The annual Wilderness 101 Back Country Mountain Bike Race was held on July 31, 2010.  The ride covers 100+ miles through the forest and parks between Whipple Dam State Park and Poe Paddy State Park in Central Pennsylvania.

Amateur radio operators from the Nittany Amateur Radio Club (NARC) provided communications for the event throughout the race course.  The amateur radio organizer for the event was Woody, K3YV.  In addition the following amateurs parcipated:

• N3LI, Mike Coslo
• N3SG, Sharon Gaisler
• N3GU, John Guss
• N3HQN, Don Novak
• W3EDP, Eric Prescott
• KA3GBC, Joe Pelick
• N3EWR, Paul Hunter
• K3OOL, Craig Miller

Woody reported that the event went smoothly with no significant accidents or other problems but made for a long day for many of the amateur radio operators, well over eight hours.

On Sunday, August 15th six (6) amateur radio operators from Centre and Clearfield Counties provided communications coverage for the Moshannon Valley YMCA Mountain Bike Race held in the Black Moshannon State Park in Eastern Centre County.  The park has a number of very challenging trails through heavily forested areas so the potential for crashes was significant.
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Over the past several months Karl Hosterman, K3ARL, one of the owners of Centre Communications in Centre County has significantly improved APRS coverage in Central Pennsylvania at his own expense.

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Yesterday, July 14th, the FCC issued a Report and Order amending Section 94.113 of the rules to now permit employees of government or non government agencies who are amateur radio licencees to participate in drills. The full Report and Order can be found on the FCC website.

Thirteen Centre County amateur radio operators attended an ARES meeting Tuesday evening, June 29, 2010 at the Centre Region COG building. Centre County EC Carmine Prestia, K3CWP conducted the meeting.

Discussion items were:

• The upcoming MS-150, Keystone Country Ride for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
• The Wilderness 101 bicycle race on July 31, 2010.
• The possibility of providing communications for a 4-H trail ride. The ride was canceled last year and we have heard nothing to date.
• Possible participation using packet radio in an Ultra Marathon scheduled for October 16, 2010.

Carmine exhibited some of the County Equipment that may be used for the MS-150 and Mike, N3LI demonstrated his mobile tracking station which will also be used during the MS-150.

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The following amateur radio operators have volunteered to help with the MS-150 this year as of June 14, 2010:

K3CWP, Carmine, Both Days
K3ERP, Elaine, Both Days
K3YV, Woody, Both Days
N3LI, Mike, Both Days
W3JXP, John, Both Days
W3EDP, Eric, Both Days – Willing to go to Hollidaysburg on Saturday Morning
K3OOL, Craig, Both Days
N3HQN, Don, Both Days
N3EWR, Paul, Both Days
KB3TBX, Jim Alles
KR3C, Rick Cabral, Both Days
KA3GBC, Joe Pelick, Sunday

Below is the text of a message sent to the Manager of the State College NWS office and other NWS amateur radio operators from Matt Steinbugl, KB3RJW, the NWS employee who coordinated the event with me.
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The National Weather Service and the ARRL have announced December 5th, Saturday as Skywarn Recognition Day to celebrate the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service.
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The message below was forwarded to me by another amateur radio operator. The software may interest anyone involved in EmComm. I haven’t looked it it in detail but if I can attend one of the upcoming Webinars I’ll try to report back here.

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I hope you have found the recent emails about our amateur radio webinars helpful to your club members. We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from hundreds of amateur radio operators from around the country. That’s why we’re pleased to be offering both an introductory and advanced webinar to Amateur Radio Operators as a continuing series every Thursday. Our next webinar is this Thursday at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST.
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The 2009 Section Emergency Test in Centre County was successful this morning, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. Special thanks to the amateur radio operators named below for their participation. Also thanks to Jody Lair, Assistant Director of Centre County EMA for joining me at the Centre County EMA/EOC office during the drill.
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