Erie County Amateur Radio

Last updated on 01-20-13.

This page contains information for using and listening to amateur radio (ham) communications in the Erie county, PA area.

Ham radio is one of those things that initially I viewed as a hindrance to my radio monitoring.  As I mentioned on other pages throughout this site, my early days in scanning were focused solely around public safety, and a few guys yacking about the weather on the way to work just didn’t interest me.

However, after I got to know more about ham radio, I have gained a new respect for the hobby.  Not only is it a fantastic way to meet and chat with people locally and abroad, it is also a service to the general public.  With agencies such as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Skywarn (weather spotters) out there, ham radio is also here to help protect people and provide emergency communications when other means such as police and fire frequencies or cell phones may become overwhelmed and go off-line.

So, I am now a ham, with the call KD2DAX, and my knowledge of ham radio will be shared with you through my local ham radio pages.

I have broken down this page into frequencies by club, with privately-owned repeaters and those not affiliated with clubs at the bottom, and also a section for simplex frequencies.

RADIO ASSOCIATION OF ERIE (RAE)

One of the biggest amateur radio clubs in Erie county is the Radio Association of Erie (RAE).  The club has over 100 members and owns 2 two-meter ham repeaters in the county.  One of them, the 146.61 repeater, is located in Erie at Saint Vincent’s hospital, and has good coverage of the city of Erie and up and down the Lake Erie shoreline across the northern part of the county.  The other repeater is the 146.82 repeater in Waterford, which covers much of the southern half of the county south of I90.  These repeaters are linked together 24/7.

The RAE 61 repeater has echo link via W3GV-R.  The repeaters are used for emergency communications of ARES, RACES and SKYWARN in the county, including a weekly Sunday night emergency training and information net at 9:00 PM.  The 146.70 repeater in Union City is also linked to the RAE repeaters during the training net and during real skywarn activations.  The repeaters also host a Ragchew Net each week night at 9:00 PM, but the repeaters’ Echolink is currently offline.

RAE Repeater Frequencies

Assume standard offset unless noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

146.61: W3GV Erie: 186.2

146.82: W3GV Waterford: 186.2

UNION CITY Wireless ASSOCIATION (UCWA)

The UCWA is an amateur radio club based out of Union City, PA.  They operate the 146.70 repeater, which has good coverage across the southeastern part of the county, as well as coverage into adjacent counties and across Erie county.  It is used for emergency communications in conjunction with the RAE repeaters, and is linked to them during skywarn nets and during the weekly emergency training net at 9:00 PM on Sundays.  The repeater has weather alerting as well.

UCWA Repeaters

Assume standard offset unless otherwise noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

146.70: WA3UC Union City: 186.2

RADIO AMATEURS OF CORRY

The Radio Amateurs of Corry are a ham radio club based out of Corry, PA.  They operate a 2 meter repeater that has coverage across the southeastern part of the county, and also a 440 machine that is reportedly linked to the WAN (wide-area) network.

Corry Club Repeaters

Assume standard offset unless otherwise noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

147.09: W3YXE Corry 2m: 186.2

444.8: W3YXE Corry 70cm: 186.2 (WAN linked)

WATTSBURG WIRELESS ASSOCIATION

The Wattsburg Wireless Association is based out of Wattsburg, PA.  They operate a 2 meter repeater that is fairly low-powered but provides access across parts of eastern Erie County and surrounding areas.

WWA Repeaters

Assume standard offset unless otherwise noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

147.315: K3WWA Wattsburg: 186.2

WEST COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB

The West County Amateur Radio Club is a new organization recently formed.  They have a 2 meter repeater in Edinboro, but I do not know about the coverage of this machine as I have never used it.  I believe its usage is confined mainly to the southwest part of the county.

WCARC Repeaters

Assume standard offset unless otherwise noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

146.985: WCARC repeater Edinboro: 186.2

PRIVATELY OWNED REPEATERS

The N3APP repeater system is a complex of 2m and 70cm amateur repeaters owned by N3APP and located in Erie.  Together they provide good coverage to the city and across the northern half of the county.  The repeaters are equipped with weather alerting and are very good machines.  They are tied together 24/7.

Independently Owned Ham Repeaters

Assume standard offset unless otherwise noted.

Freq (MHZ): repeater/location: PL

147.27: N3APP Erie: 186.2

443.375: N3APP Erie: 186.2

SIMPLEX FREQUENCIES

The standard simplex frequencies are used in Erie county.  I have also added several other simplex frequencies I have heard reference to in emergency communications.

Simplex Frequencies

Freq (MHZ)

145.70

146.52

146.55

146.58

AMATEUR WEB SITES

The following are web pages of clubs in Erie county where you can find more information about repeaters and club activities.

Radio Assoc.  of Erie:
http://www.w3gv.org

Radio Amateurs of Corry:
http://www.w3yxe.wordpress.com

Wattsburg Wireless Association:
http://www.wattsburg-wireless.us/

The UCWA and west county clubs do not currently have web presences.