Virtual Science Festival 2019

By Ed NZ1Q

Since the weather caused the Sci Festival to be canceled a few weeks ago, the Festival Committee has provided a Virtual Science Fair as mentioned in their note below. SPARC’s video was included near the beginning as you scroll down their web page – leave time for downloading as you scroll.

“Dear Valued Exhibitors,

We are proud to share a Virtual Science Festival with you! We are so grateful for our sponsors and exhibitors preparedness and wanted to show off what would have been an amazing Saturday event.
We compiled … Click for more

Help Support SPARC at Science Fest

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

After a year absence due to station relocation, SPARC will again be exhibiting at the St. Petersburg Science Festival on October 19th. This event is designed to provide children hands-on access to the wide world of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).

We need your help. We will be demonstrating “Worldwide Communications over Amateur Radio,” and will have an HF station running. We need CW and phone operators to man the station. We also need folks that can explain the excitement of our hobby to the public. If

… Click for more

SPARC club brochure, latest update – rev 13

By Ed NZ1Q

This is revision 13, the latest release of the SPARC’s brochure used at meetings, events and VE exam sessions. One address received minor clarification. Prospective members are encouraged to take a look, print it to review or present to other prospective members.

2019_Sparc_3-fold r13

Morse Code – Who Had A Clue?

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

Another interesting email arrived at SPARC this week. A lady had “received” a message in Morse code she couldn’t decode. Strange you ask? True. She asked us for help in decoding the message. Forwarding the request to a few SPARK members, Ed NZ1Q, stepped up to the challenge.

Ed was given a phone number that connected him to the recorded CW message. Thirty seconds later, the message was decoded. It turns out that sender of the email was involved in a “learning challenge that involves solving [a series of] … Click for more

All Hams on Deck

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

As president, I get a lot of emails from folks who search on Google for the terms “ham radio” and “St. Petersburg.” Recently I received an email from a boat owner who lives in Seminole. He was having VHF radio issues on his sailboat, and was not sure what or where the problem was. Sailors, like hams are resourceful folks, resulting in the email to me. I forwarded the email request for help to the SPARC membership via the SPARC email reflector.

Within hours SPARC member Jack, W4GRJ, was making … Click for more

Festival Goers Exposed to CW

By Bob Wanek N2ESP

KR4U, NZ1Q, KI4UIP and N4GD Setting up the booth — Getting Ready for the Crowd [N2ESPhoto]

SPARC completed another successful day at the St. Petersburg Science festival. Situated under a big oak tree on the breezy shore of Tampa Bay, SPARC station W4GAC was again on the air.

This year we focused on CW. We noticed in prior events that the sound of Morse code emanating from our tent caused people to ask “what is this?” We set up a simple 20M CW station and put CW guru Dave KR4U behind the key. In spite of so-so propagation, Dave was … Click for more

Posts published in “Public Relations”