The village that is now called Stormstown was located on one of the area’s earliest roads. Laid out in 1791-92, the road served as a main route for the shipment of Centre County iron west to Pittsburgh. First settler Abraham Elder’s tavern, on the east end of the village, was a stopping place for iron haulers. In 1812 David Storm recorded a plat of 30 lots, plus a school lot, that he named Walkerville, on the west side of present-day Municipal Lane in the middle of Stormstown. The origin of the Walker connection has not yet been tracked down. Some twenty years after Walkerville was established, Caleb Way slowly started selling off lots between Walkerville and the former site of Elder’ tavern, in an area that was briefly called Wayville. Eventually, by the time of the Civil War, the whole area was called Stormstown. The enterprises of the village included a gristmill, sawmill, distillery, tannery, wagon maker, and several craftsmen’s shops – blacksmith, weaver, potter, and chairmaker. An Easter fire in 1867 destroyed twenty-six buildings, many of which were never rebuilt.
April 2023 Weather Summary
April was 3.7 F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 86.1 F, recorded on April 14. The low for the month was 27.0 F, recorded on April 25. There were 7 days at or below 32 F. There were 407 heating degree days and 46 cooling degree days.
April was a below-normal month for precipitation with 2.95 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.56 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.74 inches recorded on April 30. There were 10 days of rain >.01 in, 8 >.10 in and 0 > 1 in.
There was no measurable snow in April.
High wind speed of 44 mph on April 1.
Robert W. Smith 1930-2023
To the left there sits an empty chair, Strange, these days that you’re not there, A hole’s been left so hard to fill, We carry on, it’s hard but still…. In such moments, as they arise, It’s fine to have to dry your eyes, For he’ll be present in his way, To share with you another day. -Anonymous
DX Century Club
Today, I became a member of The DX Century Club (DX is shorthand for distance). I have confirmed contacts with amateur radio stations in 100 distinct geographic and political entities in the official DXCC List. It took me a little over a year to make all of the needed contacts, gleaned from over 1660 total confirmed contacts.
All of the following contacts were made using the FT8 digital mode, with no more than 100 Watts. My antenna is a G5RV, a simple dipole antenna with 30 feet of ladder line, and a 6-inch diameter “ugly” balun with 10 turns of the feed line. The antenna and transceiver are pictured below:
This demonstrates that big towers, antennas, and high power are not needed to work the world.
My First 100 Confirmed Countries for DXCC
| Alaska | China | Ghana | Luxembourg | St. Lucia |
| Albania | Columbia | Greece | Madeira Islands | St. Vincent |
| Andorra | Costa Rica | Guadeloupe | Malta | San Andres Island |
| Anguilla | Cuba | Guatemala | Mauritania | Sardinia |
| Argentina | Croatia | Guernsey | Mexico | Scotland |
| Asiatic Russia | Curacao | Hawaii | Monaco | Serbia |
| Australia | Cyprus | Hungary | Morocco | Slovak Republic |
| Austria | Czech Republic | Iceland | Nambia | Slovenia |
| Azores | Denmark | Indonesia | Netherlands | Spain |
| Balearic Islands | Dominica | Ireland | New Caledonia | Sweden |
| Barbados | Dominican Republic | Israel | New Zealand | Switzerland |
| Belarus | Ecuador | Italy | Northern Ireland | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Belgium | El Salvador | Japan | Norway | Turkey |
| Belize | England | Jersey | Panama | Ukraine |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | Estonia | Kazakhstan | Poland | United Arab Emirates |
| Brazil | European Russia | Kenya | Portugal | United States |
| Bulgaria | Federal Republic of Germany | Kuwait | Puerto Rico | Uruguay |
| Canada | Fiji Islands | Latvia | Republic of South Africa | Virgin Islands |
| Canary Islands | Finland | Lebanon | Rodriguez Island | Venezuela |
| Chile | France | Lithuania | Romania | Wales |
I will continue to make more contacts to achieve the many endorsements (e.g. 100 entities on a single band). I already have 75 contacts just on the 40-meter band.
March 2023 Weather Summary
March was 1.6 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 60.9 deg. F, recorded on March 23. The low for the month was 18.5 deg F, recorded on March 19. There were 2 days where the maximum temperature was at or below 32 F, and there were 21 days where the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 815 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.
March was a below-normal month for precipitation with 2.81 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.57 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.89 inches recorded on March 23. There were 10 days of rain >.01 in, 7 >.10 in, and 0 > 1 in. There were also 3.9 inches of snow.
High wind speed of 37 mph on March 4.
Sending A Radiogram Via WinLink
WinLink is a powerful software tool for sending and receiving digital messages via amateur radio. This post shows how a National Traffic System radiogram is sent. Belowis the main WinLink software user interface. The “Message” tab at the top of the main page is selected and the “New Message…” command is selected to create a message.
The “Enter a new message” window appears. The message needs to be entered, addressed, and formatted to send a radiogram. To proceed, select the “Radiogram” tab. I have previously setup the tab since I frequently use that template. Otherwise, use the “Select Template” tab to find the Radiogram.txt template from the many other message templates.
In either case, the Radiogram template is brought up in your default web browser. The message number, call sign, date, and other defaults are already filled. The information for the addressee, message, signature, and liaison station is now entered.
Here the radiogram is ready for submission. The ARL designation in the body of the message is for one of the pre formatted numbered messages. In this case it’s for the “Greetings by amateur radio” message. The ‘X’ is a period and ‘73’ means “Best Regards.”
After the “Submit” button is clicked, the “Enter a new message” WinLink window now has the “To”, “Cc”, “Subject”, and formatted NTS radiogram message boxes filled.
When the radiogram is satisfactorily formatted, click on the “Post to Outbox” tab. The radiogram is now in the “Outbox” system folder in the main WinLink window. To send the message, verify that “Vara HF Winlink” is selected from the “Open Session” dropdown menu. Then click on the “Open Session” tab.
The “Vara HF Winlink Session”, and “Vara HF” modem windows are opened. Therese is the interface for the HF radio that is connected to the PC via a USB cable.
Click on the “Auto-connect” tab to set the frequency and begin transmitting. The software will cycle through the list of server stations until a connection is made. Then the message is sent, and any outstanding incoming messages are received.
Here is a video of the radio connection process.
Summary of Winter 2022-2023
Meteorological Winter is officially over. Here is a brief summary of December 1, 2022-February 28, 2023 in Stormstown, PA:
Number of Days Max T <= 32 F: 9
Number of Days Min T <= 32 F: 66
Number of Days Min T <= 0 F: 2
Max T: 70.9 F – February 15, 2023
Min T: -2.3 F – December 7, 2022
Dec Dep from Normal: -1.4 F
Jan Dep from Normal: 9.5 F
Feb Dep from Normal: 7.9 F
Heating Degree Days: 2725
Cooling Degree Days: 2
Dec Precip: 3.32″, 0.14″ above normal
Jan Precip: 3.35″, 0.43″ above normal
Feb Precip: 1.99″, 0.47″ below normal
February 2023 Weather Summary
February was 7.9 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 70.9 deg. F, recorded on February 15. The low for the month was 5.2 deg F, recorded on February 4. There were 2 days when the maximum was at or below 32 F and 22 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F. There were 786 heating degree days and 2 cooling degree days.
February was a below-normal month for precipitation with 1.99 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.47 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.74 inches recorded on February 28. There were 9 days of rain >.01 in, 7 >.10 in and 0 > 1 in.
There were 1.0 inches of snow for the month, with a maximum daily total of 1.0 inches on February 28.
High wind speed of 41 mph on February 21.
January 2023 Weather Summary
January was 9.5 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 58.0 deg. F, recorded on January 4. The low for the month was 20.4 deg F, recorded on January 16. There was day when the maximum was at or below 32 F, 20 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F, and 0 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 0 F. There were 878 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.
January was an above-normal month for precipitation with 3.35 inches of liquid precipitation recorded, which was 0.43 inches above normal. The maximum liquid precipitation in a single day was 1.03 inches recorded on January 19. There were 16 days of rain >.01 in, 6 >.10 in and 1 > 1 in.
There were 5.2 inches of snow for the month, with a maximum daily total of 3.2 inches on January 26.
High wind speed of 36 mph on January 23.
2022 Stormstown Weather Summary
Overall, the year’s temperatures were slightly above normal. The annual mean of 50.5 F was 0.2 F above normal. The annual precipitation of 39.66 inches was 1.87 inches below normal.
2022 Weather Data
January
January was the coldest month of 2022 and was colder than normal with a monthly mean of 24.3 F, which was -2.9 F below normal, with a high of 53.8 F and a low for the month of -6.2 F, which was also the low for the year.. Precipitation was 1.63 inches below normal with 1.29 inches of liquid precipitation. There were 13.8 inches of snow this month.
February
February was an above-normal month for temperature, with a mean of 30.8 F, which was 1.7 F above normal. The high was 11.8 F and the low was 5.7 F. Precipitation was 1.88 inches above normal at 4.34 inches. There were 3.4 inches of snow for the month, with a maximum daily total of 1.7 inches on February 25.
March
March temperatures were also mild at 4.1 F above normal with a high of 71.5 F and a low of 12.5 F. Precipitation was 0.13 inches below normal with 3.25 inches of liquid precipitation. The high wind speed for the month and year was 42 mph. There was also 11.1 inches of snow. There was pea-sized hail observed during a severe thunderstorm on March 31.
April
Temperatures were 1.7 F below normal in April. The high was 83.2 F and the low was 26.8 F. Rainfall was 0.67 inches below normal at 2.84 inches. It snowed about 5 inches on April 18. The last day of temperatures below freezing was April 28.
May
Temperatures were 1.8 F above normal with a high of 89.2 F and a low of 34.3 F. Precipitation was 5.22 inches, 1.58 inches above normal. May was the rainiest month of 2022.
June
Temperatures for the month were near normal at 0.1 F above normal. The high for the month, as well as the year, was 92.6 F and the low was 46.9 F. Precipitation was 0.69 inches below normal with 3.40 inches of rainfall. Potential dry conditions were becoming a concern this month.
July
July was the warmest month of 2022. The temperatures were 0.8 F above normal. The high for the month was 91.2 F and the low was 50 F. Rainfall was 1.77 inches below normal with 2.02 inches of precipitation.
Drought conditions worsened in July:
August
August temperatures were 0.6 F above normal. The high was 89.7 F and the low was 44.99 F. Precipitation was 0.96 inches below normal at 3.20 inches.
Most of Centre County became abnormally dry:
September
Temperatures were 0.2 F below normal. The high was 87.0 F and the low was 37.3 F. There were 3.72 inches of rainfall, which was 0.21 inches below normal. Dry conditions persisted:
October
October was chilly with temperatures at 2.7 F below normal. The high was 74.2 F and the low was 27.6 F. Rainfall was near normal at 2.05 inches, which was 1.41 inches below normal. The first freeze of the season occurred on October 20.
November
Temperatures in November were mild at 2.5 F above normal. The high was 77 F and the low was 11 F. Precipitation was 4.99 inches, 2.00 inches above normal. The remnants from Hurricane Nicole caused over 3″ of rainfall during November 11-12. There were 5 inches of snow recorded on November 15.
December
December was 1.4 deg F below normal for temperature. The high for the month was 59.3 deg. F, recorded on December 7. The low for the month was -2.3 deg F, recorded on December 23. The temperature plunged over 35 F in 12 hours on December 23:
The hard freeze damaged one polycarbonate measuring tube:
December was an above-normal month for precipitation with 3.32 inches of liquid precipitation recorded, which was 0.14 inches above normal. There were 4.5 inches of snow.
2022 Insolation
December 2022 Weather Summary
December was 1.4 deg F below normal for temperature. The high for the month was 59.3 deg. F, recorded on December 7. The low for the month was -2.3 deg F, recorded on December 23. There were 24 days when the minimum temperature was at or below 32 F, 6 days when the maximum temperature was at or below 32 F, and 2 days when the minimum temperature was below 0. There were 1061 heating degree days and 0 cooling degree days.
On December 23, the temperature plunged over 35 F in 12 hours.
The subzero temperatures caused the precipitation in the polycarbonate measurement tube of a rain gauge to expand and crack the tube.
December was an above-normal month for precipitation with 3.32 inches of liquid precipitation recorded, which was 0.14 inches above normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.89 inches recorded on December 22. There were 13 days of rain >.01 in, 9 >.10 in and 0 > 1 in.
High wind speed of 43 mph on December 23.
Snowfall for December: 4.5 inches
Stormstown Dispatch 