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Posts published in “Club Meetings”

Military Communications, by Col. Craig Hook, USAF (Ret.)

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 06/04/2016

Don’t miss a special presentation by Retired USAF Colonel Craig Hook, KE4VPK and SPARC member. Craig will tell us about military use of communications equipment used in the field and share some of his slides from his deployment in Afghanistan right after 9/11.C Hook

 

The US Military has developed robust satellite communications used in conjunction with more traditional HF radio communications.  We will hear about communications equipment in the military, how it is deployed, used, important features, and some of Craig’s experiences, along with comment on how well it all really works and perhaps an anecdotal story or two.

 

Craig has degrees in electrical engineering, physics and international law. He served in the military for 25 years, primarily assigned to embassies in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He is fluent in five languages including Russian and Persian and served with the White House Communications Corp as an official White House translator for Presidents Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Clinton.  Craig has diplomatic translator ratings in nine languages.

 

Craig retired as US Air Force Colonel in 1999. He was recalled to active duty in Sept 2001 with CENTCOM in Tora Bora, as Station Chief electronic intelligence.

 

Please add this meeting date to your calendar and don’t miss the special presentation about communications equipment and the military.

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May Meeting Program Update

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 05/02/2016

At the May 6th club meeting our program will include several examples of a “Go Box.” These portable communications centers can easily be

Sample Go Box
Sample Go Box

transported by one person, setup quickly and provide communications on different bands and modes during emergencies or other communication events..

Learn about their purpose, capabilities, how to plan and make your own. Our presenters will each demonstrate their own projects. We will hear from: Andy, KI4VOS; Udo, KF4KUL and
Clayton, KJ4RUS. We also plan to fire up some of the equipment as a demonstration.

There will be plenty of time to see the equipment up close and ask questions. Flexible communications capability is important for wide-spread emergency situations. As we approach hurricane season, this program should provide plenty of ideas on how to construct your own Go-Box.

Everyone is welcome to attend the club meeting, SPARC member or not, even if you don’t have a license.

 

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Net Manager Needed

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 04/17/2016

After many years of dedicated service, Johnnie, W4TSP has decided to step down as SPARC Net Manager as of July 1, 2016. ThaHere's what's happeningnk you Johnnie for all the time you spent keeping the net on the air 7/365.

If you are interested in the position of SPARC Net Manager, please contact Johnnie or Bob, N2ESP. We also have the Wednesday night net controller available for those not interested in a “management” position.

If you are a SPARC Net regular, please consider stepping up to help the club maintain its leadership position in getting on the air together.

 

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Mid Florida DX Association Featured Program

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 02/18/2016

Join in on our Friday, March 4th meeting for a very special evening with Tony DeAngelo, N2MFT,Mid FLorida DX Assn Logo President of the Mid Florida DX Association.  Tony will present some of the club’s motivation, planning, execution and results for activation of National Parks as part of the ARRL yearlong program.  MFDXA has already activated two National Parks and is planning more.

We will also hear about the Mid Florida DX Association’s other activities. One of their services is QSL card checking for DXCC awards credit. Tony will give us a little insight as to how QSL cards and the Log Book of the World (LoTW) work together for us to get our DXCC certificates.

MFDXA is offering to check cards for us at the meeting.  So dig out your old cards, click here to learn how to prepare your cards for checking, which must be done prior to asking a checker to review your QSLs.

YOUR CARDS MUST BE PREPARED BEFORE THEY CAN BE CHECKED.

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Radio Testing to be Rescheduled

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 08/20/2015

Ham Radio Tower & SparksSeptember is the middle of hurricane season.  In an effort to make sure that your handheld and mobile transceivers are in good operational shape. SPARC will be available to test your HT and/or (uninstalled) mobile rig on TBD at the club station. HF, VHF & UHF radios can be accommodated.

Our radio gurus, will setup their service monitors and our spectrum analyzer to checkout your transceivers.  Be sure the battery is fully charge and the rig works.

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Keeping Up with SPARC!

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/22/2015

Things are always happening at SPARC. But, how do you hear about them?  Maybe you don’t get to make the 6:30 PM nightly 2-meter net as often as you like (147.060 no tone required, + offset). Well, we have additional ways to keep you in the loop.

SPARC Web Site

The first way is this website. The home page of the website, www.sparc-club.org, always has the latest information about the happenings in the club.

Groups.IO Reflector

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You can also stay in touch on the SPARC Groups.IO Group Reflector. “What’s that you say? You say you didn’t know about that?”   There is a great community of folks that share information of interest to SPARC members. We make sure it does not turn into one of those “free-for-alls” where people send information completely unrelated to ham radio.  How do you sign up?  Simply send an email to SPARC-subscribe@groups.io. In fact, it’s so easy, you can just click on this link and your email program will pop up and you click Send to send a message. No need to type anything in the email. Just send that from the email account you want to subscribe and Groups.IO will send you an email to confirm. Reply to that email and you will be signed up. It’s as simple as that.

Slack

SPARC has a Slack workspace. Slack is a real-time messaging application that you can access on your computer or mobile device. It provides a way to communicate with others in a near realtime method to ask questions about various parts of ham radio and club events. While we have an active user community on the SPARC repeater, Slack allows you to stay in touch no matter where you are. To access Slack, you need to request an invitation to our workspace so send your request and the email you wish to use with Slack to slack@sparc-club.org

Facebook

The club also has a FaceBook page. You can find our FaceBook page at   https://www.facebook.com/sparcw4gac

SPARC videos are on our YouTube channel with many recent club videos.

Stay Informed

There are many ways to stay up to date with SPARC. Take advantage of one or more of them to make the most of your membership. And remember there are always monthly meetings, where you can actually meet club members and communicate face-to-face.

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