Skyview Radio Society Contact person: George Gross N3GJ e-mail: k3mjw@arrl.net Location: Skyview Radio Society clubhouse. 2335 Turkey Ridge Road. New Kensington,PA 15068. Directions and map on Skyview home page.
Two Rivers ARC Contact person: 412-664-1683 or 412-678-1206 e-mail w3oc@arrl.net
48 hour pre-registration required. April 29th Location: At Two rivers hamfest. No time given. Go to hamfest calendar page for further information on the Two Rivers hamfest or the links page for club web site. All other VE test sessions will be at McKeesport Area High School, South Hall, room 112. Eden Park Blvd. McKeesport, PA Time: 6:30pm These include: April 27th, 2008, same location at 7:30pm.
North Hills ARC Contact person: Robert W. Benna N3LWP 412-366-0488 Location: Northland Public Library, FEBURARY 9,2008
MARCH 8,2008
APRIL 12,2008
MAY 10,2008
JUNE 14,2008
JULY 12,2008
AUGUST 9,2008
SEPTEMBER 11,2008
OCTOBER 11,2008
NOVEMBER 8,2008
DECEMBER NO TESTING
ALL SESSIONS WILL BE AT NOON(12 o clock) WALK INS OK, SPECIAL NEEDS PERSON PLEASE CALL AHEAD,SO WE ARE PREPARED. BOB BENNA N3LWP 412-366-0488 n3lwp@verizon.net
Wireless Association of South Hills ARC Contact person: Jacque Gosselin N3ZEL 724-746-9235 n3zel@fyi.net Location: Peters Township LApril 19th, July 19th, and October 18th. Walk-ins welcome, although it is best to let us know that you plan to come. Talk-in: 146.955 -
Steel City ARC Where: Charties Valley Jr/Sr High School 50 Toms Run Rd. on Rt. 50 Pre-registration required. Contact: Mark Strayer AI3J 412-833-6049 Time: 6:45 pm. Send SASE to: 5976 McPherson Ave. Bethel Park, PA 15102-3440 Webpage: http://www.w3kwh.com/
Monessen ARC Contact person Bill W3EMV at 412 751 4373 or marbill2@comcast.net . VE tests are before each club meeting on the third Monday of each month at the Monessen Health Ctr. VE exams start at 7:00pm. No walk-ins. http://www.qsl.net/w3csl/
ALLEGHENY COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES 400 NORTH LEXINGTON ST suite 200 PITTSBURGH, PA 15208 No walk-ins. Contact person: Joe Sciulli, KA3TDQ Please call first at 412-466-4586 or ka3tdq@verizon.net Call or e-mail for further information
Every June, on the Saturday nearest longest day of the year, there is an event in Pittsburgh known as the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge. Allegheny County ARES and Skyview have provided communications for this event for a number of years now. It is a fun event that entails a 34 mile hike through woods and right-of ways. We always have a good time, but there is one big problem with this picture. It almost always lands up on ARRL FIELD DAY! It is always hard to find local Amateurs willing to give up their Field Day time and work this event. In looking for a solution to this problem we were able to put together a one-day Technician class to allow the operators of the event to obtain their Amateur Radio licenses! This will cut down on how many people we need to use as shadows, check point personal and more.
On December 1st we held this one day class at the clubhouse. We had a total of seven people from the Rachel Carson Trail plus one other student, Fran, wife of our own Larry – AB3ER! We also refer to Fran as "The Pie Master!" This was the first time that we attempted to do a one-day class, normally it takes around 5 nights at two hours a night. We started off using our old Technician Class DVDs. After a long time watching we realized that we were never going to make our 5:00PM deadline for the VE session. We later switched to working the question and answer section of the book. Larry, AB3ER brought up his copy of Ham University computer program that we projected on the white board. This method worked out much better. We made many stops along the way to expand on subjects as needed. When it came time to take the test all of our students passed!
Now that our students have their callsigns, we don't plan on stopping there. We are making plans with them to get together for teaching the many practical aspects of operating. While most of our students got their licenses for the practical reason of providing communications for the trail challenge, we sincerely hope that they find out what we know. Ham radio is a fantastic, life-long hobby with many fun challenges and the many great people that they will meet along the way. We hope they find how much fun operating in the woods on a wire antenna in a tree and a battery can be. There is so much to do and it is often difficult describing these things to new people. We hope the best for them.
Many thanks to all our instructors, elmers, VE examiners and especially the Rachel Carson folks that took the time to obtain their Amateur Technician Class license.
Last Update January 14, 2008