Category Archives: Club Happenings

Rabid Racoon 100 Race

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Volunteers Are Needed

March 19 & 20
Link to race organizer: Rabid Raccoon 100

On March 19 & 20  there will be a 100 mile ultra marathon held at Raccoon State Park which is located in Hanover Township to the west of Pittsburgh. They have ask Radio Amateur’s to help with communications during the race. Most of the people will be doing the 20 mile race on Saturday but they need coverage though the whole event which will go over night and into Sunday. We have coverage on Saturday till 7:00 PM. What I am looking for is 4 to 8 hams to cover the over night shift which runs from 7:00 PM till 5:00 AM Sunday. We need to cover 3 aid stations and 1 command post.
I would like to have at least 2 people manning each station. Our duties will be communications only. Other volunteers will be handling the needs of the runner. The duty will include recording a runner arrival and departure from the aid station. Also handling runner request back to the command post for their support crews. Plus relaying emergency communications to the command post and race officials.
If your interested in covering the over night shift
please let me know at n3lrg {at} w3kwh {dit} com 

BELOW IS WHAT THE RACE OFFICIALS SENT ME…

We will have other volunteers manning the aid stations, we just ask the Steel City ARC to have someone at the aid stations to communicate with the command center. This is both to communicate in the event of an emergency and to update the race directors on participant progress/aid station needs.
All aid stations are accessible by car. We would need 3 aid stations covered as well as someone at the command center (so a total of for different locations. The areas that will need coverage are aid stations 1, 2, and 4 as well as the command center at the Recreation Hall.
Aid stations will be fully equipped with tents, tables, lights, a generator, water, first aid kits, sports drinks, and food (although we welcome and encourage people to bring additional food).
The event is 36 hours long so we are trying to get volunteers from a number of different clubs to split up shifts. We appreciate any help you can provide.

Breezeshooter Contest This Weekend

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Breezeshooter Fun Event

This Saturday March 5th

Steel City Club House

This Saturday at 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM Steel City ARC will be hosting a FUN PARTY along with the Breezeshooters Ground Wave contest.  We will have Pizza and Snack so make your way up to the club house and have some fun while making some 10 meter contacts.  This should be a good contest this year since the 10 meter band is opening up again. The mode of operation will be phone for the March 5th event.

Going to work the contest from home make sure you enter “W3KWH” under “Club Affiliation”

SKYWARN Recognition Day

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SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY

SKYWARN Recognition Day – acknowledges the contributions of public service volunteers who provide essential weather information as it’s happening. Each year on the first Saturday in December, the day honors those volunteers who pay attention when the wind picks up, or the sky turns dark. Their efforts keep their communities safer by communication warnings to the National Weather Service.

The observance recognizes the vital public service contributions that Amateur Radio operators make during National Weather Service severe weather warning operations. It also strengthens the bond between Amateur Radio operators and the local National Weather Service.

Around the country, nearly 290,000 Skywarn® weather spotters volunteer their time. They identify severe weather that could potentially affect life and property. Spotters warn the National Weather Service of the threat of thunderstorms, tornados, and floods.

12-2 PM    December 4th

W3KWH Operations At The Club

12:00 to 2:00 PM on Saturday is our assigned time slot to operate HF from the clubhouse.  We will be needing operators during that time slot to operate!  Members and pending members are invited to attend. Techs will be allowed to operate on HF due to control ops being present.

NU3Q plans to be at the club for the event on Friday night 12/3 for about two hours and Saturday morning 12/4. We need operators to cover the afternoon and evening shifts on Saturday and to assist NU3Q while he is at the club. We will use the following: “This is W3KWH for WX3PIT Skywarn Recognition Day”. Please keep a log of your W3KWH QSO’s – NU3Q will submit the W3KWH QSO’s to the NWS.

More Information:
https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition
https://www.weather.gov/pbz/skywarn

SKYWARN Recognition Day Operating Instructions

1. Object SKYWARNTM Recognition Day serves to celebrate the contributions to public safety made by amateur radio operators Skywarn Spotters during threatening weather.

  • 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.
  • Non-Amateur Radio Spotters to exchange weather information as often as possible via Social Media with NWS Offices.

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.

VE Testing Session

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VE Testing Session
Wednesday Nov 17h @ 7:00 PM

Last session before the snow fly’s! People interested in getting your Ham Ticket or Upgrading your ticket should check out our VE testing page https://w3kwh.com/ve-testing/ While walk in are allowed it is highly recommended to contact of VE Chairperson Chris, K3PQ to let him know your coming. That way your guarantee there will be testing material for you. Chris can be reached at K3PQ {at} W3KWH {dit} COM – (412) 259-3319

Slides from ATV Workshop

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Thanks for all that attended the workshop.  The input was much appreciated and I think we have a plan to go forward.  A request for funding will be made at our next business meeting.   Below are the slides from the presentation there are a lot of links in the presentation that you can click on to learn more.  You will have to download the PDF to click on the links.  The video will take some time to clean up.

Click here to download PDF with Links

ATV Workshop

Video of the Workshop

 

Talk – WA3TFS Designs for Amateur Radio

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WA3TFS Designs for Amateur Radio
Talk & Demo Oct 6th @ 7:00 PM

Jim Forkin, WA3TFS will be giving a talk about kit building and his kit that he has for sale at our Oct 6th, Wednesday night social meeting.  The talk will begin at 7:00 PM.

Jim will be talking about some of his kits like, Simple FM SFR transceiver for 10 or 6 meters {See picture}, An simple SDR receiver for 1 kHz to 1.7 GHz, Using Arduino’s microprocessors for ham radio applications. He will also talk about the advantages of software control radios.

Check out his website: http://wa3tfs.com

PA QSO PARTY

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Hey its an party!

Saturday Oct 9th – Noon till Midnight
Sunday Oct 10th – 9:00 AM till 6:00 PM

Save The Date!

Join us on Oct 9th & 10th for the annual PA QSO Party.  Your heard me correctly!  there is an HUGE CASH REWARD for the Steel City Member that works the W3RRR bonus station.  Come on up to the club house and join the team was we have a lot of fun making contacts across the state.   There will be an Ice Cream Social at 2:00 PM on Saturday, Hamburgers & Hot Dogs at 6:00 PM, then on Sunday there will be donuts in the morning.   All the radio’s and antenna’s are reserve for this event the remotes will be shut down during contest times.

So Make Plans To Join the Posse!

We will need operators & loggers

CW & Phone Operators