SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

After Holidays Party

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 01/02/2017

This years After the Holidays Party is right around the corner. We will have the entire Skyway Diner, 4000 34^th Street South, St. Petersburg at our disposal. Note: This is NOT Skyway Jack’s. The Skyway Diner is further south on the east side of US 19.

The festivities will start at 3:00PM on Sunday, January 29, 2017. Members will order off the menu, and are responsible for their own bill. Rumor has it that Santa may stop by on his way to his timeshare on St Pete … Click for more

Skywarn Training

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 12/01/2016

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue will host a National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Severe Weather Spotter training on December 14th. This free 75-minute long class will be delivered by Tampa Bay National Weather Service Warning and Coordination Meteorologist Dan Noah. Those completing this training will receive a weather spotter’s guidebook and become part of a nationwide network of citizen monitors. Citizen monitors report anomalies such as tornados, flooding rains and extreme temperatures.

WHO: Anyone! You can attend the training even if you do not want to be an official spotter.

WHEN:… Click for more

URGENT Action Required for the Amateur Radio Parity Act!

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 11/21/2016

From the ARRL:

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), is still not supporting H.R. 1301 / S.253 the Amateur Radio Parity Act.

In fact, Senator Nelson has placed a “hold” on the legislation, effectively barring consideration of the Bill despite its widespread bipartisan support. If this hold isn’t removed, the bill will die in the Senate and require the process to completely start over when the new Congress begins on January 1, 2017.

You are one of well over 40,000 licensed Amateur Radio operators living in Florida. Many of you already live … Click for more

2017 Dues Payable Now

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/15/2016

Rejoin now and get the entire 2017 year paid up, only $15 for all 12 months. You get all our club activities, events, club station, newsletter, meetings, e-mail reflector, websites and a lot more. You can re-up at any meeting or by mail.

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Sweepstakes Operators Needed

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/13/2016

You are invited to join the SPARC Contesters as W4TA participates in the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes contest beginning this Saturday at 4:00PM. Sweepstakes is the oldest domestic amateur radio contest held, beginning in 1930.

We will gather around 1:00PM to reinstall our temporary 40M/80M dipole antenna, with operating activities starting at 4:00PM. The object of this contest is to exchange QSO information with other stations in the United States and Canada (including territories and possessions) using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands. While the contest lasts … Click for more

W4TA back in Contest Mode…New Antennas Work Great

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/06/2016

With the completion of the relocation of our Log Periodic antenna on our new tower and the erection of a temporary dipole for 40M/80M, W4TA is on the air. The tower puts the antennas up around 55 feet. And boy do they work well in combination with the Alpha 9500 amplifier. We inaugurated the antenna/amplifier combination in the CW Sweepstakes contest, the oldest contest in amateur radio. It was no effort to hold a frequency and it was fun to hear the pile ups focused on us.

Congratulations to all … Click for more