Category Archives: Fun Stuff

SCARC Roadtrip – Greenbank Observatory

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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 Steel City behind the scenes tour of the Greenbank Observatory is on for September 8 & 9th.  This will be an overnight trip to the telescope which we will be leaving early Friday morning to get down to the telescope as early as possible.  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.  The are is a POTA & SOTA site so you might want to bring along your portable gear.

Rich has a great job of talking with the people at the telescope and have waived the $25 fee for the tour and to get it moved to a Firday when people can ask for the day off.  There will be a charge of $10 to spend the night at the bunk house.  Current 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.

More information will be provided at our June Business Meeting

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

Breeze Shooter Hamfest

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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

 

ARMED FORCES DAY CROSSBAND TEST 2023

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The Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Cross-Band Test, scheduled for May 13th 2023. This annual event is open to all licensed amateur radio operators, and will not impact any public or private communications. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is only an exercise scenario, designed to include hobbyist and government radio operators alike.

The AFD Cross-Band Test is a unique opportunity to test two-way communications between military communicators and radio stations in the Amateur Radio Service (ARS), as authorized in 47 CFR 97.111. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly-controlled exercise scenario that does not impact any public or private communications.

Military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and will announce the specific ARS frequencies monitored. All times are ZULU (Z), and all frequencies are Upper Side Band (USB) unless otherwise noted. The frequencies used for the test will not impact any public or private communications, and will not stray outside the confines of the exercise.

The following stations will be making two way radiotelephone contacts with stations in the ARS between the time periods listed on the frequencies listed in Kilohertz below.

For more information:
https://www.arrl.org/news/annual-armed-forces-day-crossband-test-1

HAMS for PanCAN

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NOTE! – Support our sister club special event station this weekend

Company LogoApr 29-May 1, 1400Z-2000Z, N3P
3.960 MHz  &  7.172.MHz
Certificate & QSL.

Skyview Radio Society – N3P, 2335 Turkey Ridge Rd., Upper Burrell, PA 15068. Multiple N#P Stations across the country will be located in each of the ten ARRL sections – All stations will be on SSB. This nationwide Special Event’s aim is raising awareness of pancreatic cancer research and support by the PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Network) during its national Purple Stride event. Each station will highlight any ham operator, or friends and family members who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer located in that Section. Also, we’ll provide access to how PanCAN helps patients with support and funding of research projects. Event Bonus stations will be located at Purple Stride locations and will offer special QSL cards. Each N#P station web page on the ARRL Special Event tab will provide QSL submission information. A Clean Sweep Certificate will be awarded for contacting all section stations.

QSL card requests need SASE. For Clean Sweep certificate, include $1 please. . rybar1949@gmail.com

Rockall Dxepedition – June 2023

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Rockall - geograph.org.uk - 1048791.jpgIn June 2023 a team will land on Rockall Island, more than 200 nautical miles from the West Coast of Scotland and the nearest civilization. Their intention is to break the current world record for time spent on Rockall, and to raise as much for The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity as possible.

57°35’28.79″ N 13°41’11.39″ W

Rockall is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, 200NM to the east.

The UK claimed Rockall on 18 September 1955 when “Two Royal Marines and a civilian naturalist, led by Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott, raised a Union flag on the islet and cemented a plaque into the rock”.

Rockall stands at 233 feet above sea level at it’s tallest point, covering an area of just 8438 square feet.

WEBSITE: https://www.rockallexped.com/#theexpedition
WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall

2023 World Amateur Radio Day

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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 

Trail Day Adventure

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Created by Paul Signorelli, W0RW on 2023-03-30

This Trail Day adventure started by boarding the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Cog Railway at Manitou Springs, Colorado. The ‘Cog’ is a train that can go up a very steep incline because it drives itself up on a third rail which has big cog teeth on it.

You can see the Cog train route pictures at http://www.cograilway.com/alongroute.htm

There are exciting times on the rails too, one uphill train engineer threw an old oil rag out on the tracks to warn the downhill train engineer of a broken rail. Not too bad going up but you better take it slow going downhill, He said. Of course, they have 2 big springs at the bottom of the tracks to stop runaway cars, Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs.

Hiking down Pikes Peak from the top or from Barr Camp sounds easy but it can find the weakest part of your body and blow it out. Knees, ankles and Hiking shoes can become instruments of torture and blistering is guaranteed. More hiking information is at: https://www.pikes-peak.com/hiking-pikes-peak-mountain/

To start this downhill hike (Which I called Trail Day because it coincided with Field Day) I rode the COG train up to the ‘Mountain View’ siding. It was only $10 for a one-way ticket (expect to pay more now). When you jump off the train in the middle of an extremely remote place like this, with your backpack on, you will see a lot of envious tourists on the train who wish they could be going along with you. I hiked across the face of Pike’s Peak over to Barr Camp, I made several contacts on the trail before Field Day started.

Barr Camp is a wilderness cabin midway on the Barr Trail which goes from Manitou Springs to the top of Pike’s Peak. Barr Camp cooks up Breakfast and Dinners, sells candy and supplies, and has a bunk house for hikers.

It is like a mountain oasis, there are picnic tables and a bench swing that is set by the stream to comfort the tired hikers.

READ THE FULL ARTICAL ON EHAMs: More Photos too
https://www.eham.net/article/48830

Track a Weather Balloon

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Want to track a weather balloon here is a very neat website that tracks all the weather balloon across the country.  Here in Pittsburgh the NWS launch balloons at  7:00 AM and 7:00 PM. Some times at other times like during storms.

https://tracker.sondehub.org

The SondeHub Tracker provides live and historical view of the data contained within the SondeHub Radiosonde telemetry database. This data is openly available, and licensed under Creative Commons By-SA 2.0. While primarily designed to assist with the tracking, recovery and re-use of meteorological radiosondes, it also provides a view of the meteorological data gathered by these devices.

So who wants to go on a fox hunt?

Upcoming Events

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March 25th – 10 am – 12 Noon — ARES Meeting for Allegheny County open to all members and non-members

April 1st – 9 AM – 12 Noon — SET TEST @ Club house

April 22nd – TBA — Carnegie Library @ Carnegie Open House

May 21st — Komen Race For The Cure — Volunteers are needed

June 3rd – June 18th — Lewis  Clark On The Air – Special Event Station

June 24th – June 25th — FIELD DAY 2023

June 24th — Rachel Carson Trail Challenge – Volunteers are needed

July 15th – July 16th — Vintage Grant Prix – Volunteers are needed

Sept 24th — Pittsburgh Great Race — Volunteers are needed