Featured

2021 Annual Elections

By Pat AAØO

Members of SPARC – we have our annual election of Officers and Board Members coming up.

At the October meeting, the nominating committee will announce nominations we have come up with, and we will call for nominations from the floor.

At that time, any member wishing to nominate someone, or themselves, for a particular position, can do so. Remember, you must be a current SPARC member. At the following meeting in November, we will hold the election. Hal Chase W1EES will handle the collection of nominations again(Thanks Hal!). … Click for more

Woody Huddleston, K4SCL, SK

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

SPARC’s oldest member, Woodrow Huddleston, K4SCL, USN (Cmdr. Ret. US Navy) 103 of Largo, Florida passed away peacefully on June 19, 2021, just five days shy of his 104th birthday.

Known as Woody, he was born in Dublin, Mississippi and grew up in Sorrento, Illinois, the second of three children.

Woody served in the Navy for 30 years, as a ship-board radioman, as a “Silver Eagle” pilot, Pensacola flight instructor, flight squadron commander, and anti-submarine warfare strategist, before he retired in 1966.

After moving his family to Largo, FL, he … Click for more

Parks on the Air Event – October 9th at Sawgrass Lake Park

By Tom Schaefer NY4I

SPARC will be hosting a Parks on the Air (POTA) event on October 9th at Sawgrass Lake Park. The park is located at 7400 25th Street N in St. Petersburg and opens at 7:00 AM. For those that do not know, Parks on the Air is a worldwide group to activate various State and National Parks. Sawgrass Lake Park is the result of a unique cooperative agreement between the Pinellas County Parks & Conservation Resources and the Southwest Florida Water Management District — hence its qualification for the POTA … Click for more

VE session counts in Florida

By Charles Adkinson

while perusing the state of Florida VE session counts on the ARRL website, i noticed our own Dee Turner, N4GD, is in the top 10 of all sessions (in fact, he’s 7th overall) in the number of VE sessions he has attended… and that’s out of more than 1,600 VEs in Florida!! congrats Dee, keep up the good work!!!

SPARC Member A Top Ten Finisher

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

SPARC member and former club Vice President Rich, AA2MF, was among the top finishers in the 2021 ARRL RTTY Roundup radiosport event. Competing in the Single Operator, RTTY Only, Low Power category, Rich earned 102,178 points, giving him a top ten finish in the US and Canada. Congratulations Rich for a job well done.

Field Day 2021

By Tom Schaefer NY4I

There is a much bigger wrap-up article to come yet but in the meantime, thanks to everyone that came out to Field Day this year. The facility was great as always, the teams worked great together and I believe everyone had a good time. We had around 60 people there and made around 1200 QSOs (preliminary scoring summary here) plus obtained our satellite contact. More to come but in the mean time, take a gander at this fantastic photo from our club president, Pat AA0O.

… Click for more