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
October 5th was the 2019 ARRL ARES Simulated Emergency Test. Centre County amateur radio operators participated in the SET from 11:00 to 13:00. We simulated a flooding disaster to test communications throughout the Western Pennsylvania in a disaster. Continue reading
On August 17, 2019 Centre County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) participated in a Water Rescue Drill at the Foster Joseph Sayers Lake sponsored by the South Central Mountain Regional Task Force (SCMRTF). ARES was invited to participate by the coordinator, Chief Lou Brungard of the Pleasant Gap Fire Company. The drill started with a safety briefing at 09:00 at the Howard Fire Company and ended at 11:54 when all units were recalled to the Incident Command Post for an after action briefing. ARES participation ended after the briefing. Planning and execution of the drill followed Incident Command System guidelines. Evaluators for fire and rescue services were also in attendance.
On July 20 and 21 nine Centre County amateur radio operators helped provide communications for the Multiple Sclerosis Glimcher Keystone Country Ride. Over 25 hams from Centre, Blair, and Huntingdon Counties as well as hams from as far away as Maryland participated in the two day event, most for both days. Continue reading
In April WPA Section Manager Joe, W3BC contacted Centre County EC Carmine, K3CWP about participation in a demonstration of amateur radio communications for the ARRL and American Red Cross. The demonstration was scheduled for Thursday May 23d. ARRL officials were looking for field communications between various locations in multiple states and ARRL HQ in Newington, CT on HF frequencies. Messages would be relayed from the field to ARRL and then sent to a station in Baltimore, MD set up for the ARC/FEMA disaster preparedness conference that week. Only fully portable stations operating completely off the grid and using portable antennas were to be used. These stations should also have digital capabilities, all of this was a challenge. Continue reading
Spring weather being what it is the National Weather Service office in State College requested amateur radio assistance to activate Skywarn operations from their amateur radio station. Greg, K3HOT staffed the station on each activation. Communications were successful through much of the area covered by NWS-CTP, thirty three counties in Central Pennsylvania. Continue reading
At request of NWS, Mike, Greg, K3HOT responded to the NWS CTP office to monitor Skywarn networks around the area. Somewhat later Carmine, K3CWP also staffed the station. Continue reading
Fellow Amateur Radio Operators,
It may seem quite a ways off yet, but planning for the 2019 Bike MS: Glimcher Keystone Country Ride Amateur Radio Public Service Event is going on now. This year’s Ride will be Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21, 2019. The Ride is over two days and covers 150 miles. On the first day, the Ride goes from Hollidaysburg, PA, to State College, PA. On the second day, it’s back to Hollidaysburg from State College. Continue reading
On Saturday the twenty third of February 20 individuals completed Skywarn training at the National Weather Service office in State College, PA. Continue reading