Save The Date Oct 14 & 15

Members please save the date of Oct 14 & 15 as the Steel City ARC works the state of Pennsylvania.  This is one of the most fun events of the year and you dont have to stay up all night either.  Sat: Noon – Midnight; Sun: 9 AM – 6 PM.  We will be needing our CW Operators and Voice Operators if your new we are going to need some Loggers to help too.

SCARC Roadtrip – Greenbank Observatory

Tour Guide:
Richard F. Bradley, Ph.D. — W4DZC

—Former Steel City ARC Member
—Scientist / Senior Research Engineer (NRAO)
—Research Professor of Astronomy (U. Virginia)
—Visiting Assistant Professor of EE (U. Virginia)
—Radio Science: Associate Editor

THE DATE AND RESERVATIONS ARE NOW CONFIRM

NOW OPEN FOR ALL LOCAL HAM RADIO OPERATORS

Please send an email to me at n3lrg -at- w3kwh -dit- com if you would like to go with the SCARC group as we tour the Green Bank Telescope.  Who know you might make the biggest DX contact in your life.   We are allow 20 people so currently we have 9 open spots left.

The Steel City behind the scenes tour of the Greenbank Observatory is on for September 29 & 30.  This will be an overnight trip to the telescope leaving early Friday morning.   Not only are we going to see the big 300 foot diameter dish antenna but all the other dish antennas on the property. We will even get access to the control room to see how they receive signals from million of light years away.  After the tour we will be staying overnight at the telescope bunkhouse. Getting up early the next morning to head over to the CASS Railroad to take the train to the top of the mountain.  If we have enough people interested we can split the group in two and the other group head to the top of Spruce Knob {High point in WV, 4863 FT} were there is an POTA & SOTA site so you might want to bring along your portable gear.

Rich Bradley has done a great job of arranging our tour with the people at the telescope and  getting them to waived the $25 fee for the tour and getting them to moved it to a Friday so more people would be able to get the day off.  There will be a charge of $10/person  to sleep in the bunk house.  Currently the charge for the train trip will be around $79 but we will try to get a discount once we have a proper head count.  This tour will be limited to 20 people at the max so sign up early to reserve your spot.  It will be also required to fill out a :”Visitor Registration Form” {a basic background check} to go on this behind the scene tour.  Make sure you attend the June business meeting to reserve your spot on the trip.

UPDATE:
Those that have sign up for the tour.  The $10 Bunkhouse fee is due by the July 18th Business meeting to reserve your spot.  Please give the money to Walt or Joe M. and make sure Christine knows you paid.

Information on the Green Bank Telescope
Information about the behind the scene tour
Information on the Green Bank Bunkhouse
Click Here For CASS Scenic Bald Knob Tour
Information on the Spruce Knob Summit 

Parks On The Air – Cass Scenic Railroad K1809 { Iffy site – quite zone }
Parks On The Air – K-0632 Monongahela National Forest
Summits On The Air – Bald Knob W8V/PH-002{ Iffy site – quite zone }
Summits On The Air – Spruce Knob W8V/PH-001 { QRP }

Collierfest – Public Demo

Steel City Members are needed for this public demo being held right in our own back yard.  Please consider helping out Bob NU3Q out with this demo.  As we show off our wonderful hobby to the general public.  This is our chance to let the public know that ham radio is alive and well and still operating in their backyard.

Collierfest is a one day event on Sept 23 a Saturday evening. Beside us having a demo there will be a Car Cruise, Live Music, many different vendors.  So beside showing off our hobby operators will have a chance to have a lot of fun at the event too.  For us the event will setup at 3:00 PM and will shut down in the evening.   The park itself if a pretty neat place to visit since it was a former Nike site. Get to see the giant golf ball up close.

If you want to help out and have some fun contact Bob: nu3q@nu3q.us
For more information click here: https://colliertownship.net/township/collierfest/
Directions: Collier Community Park, 5 Pvt Lobaugh Dr l, Oakdale, PA 15071

 

Business Meeting – TUESDAY @ 7pm

Business Meeting – 7:00 PM – TUESDAY!!
Steel City will be conducting their monthly business meeting at the club house this Tuesday.

 


VE Session Wednesday @ 7:00 PM

Sign up for new license or upgrade your current one.  Let your friends know that you can do this at Steel City.

Burgers & Bonfires

Steel City Score Card
Call State  Time  Freq      Mode
K2A  PA    11:15  7.200      PH
K2B  Vi     19:59  +14         FT8
K2C  RI     18:29  7.187      PH
K2D  CT     21:10  7.195     PH
K2E  DE     18:21   7.270    PH
K2F  MD     23:11  7.274    PH
K2G  GA  11:33  7.1885   PH
K2H  NJ   18:15  14.322   PH
K2I  NJ   <— Missed it by one  // July 3rd 21:41  7.232 PH & 21:18  7.196  PH
K2J  NC    20:50  7.228   PH
K2K  NH   21:03  14.223   PH
K2L  SC   20:13   7.074  FT8
K2M  PA   18:20   7.074  FT8

BONUS STATIONS
WM3PEN  21:54   7.288    PH
TM13COL  23:56  14.074  FT8
GB13COL  2:49    14.242  PH

Contacts in UTC but the SCARC Event was local time frame for the one day…

Members are still encourage to get on the air for this fun event.  13 Colonies run until July 7th so there still time for you to get your own certifcate.

Ok What Next?

First:  We got an answer LCTOTA goes until tonight at 8:00 PM EDT and the website has been fixed so you can upload the ADI files still.  I want to thank everyone that help out with the event.  We did a good job at getting SCARC on the air for LCTOTA.   Go hunting today if you want to get some for your own call.

STEEL CITY GOT A CLEAN SWEEP!

Second: Business meeting Tuesday Night at 7:00 PM. Be there there will be a nice snack to celebrate out efforts with the LCTOTA.  Plus a will finalize our plans for Field Day June 24 & 25, 2023. We will take of other summer plans during the meeting.

FIELD DAY PLANNING @ MEETING

Third: Field Day – Help needed SCARC members we need not only operators we will need setup/tear down crews.  We need a chief cook and bottle washer. and most important we need LOGGERS.  Even if you dont want to operate please come up and help LOG.  There no better way to learn a contest than by doing some logging.  Long range forcast is calling for scattered thunderstorms so we might be operating in between some rain drops.

FIELD DAY – OPERATORS – COOKS – LOGGERS – ARE NEEDED

Fourth: The Next Event – 13 Colonies – Fun Night –  The last burger night was a big success so for 13 colonies this year I want to have another Fun Night with Burgers.  We will set the date at the business meeting. 13 Colonies runs from July 1st – July 7th.  I hope all of our members get a chance to work this fun event.

13 COLONIES FUN NIGHT WITH BURGERS

Field Day 2023

Field Day 2023

Open to the general public – come for a visit!

It that time of year the super bowl of ham radio is going to take place on June 24 & 25.  So keep those days open for ham radio.  Grab a family member and bring them up to log for you.  Invite your family and friends to come up for a visit this is the best day to see SCARC in action. This will be an 24 hour operation.  Going from 2pm Saturday to 2pm Sunday.  Your welcome to try to do it for the duration if you want.  But we will need people to help setup at 12 noon Saturday and clean up after 2pm on Sunday.  We will need operators for the over night shift and people to be equipment managers to help maintain the radios, generator, and even the club house.  We need cooks too  if you have a family member wishing to help out let us know.

SIGN UP SHEET
https://docs.google.com

Lewis & Clark On The Air

Join Steel City ARC as we kick off the 2nd year of the National Special Event – Lewis & Clark On The Air!  Steel City ARC will be representing the state of Pennsylvania as one the the 16 states following the Lewis & Clark trail across the nation.  Work all 16 states and you can get some great wall paper to show your accomplishment. Check out the LCOTA website for more information and all the other club that will be assigned to each state.  Also click on “Find an Activator” to find out when SCARC will be operating.

https://lctota.org/
https://lctota.org/hunter/find_an_activator
Find out when we are on – Just select Pennsylvania for the state

ENDS SUNDAY – GET YOUR CONTACTS IN

We are getting down to the wire since June 18th is the last day you can work an Lewis & Clark station. Click on the “Fine An Activator” link above to see which states are on.

Breeze Shooter Hamfest

HAMFEST IS BACK!
Sunday – June 4th @ 8AM
Back at the original Butler Farm Grounds

This is starting to look like the event of the summer.  Many clubs are going to the hamfest to show off their clubs.  Steel City is also planning to do this too… The difference we are going to be showing our fellow operators that Steel City is an active club.  Members should plan to stop by our tables and rest your feet and grab a mic to make some contacts for the Lewis & Clark Special Event.  We will be on the HF band and also on the VHF bands.  Attendees will be able to contact our table on 2m to get a official Lewis and Clark contact.  Also Steel City is planning to have a big  informational setup at the show.  We are getting three tables at the hamfest with plans to use them this way

  • Table 1 – Information for the club
  • Table 2 – Special Event station for the Lewis & Clark remote operation
  • Table 3 – Steel City selling table – Sell off your junk

Steel City VE team members will be doing the VE testing session at the Hamfest.  For more information on the VE testing please contact Chris K3PQ.  VE testing will start at 8:30 AM in the Arts & Craft build next to the big exhibit halls.  See the map below for directions.

Directions to the Butler Farm Show Grounds

Click Map For Full Size Image


  • Educational Forums – 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30
    • POTA (Portable, Parks on the Air, SOTA) https://parksontheair.com
    • Introduction to Digital Modes FT8, FT4, Computer Interfacing Plus Advanced
    • Digital
    • Important Roles for Hams with Severe Weather Forecasting (NWS)
    • EMCOMM Operations including Live Demo of WEARS Mobile Unit
    • QSL Cards via ARRL, DXCC Card Checking on site
    • Construction and Operation of an Earth-Moon-Earth Station in Western PA
    • Introduction to Kit Building in Amateur Radio
  • Vendors & Sponsors include:
    • Alpha Antennas https://alphaantenna.com
    • Bioenno Power https://www.bioennopower.com/
    • DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com
    • Hammond Mfg https://www.hammfg.com
    • ICOM America https://icomamerica.com/en/amateur
    • KB3IFH QSL Cards http://kb3ifh.homestead.com/
    • KJI Electronics http://kjielectronics.com
    • Mastrant Antenna https://www.mastrant.com/
    • MPD Digital https://mpddigital.us/
    • MFJ Enterprises https://mfjenterprises.com
    • NatCom Group https://cometantenna.com
    • N3ZN Keys https://www.n3znkeys.com/
    • Pacific Antenna http://www.qrpkits.com/index.html
    • PiShop https://www.pishop.us
    • Power Film Solar https://www.powerfilmsolar.com/
    • Quick Silver Radio https://qsradio.com/index.html
    • Satellite Headquarters
    • Tigertronics http://www.tigertronics.com

 

2023 World Amateur Radio Day

EDIT: This is also the Steel City Business Meeting Night, can someone volunteer to bring a cake?

WARD is held on April 18 every year and is celebrated by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president.

The IARU announced previously that Human Security for All (HS4A) will be this year’s World Amateur Radio Day theme. The day is being celebrated with a 2-week operating event occurring April 11 – 25. Special event stations will be operating from around the world, making two-way radio contacts to call attention to the HS4A campaign. The United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security describes ‘human security’ as “a more powerful, lasting approach to the most difficult deficits in peace and development,” such as poverty, war, and natural disasters.

ARRL encourages all radio amateurs to take to the airwaves for WARD, to enjoy our global friendship with other amateurs, and to show our skills and capabilities to the public.

More information about 2023 World Amateur Radio Day is available at www.arrl.org/world-amateur-radio-day