By Mark Abromowicz, NT3V
The special Multi-County Simplex Radio test sponsored by the Reading Radio Club and conducted on 146.550 MHz on Saturday, May 11 heard from 76 amateur stations in 11 counties in eastern Pennsylvania.
A team of net control operators set up at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower along Skyline Drive overlooking the City of Reading on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Their plan: Reach out to as many stations as possible as part of a special test of simplex radio conditions.
What the team learned is the record solar activity that weekend not only wiped out the HF bands but caused incredible “skip conditions” on VHF. The technical team for the test – Walt KB3SBC and Nick KC3SGN – found multiple QSOs taking place on 146.550 MHz once they activated an antenna set up on the porch atop the fire tower.
The DX signals – there were at least two QSOs in Spanish and one in English taking place simultaneously – were so loud that the team feared they would derail any chance of the local test going off as scheduled.
But within about a half hour of the planned 1 p.m. start time, the signals just disappeared without explanation.
With a sigh of relief the net controls gathered at the base of the fire tower for a briefing and divided up the responsibilities for calling each of the counties.
At 1 p.m., Al K3AJM, began the test reaching out to operators in Berks County who normally check in for the monthly test. Al tallied a record 40 check-ins from Berks with a number of first-timers going into the log.
The team of net controls – Craig K3CRG, Paul AE3U, Bill W3FRB, and Mark NT3V – then went to work, making calls for check-ins from Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Schuylkill and York counties.
No calls were heard from Carbon, Monroe (Poconos), Northampton (Bethlehem area) or Philadelphia counties.
Just behind Berks, 11 calls were heard from Montgomery County.
Two stations checked in from York County and one – a station in Maple Shade, New Jersey just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia – called in when we got to Philadelphia. He reported hearing a strong signal from Berks.
To the north in Schuylkill County, Reading Radio Club member Larry WR1B, set up on a high ridge just overlooking the community of Gordon and reported a good signal from Berks.
The team also heard on air from American Radio Relay League Atlantic Division Director Bob Famiglio K3RF who was one of two stations to respond from Delaware County – one of the Philadelphia suburban counties.
Famiglio had high praise for the communications exercise and the professionalism of the Berks County team conducting it.
Bob Wilson W3BIG, ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section Manager, also sent an email afterward praising the SRT team’s work.
Data collected from the exercise is being shared among the ARRL Emergency Coordinators in each of the counties in the test area.
The next Simplex Radio Test for Berks County will be conducted on Saturday, June 15 at 1 p.m. local time. Come to the in-person Reading Radio Club meeting on Friday, June 14 at the Berks Agricultural Center to learn more.