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.
Please note this is an archived page. The SPARC remote station was removed to support the transition to a multi-transmitted contest station. While this may return in the future, there is not set time frame or even commitment to do so.
A few people have asked recently how to get started on the SPARC Remote station. For those that may not know, a benefit of SPARC membership is the ability to use the club station remotely via your PC. This is done via the free RemoteHams software. The complete RemoteHams Getting Started Guide is available as a PDF. I highly recommend reading this before you get started.
Assuming you are a member of SPARC and are in the Tampa Bay area (we limit it to local members so people in Seattle for example don’t join just for the remote). The first step is to go to the remotehams.com website and create an account. It is important to use your callsign as your account name. After you register, download the software. Note this software is available for only Windows or an Android phone (the phone app has a nominal cost). If you have a Mac, use your favorite emulator (I did not write the software so I cannot change what it available). You can select the latest version 8 or version 9 client. Version 9 is beta but does include support for a straight key/paddle via an interface device. If you are interested in using a paddle for CW, ask Tom NY4I for more info on how to do this. Dean W8IM does this all the time with great success.
This is a great way for people that may not have their own HF station at home or have limited antennas. We have a great HF station capable of using 160 meters through 6 meters. You have access to an Elecraft K3, a fully controllable rotor and access to the Elecraft KPA1500 HF amplifier. Once you setup your headset and use the interface, it is quite easy to operate. Before you are allowed to transmit, we will ask that you get checked out the equipment. We want to make sure you know how to operate the station. We can arrange that at the station in person or even remotely depending upon your experience level.
The remote is woefully underutilized now so I hope this reminder stimulates some people to take advantage of it. One way to keep up on what is happening with the remote station is to connect to our RemoteHFStation email group. Send an email to SPARCRemoteHFStation+subscribe@groups.io to subscribe.
For some interesting free weather software, check out www.windy.com
Top Ten Ways You Know You Just Might Be Married To a Ham
10) His favorite superheroes are Marconi and Tesla.
9) His sense of wellbeing is tied to the sunspot cycle.
8) His electric shaver has a backup diesel generator.
7) He shows you his PL-259 connector.
6) For a romantic honeymoon, he chooses Dayton over Tahiti.
5) He rates your love making in S units.
4) He buys you an HT for your anniversary.
3) He attaches a mag mount antenna to the baby’s stroller.
2) When whispering sweet nothings in your ear, he ID’s every few minutes.
1) When the moment is right, he is on the radio….
From the February 2011 edition of the LIMARC LOG
73 Magazine for FREE
Published from 1960 through 2001, 73 Magazine aka Amateur Radio Today is now available online from the non-profit Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/73-magazine
RSVPs to an Invitation to the Scientists’ Millennium Ball
*Lagniappe: (LAN-yap) “A little something extra.”
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.
