Council Rock South's Amateur Radio Club is a unique club because it offers students the opportunity to work with technology and exposes them to different fields of science and engineering. Within the radio club, there are three different teams: Engineering, Marketing, and the Website Team. The Engineering Team is responsible for setting up and preparing all of the equipment and works with professional HAM radio engineers who guide them through the process of preparing everything needed for the contact in May. The Marketing and Website Teams are in charge of contacting news stations and spreading information about the club. 

Our club coordinator is the Mr. Fetter (K3OHI), who can be emailed at gfetter@crsd.org

Our current club leaders are: Taylor Arnosky (KC3WFW), Artur Kis (KC3WFV), and Alba Sinani

Click here to learn more about our teams!

Council Rock High School South’s Ameatur Radio Club was first established in 2015 when a biology and astronomy teacher, Gerald Fetter (K3OHI), became interested in the topic about radio.  In 2003, Mr. Fetter applied for an astronaut position with NASA.  After making it to the final group of candidates, he was not selected, but stayed on and worked with different Educator Astronaut programs.   this led to our first ARISS contact when an ARISS Coordinator said “I have stuff I want to donate”. The club was started as a school sponsored club and became successful through the students’ interest and involvement in the club. Our technical advisors along with Mr. Fetter (K3OHI), Mr. Warwick (KB3ZED) and Mr. Warmkessel (KC3EYC), worked with other teachers, the administration, the school principal, and the superintendent of the school district to gain permission and help with the development of the club. As one of our technical advisors, Andy Vavra (KD3RF), said, “The first couple years we did this were true baby steps. We were stepping into uncharted territory as Council Rock had never done it before.” From that we built up to where we are today. The club has since grown over the years and has had other successful interactions with the International Space Station (ISS) with the ARISS program. We now have over 75 members as of 2023 and have partaken in numerous activities throughout the years. Our club has since transformed from a small, unknown club, to a nationally recognized organization nominated for a third time to speak with the International Space Station. 

Click here to view our previous ISS contacts! 

"Almost every human has looked to the sky, looked to the dark pool of stars and planets and thought- “What truly is it like to be up there?”. Inevitably, we all have questions about the great beyond that is space, and what it must be like in the day in the life of an astronaut. With questions galore, the Amateur Radio Club at Council Rock South comes into play. A club ran through the ARISS program as well as NASA, the Amateur Radio Club lets students experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. And in a few months, the wonderment of wonder what lies above the clouds might just get some answers."

-Peyton Brillhart