07/19/2025
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
WinLink presentation by Mike Drake at SPARC’s July meeting. Email over radio, including concept, detailed operation, and how to set up your own WinLink station.
In this presentation by Mike, he starts with the basic concepts of email via radio and then goes into many of the features of WinLink. Finally, he discusses what is needed to set up your own WinLink station.
We have been at this facility before with both the other clubs for the most recent Winter Field Day in January and in years past. It is a wonderful facility and sharing the workload with the other clubs allows us to put on what I think is a better event. As with other Field Days in the summer, we opt to setup temporary antennas but we do operate inside. We also use commercial power (since for a real emergency, we are well-versed in using the generators and the Clearwater EOC which is also at this facility has a generator).
We set out to run 3 stations plus the free VHF station for 6 meters and the satellite station. This all went to plan with the three UPARC Elecraft K3 radios, Paul KC4YDY (“6 meter Paul”) Yaesu radio for 6m and the 9700/Arrow antenna satellite station.
We grabbed the usual bonus points such as the natural power QSOs, a visit by a served agency, passing the Field day message to the Section Manager and copying the Field Day bulletin. We also managed to send 10 NTS messages from attendees and even had a youth contact. While we always get the media publicity bonus, this year thanks to the tenacity of Bruce K2BHS, we did it in style.
Bruce K2BHS joined the Field Day Planning Committee with the intention of acting as the public relations person. Bruce sent invitations to various elected officials, served agencies and many media outlets. This paid off handsomely. Bruce was contacted by WFLA that they wanted to do a live broadcast from our Field Day site on Sunday morning starting at 6:00 AM. Yes, 6:00 AM on Sunday–not a typo. Reporter Jenna Bass and her camera operator came out to the site and setup for their live shot. But it wasn’t just one live shot. Bruce did three on-camera interviews. You can see one of those videos here.
We made over 2400 QSOs this year. The three HF stations stayed busy as did the 6m station. Here is a map of all the ARRL sections we contacted:
I have plenty of pictures yet to put in a gallery. But this gives you an idea of the event. More to come…
On Saturday June 21, members of CARS, SPARC and UPARC met at the Clearwater Fire Training Center for the Field Day Dry-Run. This is where we setup the radios and computers to ensure we have all the necessary cables for this coming weekend’s ARRL Field Day. We do not setup the antennas or coax but we do perform a transmitter test on the Elecraft K3 radios to ensure they are transmitting full power.
The St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club held its annual Mobile Installation Contest at the Monthly Meeting on May 2, 2025.
Congratulations to this year’s winners: Lisa, KC1YL and Joe, W4GGJ.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. A great time was had by all.
(photos by: Bruce, K2BHS)
The Sign-up deadline for food has passed.
You are still welcome to attend but please plan on your own meals.
ARRL Field Day is a combined event to test our ability to setup radio communication under less than ideal conditions–think temporary antennas, generators and radio gear. Our event this year is a combined event with three clubs—the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS), St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC). The date is Saturday, June 28th starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday, June 29th at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning. The location for all of this is the Clearwater Fire Department Fire Training Center at 1716 N. Belcher Road in Clearwater. Click here for a map.
The operation is comprised of 3 HF stations (all Elecraft K3 radios). We also have a 6 meter station and a satellite station. We use TR4W for logging and WSJT-X for FT8/FT4 operations. All operations are inside in the training center building (air conditioning since it is Florida in June). For modes, we run SSB (voice), FT8 and CW. For CW operators, a Bencher paddle is provided but if you have a favorite paddle or straight key, bring it along. The computer sends CW as well but you can go “old-school” if you like. No experience is necessary beyond a willingness to learn and try something new. If you have never operated a radio, we have plenty of people to help you out to show you how to make a contact to help you get started. In no time, you will be working stations all over the US and Canada. If you plan on operating, please bring your own headphones. For sanitary reasons, we do not share headphones or microphone headsets. We have adapters for your headphones as well as Heil and RadioSport cables. We also have desk mics for the radios for those that do not have microphone headsets.
We have the equipment all arranged as well as food and drink. Lunch is provided. Dinner Saturday will be provided (more details to follow) with sides provides by the attendees (dish to share). We do ask a few things related to food:
The public is welcome as one of the purposes of Field Day is to introduce amateur radio to new people.
Field Day is the premiere event on our club calendars and we hope to see as many club members and guests as possible. Remember, Saturday June 28th–rain or shine–at 2:00 PM with setup starting at 8:00 AM.
The St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club held their annual After Holiday Party for 2025 on February 23, 2025, at Kristina’s Cafe in St. Petersburg.
There was a great turnout and great food, and a good time was had by all.
Here are the phots of the day’s festivities.
(photos by: Bruce, K2BHS)
