SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

Plan now for Home Brew Night in March

By Ed NZ1Q on 01/07/2019

Yes, it is that time of year again. Get your Home Brew project ready for the March 1 club meeting. This year HB Night will be in March (the Feb club program will be announced soon).

SPARC’s usual “HB Show & Tell” includes projects that may range from your own design to modifications or unique interconnections. Anything ham related is acceptable and could include antennas, rigs, software, feedlines, shack power, remote operating, boat-anchors and more. See the clip below for more ideas.

Last year we had 7 … Click for more

SPARC Program, Friday, Jan 4: Antenna Analyzer demonstration

By Ed NZ1Q on 12/28/2018

The SPARC meeting program will demonstrate the most useful measurement modes including SWR, Resonance, Antenna Tuning, Coax loss and others uses. We’ll have the popular MFJ analyzer for the demo. If you have another brand that has other interesting features, bring it along.

Join us at our new meeting place, 5th Ave Baptist Church in St Pete, 7:30 PM.. See directions elsewhere on this web site.

Related Images:

Dues to increase in 2019

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/24/2018

At the November meeting of the SPARC Executive Board, members of the board voted to increase annual dues by $5.00 for each membership category required to pay dues. This makes an individual membership $20.00 and a family membership $25.00. SPARC has not had a dues increase in many years. As costs increase, so do the club’s financial obligations. In order to be fiscally responsible, a slight dues increase will keep our club in good financial shape.

The dues increase is effective January 1^st, 2019. Dues may be paid … Click for more

SPARC Contesters Operating ARRL Sweepstakes SSB Right Now!

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 11/17/2018

Bob N2ESP, Rex KB8ESY, Tom NY4I and Frank KN4PZY so far have been operating the ARRL Sweepstakes at the newly relocated SPARC club station. This contest runs until Sunday night at 10:00 PM, but we usually break at night. The best way to ensure we are here is to check the camera where you can view the station in operating. You can always find that on the Upcoming HF Operating Events page. If you want to come down and operate or just hang around talking radio, stop by.

You … Click for more

SPARC Fest 2018 – a big hit!

By Ed NZ1Q on 11/13/2018

SPARC Fest was a once again a great success. The open field at Freedom Lake Park was packed with sellers and buyers. This Free Ham Fest is becoming more popular every year. It was great to see many Hams from all over the region attend. See you next November!

Video clip details here.

Related Images:

2018 Field Day Results

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 11/09/2018

While Field Day “isn’t a contest”, for those that like to keep score, the December 2018 issue of QST has the 2018 Field Day results. The combined CARS/SPARC/UPARC event racked up a score as submitted with 1253 total contacts and a total score of 5180 in the 3A class (3 transmitters, club-portable). By way of comparison, among the other 3A class participants, that placed us 42nd in the country out of 304 entrants, 1st in WCF, 2nd in Florida and 5th in the ARRL Southeastern division.

They even managed

… Click for more