12/05/2025
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
SPARC salutes one of our members for being highlighted in QST for Ham Radio Accomplishments in Connecticut as well as Florida. Don’t miss the full page article in QST where Lisa is i
n the ARRL Spotlight – Volunteer operating, E-Coms support, CERT, club participation and VE testing, new ham promotion and more.
On the ARRL web site page 13 (login required) or read the article here.
Therefore, the antenna crew got an early start on Saturday June 22, raising the beam on the tall fire tower. The location was our now familiar Field Day site, the Clearwater Fire Training Center. The participants were members of the Clearwater ARS, the St. Petersburg ARC and the Upper Pinellas ARC.
For the radios, we used two Elecraft K3 transceivers and a Kenwood TS590SG. One K3 was dedicated to CW and the other two radios were used on SSB and FT8. Computer logging was done with TR4W networked together sending data to the Raspberry Pi display on the big screen.
Part of Field Day is bonus points. We picked up quite a few of those. We had all emergency power, a sign-in table, Add lots of pictures.
The group made a similar number of contacts as last year. This year there were 1,077 QSOs with a just bit more than half in SSB contacts (611). Last year, we did 1171 QSOs. That difference is just about the number of 6m contacts last year due to better band conditions. So all in all, we made about the same number of QSOs. Bonus points were about the same too as we achieved our major goals of the W1AW bulletin, satellite contact and solar power contacts. This year we did NOT have an elected official but we did add an educational session thanks to Pat AA0O.
We had 28 hams making contacts this year as compared to 24 last year so participation continues to grow. We contest scoring stats can be found in our SH5 score analyzer here.
Events like this do NOT just happen. Field Day requires an immense amount of planning and thought. The Field Day planning committee met no fewer than 8 times on a conference bridge along with many other sessions such as the dry-run, coax cable installation and one-on-one phone calls. Alan W4UB, club president of UPARC, led the team this year with assistance from the following:
While the members are listed from their respective clubs (although many of us belong to two or all three), it is important to know this is a joint effort and the greater group becomes paramount versus the individual clubs. Again, thanks to everyone that made this a success.
SPARC members were out in force for the 2019 Open Season QSO Party sponsored by Ten-Ten Net International, Inc. Using PSK 31, 5 watts and a flagpole antenna, Robert aka Dean, W8IM won not one but three certificates as shown below: 1st Place QRP, 3rd Place World, and 1st Place 8th call area.
Terrific effort Dean. Dean also noted that SPARC members Leslie, WA4EEZ and Dave, WS1ETI participated in the contest.
The following information may be useful for those attending the 2019 Field Day at the Clearwater Fire training Center, especially if this is your first Field Day.
As you may be aware, the radio room is inside, but setup will of course be outside for antenna work. You may want to bring a change of clothes/shirt, etc. The facility has showers and locker rooms if you so desire but you may want to bring your own towel/toiletries. Setup starts at 8:00 AM Saturday morning. We will have coffee and doughnuts available. We will be eating inside too in another adjacent classroom. If you would like to stay overnight, we have a room dedicated to sleeping. For your comnfort, please bring a cot or sleeping bag. Note the room gets cold with the AC so plan accordingly.
PLEASE BRING HEADPHONES. Many of us use boom microphones and we do not share headset microphones for hygienic reasons. All operators will be using headphones for sound even if you are using a desk or hand microphone. As we are operating 3 radios in one big room, we cannot use the speakers (unless we are demonstrating the radios to a group of people). If you do not have a set of communication headphones, at least bring earbuds. We have adapters for both 1/8” and 1/4” headphones to match the radios but please bring something as we will NOT share headphones. Also note if you have a Heil headset, we have adapters to connect to the radios. For RadioSport users, we have the interface cables to the Elecraft K3. Just check on site if you need bias on the mic element or not.
For CW ops, we will have a paddle hooked up to a WinKeyer. If you have a paddle you prefer (for sending manually), please bring it along. The computer will send CW—-copying is with the software between your ears. Our paddle has a 1/8” stereo plug so please adapt accordingly. We can plug a straight key directly into the K3.
You may want to bring a more comfortable chair. The classrooms we are in have chairs that may not be that comfortable for hours of sitting. If you prefer chairs without arms or ones that have more room, definitely bring your favorite folding chair or camping/beach chair.
If you are attending dinner on Saturday evening, please bring a dish to share. We ask that this be actual food versus stopping off for a bag of chips on the way. Your dish to share can be dessert as the only desserts available will be those that people bring.
While we are operating inside, you may be outside for parts of the event. We have access to an outside pavilion. Please bring sunscreen or a hat if you are planning on helping with antennas setup. You may also want to bring insect repellent for times you are outside.
We also have to ask that you do not plan on bringing any radios to operate independent of the main stations. We have carefully coordinated the station layout to minimize interference between stations. Another station on the site would compromise the main stations so operate our stations as long as you are able, but please; no independent HF stations. We do not need radios or computers, etc. We have all the parts planned ahead so we need you, your dish to share and your desire to have fun. The rest we have covered.
For software, we are using TR4W as it proved to be easy for new people to pickup at our last event and the networking is very solid. That program is free if you want to try it out. It is available at www.tr4w.net (Select Download link).
Please bring a handheld 2m radio (HT). It is a big site and using a radio will make it much easier for us to talk with one another. The main organizers will have HTs to be reached on a simplex frequency to be announced on site. Let the HT save you running back and forth on site to ask questions, etc.
Please ask if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you there and to make this a Field Day for the ages.
Hang around any group of hams in the springtime and eventually the subject of Field Day will come up. New people must be absolutely bewildered trying to understand this thing others speak of so fondly. So for those that may be new, or even those that know about Field Day but have not made it out to one in awhile, here is an overview.
Just Announced
We will be conducting an education activity for bonus points as a hands-on session on antenna analyzers. If you want to try a variety of different analyzers and see how making changes to antennas affects their measurements, drop by the session at 4:00 PM on Saturday the 22nd of June.
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. As with last year, our event this year is a combined event with three clubs—the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS), the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC). The date is June 22nd starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday June 23 at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. The location for all of this is the Clearwater Fire Department Fire Training Center at 1716 Belcher Road in Clearwater. Click here for a map.
The operation is comprised of 3 HF stations (a Kenwood TS590SG and two Elecraft K3 radios). We also have a 6 meter station as well as a satellite station. For modes, we run SSB (voice) and CW (Morse code). We will also have FT8 capability, as that is a new Field Day mode this year so even if you are a strictly digital operator, there is something for you. 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. In no time, you will be working stations all over the US and Canada.
We have the equipment all arranged as well as food and drink. We do ask two things related to food. One, we need to know you are coming so please sign up so we have an accurate count of thee 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 to share with everyone. The public is welcome as one of the purposes of Field Day is to introduce Amateur Radio to new people.
To register, please go to this link and fill out the requested information: https://forms.gle/65ti2G1GARMMiEpv7
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 22 rain or shine at 2:00 PM with setup starting at 8:00 AM.
