Cancelled: October SPARC Operating Event: Makrothen RTTY Contest

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 10/02/2023

Unfortunately SPARC will not participate in theMakrothen RTTY event and the club station will not be open October 14 and 15

Makrothen RTTY is a favorite operating event of SPARC and other RTTY operators because the score for a contact is the distance from you to the contact. Scores in the millions of points are routine. In fact, in 2017 SPARC placed Second World Wide with a score of 2,023,660. This year’s contest will take place October 14 & 15.

SPARC Field Day Video

By Ed NZ1Q on 07/04/2023

The video covering most of the efforts by the SPARC operators was captured by 3 participants and put together in a short video on the SPARC YouTube channel.

Video Here

Field Day Results are In

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 06/23/2023

AA2MF - Operating 5 Positions — Rich AA2MF operating all 5 FT8 positions on 5 different bands early Sunday Morning

Field Day produced good results for SPARC. The group of operators listed below worked a total of 1643 QSOs. Of those 759 were made by CW, 702 by FT8/4 , and 182 by SSB. Our score based on QSOs alone was 6,208. Dave KR4U added 100 points to that total by copying the ARRL Field Day Message. Another 50 points was added by submitting our results on ARRL’s submission page.

FD rules allow any club member … Click for more

Is CW dead? Not for Dan AI4RJ

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 05/12/2023

During the SPARC operation in the Florida QSO Party Dan AI4RJ made the vast majority of all CW contacts. He operated on all bands and during one 95 minute stretch on 20 meters his QSO rate was 104 contacts per hour. His call sign was omitted from the original FQP article.

SPARC’s FQP results and station video.

By Ed NZ1Q on 05/11/2023

SPARC Station and Operators Performed Well Despite the Conditions.

The SPARC team represented Pinellas County well during the Florida QSO Party (FQP).

During the event stations throughout the US and Canada strive to work as many counties in Florida as possible. Florida stations are essentially the “DX” and call CQ. Propagation during the contest was fair to poor. Local noise on 40 and 10 meters was a constant S9.

The weather was threatening over the weekend, and 9 of the 18 operators were in training. Nevertheless, the following excellent

… Click for more

SPARC Invites You To a Party

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 04/20/2023

Our club is entering the Florida QSO Party representing Pinellas County. Hams from every state in the US and every province in Canada will calling Florida stations making us the center of activity. This will be our first such operation since winning the FQP Club Plaque in 2019. This will also be our first major operating event with the new Club Station.

You are invited to join others in operating the station on Saturday April 29 from Noon to 10pm, and on Sunday April 30 from 8am to 6pm. If … Click for more

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