Category Archives: ARES/RACES

General comments about ARES/RACES operations.

Centre County Amateurs Participate in 2020 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test

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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

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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 →

Files for WPA Fall 2020 ARRL SET

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Files for the Simulated Emergency Test can be found at the below URLs:

Outline of the Exercise:

[wpfilebase tag=file id=62 /]

ICS-205 Communications Frequency Assignments:

[wpfilebase tag=file id=63 /]

ICS-213 Messaging Form:

[wpfilebase tag=file id=65 /]

 

 

Glimcher MS Keystone Country Ride Canceled as a face to face event

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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 →

ARES Amateur Operators participate in Water Rescue Drill

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On August 17, 2019 Centre County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) participated in a Water Rescue Drill at the Foster Joseph Sayers Lake sponsored by the South Central Mountain Regional Task Force (SCMRTF).  ARES was invited to participate by the coordinator, Chief Lou Brungard of the Pleasant Gap Fire Company.  The drill started with a safety briefing at 09:00 at the Howard Fire Company and ended at 11:54 when all units were recalled to the Incident Command Post for an after action briefing.  ARES participation ended after the briefing.  Planning and execution of the drill followed Incident Command System guidelines.  Evaluators for fire and rescue services were also in attendance.

Continue reading →

Local hams participate in ARRL – Red Cross demonstration on May 23d.

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In April WPA Section Manager Joe, W3BC contacted Centre County EC Carmine, K3CWP about participation in a demonstration of amateur radio communications for the ARRL and American Red Cross.  The demonstration was scheduled for Thursday May 23d.  ARRL officials were looking for field communications between various locations in multiple states and ARRL HQ in Newington, CT on HF frequencies.  Messages would be relayed from the field to ARRL and then sent to a station in Baltimore, MD set up for the ARC/FEMA disaster preparedness conference that week.  Only fully portable stations operating completely off the grid and using portable antennas were to be used.  These stations should also have digital capabilities, all of this was a challenge. Continue reading →

Skywarn Operations Conducted at NWS CTP five times in May 2019

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Spring weather being what it is the National Weather Service office in State College requested amateur radio assistance to activate Skywarn operations from their amateur radio station.  Greg, K3HOT staffed the station on each activation.  Communications were successful through much of the area covered by NWS-CTP, thirty three counties in Central Pennsylvania. Continue reading →