SPARC

All Hams on Deck

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 01/13/2018

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 arrangements to meet with the boat owner. As an experienced ham and licensed charter captain, Jack was the ideal person to respond to this request for help. Jack was able to quickly identify and correct the problem.

Situations like this are familiar to Jack as he often solves similar issues for members of the St. Pete Yacht Club and Coast Guard Auxiliary. Jack noted that many yacht club member’s boats are equipped with marine SSB radios, and thanks to Jack, the owners now have the knowledge to properly operate them. As a result of Jack’s enthusiasm, some of his “customers” have developed an interest in ham radio, and ultimately attended a SPARC VE team test session.

I received a nice email from the boat owner thanking us for relaying his request for help to our membership and for Jack’s timely response. Jack has agreed to be listed on the SPARC web site as an Elmer (mentor) for maritime ham radio. Thanks Jack for all you do for our hobby.

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Get your Homebrew project ready for Feb 2

By Ed NZ1Q on 01/13/2018

For the last few years, SPARC has held Homebrew Night in February. No, we are not talking about beer. In a long tradition, Homebrew in Amateur Radio is the things you craft yourself that you find useful in some aspect of radio. This is an evening where club members can show the projects they have built over the past year. The loose definition of homebrew equipment is something you built from scratch or a piece of gear you modified to suit your purpose. It can be an antenna project, a useful accessory, a piece of software (yes, radio-related software counts as homebrew), some modification and others. We usually get a good assortment of gear so if you have something you have come up with (or even a kit you built from plans), you are welcome to participate.

The way this works is we take the allotted time (usually 45 minutes), and divide it up by the number of people that wish to show something. You each get that amount of time to show us what you have. We will have the projector available so if you have some pictures and want to create a PowerPoint, or just send one of us the photos we can create the PPT. Some projects like antenna projects cannot travel well so pictures and whatever you have that will show the club what you did are fine.
If you can bring your project to pass around and let members see it, all the better. So, now is your chance to put the finishing touches on your latest project. Please let me know if you need assistance with the presentation part.

If you plan to show something at Homebrew Night, please let Ed NZ1Q or Tom NY4I know as soon as you can so we can get a count and schedule time.

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A Tale of Two Roundups

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 01/08/2018

SPARC received word that we did well in last year’s RTTY Roundup, Multioperator Low Power category.

First in the West Central Florida Section
Second in the US & Canada
Winning the Southeast Division

Operators enjoying this victory are: KA4IOX, KB8ESY, KP2N, KR4U, N2ESP, N4GD, N4KPJ, N4RI, NY4I, VE3XD, W4CU and W4TSP.

Not to be out done, the 2018 Roundup just ended. Some new antennas and software enabled the W4TA team to beat last year’s score. This year’s team consisted of many experienced operators as well as some first timers. Operators braving this year’s cold weather and poor propagation were: KA4IOX, KB8ESY, KP2N, KR4U, KX4HL, N2ESP, N4BUA, N4GD, N4RI, NY4I, W4CU, W4TSP and WA4EEZ. Helping us brave the chilly weather was a crock pots of chili provided by Tom, W4CU and Sloppy Joes courtesy of Ron, KP2N.

Pat, KX4HL Learning the Ropes on the Run Station

Ron, KP2N Cursing Propagation at the Mult Station

Lisa, KC1YL [L] Watches Leslie, WA4EEZ [R] Running

Problems with our triplexer prevented us from taking advantage of the log periodic antenna on multiple bans simultaneously. Dave, KR4U quickly diagnosed problems with the band pass filters, so our new 160/80M fan dipole was quickly put into service. The new 40M vertical dipole combined with the 160/80 dipole enabled the late night ops to run as well as search for multipliers on 40M & 80M throughout the evening. A few of the ops were new to contesting and N1MM+ software, so there was a bit of a learning curve. There was a lot of Elmering (mentoring) and hand holding for the first few QSOs, a small price to pay for bringing new blood into the Radiosport arena.

Many thanks to all those folks who worked on the station improvements that lead to another good effort by the SPARC Contest Team.

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HF Propagation presentation is now available

By Ed NZ1Q on 01/08/2018

“The Sun and HF Propagation” presentation by Lu W4LT, has been uploaded to the SPARC Resource Page under Ham Radio Resources. Look toward the bottom of the left-hand column on this website (www.sparc-club.org) to view the presentation.

Many thanks to Lu for sharing his presentation with SPARC and his presentation at the last club meeting.

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Battery Presentation to be given at UPARC

By Ed NZ1Q on 12/27/2017

The Battery Presentation will be given by Ed, NZ1Q at Upper Pinellas ARC on Saturday Jan 6. If you have an interest in batteries and missed the original presentation at SPARC you can attend the meeting at UPARC. The presentation focuses on rechargeable storage batteries of all types and touches on how to get the longest life out of your batteries as well as charging and discharging tips.

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From President – A Year in Review

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 12/27/2017

As the year comes to an end, we look forward to what awaits us in 2018. In 2017 we put the final issue of the SPARC GAP Newsletter to bed. In this age of electronic and social media, hard copy has become a thing of the past. How many of you still use paper logs? One exception is the introduction of our new tri-fold SPARC Brochure that introduces the club to people interested in amateur radio. That being said, having been reelected President, I am struggling with ways to include the scope and feel of our former newsletter’s articles and information in the new electronic format. I actively solicit ideas from you, the membership, as to how to improve our external club communications.

We had a busy 2017. Our new 220 MHz repeater was installed by Dee N4GD and Ron KP2N. SPARC participated in the CQ WPX RTTY and Florida QSO Party contests. Felax, KI4TWQ and John, KI4UIP installed an automated weather station at the club location. Weather reports are available on the Weather Underground site and on the SPARC web site home page.

Our field day turned out to be a fantastic event. Even with limited participation, we were able to put three stations on the air. Our station featured real time reporting of contest statistics on our web site as well as on a big screen at the station itself. Many thanks to Tom, NY4I for this innovative addition to our contest environment.

A new event took place at our July meeting in the form of a mobile installation contest. It was fun to see the various ways our members have installed their radios and antennas on their vehicles. Our NAQP RTTY Contest effort was initially cancelled, but a last minute postponement at DMI enabled us to participate, however the mini hamfest was cancelled. W4TA finished 13^th in the Multi-Two category. The much anticipated solar eclipse had a few SPARC members participating in the Solar Eclipse QSO party. Hopefully our participation will provide some additional knowledge for the scientific community.

The return of the Makrothen RTTY contest had the W4TA contesters racking up over 2 million points in this fun contest. Good work team. We also learned that the SPARC team won first place in the fourth call area in the WPX RTTY Contest held earlier this year.

The St. Petersburg Science Festival demonstration was a great success. Look for details and a video elsewhere on the SPARC web site. On the same day, Tom, NY4I finished up teaching the General license course, followed up by testing by the SPARC VE Team.

SPARC is in the process of selling a large amount of SK equipment. The SPARCFEST was the place to get your bargains. We had over 50 vendors, and as a result, we significantly enhanced the club treasury. Check out our Face Book page for a great video of the fest by Ed, NZ1Q. The last opportunity to get these SPARC bargains was at the Tampa Bay Hamfest in Plant City. Most of our inventory sold, funding more club activities. We have implemented a new website format that should be easier to read. Let us know if you like it.

Our after the holidays party venue is still in limbo, as the restaurant we have used for the past two years suddenly closed. Keep an ear to the nightly net or this web site for the latest details.

We welcomed a number of new members to our club:

Peter – AA4PD, Ken – KB4EVT, Jeff – NE4C, Andy – N9PNL, Robert – W2RJD, Ron – W4RFA, Frank – K4FRP, Terry – KN4DXE, Steven – KN4EGO, Al – N4NBM, Michael – KA8VKO, Mark – KA4JVY, Molly – KN4GFN, Will – KN4GCK, Larry – KN4GWV, Kenneth – N4HYV, Mark- KM4PHH, Earl – KN4GWT, Wil – W7WMS, Ed – KN4GJU and Patrick – KX4HL.

Finally, we note the passing of former members:

Arthur Chartier, KG4TGR

Colonel Craig Hook, Ret, K4YTB (ex KE4VPK)

Dick Keller, KF4NS

Ken Hopkins WA9WCP

Neil Lauritsen, W4NHL

Gretchen Caruso, KB0SDR

RIP.

73,

Bob – N2ESP

P.S. A funny for this missive: I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I can’t put it down.