Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Secretary’s Minutes”

Please sign up for Florida QSO Party

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 04/17/2019

We need operators for the FQP effort at the club station. This doesn’t require an all day commitment. Just an hour or so is fine. Please check the schedule here and claim a spot by emailing contesting@sparc-club.org.

As I have told many people, when not operating, this is also a great place for new people to ask questions of the other hams there. If you are trying to decide what radio to buy or antenna to install, this is the place to ask. Contests at the club station are instant elmering sessions as not everyone can operate at the same time.

It’s also a great way to get checked out on the club station so you can operate the remote station.

As always, bring your own headset.

Related Images:

SPARC Equipment for Sale

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 02/14/2018

SPARC has a wide variety of used equipment for sale. Equipment is on display inside W4GAC Clubhouse. Local pickup only. Click here to view the list. 

 

Related Images:

W8IM Places 3rd Worldwide

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 07/18/2017

Dean, W8IM. earned 3rd place worldwide in the 10M PSK31 QSO Party that is sponsored by 10-10 International. What makes this accomplishment more amazing is that Dean won in the QRP category! An accomplished CW operator, Dean decided to expand his horizons with PSK31. Congratulations Dean. Click the title to see Dean’s certificate.

 

 

Related Images:

SPARC Members attend West Central Florida Section TECHCON

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 02/26/2017
Section Manager Darrell KT4WX discussing PICAXE Microcontrollers.

On Saturday, February 25, several members of SPARC made the trip to Sarasota for the 3rd annual WCF section TECHCON. This is a free technical conference put on by the WCF ARRL section technical staff. The location changes to various places around the section to allow the most section members to attend.

This year, there were two conference tracks. One focused on more introductory topics such as station design, antenna building, APRS and programable microcontrollers such as the PICAXE and the Arduino. Another track discussed more technical topics including the Amateur Radio Emergency Digital Network (AREDN) and HamWAN—both which allow creating high-speed data networks similar to WiFi but over greater distances and utilizing amateur radio frequencies (HamWAN was presented by SPARC member Bryan Fields W9CR.

NY4I, W4OQM by NZ1Q
Tom NY4I and Charlie W4OQM – Photo by Ed NZ1Q

One of the benefits of these meetings besides the technical content is the chance to discuss the technical aspects with other hams. During breaks, it is common to hear hams discussing how they are applying the things learned in unique ways that you would not learn just reading the material from a magazine article in QST. For example, the two networking topics might seem competitive but during the Q&A sessions, we discussed how to couple the mesh capabilities of AREDN for emergency data networks wth the long distance networking backbone capabilities of HamWAN can complement each other to serve the widest area.

If you missed it, make plans to attend next year’s TECHCON (around the same time in February tentatively planned for somewhere in Polk county.

Related Images:

After Holidays Party

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 01/02/2017

This years After the Holidays Party is right around the corner. We will have the entire Skyway Diner, 4000 34th Street South, St. Petersburg at our disposal. Note: This is NOT Skyway Jack’s. The Skyway Diner is further south on the east side of US 19.

The festivities will start at 3:00PM on Sunday, January 29, 2017. Members will order off the menu, and are responsible for their own bill. Rumor has it that Santa may stop by on his way to his timeshare on St Pete Beach. Dress is casual.

Be sure to sign up at the meeting or email Bob (click here) with the number of attendees.

Related Images:

Skywarn Training

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 12/01/2016

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue will host a National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Severe Weather Spotter training on December 14th.  This free 75-minute long class will be delivered by Tampa Bay National Weather Service Warning and Coordination Meteorologist Dan Noah. Those completing this training will receive a weather spotter’s guidebook and become part of a nationwide network of citizen monitors.  Citizen monitors report anomalies such as tornados, flooding rains and extreme temperatures. 

WHO:        Anyone! You can attend the training even if you do not want to be an official spotter.   

WHEN:      Wednesday, December 14th at 10:00am 

WHERE:    St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Headquarters, 1st Floor Classroom

                    400 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S.

                    St. Petersburg, FL 33701 

WHY:         You can help protect yourself, your family, and neighbors by becoming a trained SKYWARN Spotter.  A trained spotter knows the weather threats in Florida, safety rules, and visual clues regarding thunderstorm strength.  

HOW:         Reserve your seat by emailing Amber.Boulding@StPete.org or call

                    727-892-5200. Seating for the course is limited to the first 40 people.  

Information on SKYWARN – www.weather.gov/Tampa/skywarn

 

Related Images:

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com