Club banners and satellite antenna [Photo by AF4O]It would be somewhat trite to say we got the band back together for ARRL Field Day this year, but that is nonetheless what we did. Members of SPARC teamed up with members from the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club for the annual ARRL Field Day this past June. Specifically, June 27 and 28th at the Clearwater Fire Training Center off of Belcher Road.
We have been at this facility before with both the other clubs for the most recent Winter Field Day in January and in years past. It is a wonderful facility and sharing the workload with the other clubs allows us to put on what I think is a better event. As with other Field Days in the summer, we opt to setup temporary antennas but we do operate inside. We also use commercial power (since for a real emergency, we are well-versed in using the generators and the Clearwater EOC which is also at this facility has a generator).
We set out to run 3 stations plus the free VHF station for 6 meters and the satellite station. This all went to plan with the three UPARC Elecraft K3 radios, Paul KC4YDY (“6 meter Paul”) Yaesu radio for 6m and the 9700/Arrow antenna satellite station.
We grabbed the usual bonus points such as the natural power QSOs, a visit by a served agency, passing the Field day message to the Section Manager and copying the Field Day bulletin. We also managed to send 10 NTS messages from attendees and even had a youth contact. While we always get the media publicity bonus, this year thanks to the tenacity of Bruce K2BHS, we did it in style.
WFLA Comes to Town
Bruce K2BHS joined the Field Day Planning Committee with the intention of acting as the public relations person. Bruce sent invitations to various elected officials, served agencies and many media outlets. This paid off handsomely. Bruce was contacted by WFLA that they wanted to do a live broadcast from our Field Day site on Sunday morning starting at 6:00 AM. Yes, 6:00 AM on Sunday–not a typo. Reporter Jenna Bass and her camera operator came out to the site and setup for their live shot. But it wasn’t just one live shot. Bruce did three on-camera interviews. You can see one of those videos here.
Jenna Bass of WFLA talks to Kenny K4OB [Photo by AF4O]Jenna Bass of WFLA and Bruce K2BHS during one of the Live Standups [Photo by AF4O].The video at the end of this article is a later video they did at 6:00 PM on the Sunday of Field Day. This has more “action shots” and interviews with other members.
So how did we do?
We made over 2400 QSOs this year. The three HF stations stayed busy as did the 6m station. Here is a map of all the ARRL sections we contacted:
ARRL Sections WorkedAll operators making at least one QSOGraph showing how active the stations were. Notice even overnight stayed relatively busy.
Olev at the Digital station [Photo by N4OHI’s camera]Orin KG1S (foreground), Bruce K2BHS, Danielle, Jeff NE4C and Jason N4BOZ on the background [Photo by N4OHI]
I have plenty of pictures yet to put in a gallery. But this gives you an idea of the event. More to come…
On Saturday June 21, members of CARS, SPARC and UPARC met at the Clearwater Fire Training Center for the Field Day Dry-Run. This is where we setup the radios and computers to ensure we have all the necessary cables for this coming weekend’s ARRL Field Day. We do not setup the antennas or coax but we do perform a transmitter test on the Elecraft K3 radios to ensure they are transmitting full power.
Ron N2SKH and Ryan AF4O setting up the CW station. while Olev N4OHI looks on. [Photo by K2BHS]We started at 9:00 AM and were able to finish up by 11:30 AM. It is a few well-spent hours to make sure we have all the little cables and other accouterment that radios and computers need to operate (microphones, CW keys, foot switch, USB cables, etc).
Rob WD4IFT and Tom NY4I setting up the computers. [Photo by K2BHS]You still have time to register for Field Day to let us know you are coming. The deadline is TONIGHT at 11:59 PM to guarantee food. We need an accurate head count so if you have not signed-up already, please do so today. If you are unsure if you have already signed up, you can confirm by clicking here. If you have not signed-up, please go to this link to sign up now.
You are still welcome to attend but please plan on your own meals.
ARRL Field Day is a combined event to test our ability to setup radio communication under less than ideal conditions–think temporary antennas, generators and radio gear. Our event this year is a combined event with three clubs—the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS), St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC). The date is Saturday, June 28thstarting at 2:00 PM until Sunday, June 29th at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning. The location for all of this is the Clearwater Fire Department Fire Training Center at 1716 N. Belcher Road in Clearwater. Click here for a map.
The operation is comprised of 3 HF stations (all Elecraft K3 radios). We also have a 6 meter station and a satellite station. We use TR4W for logging and WSJT-X for FT8/FT4 operations. All operations are inside in the training center building (air conditioning since it is Florida in June). For modes, we run SSB (voice), FT8 and CW. For CW operators, a Bencher paddle is provided but if you have a favorite paddle or straight key, bring it along. The computer sends CW as well but you can go “old-school” if you like. No experience is necessary beyond a willingness to learn and try something new. If you have never operated a radio, we have plenty of people to help you out to show you how to make a contact to help you get started. In no time, you will be working stations all over the US and Canada. If you plan on operating, please bring your own headphones. For sanitary reasons, we do not share headphones or microphone headsets. We have adapters for your headphones as well as Heil and RadioSport cables. We also have desk mics for the radios for those that do not have microphone headsets.
We have the equipment all arranged as well as food and drink. Lunch is provided. Dinner Saturday will be provided (more details to follow) with sides provides by the attendees (dish to share). We do ask a few things related to food:
One, we need to know you are coming so please sign up by clicking here so we have an accurate count of the people attending so we do not run out of food.
We also ask that if you are coming for dinner on Saturday, bring a dish (side or dessert) to share with everyone (no, a bag of chips is not a side-dish).
If you do sign-up for meals but your plans change, please let us know so we have as accurate a count as possible.
The public is welcome as one of the purposes of Field Day is to introduce amateur radio to new people.
Field Day is the premiere event on our club calendars and we hope to see as many club members and guests as possible. Remember, Saturday June 28th–rain or shine–at 2:00 PM with setup starting at 8:00 AM.
Before you think I have completely gone around the bend, this year’s Florida QSO Party has special event stations to spell out the word P-I-R-A-T-E-S. Stations around the state will be signing special 1×1 callsigns where the single letter suffix spells out PIRATES.
The Florida QSO Party is both Saturday April 26th and Sunday April 27. It favors the daytime hours so you can still get your sleep. On Saturday, the contest starts at Noon local time and goes until 10:00 PM. Sunday morning we pick back up at 8:00 AM and go to 6:00 PM. All times local.
There is a special award for those that sweep (work all) the “PIRATES” stations so people want to work us. That makes it more fun and it should keep the stations busy. But we need plenty of operators to work those stations looking for us as K4P.
The Florida QSO Party is always a popular event at the SPARC station. We run Phone (Voice/SSB) and CW (Morse code). We generally have at least three stations active so we need plenty of operators. There is no digital component so just SSB and CW. Our contest coordinator, Paul KA4IOX will no doubt have more information about this including the opportunity to sign-up but plan now to attend and fill in a spot. Remember that people want to work us for the sweep of the PIRATE stations so you can sit on one frequency and just call CQ. As mentioned, we can only so that with people. We never want to hear, “Hey, I could never find that K4P station“.
So save the date and plan on attending to take a shift. It should be a blast! Argh!!!
Participating Clubs’ Banners [Photo by K2BHS]On January 25th & 26th, 2025, local ham radio clubs participated in the annual Winter Field Day event in Clearwater, Florida. The day started out as planned with people gathering at 8:00 AM–some even earlier–at the Clearwater Fire Training Center for Winter Field Day 2025. This was a joint effort between the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society, the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club. This was the first time SPARC had been back in a few years for Winter Field Day and given the number of members from different clubs, it was great to have everyone back together again.
Due to the forecasted weather being a bit too chilly overnight (yes, I know, it’s called Winter Field Day but we live in Florida for a reason…), the decision was made to have Winter Field Day indoors this year. We setup in the standard inside configuration we use for ARRL Field Day.
Thanks to everyone that took pictures.
We had all three stations capable of operating SSB with 2 stations pulling double-duty as CW and one as Digital (PSK31). Being Field Day, we always have a great spread of food to keep everyone fed. Ron and Ruth Appel and their team do a great job of organizing the food portion of Field Day.
HF Operating
Summary
We managed to work a total of 1326 contacts on 6 different bands (2M not shown in the table below). We contacted stations in all the US sections/states except Hawaii as well as all but a few Canadian sections.
Ron N2SKH making some SSB contacts.Glen N4GRC and Bruce K2BHS operating
SSB (Phone)
We had approximately 1100 contacts on SSB (phone) with Jeff NE4C making 545 QSOs and Bruce K2BHS making 231 contacts. Other operators can be seen in the table below:
CW (Morse Code)
Dave KR4U made 124 CW contacts with Pat AA0O adding 59 CW contacts and Tom NY4I adding a few more.
Dave KR4U working the paddle at the CW stationThe short tower with the hex beam and wire antennasA close-up of the HexBeam
Satellite Station
All self-contained in a gator case, the Icom 9700 and other gear for the satellite stationThe Arrow antenna on a Yaesu Azimuth/Elevation rotator for tracking the satellites.
Using Ryan AF4O’s very portable satellite station, Tom NY4I managed to make 6 satellite contacts using RS-44 for SSB contacts and PO-101 for an FM contact
Education
Fred W2SUB introducing Field Day to guests
One of our important goals is to always introduce new people to ham radio. With either encouraging a new ham to pick up the microphone and make contacts, offer a few pointers on how to operate the most efficiently or introduce ham radio to someone for the very first time, education and training is why we do all of this (well the food is great too!). Fred W2SUB conducted his usual training sessions. While we do not get points for it like in Summer ARRL Field Day, points are not the motivator anyway.
Winter Field Day Objectives
Winter Field Day switched to an objective-based multiplier system. Possible objectives were as follows:
Operate 100% on alternative power
Operate away from home
Deploy multiple antenna
Make an FM satellite contact
Make a SSB or CW Satellite Contact
Send and receive at least one Winlink email
Copy the Winter Field Day Special Bulletin
Operate on at least six different bands
Use multiple modes
Operate the event QRP
Operate six continuous hours during the event
Of the above objectives, we achieved them all except operating 100% on alternative power and operate the event QRP. Jason N4BOZ sent and received a WinLink message on 2m from the site, Tom NY4I made a satellite contact on FM and SSB, Tom NY4I contacted a station on 2m 146.52 for the 6th band, we operated multiple modes with SSB, CW and PSK31, Tom NY4I copied the Winter Field Day Bulletin on Phone and CW and we operated 25 hours.
Oh the Food…
No one goes hungry at Field Day. Ron W4RFA and Ruth Appel lead a great team to help with the food. The clubs provided meals for Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday (cooked by Dean N0OAC and Sarah N0UKS) and Sunday and Dinner on Saturday (along with the potluck). Other helpers included Karen Isak KQ4HNI, Beth Whidden (NY4I’s spouse) and Diane Friedman (K4SPF’s spouse).
The chow hall at dinner on Saturday
Results
So how did we do? With the change in the scoring, it is hard to compare the points to last year, but contacts wise, we made more QSOs this year than last (1146 QSOs in 2024 Winter Field Day). The following table gives the break down of the contacts, bands and total points including the objective multipliers. We will see in a few months how we did as compared to other stations in the 3I (inside) class.
Thanks to Bill Terry for the majority of these pictures.
