On Thursday May 8th the Clearfield County ARC activated its first WinLink Gateway.  This is the club’s first stage of building out a planned network of WinLink digital gateways. The ultimate goal is to provide WinLink access to all corners of Clearfield County.

The call sign of the first gateway is W3CPA-10 and it is located at the Clearfield County EMA Building tower. From this vantage point it is expected to provide a good signal for the Clearfield area and into the Curwensville area.  Here are the gateway details:

Call Sign:   W3CPA-10

Frequency:   440.950 MHz

Modes supported:  VARAFM and VARAFM WIDE

Grid Square:   FN01sb

Location: Clearfield – near the former Clearfield Mall

For anyone not familiar, WinLink is a digital mode that allows for email over amateur radio.  It’s a last-mile solution designed for instances when the commercial internet service is unavailable.

The gateway is operating with VARAFM and VARAFM WIDE modes only at this time. For those insistent on operating at slower speeds, we have plans to add packet and packet 1200 modes in the near future.  But as of this moment the gateway is operating with only VARAFM and VARAFM WIDE modes.  There are still some details that need to be addressed for a more permanent looking installation.   We may take it off the air for brief periods of time while we continue to finish the needed upgrades.  But at this point it’s on the air. 

This project would not have progressed the way it did without the efforts and contributions of Ed KC3ZAL.  Ed picked up where John N3SPW left off with his experimentation of WinLink.  And Ed was able to make it work!  Finally!

In the very near future CCARC is planning to activate three additional WinLink gateways. The next one is expected to be located in the West Decatur, Boggs Township, area. Following that will be one in the DuBois area as well as one in the Houtzdale area.  More details will be made available as these gateways become operational.