The ARRL WPA section along with Eastern Pennsylvania and the American Red Cross have released the plans for the 2025 Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Amateur Radio Operators (AROs) whether affiliate with ARRL or not are invited to participate on Saturday April 5, 2025 between 10:00 and 14:00. Continue reading
Category Archives: All Posts
Nittany Amateur Radio Club Announces One Day Technician License Class
The Nittany Amateur Radio Club (NARC) of State College is sponsoring a technician license prep class. Class will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at a location to be determined.
Winter Field Day Escapades 2025
After a couple year hiatus I decided to return to our RV in Huntingdon County, PA to participate in Winter Field Day this year. My plan was to set up a battery powered station with a couple of my portable antennas. Looking at the rules I operated as ‘1M WPA’ since the RV is on wheels and can be moved if need be. The effort was successful even if I did not work a lot of stations or qualify for any awards. Continue reading
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Article
Here’s a very complimentary article on Amateur Radio and Emergency Communications from The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction Colorado.
K3CWP Letter To Pennsylvania Senators Requesting Reconsideration of SB37
This is my letter requesting reconsidering Senate Bill 37 for an exemption for Amateur Radio Operation while mobile. Feel free to adopt the language for your own letter. I sent it to the sponsors of the legislation, the chairs of the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee, and my senator.
Bill in the PA Senate that could make it illegal for amateur radio operators to operate their radios while driving
The Pennsylvania Senate is considering Senate Bill 37, Enhanced Driver Responsibility. There have been a number of emails about the bill but reading the current version leads me and others to conclude that the bill if passed could make it unlawful for amateur radio operators to operate their radios while driving a vehicle. This was proposed by the House before but exemption language was included for amateur radio operators. That language appears to have been removed.
The bill:
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/
Who you contact:
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/
Bob Famiglio, K3RF, Atlantic Division Director is aware of the situation and will be working with the ARRL also. Here is his message of last week. Continue reading
The Difference Between Tactical and Formal Messages
Tom, N3WS, the EC for Washington and Green Counties, Pennsylvania circulated this. It is a very good and very short training on the differences and what they mean.
This video from the New England ARES Academy showed up in my feed this morning and it is worth reviewing. The subject is Tactical Voice Messaging. It discusses the difference between tactical and formal messages with some good examples.
I have added a permanent link to the Links of Interest above. Continue reading
Amateur Radio Assists Multiple Sclerosis Glimcher Keystone Country Ride
The Pennsylvania Keystone Chapter of The National Multiple Sclerosis Society completed another Glimcher Keystone Country Ride on July 15th and 16th through Centre, Clinton, Huntingdon, and Blair Counties in Central Pennsylvania. The ride is composed of two seventy five mile loops on each day. It starts at the Penn Stater Hotel in State College and goes south then back. On day two it goes north then back to the Penn Stater. About 100 riders participated in the event to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research and support for victims of the disease. The ride has been conducted for 20+ years and one rider and his team, Rob Glimcher, has raised more than $2 million for the event during that time.
Internet Archive of Amateur Radio and Communications Added to the Link Library
The Internet Archive has just added a significant archive relative to Amateur Radio and Communications.
The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications is a library of materials and collections related to amateur radio and early communications. The DLARC is funded by a significant grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, a private foundation, to create a digital library that documents, preserves, and provides open access to the history of this community.
This free resource combines archived digitized print materials, born-digital content, websites, oral histories, personal collections, and other related records and publications. The goals of the DLARC are both to document the history of amateur radio and to provide freely available educational resources for researchers, students, and the general public.
To contribute content for this project, email kay@archive.org
Planning documents for the 2021 Fall SET
Links to the planning documents for the Fall 2021 SET are listed below. Continue reading