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* * * RESCHEDULED! * * *
 QCARC Fall Picnic, 4453 PA-310 (3.5 miles south of Reynoldsville Unimart on PA-310
(Reynoldsville-Punxsutawney Road) at Ed Golla’s QTH. Look for Club sign at driveway. Thanks to the generosity of Ed Golla, Jr. K3AHS, we have been invited to return to the home of so many happy ham radio activities.
Everyone is invited — Club members or not, hams or not. As with all of our activities this is Family Friendly! There will be free hot dogs and burgers, along with chips, soft drinks and condiments provided by the Club. If you wish, you may bring food to share, but it’s not a requirement. This will be a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with your ham radio friends, old and new. Please plan on attending.
Directions
From Reynoldsville: Take PA-310 south for 3.5 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the right at the driveway (1.8 miles beyond the Lakelawn Cemetary entrance). Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
From Punxsutawney: Take PA 310 north for 9.0 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the left at the driveway (2.1 miles beyond the Amish Restaurant / old PA-952 intersection). Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
GPS Coordinates:
- 41.062992,-78.927251 (driveway)
- 4366 Pennsylvania 310, Reynoldsville, PA 15851
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! This is a traditional time to spend with family and friends, and to remember all those who are no longer with us.
I remember in the early days of the club, that there was a day-long QSO on the DuBois Repeater with hams far and wide in the Quad-County area checking in and out and back in again as their family activities permitted.
My Elmer, K3TFL was the unofficial Master of Ceremonies for those sessions, and the discussions ranged from what was for dinner, to the snowy weather to how to modify an ARC-5.
For our Quad-County hams, our repeater was the “Social Media” of the day. We all knew each other and stayed in touch on the air, making friends and sharing our thoughts all over the coverage area. This regular repeater contact with each other made for stronger friendships, and brought our disparate communities together in a spirit of cooperation and good will. Sadly, repeaters have fallen into disuse, and the social connections have withered away to a great extent.
I wonder; what would happen if we all made the effort to pick up the microphone, and reach out to each other today, and into the future? Would we find a renewed interest in local ham radio, and perhaps make a new ham radio friend or two? The only way to find out is to give it a try.
Why not fire up the radio today, and see who’s on the repeater? I’ll see you… on the air!
 HAPPY BIRTHDAY QCARC! On April 18, 1975, a group of about 30 local hams gathered at the DuBois High School for the first meeting of what would become The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club. From that auspicious beginning, the club grew in membership and activity. The members of the new club took part in Field Day that very first year from a hilltop in Clear Run. Later, the club placed the WR3AGV repeater at that location, coordinated on 146.13/73 MHz.
Traditions that continue to this day are monthly meetings at 7:30 pm on the third Friday of each month, Club Banquets, Field Day, and a number of Public Service activities, involving multiple served agencies, such as DuBois and Sandy Township Police Departments, the Red Cross, the Boy Scouts, and local schools. Club Founder, Joe Shupienis W3BC (then WA3IHK) conducted dozens of licensing and upgrade classes that continue to this day, in DuBois, Clearfield, St. Marys, Ridgway, Kersey, Punxsutawney and Reynoldsville.
In the 1970s, the club held meetings in several communities throughout the Quad-County Area, such as Sinnemahoning, Punxsutawney and Reynoldsville, but found that it was more convenient for everyone to keep the meetings in the more centrally-located DuBois area. In 1991, meetings moved to Clearfield at the County offices, and over the next couple decades the membership, meeting participation and activities declined, as the club became “the Clearfield Club.” New clubs formed in Jefferson, Cameron and Elk counties in reaction to the long travel distances the move created.
In 2011, the club decided to conduct Field Day operations in a location accessible to the general Public, and moved operations from a small, crowded room in the Clearfield County Emergency Operations Center to a public pavilion at the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. In November, the Club held its final meeting at the EOC, and once again began holding meetings in DuBois. Currently, we hold our monthly meetings at the Penn State DuBois Campus, which provides plenty of free parking, handicapped accessibility, and outside space for experimenting with antennas and hidden transmitter hunting before the meetings.
 Don KB3LES shows us how happy he was to find the fox!
 Hi everybody
Since I was just sitting here, I thought that I could show you all what I found at the ham-fest in Butler last Sunday.
Well, lets go back to the beginning in this story. In 1978, I became interested in ham-radio satellites, so called OSCAR satellites. Way back then, the AMSAT OSCAR 7 was the satellite to work. It had an orbit that made it show up every 90 minutes, and covered Europe, northern Africa, and also the US East Coast. To work US East Coast stations, you had about 5 minutes before it went down under the horizon again, so you had to be quick!
Now to the more technical part, the radio you see here at the right, is an Icom 402, it was the state of the art in late 70’s if you wanted to do some SSB on 70cm. It has 3w out-put, and that is not very much, but then again, your average 2m FM radio had a high-power setting of 10w. I used an Icom 402 on the uplink, 435 Mhz LSB, and then the signal from the satellite came back on 145 Mhz USB. The 402 was hooked up to a 46 element J-beam, and the antenna for down-link was a simple 4 element yagi. Right at the 2m yagi, I had a low-noise preamp, to help my Kenwood TS-700 hear the weak signals coming back from the satellite. I would say, that I worked a few hundred stations via OSCAR satellites.
Now to complete this little story. At the hamfest, I paid $10 for this radio in close to mint condition! Needless to say, it made my day! Of course, there aren’t many 70 cm stations around Clearfield — much less SSB ones — but late last night before I went to bed, I went into my shack, and for some reason I tuned around the band and heard somebody! It was Joe W3BC, and he was operating from W3SO in Altoona, so that was my first QSO on my new “old” rig, Joe also gave me the frequencies for 2m and 6m, since what I stumbled into was the VHF contest, lucky them!
Hope this little essay was worth reading :)
PS: For all you who are interested, there is a 2m version of this radio and a 6m version, Icom 202 and Icom 502, there is also a fm 2m, Icom 215.
Lars
PS2: This is a 70cm Halo antenna I built for the radio, it’s horizontally polarized and it is Omni directional (same radiation all directions)
Update on Halo, just worked W3SO, Altoona, made op laugh! Will listen for other stations also….
 Reynoldsville Reunion: Ed Golla Jr K3AHS and Mayor Peach Caltagarone AB3OG enjoy the opportunity to catch up on old times at the picnic Hams and their friends and families turned out at the QTH of Ed Golla for the 2012 annual Fall Picnic on Saturday, September 29. Mother Nature cooperated (for once) and we had pleasant weather for the entire time we were there. Ed K3AHS had a nice fire going to ward off any chill or bugs, while Don KB3LES, Sam KA3ESM and Joe W3BC with help from Herb W3TM and Tom, went to work setting up the antennas and radios. It wasn’t long before the sweet sound of DX on 10 and 12 meter bands filled the autumn air.  VHF, UHF and HF antennas were set up and working  Hotdogs with "BUX Sauce" -- a Quad-County tradition! The main event at every picnic is eating, and the club-supplied hamburgers and hotdogs along with the covered dishes brought by our members resulted in way more food than we all could eat. Nobody went home hungry!
It’s been said that the two things hams enjoy most in life are eating and radios. It’s probably a tie for first place. Well when we combine the two at a picnic, it’s a sure-fire good time for every ham there.  Brad N3HAO demonstrates that nothing is more fun than a picnic... except a picnic WITH RADIOS! We’ve had lots of practice taking our show on the road this year, and so we were able to put up antennas covering “DC to Daylight” in a matter of minutes. The bands were in good shape, with great propagation on 10 and 12 meters to Europe and beyond.
Social Networking
Ham radio is the original “social network”–the kids today on “MyFace” have nothing on us! We’ve b een doing it for years, both on the air and off. The picnic was no exception. Everywhere you looked you saw friends, old and new, talking with each other and enjoying a good time. And that’s why all of us were there.
Gallery
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- Reynoldsville Reunion: Ed Golla Jr K3AHS and Mayor Peach Caltagarone AB3OG enjoy the opportunity to catch up on old times at the picnic
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- Hotdogs with "BUX Sauce" -- a Quad-County tradition!
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- Brad N3HAO demonstrates that nothing is more fun than a picnic... except a picnic WITH RADIOS!
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- QCARC Fall Picnic, September 29, 2012
L-R: Doug Rowles W3DWR, Ed Golla, Jr K3AHS, Charlie Lindahl KA3DEO, Brad Bedell N3HAO, Joe Shupienis W3BC, Jeff Rowles KA3FHV, Sam Mc Ghee KA3USM.
Total attending: 16
Mising from last year: Fred WA3GQU and Fuzzy K3QEQ
(c) 2012 Joe Shupienis W3BC
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- VHF, UHF and HF antennas were set up and working
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  The Quad-County ARC and the Punxsutawney Area ARC are both sponsoring a Ham Radio Fall Picnic from noon to ??? on Saturday, September 29 at the QTH of Ed Golla. This was the site of many happy Field Day operations and picnics. Thanks to the generosity of Ed Golla, Jr. K3AHS, we have been invited to return to the home of so many happy ham radio activities.
The picnic is for members, former members, non-members, guests and anybody interested in our clubs or amateur radio in our area. The clubs are providing hamburgers and hot dogs, with condiments and soft drinks. You are encouraged (but not required) to bring a covered dish to share with the group. This will be a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with your ham radio friends, old and new. Please plan on attending.
The picnic will be held, rain or shine, [or wind! -Ed.] and in case of blizzard, shovels will be provided.
Directions
From Reynoldsville: Take PA-310 south for 3.5 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the right at the driveway (1.8 miles beyond the Lakelawn Cemetary entrance). Proceed up the driveway past the gray house (with a “G” on the chimney) and back through the field along the trees to the picnic grounds. Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
From Punxsutawney: Take PA 310 north for 9.0 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the left at the driveway (2.1 miles beyond the Amish Restaurant / old PA-952 intersection). Proceed up the driveway past the gray house (with a “G” on the chimney) and back through the field along the trees to the picnic grounds. Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
GPS Coordinates:
- 41.062992,-78.927251 (driveway)
- 4366 Pennsylvania 310, Reynoldsville, PA 15851
- 41.065015,-78.92907 (Picnic area)
 1984 Quad-County Fall Picnic (Photo by K3LIX) Stroll down Memory Lane this month on Saturday, October 15th, as The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club revisits the Ed Golla QTH for a revival of our Fall Picnic activities. Old Timers will remember with fondness the many good times we shared at that QTH for Field Days and Fall Picnics. Thanks to the generosity of Ed Golla, Jr. K3AHS, we have been invited to return to the home of so many Quad-County activities.
The picnic is for our members, former members, guests and others interested in our club or amateur radio in our area. The club is providing hamburgers and hot dogs, with condiments and soft drinks. You are encouraged (but not required) to being a covered dish to share with the group. This will be a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with your ham radio friends, old and new. Please plan on attending.
The picnic will be held, rain or shine, and in case of blizzard, shovels will be provided.
Directions
From Reynoldsville: Take PA-310 south for 3.5 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the right at the driveway (1.8 miles beyond the Lakelawn Cemetary entrance). Proceed up the driveway past the gray house (with a “G” on the chimney) and back through the field along the trees to the picnic grounds. Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
From Punxsutawney: take PA 310 north for 9.0 miles. Watch for the Quad-County sign on the left at the driveway (2.1 miles beyond the Amish Restaurant / old PA-952 intersection). Proceed up the driveway past the gray house (with a “G” on the chimney) and back through the field along the trees to the picnic grounds. Talk-in on the 147.315 Quad-County repeater.
GPS Coordinates:
- 41.062992,-78.927251 (driveway)
- 4366 Pennsylvania 310, Reynoldsville, PA 15851
- 41.065015,-78.92907 (Picnic area)
There are a few extra programs left over from the Banquet. If you would like one for your scrapbook, or to send to a friend, or for whatever reason, please contact W3BC.
We all remember the “Good Ole Days” with fondness. I remember—and I’m sure you do too—the fun and good times we all shared participating in Quad-County ARC activities: Building a repeater, the good food and great times at Field Day, especially at Ed Golla’s picnic grove, the chance to visit our many friends at each meeting… The list is almost endless and the happy memories warm my heart every time I think about them. How about you?
You may be visiting this website after reading the card we sent you. Some of us are still very active hams, while some of us are taking a smaller part in ham radio activities. If I had to point out one thing which made ham radio more fun for me and for many other hams I know, I’d have to say that the most fun we had was when we gathered together as a club and did interesting and exciting things. The Halloween patrols, traveling as a group to hamfests, teaching classes, giving exams, “BUX burgers,” K3BFO’s “special” weather reports… We may not have known it then, but those are the things we remember best about those days.
The Quad-County Amateur Radio Club turns 36 on April 17th. Sadly, many of us have gone to the “antenna farm” in the years since. The reins have been passed several times, and fewer and fewer of our members have been coming back. This is sad, because a healthy, active ham radio club makes our favorite hobby so much more fun. I think we can recapture some of that youthful enthusiasm, give the club a shot in the arm and reap the benefits—all we have to do is start showing up and doing things together.
As I prepared those postcards and put the stamps on them, I couldn’t help but experience deja-vu, and remember how I did the same thing almost a lifetime ago. The results back then were nothing short of amazing! All of us joined together and raised up a very successful club. For its part, the club provided us with enjoyable activities for many years.
I believe  the same can happen today. All it will take is the same as it took all those years ago: You.
We have a nice place to meet at the Clearfield County Emerency Operations Center just behind the old County Home, and we have an interesting meeting planned for Friday April 15th at 7:30 pm. If you have trouble driving that far at night, let me know and I’ll try to line up someone to give you a ride. Every Sunday evening, the Quad-County FM Net meets at 7:00 like it always has, now on the 147.315 repeater. Our Spring Banquet is coming up on May 14th at the Fort Worth Restaurant in Du Bois. We are sponsoring a VE testing session on Friday, April 8th at the Du Bois Diner at 6:00 pm. I’m still publishing The Parasitic Emission, now as a full-color, PDF electronic magazine. Click here to download the latest issue, or click here to see many of our back issues.
Won’t you please join with us again for these and all the other activities we are planning? Having you take part will make a much better club, which in turn will make your Amateur Radio experience more fun than it is when you try to do it all alone. So how about it? Will you give us a little of your time to check us out and see what we can do for you? We will be happy to welcome you home, and your participation will add to everyone’s enjoyment of our favorite hobby!
73!
Joe Shupienis W3BC (ex WA3IHK)
Founder, Quad-County Amateur Radio Club
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