SPARC

WRMI Field Trip

By Charles Adkinson on 08/11/2022

Howdy All SPARC members. On Saturday, September 10th at 11:30am we will be getting a tour and behind the scenes visit to WRMI in Okeechobee, FL. we will depart the St Pete area at ~8:30am to ensure plenty of travel time.

if you aren’t familiar with WRMI they are an international shortwave broadcast station, transmitting dozens of other “stations” worldwide (for example, maybe you heard radio france, or maybe NHK Japan really well one time? probably because it was actually coming from WRMI!), they have more than a dozen 100k watt transmitters and antennas measured in acres and kilometers more than feet and inches.

we will be coordinating car pools and will most likely provide lunch for the group (especially to ensure we properly thank the WRMI staff for being there on a Saturday and tolerating visitors!).

please EMAIL ME to charles@w4bpp.com to indicate if you are attending. please also indicate if you can car pool if needed. please let me know in the next few days if you are able so we can confirm counts and rides.

to learn a little more about WRMI some interesting links:

WRMI google maps satellite view

WRMI History

WRMI Technology stuff

wikipedia

Related Images:

SPARC August Operating Event – North American QSO Party SSB

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 07/28/2022

SSB Operators needed: The SPARC Club Station at DMI will be fired up for the SSB edition of the North American QSO Party (NAQP) on August 20th. The contest starts at 2PM Eastern Time and runs for 12 hours. The North American QSO Parties are favorites of beginners and seasoned operators alike. Everyone is invited to participate. We would particularly like to see newly licensed hams and new club members get involved or just stop by to see what’s going on.

Details of the event can found at: https://ncjweb.com/NAQP/

If you plan to participate or need additional information, please contact Rich (AA2MF) at: rcariello49@gmail.com or Tom (W4CU) at: tom_w4cu@yahoo.com

Related Images:

SPARC July Operating Event – North American QSO Party RTTY

By Tom Schaeffer W4CU on 06/30/2022

Following up on a successful Field Day, SPARC is planning to participate in the July North American QSO Party (NAQP). The NAQP takes place 6 times a year with 2 RTTY, 2 CW, and 2 SSB. events. The upcoming RTTY event will be held Saturday July 16 starting at 2PM Eastern Time and lasting 12 hours.

Details can be found at: https://ncjweb.com/naqp

Experienced operators and anyone wishing to learn more about RTTY or improve their skills are encouraged to contact either Rich AA2MF at: rcariello49@gmail.com or Tom W4CU at: tom_w4cu@yahoo.com.

Related Images:

Field Day 2022 Wrap up

By Pat AAØO on 06/28/2022

SPARC’s 2022 Field Day was a successful one. We had 40 people on the sign-in sheet and 21 operator callsigns made QSOs in the log. After removing duplicates we made 1,455 QSOs (statistics breakdown below). Band conditions made for slow going on Saturday but things really picked up Sunday morning.

Overall the stations worked well, having the same radio at each station made it easy to transition between them. We had some issues with the stats screen not keeping up with the QSOs, FT8 locking up N1MM occasionally, and sorting out the PTT for the mic on SSB, other than that it was really smooth. We didn’t end up getting the satellite contact after 2 attempts, though during the 4am ISS pass we did hear him say “Welcome to the International Space Station” and have a QSO with a youth operator.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the event possible and to everyone who attended. Rich AA2MF for all his work setting up the computers and for the use of his equipment, Dave K4RU, John KI4UIP and Floyd KY4MG for getting DMI ready, Charles W4BPP for working on maximizing the bonus points and picking up food, Norm KI4IJA for cranking up the tower, Tom W4CU for keeping us on the best bands, Lisa KC1YL for breakfast, N4GD for sending the radiogram to the section manager and Ed NZ1Q for putting together the YouTube video, Bob N2ESP, Pete KB9LXM and Zack KO4WPO for photos.

-Pat AA0O SPARC President

Stats breakdown

Related Images:

Field Day 2022 Signup

By Pat AAØO on 06/14/2022

SPARC Field Day will be on June 25-26th at our club station location, DMI Research, 6699 90th Ave N, Pinellas Park, FL. We’ll start at 9am Saturday with setup, the on-the-air operating event starts at 2pm Saturday and runs through 2pm Sunday.

We’ll be operating as 3-Delta with 1 station each on SSB, CW, and Digital(FT8, etc). We’ll be using Yaesu FT-1000 radios. Operation will be indoors with Air Conditioning.

If you are planning to attend, please fill out the form using the link below so we know how much food to get.

SPARC Field Day 2022 Signup Form

Please bring your own headphones. You’re welcome to bring your HT radios but please no HF radio transmissions on-site from personal radios.

Allow a few minutes after submitting the form for your callsign to show in the list.

Related Images:

Mike Scott K4ZPE, SK

By Charles Adkinson on 06/05/2022

The SPARC club is sad to share that club member Mike Scott is now a silent key. Mike was a long-time SPARC club member, long-time member, and webmaster of the W4ORM club and by all reports a terrific person. Also, Mike designed and published this website for SPARC. Many of the original pages were authored by Mike.

Please keep Mike’s spouse and family in your thoughts. More information will be posted as it becomes available.