SPARC

Clubs can support the ARRL’s HOA Bill as Well…

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 11/06/2025

As you may be aware, the ARRL is supporting a grass roots effort to help pass the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (“HOA Bill”). Any licensed amateur or GMRS operator can fill out the form available. Hams can use this link: https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/

GMRS operators can use this link: https://send-a-letter.org/gmrs/

If you are both a ham and a GMRS operator, fill them both out…

But clubs can also pitch in to help pass this bill. The difference is clubs were asked to send PDFs of a signed letter (drafted by the organizers of this campaign). The following are the letters that SPARC sent as requested to the organizers and then will in turn hand-deliver the letters to the appropriate representatives. Note that since St. Petersburg is represented by two representatives, I sent a letter for each. These are just for reference. Other local clubs are welcome to the MS Word files if they want to send their own letters. More details about that process if here.

Please support this effort. Even if you do not live in an HOA-community, you never know what the future holds. Many people become hams long after they move into a community (due to availability, choice of schools, proximity to work, etc). Installing an antenna may have not even been a factor when they bought their house; but now as a new ham, it is. Same goes for some future assisted living facility you may have to enter. We all get older and being able to install a reasonable antenna can let you still use your radio into the future. Plus you no doubt have friends that live in an HOA so why not help them out…

https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/

https://send-a-letter.org/gmrs/

Senator Scott – St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club — Florida

Senator Moody – St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club — Florida

Representative Castor – St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club – Florida

Representative Luna – St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club – Florida

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Officer Nominations 2025 and Proposed Bylaw Changes

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/13/2025

The nominating committee led by Hal Chase W1EES put forth a slate of officer nominations at the October 2025 SPARC meeting. All the current officers were willing to run again hence that was the slate the nominating committee put forth. The members in attendance were then asked if there were any nominations from the floor for each specific position. Hearing none, the nominations were closed. Per the SPARC by-laws, nominations from the floor must be made at the October meeting and are not accepted at the November meeting. Since none of the officer positions are contested positions, at the November meeting the secretary will enter a single vote for each officer (per our parliamentary procedure). The net effect is the board serving you today will continue to serve next year.

Additionally, the proposed bylaw changes were submitted by the bylaw review committee chair, Carol AB4YI. These were reviewed at the meeting to constitute due notice to the membership per the SPARC current bylaws. These bylaw changes will be voted on individually at the ~~November~~ December meeting. More details on each proposed change are available here: 2025 By-Laws Revision Project

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SPARC Searching for a New Home…

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/03/2025

SPARC as you may know maintains a club station and meeting location at a local business named DMI in Pinellas Park. SPARC was advised recently that due to the owner’s changing priorities, we must find a new meeting location. This also means we must remove the equipment from the club station and all our antennas including the tower. We just found out about this recently and there will more discussions on the subject. Your officers have been contacting others and handling the calls we have been receiving about people offering locations. We are grateful to all as we figure out the best new home for SPARC. We have a special board meeting on October 14th (see right sidebar) and will have info throughout the month and at the next club meeting in November.

Please allow me to stress…this is not due to anything SPARC did. We still maintain a good relationship with the management at DMI. This is the reality of operating a small business and we are incredibly grateful for the generosity DMI has shown us over the years.

We will be in the DMI location through the end of this year so we have time to make this move as an orderly and well-managed project.

I will update this post as we get new information.

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Introduction to WinLink by Mike Drake. SPARC meeting, July 2025

By Ed NZ1Q on 07/17/2025

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.

Click here for the video.

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ARRL Field Day 2025 Follow-Up Report

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 07/11/2025

Club banners and satellite antenna [Photo by AF4O]

It would be somewhat trite to say we got the band back together for ARRL Field Day this year, but that is nonetheless what we did. Members of SPARC teamed up with members from the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club for the annual ARRL Field Day this past June. Specifically, June 27 and 28th at the Clearwater Fire Training Center off of Belcher Road.

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.

WFLA Comes to Town

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.

Jenna Bass of WFLA talks to Kenny K4OB [Photo by AF4O]

Jenna Bass of WFLA and Bruce K2BHS during one of the Live Standups [Photo by AF4O].

The video at the end of this article is a later video they did at 6:00 PM on the Sunday of Field Day. This has more “action shots” and interviews with other members.

So how did we do?

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:

Graph showing how active the stations were. Notice even overnight stayed relatively busy.

Olev at the Digital station [Photo by N4OHI’s camera]

Orin KG1S (foreground), Bruce K2BHS, Danielle, Jeff NE4C and Jason N4BOZ on the background [Photo by N4OHI]

I have plenty of pictures yet to put in a gallery. But this gives you an idea of the event. More to come…

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ARRL 2025 Field Day Dry-Run Report

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/23/2025

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.

Ron N2SKH and Ryan AF4O setting up the CW station. while Olev N4OHI looks on. [Photo by K2BHS]

We started at 9:00 AM and were able to finish up by 11:30 AM. It is a few well-spent hours to make sure we have all the little cables and other accouterment that radios and computers need to operate (microphones, CW keys, foot switch, USB cables, etc).

Rob WD4IFT and Tom NY4I setting up the computers. [Photo by K2BHS]

You still have time to register for Field Day to let us know you are coming. The deadline is TONIGHT at 11:59 PM to guarantee food. We need an accurate head count so if you have not signed-up already, please do so today. If you are unsure if you have already signed up, you can confirm by clicking here. If you have not signed-up, please go to this link to sign up now.