The date for the annual Multiple Sclerosis Society Glimcher Keystone Country Ride will be Saturday, July 17, 2020. The event will only be one day and the length of the ride will be reduced. As more information becomes available we will distribute it. Mark the date on your calendar for volunteering! Thank you.
Skywarn Recognition Day 2020, Dec. 5, 2020
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.
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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
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
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
Bald Eagle State Forest Motorcycle Race 2020
This race is to be held on Saturday, September 12, 2020 from 08:00 to 17:00. NCS will be Jon, W3JON. Files relative to the race.
Files for WPA Fall 2020 ARRL SET
Files for the Simulated Emergency Test can be found at the below URLs:
Outline of the Exercise:
ICS-205 Communications Frequency Assignments:
ICS-213 Messaging Form:
Glimcher MS Keystone Country Ride Canceled as a face to face event
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
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.
ICS Forms for Amateur Radio Incident/Event Planning
Attempting to standardize amateur radio planning in Centre County with the Incident Command System I have tried to use ICS forms found on the Internet. There are many and there are many that are quite sophisticated. Some even operate as ‘books’. Entering recurring information will populate it to all the forms.
Unfortunately most of these forms have been very difficult to use. At least for me. To resolve this problem, I designed my own forms in Microsoft Word. Click on ‘Continue Reading’ to see more and find links to these forms. Continue reading
WPA Spring SET 2020 a Success
The Western Pennsylvania Simulated Emergency Test for Spring 2020 was held on 4 Apr 2020. Because of the Pennsylvania Stay at Home order from Governor Wolf all operations were done from the homes of individual hams. No one went anywhere. Click ‘Continue Reading’ to see files related to the event: Continue reading