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Should QCARC continue giving VE Exams before club meetings in even months?

  • Yes, but occasionally on other days and times (67%, 2 Votes)
  • Yes (33%, 1 Votes)
  • No (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Yes, with more months (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Yes, but fewer months (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 3

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Founding Member Paul Lanzoni WA3WPR, Silent Key

With deep sadness, we report the passing of Paul Lanzoni WA3WPR, 83, of Brockway on Friday, June 22. Paul was an active member of the Quad-County ARC in the 1970s and ’80s. He was a fixture at Field Day, and helped with the construction of the 147.39 repeater building and tower.

He was a master mould-maker at Brockway Glass, and many of the Avon collectible cologne bottles—especially cars— were his handiwork. He regularly attended Quad-County meetings, and helped shape the club in its early days by providing support and encouragement to hams old and new.

Living up to his nickname of “Meatball,” Paul often cooked delicious Italian treats to share with the club for Field Day, club picnics and many other activities.

Friends will be received from 7-9 Friday at the Carlson-Shugarts Funeral Home in Brockway.

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VE Exam: DuBois, July 19

The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club will sponsor an ARRL VE Exam session at 6:00 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 in the meeting room of the PA Heartland Chapter, American Red Cross, 109 North Brady Street, in DuBois. Exams for all classes of license will be offered. The ARRL exam fee is $15.00, which covers all exams taken by an applicant at that session. (Retaking a failed exam element at the same session will require an additional $15.00 fee.)
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See You at Field Day 2012

The Community House on the Clearfield Fairgrounds

The Quad-County ARC would be delighted to welcome you to our Field Day operation. We are located in the Community Building on the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. Here is a map and directions.

Directions:

    From US-322 turn onto Weaver Street at (A).
    Drive to the Fairgrounds Gate at 700 Weaver Street (B).
    Say the magic words “Ham Radio” to get in free, then…
    Turn left immediately and park near (C).
    Our Field Day operation is in the yellow brick house immediately in front of you!

Hope to see you there!

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Ham Radio at the DuBois Red Cross Carnival

On Saturday, June 2, 15 QCARC members and guests set up a demonstration station and and gave a public exhibition of foxhunting at the American Red Cross PA Heartland Chapter’s “First Bash of Summer” carnival in the DuBois City Park. Don Jewell KB3LES was the project leader, and provided the HF radio, VHF/UHF J-Pole, antenna analyzer, hardware and know-how. The Punxsutawney Area Amateur Radio Club provided the tent, which turned out to be very much needed when Mother Nature showed everyone who was boss.

Jeff Rowles KA3FHV held down the fort on the HF rig, and the HF antenna system built by Joe W3BC was given a thorough workout. The results were good, and Jeff reported that he was able to work every station he heard. The entire operation was set up in under an hour and it was great to see so many hands make light work of all the heavy lifting. In a Quad-County first, at no time did anyone discover they had left something important at home!

Joe Rouse K3JLR drove in from Strattanville and brought Deirdre and Magi who gave us a special treat: Homemade Ham Radio cookies!

Technology Specialist Lars KB3WBT/SM7FYW led several teams on foxhunts, and fielded questions from curious fairgoers. There seems to be a growing interest in foxhunting locally, and it’s a great opportunity to show the public another side of Amateur Radio they probably didn’t know existed. It’s an activity for the whole family, and participants don’t even need a license to have some ham radio fun!

Jefferson County ARES EC Kevin Snyder KA3YCB, along with assistant EC and Punxsutawney Area Amateur Radio Club President Steve Waltman KB3FPN were both on hand to help out and take part in the activities. Kevin also serves as the Quad-County ARC Public Service Officer, and brought portable tables and chairs for the event. Red Cross Liaison Greg Donahue KB3WKD made sure we had everything we needed, and connected us to the electrical power system for the duration. He also set up PA announcements directing fairgoers to our location.

Before the rainstorm hit, we discussed how much fun it was, and our desire to do more events like these. We look forward to the next events: Field Day, Race Day, Car Show, and Baker Trail Marathon.

Participants:
W3BC, KB3WBT and Kay, KA3FHV, W3DWR, KB3WKD, K3JLR, Deirdre, Magi, W3TM, Jeff, KA3YCB, KB3FPN, KB3LES, JoAnn

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QCARC Spring Banquet

It’s that time of year again—time to put on the old feedbag and spend a night out with your ham radio friends! We will meet in the upstairs Banquet Hall of the DuBois Diner at 6:00 pm on Saturday, May 5. Plenty of free parking in the back of the diner, and you can take the elevator or climb the stairs.

Our guest speaker is Mike Sapp, WA3TTS, a technical writer from Pittsburgh, who will fill us in on his recent work with Amateur Radio beacons, including his world-famous 6-meter beacon on the old KDKA-TV antenna.

The menu is a buffet, featuring Stuffed Chicken Breast and Beef Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots, salad and beverage for $13.99 per person, plus tax and an 18% gratuity. It works out to $17.50 per person.

The main door prize will be a brand-new Baofeng UV-5R dual-band portable transceiver.

Plan on attending one of the best ham radio social activities in the area. We hope to see you there!

Please make a reservation by sending an email to banquet@qcarc.org, or on the air during a net!
(Or fill out the convenient form below and hit the [Submit] button.

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Fox Hunt at Penn State DuBois

We finally stopped talking about it and just did it! Before the April meeting, several members tried their hand at finding W3BC’s hidden UV-3R somewhere on the Penn State DuBois campus. Lars KB3WBT brought his DF tape-measure antenna, and Don KB3LES brought one of his home-built log-periodic antennas with his UV-3R for a receiver.

Ed and Don close in on the fox, as passing drivers gape in wonder...

Stomping around the campus with antennas, the hidden transmitter turned out to be harder to find than expected. Lars reported the signal level picked up INSIDE the Swift building, and Don couldn’t get a good direction as he got closer to the fox.

The “winner” of the first heat was… Ed KB3VWX, who found it without using either a radio or antenna! We’ll have to call him “Eagle Eyes” from now on! Don took some time to introduce Bev W3BEV to the art of foxhunting before heading out to find the fox.

The first to find the fox using proper radio and antenna technique was Don KB3LES. After finding it, he got to silence it, and hide it in a second location. That second location was even harder than the first, utilizing a brick wall, a large flower pot, a metal trash can and a pile of leaves to hide out from the DF antennas. Lars was zeroing in on it when time ran out. Ed “Eagle Eyes” KB3VWX retrieved the radio and we all went inside for the meeting.

Reports were all positive, and some areas for improvement were discussed, notably signal attenuation when close to the fox. Others remarked that passing drivers gave us some astonished looks as we marched around campus with “space antennas!”

Everyone thought it was a lot of fun, and we look forward to perfecting our setups to do it again next month.

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April Meeting – LOCATION UPDATE!

Due to the Penn State Du Bois Convocation ceremonies this evening, we have been moved across campus to the meeting room of the Smeal Building. The Foxhunt is still scheduled for 6:30pm, rain or shine.

The Smeal Building is on the corner of DuBois Avenue (“Beeline Highway”) and College Place, near where the Mansion Building used to be. Parking is available in the parking lot adjacent to the Smeal Building, or on the street going toward the top of the WPA stairway at the end of Liberty Boulevard.

TONIGHT ONLY: DIFFERENT MEETING ROOM!

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Ted Irwin WB3DCZ, Silent Key

It is with sadness we report the passing of Theodore P. “Ted” Irwin WB3DCZ, 78, of Gardner Hill. Ted was active in the early days of the 147.39 K3PS repeater and was a regular fixture on VHF FM and SSB. He was known far and wide as a man of strong opinions, and a regular voice on the repeater.

Long-time members will remember him on the repeater, at club meetings, field day, hamfests and other activities.

He was a retired Navy SeaBee, and built his home atop Gardner Hill in Fox Township. He fell into poor health, and his license expired in 2007. We wish him a final “73”.

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Group Purchase: Baofeng UV-5R mid-size, dual band, 5W HT

The big brother of the Baofeng UV-3R micro-HT is now available for a few dollars more. The UV-5R has a numeric keypad for entering frequency and DTMF tones, 128 memory channels, and 5 watts output power. It features a true drop-in charger, and a 7.4v 1800mAH (13.3 WH) Li-ion battery pack. The dot-matrix, alphanumeric display features tri-color LED backlighting, and the keypad has backlighting as well for night operation. See the article in the April Parasitic Emission for a review.

The group price is $60, and shipments are arriving within a week of ordering.

I am looking into sourcing for extra battery packs. The best pricing I can get is $16 each with approximately two week shipping time. This situation should quickly improve, as this is a brand-new model that was just released this month. So far in our area, 10 have been purchased. They sound great on the air, and no complaints have been registered! This radio is every bit as good and in many ways superior to its nearest competitor, the Wouxung dual-band HT and only costs half the price!

RIGHT-CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINKS AND SELECT “SAVE LINK AS” FROM THE MENU!!!

Here’s the manual:
Here’s the programming software: uv-5r (Caution! Primitive!)
Here’s a USB-Serial driver for “Prolific” chipsets that works with 32 and 64 bit Windows: PL2303_Prolific_GPS_AllInOne_1013
Here’s a local frequency list: QC-HAM+PS
Here’s a schematic for building a serial programming interface:

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QCARC Welcomes 12 New and Upgraded Hams

Amateur Radio Volunteer Examiners from Clearfield and Jefferson Counties administered FCC license examinations for members of recently completed training classes and others hoping to obtain or upgrade their Amateur Radio licenses. The classes and the exams were held at the PA Heartland Chapter of the American Red Cross in DuBois.

“This is the largest turnout for Amateur Radio exams locally for a significant number of years,” commented Volunteer Examiner Team Liaison Bryan Simanic WA3UFN of DuBois.

Recently Licensed Radio Amateurs (l-r) James Withers KB3YJF, Ian Gerard KB3YJM, Joel Best N3UOA, Wayne Kocher KB3YJE, Jay Lorance KB3YJL, Bob Thunberg N3DIR, Nick Lorance KB3YJJ, Devon Lorance KB3YJK, Bev Hudsick KB3YJI, Jim WickerKB3YJG, Greg Donahue KB3WKD, Larry Whitten KB3YJH, Ed Stewart KB3WRX

Ranging in age from 10 years old to senior citizens, those participating in the exams came from DuBois, Curwensville, Reynoldsville, Luthersburg, Brookville and surrounding areas. They became involved in Amateur Radio for a variety of reasons, ranging from interest in science and electronics, to emergency and disaster preparedness, and the desire to serve the public.

They will now be able to get on the air and join with thousands of other “hams” nationwide and around the world to participate in this growing and active radio service. Over the past year, the news has carried many reports of ham radio operators providing vital communications during emergencies across America including wildfires, winter storms, tornadoes and other events. During Hurricane Katrina, Amateur Radio—also called “ham” radio—was often the only means of communication with stricken areas. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio volunteers are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications.

Volunteer Examiners (l-r) Charlie Lindahl N3DEO, Scott Mathewson WA3FFC and Bryan Simanic WA3UFN score the exams. Not pictured, Herb Murray W3TM and Joe Shupienis W3BC

Their slogan, “When all else fails, Ham Radio works!” is more than just words to hams as they prove they can get the message through without the need of telephone, cable, cellular or internet systems which are usually rendered unavailable in a crisis.

In the local area, The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club offers training classes to prepare for license exams, and schedules regular examination sessions. The Club meets monthly in the Hiller Building at Penn State DuBois on the third Friday of each month at 7:30 pm. Meetings are free and the public is invited to attend. Following each meeting are programs and activities for radio amateurs and those interested in radio and electronic communications.

Getting It Right – Prospective hams concentrate while taking their Amateur Radio Exams

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Group Purchase: Baofeng UV-3R Dual-Band HT

NEW Baofeng UV-3R Dual-Band HT

I will be ordering 5-unit lots of Baofeng UV-3R HTs from China as orders come in. The cost is $46.00 per radio, shipped. I will program them with all the local ham radio frequencies of interest free of charge. (If you prefer to do it yourself, here’s the file: QC-Ham)

I can also obtain spare batteries at $3.95 each. Better deal: I found a supplier of 1800 mAH batteries for $4.00 each, which gives 20% longer battery life for a nickel more!!!

These prices are for 5 units or more, so orders will be held until I get at least 5.

Please note, these are the improved “Mark II” version with the dual frequency display and 19 menu functions. Color (red, blue, yellow or camo) units are $49.00 each and take longer to ship (two weeks). The regular ones take a few days. The first group order was for 8, I expect them to be here in time for the Meeting Friday.

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Demo Station at Cub Scout Klondike Derby

The winter air was filled with the happy shouting of nearly 400 Cub Scouts at Camp Mountain Run on Saturday, February 11th, as they gathered for their annual Klondike Derby. “It’s a great way for them to enjoy winter activities in the great outdoors,” explained District Director Carl Hall.

This year, there was a new activity that captured the interest of the Cub Scouts from the north-central Pennsylvania region served by the Bucktail Council. That activity was an Amateur Radio station and exhibit set up by members of the Quad-County Amateur Radio Club.

Nearly 400 Cub Scouts got on the air to experience Amateur Radio first hand, as Quad-County hams volunteered to help.

Club President Joe Shupienis W3BC led the hams in greeting each 50-60 Scout unit as they entered the room. Quad-County members Don Jewell KB3LES and Lars Kvant KB3WBT/SM7FYW demonstrated VHF antennas they built, and answered questions from the Scouts and their parents. Jesse Tucker KG4ZXC and President Shupienis W3BC discussed how Amateur Radio is a lifelong activity which can lead to careers in engineering, science and technology.

Club Member Kevin Hoynoski W3PIG showed the Scouts his “Go Box”–a portable amateur radio station in an easily carried container.

Next, the Go-Box was put into action on the Quad-County 147.315 repeater, and each and every Cub Scout got to speak on the air with Phil K3PJ at his home in Clymer. They learned from talking with him that he is a Scoutmaster for a unit in Indiana County.

After putting 381 Cub Scouts on the air, both groups were very happy with the operation and look forward to working together again!

Photo Gallery:

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