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So, you’re motoring down the road to your destination, when you hear an unfamiliar noise from your cell phone. Best thing to do is safely pull off the road then check your phone for the reason for the noise. When you check the cell phone you find out it just received an alert for a tornado for an area just down the road.
Sound plausible? It is. America’s wireless industry is helping to build a Weather-Ready Nation through a nationwide text emergency alert system, called Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which will warn you when weather threatens. Many phones have this capability.
For details about this service click on the WEA logo to the left.
 The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club is a WRN Ambassador “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ and the Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ logo are trademarks of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.”
 The Quad County Amateur Radio Club will operate Field Day June 25-26, 2016, at the Clearfield County Fairground Community Building, yes we’ve been there before. Operating hours are scheduled to be from 2:00 PM Saturday to 2:00 PM Sunday, antennas have to be installed after the VE exam session. All amateur radio operators are welcome as well as the general public. Since the public as well as a number of Clearfield County officials and TV stations have been invited, as Club secretary, I ask that members please wear their Club shirts if possible. Thank you – in advance.
Volunteer examiners are reminded that the exam session is scheduled for June 25, 2016 at 11:00 AM. 
Operations are scheduled to start 2:00 PM, Saturday June 25, continuing through the night, with the hopes of taking advantage of any changing propagation characteristics. There is to be a Get On The Air (GOTA) station activated. The GOTA station will give new hams and those not even licensed, the opportunity to experience operating the HF bands under the supervision of a licensed amateur radio operator.
Location Coordinate information: 41°01.840 N 78°26.540 W.
Follow the route depicted by orange arrows, on the map, after you turn off Rte. 322.
You can also try the inserted interactive map to zoom and obtain directions. You can use the satellite view on the small map to compare the orange arrow map to the right.
If you operate APRS, there will be an object beacon to help you locate the Field Day site.
Please consider what will make Field Day comfortable for you, like in the real deal you will be responsible for your own comfort and personal operating conveniences such as chairs, clipboards, pens, pencils, paper. flashlights, etc. – remember to mark your property -. The main equipment will be provided, such as transceivers and antennas. I do not recall that the building is handicapped accessible. If you have a spare HF radio or antenna to bring, all the better as a just in case but only 2 will be on the air plus the GOTA station. Additionally if possible, please bring along some type of food to share.
Plans are in motion to have breakfast Sunday morning and some picnic style food for later times.
To help with the items and food for Field Day, please down load the 2 page checklist and email the Club secretary (secretary@qcarc.org) as to the items that you will supply. I’ll try to keep all the updates current on the download list. If you have anything to add, please email your input to the Club secretary.
Amateurs who are attending the QCARC Field Day, please advise the FD Coordinator by email at secretary@qcarc.org . This info is for overall planning purposes.
Although we have recent memories of snow, the summer heat really is on the way. All too many times we hear of children or pets left in a vehicle during hot summer days, sometimes with a heartbreaking ending. There are days when the temperature may seem rather low but with the sun shining through the vehicle windows, the vehicle becomes a greenhouse and the interior can heat up quickly to dangerously high levels.
View more information on this serious topic that can effect everyone at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/index.shtml
 The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club is a WRN Ambassador “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ and the Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ logo are trademarks of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.”
The Quad County Amateur Radio Club will hold a “New Ham Radio Operator Event” at the regular meeting on June 17, 2016. The meeting will be held at the Penn State Du Bois Campus, Smeal Building at 6:30 PM. This event is open to those who recently obtained their amateur radio license and who have been licensed but inactive for some time. The meeting is also open to the public who may be interested about amateur radio.
The Quad County Amateur Radio Club, which serves amateur radio operators in; Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk and Cameron Counties, was founded in 1975. Regular meetings are held monthly on the third Friday, 6:30 PM at the Penn State Du Bois Campus. For more information visit the Club website at www.qcarc.org
Sometimes we peer out the window and the sky looks ominous then the wind picks up and possibly it begins to rain or hail. What may happen next can be a matter of protecting our life and property, a good reason to understand the difference between Watches and Warnings. Being prepared is a relatively simple matter, there are several good methods to personally become involved that will help yourself, your family and friends. The National Weather Service SkyWarn Spotter program is a great way to become actively involved and you do not have to be a weather background! A more passive manner may be purchasing a NOAA Weather Radio that will sound an alert when various forms of weather effect your locale. Cell phone are also a good method as many have an alert function built in as well as the availability of weather apps that can be configured to match your needs.
If you are having a problem setting up your system whether it is a NOAA Weather Radio radio or cell phone app, you can obtain help through the Quad County Amateur Radio Club, A Weather Ready Nation Ambassador. Check the announcement panel at the top of the home page for meeting dates and times.
 
The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club is a WRN Ambassador “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ and the Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ logo are trademarks of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.”
Already this Spring has proven that we should be prepared for some of our wildest weather! One of the best aids in keeping abreast of developing weather issues is the NOAA Weather Radio system. Having a radio at home provides an advantage to be aware of upcoming severe weather. Some of the later models of amateur radio transceivers have the NOAA frequencies programed from the factory. For the latest NOAA weather radio operational information that may effect your area and what frequencies cover your area, check out the web site at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ .
 Remember that saying, “Turn Around Don’t Drown”. There is more to that than just the rhyming of the saying, it really is life saving information! Ignoring that life saving information not only effects the people who decide to cross a flooded area but also the emergency responders whose lives are needlessly placed in jeopardy when they get involved in a rescue of someone that fails to heed the warning.
The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club is a WRN Ambassador “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ and the Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ logo are trademarks of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission.”
June 22, 2016 – petition dismissed.
Download the entire document 3 pages.
There is a Petition for Rule Making (RM 11760) that asks the FCC to grant lifetime Amateur Radio Licenses. The FCC is seeking comments on this petition that would revise §97.25 to indicate the license is granted for lifetime as opposed to the current 10 year term.
Individuals may submit comments through the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System.
Additionally, the complete article on this petition can be read at the ARRL web site.
For many hams the go-to 12 VDC connector is the Anderson Powerpole®. I feel the same, this connector is the only one that makes sense for convenience and durability of connection among my own radios and if the need arises other power supplies. This form of 12 VDC power connection really makes the issue of interoperability for a power source a non-issue. The connector is recognized across the Country as THE power connector to use for ARES and other public service applications.
Anyway, where this is leading is the issue with installing the connectors on the wire. It really is not difficult but there is a standard, in order to interface with the rest of the world! Amateur radio has adopted the standard that when viewed from the contact side, the mnemonic for remembering the arrangement for the positive connector is: “Red Right — Tongue Top“.
Of  course red is positive while black is negative. Even though there is a standard, I feel it is still a good idea to confirm the connection that your rig may be connected to is verified visually and also electrically using a volt meter or one of the LED connectors that indicate if the connectors are configured to the standard.
The installation of the connector contacts can be problematic if the proper crimp procedure is not used. I’ve used the crimping pliers type  crimp tool, until now. I finally invested in a crimp tool made for the Powerpole® connector contacts. I have to say that I should have done it sooner, no exaggeration! There are are several styles of crimpers available with the special dies for the crimp, study their operation and style then decide for yourself which one suites your needs. The version that I settled on has a feature in the tool that helps maintain the alignment of the contact while the crimp in done (see photo). My opinion is that the crimp done with the pictured tool is far superior than the crimping pliers style. Along with the quality of the crimp, there is no distortion to the contact. With no distortion there is no reforming the contact which results in a much easier insertion into the Powerpole® shell and much better contact surface for maximum conductivity.
The New Year of 2016 just arrived but there are some amateurs already anticipating 2017. That anticipation for 2017 stems from a recent announcement that researchers at the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology, part of Virginia Tech University are preparing to send an amateur radio transponder into a geosynchronous orbit in 2017.
Even though amateur radio satellite communications is not new, this satellite brings the geosynchronous feature of 24 hour, 7 day availability to amateurs in the Americas. Therefore amateurs can expect the satellite to be in the approximate same position, which means less to deal with to locate and maintain a signal to use the satellite. It is hoped that the satellite will significantly help during disasters.
Currently there are plenty of questions relating to the anticipated launch. It is likely the answers will raise even more questions. For the press release you can access the Virginia Tech website.
Lately many of us have heard stations from rather distant areas on the 147.315 repeater. It is interesting to hear those stations that we normally do not hear but often it is just due to a weather phenomenon called and inversion. I expect that some amateurs sit back and wonder just what is this inversion thing that some offer as an explanation for the unusually distant stations heard and some stations that we can even carry on a QSO with. Sometimes the stations seem as though they are just audible for enough time to hear a call sign but other times long enough for a typical QSO. Then there are times that you may not even be able to hear or access your local repeater and again you will hear folks offer the explanation as an inversion as well.
Consider the simplified diagram of an inversion below. Note that typically as you increase elevation the temperature lowers but with an inversion the opposite happens! You can see the yellow area depicting the inversion, which actually ends up acting as a boundary layer that can either attenuate the signal to and from the repeater or at times signal attenuation can occur to the extent of both blocking the repeater from hearing your transmitted signal and from you hearing the repeater’s transmitted signals. This occurrence can lead one to believe the repeater is off the air. I recall years ago there were trips made to the repeater site when we could not use the repeater, only to find the repeater operating. All due to an inversion. Sometimes the inversion layer is well above what the diagram depicts too, leading to other stations that you will be able to talk with that you would not ordinarily be able. There is another term used for this phenomenon which is called ducting that enables more distant than typical communications to occur, especially on VHF as well as UHF.
Inversions, ducting, tropo and what ever other titles the phenomenon of having radio signals reflected and refracted is an interesting and vast topic of which you can read up on. Look for propagation of radio signals either on the Internet or the ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications, what was previously called the Radio Amateur’s Handbook.
SkyWarn Recognition Day has come and gone! I was able to contact 16 stations, for the time that I was on the air band conditions were rather weak not to mention the QSB. For my efforts I was able to print the certificate inserted below. It’s not all that big of a deal but it’s something to show for the effort. After all, one of the aspects of ham radio is communicating regardless of conditions and it was a National event to participate in.
 The 2015 QCARC Christmas Dinner will be held at the Arrowhead Restaurant, Rte. 322 East of Clearfield – Saturday December 19, 6:00 PM No Reservations are required. There will be a buffet available as well as the availability to order off of the regular menu.
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