EXCLUSIVE Interview with David Sumner, K1ZZ

We have had the opportunity to interview ARRL CEO, Executive Vice President and Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ for this month's issue of our club newsletter, the eQRM. Make sure to read the 4-page interview in the May issue of our PDF newsletter. Participate in the discussion and go to the QRZ forum thread In our EXCLUSIVE interview with David Sumner, K1ZZ, we talk with him about the future of amateur radio, his opinion on the current licensing structure, the 1979 WARC, and more. Here ...

Live from the Pittsburgh Marathon!

Make sure to watch our Twitter feed on May 2, starting at 7AM EST. We will be Tweeting live from Mile 21.5 at the Pittsburgh Marathon! Check our Twitter feed for more updates.

April: WPA Section News DE John Rodgers, N3MSE

From the ARRL Several months ago I posted information regarding a bill that was introduced into the House of Representatives here in Pennsylvania. The bill was designated HB-2070. This bill was designed to prohibit hand held cell phones from being used while a vehicle was in motion. Unfortunately the wording of the bill is such that amateur radio devices particularly handhelds could also be prohibited with the passage of this bill. While we have worked for the past several months to get this ...

VOIP contacts now valid for ham radio awards

From the QRZ Forums According to an announcement just out on the IARU website, from today contacts made using QSONet and HamSphere are now officially amateur radio contacts and can count towards amateur radio awards. The announcement says: "There is an ever increasing use of computer and internet technology to facilitate the making of contacts between amateur radio operators. For many years use of the DX Cluster has been permitted to locate DX contacts to work and many operators now use in...

Volunteers from the amateur radio community

The following is an email to Bob DeMarco, WA3ZRM regarding volunteers from the Amateur Radio community: Dear Mr Robert J De Marco, I read on the ARRL website that you are the contact person for the Beaver Valley Area . I also noticed that many of the email addresses and names provided on the ARRL website for club contacts either do not match or are duplicated for more then one club. If this information gets to you and you are no longer the contact person for your club, would you please for...

Support House Bill HR 4809 – Technical Resource Enhancement Act

We have an opportunity to lend our support to passage of legislation that will help the FCC acquire the expertise needed to understand, regulate, and support communications in a rapidly changing technical environment. On March 10, H.R. 4809 was introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill has been assigned to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The "FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act" would authorize each FCC commissioner to appoint an electrical engineer o...

Scouting’s 100th Anniversary Volunteer Celebration for Pittsburgh

Dear Beaver Valley Leaders, 6 days from now a historic ceremony will be taking place! The 100th Anniversary Volunteer Celebration is scheduled for Thursday March 18, 2010 at Heinz Field~ West Club Lounge. This year Beaver Valley will be awarding the Silver Beaver Award to Mark Murdoch. We will be also honoring the following District Award recipients: District Award of Merit Evelyn Gower Tom Walsh John Onuska Jr. Cubmaster of the Year Jeff Knechtel Scoutmaster of the Year Ra...

Monthly Western PA Section News – John Rodgers, N3MSE

The snow is finally melting here in Western Pennsylvania and with the warmer weather the weather service is now predicting some rain for the next few days. This may serve as a need for amateurs to help provide communications in the event of flooding in some of the low lying areas. This might serve as a good time to check your grab and go kit to be sure they are properly stocked and also to charge the batteries on your handhelds. While I am sure we all are hoping that flooding will not take place...

Thank you for participating in TechFest 2010!

To all displayers, vendors, and attendees, Thank you for participating in TechFest 2010! It was a pleasure to see and meet all of you, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. We will be holding the TechFest again next year, but that is far in the future. As of now, we have plenty of great events to participate in: ARMAD in May, Field Day 2010 in June, The BVARA Corn Roast in August, Campaganza in September, and the Christmas Party in December. And this just the tip of the iceberg!...

Photos from TechFest 2010!

Here are a few photos, mostly of setting up, of TechFest 2010, held at the Baden American Legion in Baden, PA on February 14, 2010. If you cannot see the slideshow below, please install Adobe Flash Player. Enjoy!!