POTTSTOWN AREA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

…based on the reminiscences and ramblings of Ed (K3BVQ), and Ray (W3ZVY/SK)

Sometime around 1970 Ed (K3BVQ) and Ray (W3ZVY*) got together and resurrected the old Pottstown Radio Club which had slipped into inactivity. Ray contacted some of the old PARC  members and set up the first meeting. There were only about 8 or 10 that gathered in Ed’s classroom at Pottstown Senior High School, and often there was just Ed and Ray in attendance. But they stuck with it. Attendance slowly increased, and with the advent of 2 Meter FM the group acquired some surplus equipment and got a repeater on the air in 1972. Then Bob (K3DBD), Glen (WA3LAB), Tom (WA3DMS*), Jim (W3BWD), and others joined in and soon formed the Pottstown Area Repeater Team (PART) …… it had to be a “Team” as Ed was not allowed to have a “club” meeting in his classroom! The first repeater was located in W3BWD’s garage on Levengood Road in Pottstown. Other calls on the repeaters were WR3ADC, W3BWD/R, WA3LAB/R, and K3DBD/R. The “Team” was a very loose-knit group, and remained primarily a social organization for many years, meeting for Sunday morning breakfasts, an occasional foxhunt, a few guys getting together for Field Day. And so it went, until the 1990s when, with an increased membership, a more active program of diverse amateur activities began and in 2000 PART became PAARC.

In recognition of the lifelong contributions, which included the use of the land for the repeater site, we use Al Dolenti’s call, K3ZMC, as the repeater’s ID and club call.

Al Dolenti – K3ZMC (SK)