SPARC members are all welcome and encouraged to assist at the assembly, repair and erection of antennas at W4GAC. 
Starting at 9:00AM on Saturday 12/16, the tower will be lowered to replace the rotator. At the same time, adjustments will be made to accommodate the center support for the new 80/160 dipole. The south end of the dipole will be attached to a tree near 90th Avenue. The north end will terminate at a new “tower” to be installed at the north end of the property. Finally, a new … Click for more
Posts published by “Bob Wanek N2ESP”
Originally licensed as WN2JTL in 1968. License and interest lapsed until 1984 when relicensed as N2ESP. I currently hold an Extra class license and a BSEE from the Florida Institute of Technology.
I am past President of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) and trustee of W4TA, the club’s contest station. I’m also a member of Florida Contest Group, an ARRL Volunteer Examiner, member of the ARRL A-1 Operator Club, frustrated DXer, 10-10 member (40586) and charter member of the Radio Shack Battery of the Month Club.
Station QTH is a small island (USi: FL285S Coquina Key) on the shores of Tampa Bay (Pinellas County / EL87qr). Station consists of an Elecraft K3/P3 (100W) into a ZeroFive GP-1040 Vertical/Ground Plane or an 80M Horizontal Loop. QSL via LoTW.
This year we focused on CW. We noticed in prior events that the sound of Morse code emanating from our tent caused people to ask “what is this?” We set up a simple 20M CW station and put CW guru Dave KR4U behind the key. In spite of so-so propagation, Dave was … Click for more
SPARC contesters enjoyed entering W4TA in the newly reestablished Makrothen RTTY contest. Makrothen is a Greek word meaning distance. In spite of poor propagation, the SPARC team made 541 QSOs with a claimed score of 2,203,706 points.
James Osborne, KI4EN, became a Silent Key at 93 at the VA hospital at Bay Pines on 7/27. He was a WW2 veteran. He lived for 40 years in St. Petersburg and was known by many local hams. He built and repaired of radio equipment for himself and others and has a large inventory of parts and tools.
James’ son, Jim K7LYQ, is advising us the estate sale has been postponed by hurricane Irma until September 29th through October 1st and will include the following ham equipment:
- Henry 2K-4L amplifier
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Unique Call Sign Gift
According to Zazzle, this item … Click for more