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Posts published in “Club Station”

SPARC’S next Operating Event will use Radio Teletype

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 07/08/2023
Original RTTY
Classic Teletype Machine with paper output now replaced by computer program and screen

Radio teletype or RTTY is easy to learn and fun to use. The club will be entering the North American QSO Party RTTY event which starts at 2:00 pm Eastern on Saturday July 15 and runs for 12 hours. Like all our Operating Events this is open to all members. We will be entering in the Multioperator Two-Transmitter (M2) division so there will be operating time for everyone even trainees new to RTTY. Visitors are welcome.

The Exchange is just a name and state. Of course we will use Florida for our state. This year we will use the name Jack to honor the memory of Jack W1BBU who worked on the new station construction, has been a key operator at club events and a friend to all of us.

Detailed information and event Rules can be found at:
https://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf

If you are interested in participating please contact Tom W4CU at: tjsw4cu@aol.com

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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

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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 to operate any class under their own call and have their total QSOs added to the SPARC station score to be used in the Club Competition. Dave KR4U, John KI4UIP, Carol AB4YI, and Josef KQ4GAH added points from their home stations.

Operators of the SPARC station were: AAØO AA2MF AB4YI KB1EBC KB9LX KD2UDU KF4TYA KI4UIP KN4YQC KO4WPO KQ4DVG KQ4DXM KR4U N4GRC W1EES W4BOO W4CU

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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.

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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 score summary speaks for itself:
 
FL QSO PARTY 2023
CallSign Used: W4GAC
Operator(s) : W4GAC
Operator Category: MULTI-MULTI
Band : ALL
Power : LOW
Mode : MIXED
Default Exchange : PIN
Club/Team : SPARC (Saint Petersburg ARC)
 
Band  Mode  QSOs   Pts   Mult  Pt/Q
7        CW     63         252   5       4.0
7        LSB    74        148    0       2.0
14      CW   324      1296   18      4.0
14      USB  611      1222   49      2.0
21      CW   330      1320   44      4.0
21      USB 171        342   14       2.0
28      CW    37        148     2       4.0
28      USB 114        228     8       2.0
Total Both 1724     4956 140       2.9
 
Score : 693,840
 
Additionally, 6 SPARC members worked from home to bring the total number of QSOs to just under 3000 during the 20-hour contest.
 

Participating as operators and/or support team were:

AA0O, AA2MF, AB4YI, KI4UIP, KO4CCE, KA4IOX, KO4GAH, KR4U, K4OB, KC1YL, KC8ARA, KO4WPO, KQ4DVG, KQ4GAH, NZ1Q, N2ESP, N4GD, N4MMR, WA4EEZ ,W1BBU, W1EES, W4BOO, and W4CU

FQP video

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New Club Station Holds Open House

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 04/23/2023

The SPARC radio station will hold an Open House for members to drop in and see the major upgrades made since moving the last station. The Open House will be held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week (April 25, 26 and 27) from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

The Open House will coincide with three nights of training for members participating in the Florida QSO Party (FQP) who have limited experience in using the N1MM logging program, or in handling rapid paced QSOs. For more information on the Open House , or to sign up for the FQP operation, contact Tom W4CU at: tom_w4cu@yahoo.com or at 727-744-1637.

The station will be opened for the FQP this coming Saturday (April 29) at 9:00 am with operating starting at Noon and ending at 10:00 pm. Operations will continue on Sunday (April 30) with the station opening at 7:00 am and operations running from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm. Visitors are welcome.

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