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Should QCARC continue giving VE Exams before club meetings in even months?
Total Voters: 3  Loading ... |
Additionally, our members fielded questions from over 20 visitors, and offered the opportunity for members of the public to say hello to a distant Amateur Radio operator over the air. Many of the guests took us up on the offer, including the reigning Clearfield County Fair Queen Ms. Melanie Swartz and her Court. Each of the YLs made contact with a station in Florida, who encouraged them to consider getting their licenses. The owners of the Drive-In were very happy with our operation, and enthusiastically invited us to return next year. Club members who participated included Lars Kvant KB3WBT/SM7FYW, Ed Neeper KB3VWX, Herb Murray W3TM and Joe Shupienis W3BC. Hopefully, by next year we will be able to mention those who visited and their new callsigns! Photos:
I have for sale the amateur radio equipment from the estate of SK, WA3UKE. For questions and/or offers to purchase please contact WA3UFN, Bryan via email: wa3ufn@arrl.net You can also visit http://www.rigpix.com/ for additional information on most of the equipment listed. Yaesu FT-23R 2M FM handheld 144 –146 Mhz,
Jim served as President of the Quad-County Amateur Radio Club in the mid 1990s, and more recently as the Vice President of the Punxsutawney Area Amateur Radio Club. He was an avid VHF operator and also enjoyed building HF antennas, and operating. He was a driving force behind the Punxsutawney Groundhog Day Special Event. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Bernard P. Snyder Funeral Home in Reynoldsville. No visitation or services are planned. TThe Quad-County Amateur Radio Club has instituted a new program for voluntary contributions to fund the club’s Educational and Outreach programs. The leading priority for Amateur Radio clubs nationwide is the recruiting and training of new Amateurs. Without them, we will witness the end of Amateur Radio. It takes money to make the wheels of the "New Ham Factory" spin, and club treasuries are already overstressed due to inflation and declining membership. This voluntary donation program allows those members who can afford to do so to contribute additional funds above their annual dues to specific programs of the club.  this program to the Quad-County club, I recommended the monies all be earmarked for our Educational and Outreach efforts.
Educational is self explanatory: Teaching licensing classes and giving license exams. But there is a promotional aspect to that as well. The League has produced many public service spots for radio ans television, but there are some small costs involved in obtaining them and supplying them to media outlets. Additionally, there are printed publications and handouts for the public and schools. These carry a cost as well. Finally, one of the best ways, even in this Internet age, to attract new hams is to place a license manual in school and public libraries. They are not cheap. Our Volunteer Donor program makes this activity possible without bankrupting the club. Outreach is a fairly new word. Organizations such as ours use the word a lot. It means providing services to people in our communities who are not (yet) members. Some are hams who haven’t become active with their neighbor hams. Some aren’t hams but have an interest in our activities. Finally there are other, non-Amateur Radio organizations whose goals intersect with ours… Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, Public Safety agencies, Red Cross, Salvation Army… It’s a long list. We incur some expenses providing these organizations with printed literature, and providing program materials such as DVDs about Amateur Radio they can show their members. Besides these activities, there are year-round outreach activities as well. You are reading one of them. Registration for the domain name “qcarc.org” costs us about $12.00 a year. Hosting it costs $4.95 per month. That adds up to about $72.00 per year. If you do the math, it’s about 20 cents a day. From all comments I’ve heard, it’s worth it. The software is free, and I’ve donated my web-design services free of charge. If you were to pay a professional web provider for all the artwork and maintenance, you would be looking at $20 to 30,000 per year. Compare this website to the ARRL website and consider how much that cost the League. (Hint: It’s a deep, six-figure number!) Taking a cue from the ARRL’s Diamond Club, I came up with the idea of the Dime-A-Day Donor program. For a mere $36.50 per year, you can help support the Outreach and Educational programs that are so important to the future of Amateur Radio and to your club. Our Treasurer collects these funds, and you will receive a certificate in recognition of your selfless contribution to these vital club programs. If you can afford to do more, consider becoming a Double Donor which is a really meaningful way for you to say “$73!” Consider becoming a Dime-A-Day Donor today. The money will absolutely go to a cause you believe in: Bringing new hams into the hobby. Dime-A-Day Donors We thank the following people who have very generously contributed to the future of Amateur Radio:
TTHE BIG DAY is here! All the planning and preparation comes together today at the Old Town Sportsmen’s Pavilion on the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. This morning, we are setting up antennas and radios and computers, and the grill… and everything else! The contest portion begins at 2:00 pm and ends Sunday at 2:00 pm. Help will be needed to tear down as well, so please stop by. Many hands make light work, you know! The Public and media are invited, and this year we’re trying something new – a GOTA station. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a “Get On The Air” station to allow unlicensed people, new hams and old-timers who haven’t been active lately to make some contacts at a more leisurely pace. We are there now, come on over!!! Update Saturday 10:00 pmChannel 6 News visited our Field Day site and depending on the other stories (of course) plans on airing their coverage of us tonight on the 11:00 news. Catch us tonight, and stop by in person Sunday after 10 am. The contest period ends for us at 2 pm, but we’ll be cleaning up and enjoying a hotdog and conversing with old friends for hours after that!
Hams from four counties gathered at the Clearfield County EMA Center for their June Meeting. Guests helped finalize Field Day plans, newcomers introduced themselves and guest Steve Waltman KB3FPN presented an engaging technology program to round out yet another good old QCARC meeting! Mike WB3EQW raised the question of why the club covers four counties, and Club Founder Joe W3BC related the history of the Club’s creation and the rationale behind the large geographic area. Under new business, W3BC suggested a new program for members wishing to do more for the club — the Dime-A-Day Donor Program. Club members may voluntarily contribute an additional $36.50 each year to go toward the Club’s Educational and Outreach programs. In recognition of these voluntary contributions, they will receive the status of “Sustaining Member” and a certificate bearing witness to that fact. Several contributions were given to the Treasurer. 15 members and guests were in attendance. After the meeting, Coffee and Donuts were enjoyed, and a 50-50 drawing was held. The program was then presented by Steve Waltman KB3FPN from Brookville, with help from Tom W3KWT. The program was a demonstration of the capabilities of a Communications Monitor, and how amateur transmitters could be tested easily to be sure they measured up to specs. Photo Gallery(Click any image to begin slideshow, press [ESC] to stop)
In today’s tough times, every penny counts, and some question the need to belong to the League. The answer is: we need the ARRL now more than ever. Recently, the League has defended the Amateur Radio Service against powerful, deep-pocket corporate interests who threatened our precious frequencies. You’ve all heard of the BPL initiatives, which are now on the back burner, largely due to the League’s organized resistance. More recently, Congress wanted to horse-trade frequencies to fulfill campaign promises to emergency service providers by taking away our 432 MHz band. This too was defeated through the efforts of the ARRL. The ARRL pays our club a commission when you join or renew ARRL Membership through us! Every day, the League fights our battles for us with federal, state and local governments who picture us as a bunch of old geezers yelling “10-4” into our power mikes, or tip-tapping our rusty telegraph keys. Your ARRL dues support the League’s intensive efforts to change this image by educating and informing our leaders about Amateur Radio today. Your dues also help your local club, too! The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Special Service Club, and as a League Affiliated Club, we receive a portion of your dues, when you join or renew your ARRL membership. But this only works if you involve us in the process. You have to use the ARRL Membership Application for use by ARRL Affiliated Clubs form, which you can bring to a club meeting along with your ARRL dues check, which must be made out to The Quad-County ARC. You worked hard to get your license, you’ve spent a lot of money for your radios, and you have invested innumerable hours perfecting your skills on the air. You owe it to yourself, to your club and to Amateur Radio to protect that investment, and joining the ARRL is the way to do that. It’s even better for your friends and neighbors when you process your League Membership through the Quad-County ARC!
Is it a big deal? Yeah, it kind of is. Of the 43 ARRL Affiliated Amateur Radio Clubs in the Western Pennsylvania Section, the Quad-County Club is one of only three Special Service Clubs currently listed in the ARRL online Club Directory. Nationwide, only 137 SSC clubs are so designated from 2,000 ARRL Affiliated clubs. The national average is under 7% of all ARRL Affiliates are SSCs. A Special Service Club is not “bigger and better” than other clubs; the designation is conferred upon those clubs that in addition to the usual ham radio activities have made an extensive effort to reach out to their members and communities, provide education and technological expertise to their members and the public, encourage and assist their members in keeping their operating skills sharp for emergency communications should the need arise, and present Amateur Radio to the public in a positive light, attracting new members and new hams by their activities rather than promoting with empty words. The following description of Special Service Clubs is from the ARRL:
All radio amateurs and people interested in personal communications in our entire Quad-County area are invited to participate in this year’s Quad-County Amateur Radio Club Field Day operation at the Old Town Sportsmen’s Booth on the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. This is a location open to the public, and there is plenty of free parking. Above and beyond that, there is a shelter where we will be setting up shop, and this will protect us from the inevitable showers and Mother Nature’s many otherinconveniences.
Activities begin on Saturday morning, June 25th, and continue around the clock until 5 pm on Sunday. Field day is the largest event in Amateur Radio. Participate with your local club this year and get in on the fun! W3BC is bringing a couple contest-grade radios which he has used to achieve numerous contest awards, and is fine-tuning the networked computer logging system. There are several recently licensed hams locally, and we are setting up a “GOTA” (Get On The Air) station for recently licensed amateurs, those without licenses yet, and long time hams who have not been active lately. We also plan on having a VHF station on hand so if 6 meters and 2 meters open up we will be ready to go! Four transmitters, food, a public information area, shelter from the elements… It sounds like a large order, but we’ve done it before and we will do it again this year! There is a lot to be finalized at the meeting on Friday, June 17th, so plan on attending that important meeting! |
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