Over the past thirty years the Alpha Fire Company of State College, PA has transported Santa Claus through Centre Region around State College.  It is one of the most anticipated events the Alphas conduct for the public.  Two convoys of fire trucks carry Santa in the bucket of their ariel platforms to greet kids of all ages. Santa’s elves hand out treats to kids, adults, and pets. Amateur radio provided assistance by locating Santa on the routes.

APRS beacons were placed on the two ‘sleighs’ broadcasting their location every thirteen or fifteen seconds.  The alphas published a link to APRS.FI so that the public could see Santa’s location in real time. This year the beacons were Byonics MT-AIO units taped to the cab roof of each truck and a dual band magnetic mount antenna stuck to a pizza pan taped to the roof.  The workaround is necessary because the truck bodies are aluminum. The equipment was provided by Carmine, K3CWP, the ARRL EC for Centre County.

With the exception of a couple areas in a valley or shaded by hills to tracking worked very well.  Thanks to the Alpha Fire Company for allowing us to provide this service.