WARC - Warminster Amateur Radio Club: K3DN

11/02/2024

A few of our members headed North to operate the rare Zone 2 in the CQWW SSB contest. Their efforts made a Ham Radio World post!

05/02/2024

We're just a few days away!! Hope to see you all there!

Note: The food vendor will be CASH ONLY, we thank you for your cooperation.

11/14/2023

It's that time of year again!

Keep your eyes open for an email reminder about upcoming 2024 dues (pictured below). Check your Expiration Date, and if it ends on 12/31/2023 you can pay via any of the standard methods. Dues are still $25/year for 2024.

If your Expiration Date show 12/31/2024 or later, you're all set for the coming year and don't need to pay again!

04/11/2022

We’re back!! After having to postpone the event for two years, the Warminster Amateur Radio Club is once again holding our annual Hamfest on Sunday, May 1 2022, and we are proud to be hosting the ARRL EPA Section Convention again this year! WARC’s Hamfest/EPA SC will be held at the Bucks County Community College-Lower Bucks Campus in Bristol, PA, with doors opening to the public at 7:00am (vendor access at 6:00am).
We will have indoor and outdoor vendors, an onsite/indoor food vendor, indoor restroom facilities, and several presentations by special guest speakers in BCCC’s state-of-the-art classrooms. Included in our speaker lineup are:

9:00am: World Class contester Bud Trench AA3B on “Improving Your Contest Score”
10:00am: ARRL Hudson Division Director Ria Jairam N2RJ discussing “Station RF Measurement and the New FCC Guidelines for RF Exposure”
11:00am: ARRL Atlantic Division Update w/Division Director Tom Abernathy W3TOM & Vice-Director Bob Famiglio K3RF
12:00pm: ARRL EPA Section Update w/Section Manager George Miller W3GWM

Admission is $7 at the gate (plus $20 for Indoor/$10 for Outdoor vending, per spot – subject to availability). We hope you can make it out, it will be nice seeing many familiar, and many new, faces again after the two-year hiatus. See you there!

11/25/2021

10/01/2021

Everyone,

I won’t be able to go to the BWSAC for the meeting on Thursday October 7, so the October Meeting will be entirely virtual. The presentation is from Tim K3LR of DXEngineering (virtual), and promises to be very interesting and entertaining as usual. The log in is pinned to the top of the Groups.io message board, and remains the same as all previous meetings.

Hope to see you all Thursday night,
Tony W3FLH

"Trying to find the best tool to get a bunch of people organized and sharing knowledge can be a pain. Google Groups can feel exceedingly complicated. Facebook cares little about your privacy."

02/15/2021

A message from Doc W3GAD, WARC Field Day Chair:



The ARRL is not optimistic for Field Day gatherings for 2021; therefore, they have extended the special rules from 2020 to the 2021 FIELD DAY.

This “Temporary” modification of the rules for the event will allow WARC to once again enter a club aggregate score for all participants whether they are “on site” or operating from their home.

The additional changes are limiting output power to 150Watts PEP for the class ‘D’ and class ‘E’ stations.

WARC will continue to pursue the possibility for a club station event at the SHRINE but we are encouraging all members to get on the air and operate from home and submits the log for your efforts.

We will be sending out more information as Field Day 2021 gets closer – Mark your calendar for June 26th and 27 for FIELD DAY 2021 and plan on being part of the fun.

01/15/2021

Update on the status of our monthly VE Testing sessions:

We received this announcement from Larry WA3ELQ, the coordinator of our VE team:

Unfortunately, as of now, Covid numbers in Bucks County and this general area have not improved. Although the state has eased some restrictions, indoor gatherings remain risky. For that reason, I have decided to cancel the January 25 VE session. Once again, everyone's safety is the number one concern.

Also, I have asked the ARRL to change our future sessions - especially through spring - from "walk-ins welcome" to "registration required." This will allow us to control the number of people attending the sessions. Again, the possibility of a large group could prove less than safe. I don't like doing this as allowing walk-ins is a long WARC tradition. But as more people receive vaccines and as Covid numbers fall, I hope to return to allowing walk-ins asap.

-Larry WA3ELQ

Please keep an eye on this group, our FB page & group, and of course listen on our repeater for updates as they become available.

Tony W3FLH
President, WARC

01/08/2021

At last night's meeting, one of the agenda items was the discussion of two new Report & Orders (R&O) issued by the FCC, instituting actions which directly affect Amateur Radio operators. Michelle KB3MTW had requested a post explaining these actions, so I have prepared the following:

The first of these R&O's will institute a new fee structure for certain services related to acquiring/upgrading/changing an Amateur Radio license (FCC 20-184) as part of a broader scope affecting multiple radio services governed by the FCC. In brief, this institutes a fee of $35.00 for obtaining a new license, upgrading the class of an existing license, or applying for a new vanity callsign, among other licensing services. In the case of certain Administrative Updates such as a change of name/address or adding an email address - primarily actions that can be accomplished by the licensee online via the FCC ULS system - these fees have been waived. At this time, no date has been set for implementation of these fees.

The second R&O mandates that all licensees have an email address on file with the FCC (FCC 20-126). This can be verified and added if need be, by visiting the FCC ULS, and editing your information. All of our licenses have the 10-digit FCC Registration Number (FRN) on the lower-left corner of the printed license; you will need this info to sign in to the ULS, or to create a new login in order to do so. As mentioned above, this action qualifies as an Administrative Update, and will not incur a fee (I updated my info yesterday, and received confirmation this morning - no fee applied). Dan K3NXX had asked what would happen to those not supplying an email address, and the answer is that any licenses without an email addressed assigned may be found "deficient", and potentially face the following circumstances: "Revocation of the station license or suspension of the operator license may result when correspondence from the FCC is returned as undeliverable because the grantee failed to provide the correct email address.", so get that info updated! This requirement becomes effective as of January 29, 2021.

For more thorough information, and links to the respective FCC pages, please see the ARRL Letter for 1/7/21 here: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2021-01-07

Tony W3FLH

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.

11/30/2020

Hello again, hope you are all gearing up for the holidays as the year rounds out to a close. As you know, our December monthly meeting is traditionally conducted as a Holiday Dinner, where members and their guests gather in a social setting, and radio business is mostly suspended. This year, as we won’t have a chance to meet in person, we will be holding an online social gathering on Thursday Dec. 3, and all are welcome to participate. We will be recognizing the recipient of the Dave Simpson WI3Y Outstanding Ham of the Year award, announcing the winner of our online raffle, and hearing about some of the history of the club, all in an informal setting so we can enjoy the company of our fellow club members. And feel free to bring a beverage of your choice to the festivities as we toast what can only be described as, “One hell of a year”!

As outlined above, the effects of the pandemic are still taking a toll on all things social, as governments are reinstituting restrictions on gatherings of certain sizes as well as other mandates. For WARC, that means the cancellation of the last two VE sessions of the year, after we had just gotten back to holding them in person this Autumn. It also means that we are taking this into account as we near a decision on the 2021 Hamfest, as the planning for such an event must be confirmed several months prior to the actual date. We will continue to keep you informed as we move forward.

That’s going to wrap it up for me for 2020 – as I said, it’s been a difficult and trying time for all of us, but I’m proud of the way the club responded to the challenges we’ve faced. We've managed to react quickly to the changes that were foisted upon us, and those changes have enabled us to build a stronger, more versatile online presence, and remain an active – and growing! – club.

Happy Holidays to all!

Tony W3FLH
73

11/26/2020

Wishing everyone a Safe, Healthy and Happy Thanksgiving.