Author Archives: Carmine Prestia

About Carmine Prestia

Amateur Radio Extra Class License K3CWP ARES Emergency Coordinator, Centre County PA RACES/ACS Radio Officer, Centre Centre County PA

Skywarn Recognition Day 2020, Dec. 5, 2020

Posted on by
Skywarn Recognition Day will be held on December 5, 2020, the first Saturday in December.  Local hams are encouraged to participate from their home or club stations.  You can register for the event at:
and get a SRD number to use during exchanges.  In addition to that you can sign up for Skywarn email notices and elect to join the SRD group on Facebook.  I believe the NWS will publish a list of the NWS offices participating.
Saturday, 12/5/2020, 00:00 UTC or Friday, 12/4/2020, 19:00 Centre County
to
Saturday, 12/5/2020, 24:00 UTC or Saturday, 12/5/2020, 19:00 Centre County.  Here are the operating instructions from the ARRL website:
1. Object: SKYWARN(TM) Recognition Day serves to celebrate the contributions to public safety made by amateur radio operators and Skywarn Spotters during threatening weather.
  • Amateur stations to exchange QSO information with as many National Weather Service Stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands plus the 70 centimeter band. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.
2. Date: NWS stations may operate at any time during December 5, 2020 from 0000 – 2400 UTC.
3. Exchange: Call sign, signal report, QTH, and a one or two word description of the weather occurring at your site (“sunny”, “partly cloudy”, “windy”, etc.).
4. Modes: NWS stations will work various modes including SSB, FM, AM, RTTY, CW, and PSK31. While working digital modes, special event stations will append “NWS” to their call sign (e.g., N0A/NWS). NWS offices may also participate via Social Media platforms throughout the 24 hour period.
5.Station Control Operator: It is suggested that during SRD operations a non-NWS volunteer should serve as a control operator for your station.
6. Event and QSL Information: The National Weather Service will provide event information via the internet. Event certificates will once again be electronic and printable from the main website after the conclusion of SRD.

Centre County Amateurs Participate in 2020 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test

Posted on by

UPDATED:  Added KB1BH to the list of participants.

The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) was held on 3 Oct 2020 from 09:00 12:00 DST.  Along with other counties in Western Pennsylvania (WPA) Centre County participated in the Exercise.  The American Red Cross as well as Skywarn operations were coordinated into the drill.  Coined Keystone Horizon, the exercise included digital and voice communications over HF frequencies and voice communications over VHF repeaters.  Fourteen amateur radio operators participated. Continue reading →

ARES Provides Communication Support for Bicycle Race in Bald Eagle State Forest

Posted on by

On Sunday, October 11th, 2020 ten Amateur Radio Operators (AROs) from several counties provided communication support for a 123 mile bicycle race.  Riders started early from the Lewisburg Farmers’ Market, the headquarters for the race.  This was the third annual race and only had about 200 riders because of the COVID pandemic.  Last year there were eight hundred plus riders in the Unpaved of the Susquehanna River Valley. Continue reading →

Files for WPA Fall 2020 ARRL SET

Posted on by

Files for the Simulated Emergency Test can be found at the below URLs:

Outline of the Exercise:

W PA FALL 2020 S E T OUTLINE - Google Docs
W PA FALL 2020 S E T OUTLINE - Google Docs
W.PA_.-FALL-2020-S.E.T.-OUTLINE-Google-Docs.pdf
53.1 KiB
647 Downloads
Details

ICS-205 Communications Frequency Assignments:

ICS-213 Messaging Form:

ARRL RADIOGRAM FORM
ARRL RADIOGRAM FORM
ARRL-RADIOGRAM-FORM.pdf
431.2 KiB
721 Downloads
Details

 

 

Glimcher MS Keystone Country Ride Canceled as a face to face event

Posted on by

Fellow Radio Amateurs,

We got the official word from MS Society that the 2020 Bike MS: Glimcher Keystone Country Ride has been cancelled as a face to face event. The Ride would have occurred over the weekend of July 18 – 19, 2020. The MS Society is working on a virtual event to replace this year’s Ride. The planning team had expected that this year’s Ride would be cancelled but we wanted to wait for official word from the MS Society before reaching out to you all. Continue reading →

Future Public Service/Training Events

Posted on by

Please consider reserving time in your calendar for participation in the below listed events.  Planning is a continuous process given the COVID-19 quarantine.  If any are canceled, we will let you know.

  • June 6 – Rothrock Grit Foot Race – CANCELED NEW DATE 5 June 2021
  • June 27-28 – ARRL Field Day – Modified by ARRL to be individual stations
  • July 17-18 – MS Glimcher Keystone Country Ride – Canceled, New date TBD
  • Oct 3-4 – ARRL Simulated Emergency Test
  • Oct 11 – Unpaved of Susquehanna Valley Bicycle Race
  • Dec 5 – Skywarn Recognition Day

Please consider helping out with these events.  We’ll provide more information as we get it.

Thank you.