Scout Aviation Camporee Merit Badge Days May 13-15

W3W : Continental District Aviation Camporee Radio Merit Badge Day

Starting Friday, 5/13, at 4:00 pm through Sunday, 5/15, at 12:00 pm, look for calls W3W and K3ZMC. W3W is the primary station. W3W is being used for all Scouts to earn a radio merit badge at our local Limerick Twp. Heritage Field Airport. It is a three day event. W3W is the most important station to spot for contacts. Please be available to help these scouts earn their radio merit badge.

BSA Radio Merit Badge

BSA Radio Merit Badge

K3ZMC will be a demo station for people to operate at this event. It is very helpful if our members spot us on the DX cluster.
I’ll be using WWW.DXWATCH.COM; you must sign in to spot us. It’s free to use and I use it exclusively – it’s a wonderful service. If you have logging programs many of them will add a spot if you enable them to do so. Either way it goes out to the same places. We have found that this works really well for our public demo of Amateur Radio Operations to keep non-local contacts going.

If you can, monitor the repeater 147.210 on Saturday. If we need to make a local contact, hopefully we can coordinate with you wherever we might be HF,VHF or UHF. 

Walt – KB3SBC and Bill – KA3RMM will have a set of questions that the kids need to ask for every contact – please be patient with the kids. It often takes some coaching to get them through the contacts. Click here to download the script they’ll use.

Thanks for your support.   – Ed – N3WXW

Amateur Radio Test Session – May 6th at 5 pm

PAARC will offer an Amateur Radio License testing session on Friday, May 6th at 5:00 pm, before our regular First Friday meeting at St. James Lutheran Church, 93 Kugler Rd., (intersection of Swamp Pike & Kugler Rd.) Limerick, PA 19468.

Go for your license or try for an upgrade. You can pre-register for the test by sending an email request to VETesting@PAARC.NET.
All test sessions administered by examiners accredited by The American Radio Relay League, Inc.  See: What to Bring to an Exam Session

Club Meeting May 6th – Green Radios

Our May club meeting will be on Friday, May 6th at 7:00 pm at St. James Lutheran Church, Kugler Rd. and Swamp Pike in Limerick.
Members, friends, and prospective hams are invited to join us.

There will be a presentation on military “green” radios and their use in the amateur world. There will be demos and lots of interesting combinations of equipment you don’t normally see.
The team on Friday night will be Bill – KA3RMM, Walt – KB3SBC, Don – K3OP, Justin – KA3TIN, and Carl – NQ3U.

Updated on 5/2: there will not be a presentation on “Goonie Boxes” at this meeting.

Future meetings:
– June 3rd: Lou / WX3I will present on Skywarn at 7:00 pm
– July 1st
:  Hotdogs & Hams at 6:00 pm

Fun with Magicians and Boat Anchors

After a nice chat on the phone with our very own Dr. Bill/W3FRB I was told that both the Magician Net & the Mini Boat Anchor Net were listed on the EPA ARRL website.  After enlisting the help of Melody/KB3SJR she graciously found the article posted below.  The listing was submitted by Steve/K3ALV.  Thanks to both Melody and Steve for sharing your time and talents!

Things are just starting to perk up here on the 6 meter band with some great openings into South America.  Although it’s not for everyone, when the band opens up it can lead to some very fast paced contacts.  With the Spring VHF contest coming up in June, and the band starting to show signs of activity it is our hope that everyone will give this often neglected band a try.

Speaking of activity, I got a text message on my cell phone Sunday from none other then Joel/KB3OZC.  Joel always let’s me know when the bands open.  By now I’m sure you’re noticing a bit of a pattern here?  From the very article you see posted below to the message I received on my cell phone Sunday afternoon, it’s people that make it all happen. You may not see them, and you may not hear them directly, but they’re in there just the same.

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World Amateur Radio Day is April 18

04/07/2016 – Article reposted from the ARRL: http://tinyurl.com/worldamateurradioday2016

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD), observed every April 18, marks the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in 1925. As they do every year, radio amateurs worldwide will take to the airwaves to celebrate Amateur Radio’s contribution to society.

“April 18 is the day for all of Amateur Radio to celebrate and tell the world about the science we can help teach, the community service we can provide, and the fun we have,” the IARU said in announcing World Amateur Radio Day 2016. “We hope you will join in the fun and education that is World Amateur Radio Day!”

Taking note of the increased activity around the world for WARD 2016, ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, pointed out that WARD 2016 coincides with National Parks Week in the US, so listen for amateurs on from NPS units for National Parks on the Air. “ARRL is happy to list coordinated activity from WARD stations worldwide. Send me your activity information, and I will post it to the IARU WARD page.”

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