PA QSO Party Bonus Station

2026 PA QSO Party Bonus Station

The 2026 Bonus Station is K3ZMC operating from Montgomery County.

Walt Skavinsky, KB3SBC and PAARC President writes:

PAARC is celebrating 50 years of organized amateur radio in the Pottstown area. The club traces its beginnings to a group of local operators who began meeting in the early 1970s and formally organized around the installation of the WR3ACD two-meter repeater in 1975. Today, the club has 93 members and continues to support amateur radio through operating events, repeaters, licensing, mentoring, technical programs, public service, and fellowship.

K3ZMC will operate from a single location at 815 White Pine Lane in Pottstown. The planned operation will include three networked stations, with one focused on CW and two focused on SSB. The operators will use N3FJP logging software and a single coordinated serial-number sequence. Antennas will be spread across the fire company property, and the club plans to remain active across the available contest bands throughout both operating periods.

PAARC is honored to serve as the 2026 Bonus Station and looks forward to giving operators across Pennsylvania and beyond the opportunity to put K3ZMC in their logs.

73,

Walt KB3SBC

From Walt, KB3SBC:

On behalf of everyone at the Pottstown Amateur Radio Club (PAARC) and the K3ZMC PAQP crew, thank you for letting us serve as the 2026 Pennsylvania QSO Party Bonus Station. We had a great time on the air, and we hope plenty of operators across Pennsylvania and beyond were glad to put K3ZMC in their logs.

The timing couldn't have been better. This year, PAARC marks 50 years of organized amateur radio in the Pottstown area. The club started with a handful of local hams meeting in the early 1970s, and we formally organized around putting up the WR3ACD two-meter repeater in 1975. Today we're 93 members strong, and we're still doing what we've always done: operating events, repeaters, licensing, mentoring new hams, technical programs, public service, and plenty of good fellowship. Being the Bonus Station was a fine way to celebrate the anniversary.

We set up at Ringing Rocks Fire Company, 815 White Pine Lane in Pottstown, with three networked stations (one CW and two SSB). We put up antennas across the fire company property.

I won't pretend the weather did us any favors. The rain came down in buckets, and we spent much of the weekend keeping equipment dry, checking antennas, and slogging through mud between the stations and the generators. Running on portable and generator power in a downpour keeps you on your toes. On top of that, a solar storm made the bands do whatever it wanted, so we earned every contact. Through it all, our operators stuck with it and kept the rate up. We couldn't be prouder of our team.

Here's how we did:

- Total contacts: 579
- Total points: 90,840
- Average rate: 35.2 Qs/hr
- Running: 260 QSOs (best rate 52.8/hr over 295 minutes); Search and Pounce: 319 QSOs

Thank you to everyone who called us, and to the committee and volunteers who put this event together year after year. We'd be glad to do it again, and we look forward to hearing you on the air next year, hopefully under drier skies.

Operators:

AC3NO,K0BAK,K3BVQ,KB3SBC,KB3SJQ,N2ADD,N3FNC,N3ZRW,W3CJW,W3FRB,W8SLR, WA8YIH. A special thanks to KA3RMM for Networking

73 - On behalf of the K3ZMC operating team,

Walt Skavinsky (KB3SBC)
President
Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club
prez@paarc.net
Website: https://www.paarc.net/
"Advancing Radio, Connecting Futures"

Could This Be Your Group Next Year?

Prepare a proposal in accordance with the guidelines below and be ready to submit it for review when we begin the selection process. Remember, the Bonus Station should be able to cover many, if not all, of the HF bands on both Phone and CW providing lots of opportunities for Party participants to get bonus points.

Some things to keep in mind if you are interested in applying to be a PA QSO Party Bonus Station:
If a group or club wishes to be considered for a particular year's Bonus station, they should contact the PA QSO Party Association to indicate their interest, and prepare an Operation Plan for the proposed Bonus Station.
There are often several groups applying for the bonus station every year. By the very nature of a bonus station, we can select only one. There have been times in the past, when people or groups, not selected, have become so upset that they have boycotted the party because of it. Please do not do that. The decision is very difficult; there is no reason to make it more so. If not being chosen as the bonus station will cause you to become so angry with the administrators of the party that you refuse to participate, reconsider the application.