Centre County Amateurs Participate in ARRL SET on October 1, 2022

Posted on by

On Saturday October 2, 2022, five Centre County Amateurs participated in the Annual ARRL Simulated Emergency Test from 13:30 UTC (09:30 Local) to 14:30 UTC (11:30 Local).  This year’s drill simulated a major snow and cold weather event over the Western Pennsylvania section:

“A massive snow event and below zero temperatures have blanketed the entire Western Pennsylvania Section, downing power lines, blocking traffic and necessitating the
evacuation of large numbers of people to shelters in every county in the the Section.”

Five operators were assigned to the following situations:

  • WX2DX operated as the NTS Liaison for traffic in and out of the county. Bill originated one message via the W3YA repeater, send one message via WinLink and one via the Digital Traffic Network, received one via WinLink, and delivered one via email.
  • W3SWL simulated a Red Cross shelter at Orchard Park in Ferguson Township.  Brett sent two messages to Dave Herzog of the American Red Cross.  One via WinLink and one to WX2DX via WinLink for insertion into the NTS.
  • K3HOT staffed the amateur station at NWS CTP, the State College office of the National Weather Service.  Greg distributed a simulated weather statement from NWS CTP through the W3YA repeater.  He received eight weather reports from Bedford County amateurs on conditions there as well as two reports from Allegheny County, Maryland.
  • KB3ESJ, Dan, and K3CWP, Carmine staffed the Nittany Amateur Radio Club station above Pine Grove Mills.  They originated a weather statement from the above NWS statement and sent that to WX2DX for insertion into the NTS.  A message about weather conditions from KC3DES in Blair County was received and relayed to NWS via the W3YA repeater.  KC3TEZ sent a message to Dave Herzog of the ARS relative to the opening of a shelter in Lewisburg, PA.  This message was sent by WinLink.

The drill was successful in relaying messages and met the objectives of the scenario except for traffic on 60 Meters and a message to the WPA SEC.

A big thank you to the amateurs who participated and the Nittany Amateur Radio Club for use of the NARC station and the W3YA Repeater.