Certificate was available until just recently from the Cypress Chapter. Photographs of all these awards may be seen in our photo gallery. With the passing of K4HTU at the end of 2000, the members of the chapter decided to retire the founders award.

Past Chapter Heads have been K4TSY (Dex), KA4OFG (Bill) and K4HTU (Bob). Certificate Managers have been WA4JRD (Damon) WA4LWL (Jerry), K4HTU (Bob), W4ESE (Doc) for Founders Awards, WA4FTQ (Bill) for Founders and K4TSY (Dex) for OAK and SENIOR Medalions.

With the turn of the century, the Cypress Chapter also reached a landmark in it's own history. On July of 2000, Cypress celebrated it's 25th anniversary. A special certificate was issued to celibrate this occasion. The 25/2K certificate required 25 member contacts and 2000 10 meter contacts.

The Cypress Chapter still stimulates interest on 10 Meters, and Cypress Chapter Certificates are still available to those meeting the basic requirements.

© 1999 Central Florida Cypress Chapter