{"id":63630,"date":"2025-12-17T20:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63630\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T20:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T20:36:07","slug":"families-speak-to-santa-through-ham-radio-station-at-university-of-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/63630\/","title":{"rendered":"Families speak to Santa through ham radio station at University of Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"

A familiar voice crackled on the radio and then became clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cHo, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to Pennsylvania,\u201d Santa said, his words instantly evoking smiles from volunteers at the ham radio station \u2014 and two excited siblings \u2014 at the University of Scranton.<\/p>\n

The station\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows revealed the steady snow covering the ground outside and the twinkle of Christmas lights on nearby buildings. Santa\u2019s boisterous chuckles could be heard from the hallway \u2014 and on 3.916 MHz, a popular frequency for ham radio operators.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Frissell, associate professor of physics and engineering, answered the call to W3USR.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Whiskey Three Uniform Sierra Romeo\u2026 we can hear you,\u201d Frissell said.<\/p>\n

His children \u2014 Anthony, 6, and Danielle, 1 \u2014 had a connection to the North Pole.<\/p>\n

Connection made through Santa Net<\/p>\n

Ham radio operators have coordinated the holiday tradition through Santa Net<\/a> for 20 years. The 3916 Nets, a group that calls itself the \u201cfriendliest nets in all of ham radio,\u201d provides the experience at no charge to families.<\/p>\n

The university opened its amateur radio station<\/a>, located on the fifth floor of the Loyola Science Center, last year. This is the second year Frissell, students and community volunteers have welcomed the public to speak to Santa on ham radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are just so excited to be able to do it. They love hearing him laugh, you know, \u2018ho ho ho\u2019 on the radio, and just get to talk to him,\u201d Frissell said. \u201cIt’s really, really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteers Bob Nicolais, of Dunmore, and Ken Martin, of Scranton, prepared for the station to communicate with Santa last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we had a lot of fun with it, and the kids seemed to really love it. So this year, we figured we’d get a little more organized and try to do it every night that we could get the kids in,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Santa<\/p>\n

Before Santa starts his radio calls, families or ham radio operators put their information in a digital queue. Santa first talked to kids from New Jersey, then Kansas. Pennsylvania was next. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Sarah Hofius Hall<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

WVIA News <\/p>\n

The Frissell family speaks to Santa at the school’s amateur radio station.<\/p>\n

Anthony smiled as he told Santa he wanted Lego sets for Christmas. Danielle, up past bedtime, tried to eat the mic.<\/p>\n

\u201cDanielle, don’t eat the microphone. We have microphones that you can eat \u2026 but don’t eat the one at the radio,\u201d Santa said, laughing. \u201cOh my goodness, you’re so cute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frissell and his wife, Rachel Frissell \u2014 a faculty specialist in physics and engineering at the university \u2014 smiled throughout the connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really great for ham radio, because it really shows families that this is one more reason why ham radio is interesting,\u201d Nathaniel Frissell said. \u201cI think it really brings an extra sparkle to the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santa asked the Frissells to join him in saying, \u201cHo, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n

After speaking with Santa, Anthony knew two things he needed to leave out on Christmas Eve: \u201cCarrots and cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connect with Santa
The W3USR station on the fifth floor of the Loyola Science Center will be open to children and their parents from 7:30 to 9 p.m. for three additional dates: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Families should arrive by 7:45 p.m. to make sure they can be checked into the queue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A familiar voice crackled on the radio and then became clear. \u201cHo, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to Pennsylvania,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-63630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}