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 Western Pennsylvania Section News
18 August 2019

2019 Simulated Emergency Test – October 5

Preparations are currently underway for this fall’s Simulated Emergency Test. This year the SET is on Saturday, October 5. Section ARES officials in Eastern and Western PA are working together to finalize plans for a joint EPA-WPA SET. 

The 2019 SET will focus on interoperability and scalability, adding additional served agencies as the SET progresses, and dispatching ARESMAT teams to other locations. Participants will practice interoperability with other ARES teams, and serving several agencies simultaneously as would be done in an actual disaster.

The goal of initial planning is to release the final planning document the first week of September to DECs and ECs. 

Mercer County ARC Hosting Special Guests – Tuesday, August 27, 6:00 pm

A special program will take place at the August 27, 2019 meeting of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club at the Sharpsville, PA VFW at 6 PM. Hal Turley W8HC, a member of the VP6R 2019 Pitcairn Island DXpedition team, will give the Elmer presentation and will give a great talk about his plans for the October 18, 2019 DXpedition to the rare South Pacific Island.

The regular business meeting will follow at 7 PM.

Following the meeting, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, retired Amateur Radio FCC enforcement counsel, and currently managing the new ARRL-FCC Volunteer Monitor Program will give the main program at 7:30 PM.

Riley will talk about the new Volunteer Monitor program , a cooperative program of ARRL and the FCC.

Upcoming Hamfests and District Meetings

The next hamfests are Sunday, August 25, at the Skyview Clubhouse in New Kensington; The 70th annual Uniontown Gabfest on Saturday August 31 at the W3PIE Clubhouse in Uniontown; The Butler County Hamfest is at the Unionville Firehouse on Mahood Road and Route 8 on Sunday, September 8; and the Southwest District Meeting to be held at the Washington Hamfest at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Sunday November 3. As always, our ARRL exhibit will be at every hamfest. See you there!

2019 Scouting Jamboree On The AIR – October 19-21

The 2019 Scouting Jamboree On The Air will take place October 19, 20 and 21. WPA Section Youth Coordinator Bruce Gibson K3BEG (syc@wpa-arrl.org) is looking to hear from groups and clubs planning to support this event.

Pennsylvania QSO Party – October 12-13

The 2019 Pennsylvania QSO Party will be held on October 12th and 13th. The bonus station will be K3SMT, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Somerset Amateur Radio Club.

Please visit http://paqso.org for Party information. 

WPA Activities

Every Saturday morning we have been meeting on 60 meters on 5403.5 kilo-Hertz upper sideband following the end of the weekly WPA ARES Voice Net. (If that channel is in use, we use 5371.5 USB.)

We’ve been collecting signal reports for the past year, comparing them to the signals on 80 meters. We have gathered a significant about of data, allowing us to analyze when and if 60 meters can support WPA Section-wide communications during times that 80 meters is unsatisfactory due to time of day and other propagation conditions.

The August 31 session will complete our year-long propagation study, and we thank all the participants for the valuable data you have helped gather.

WPA DMR

Our WPA Digital Voice Net meets Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm on talk group 31422. What better way for us in “Friendly Western PA” to enjoy our friendships while sharpening our technical skills! See you there!

73 and Press ON!

Joe Shupienis W3BC
Western Pennsylvania Section Manager