SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

New SPARC 220 MHz Repeater Installed

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 04/09/2017

Ron, KP2N, and Dee, N4GD, installing the new WA4AKH 220 MHZ SPARC repeater. Please visit us on 224.660 MHz, no tone required.

KP2N (L) and N4GD (R) installing repeater

SPARC also has repeaters on 147.060 MHZ, no tone, and 444.475 MHZ (tone 146.2). When in the area check us out.

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N4NSS Gets Keyed Up

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 04/09/2017

If you missed last Friday’s meeting, you missed a fine presentation by Kyle, N4NSS on his “sub-hobby” of collecting CW keys. The photos show Kyle in action at the SPARC meeting, as well as a close up of his collection. Click on title to display photos and click on a photo to enlarge it.

Thanks for sharing your collection with us.

Photos by AI4QP.

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Proposed By-Law Change to be Considered at April 7, 2017 Meeting

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 03/29/2017

UPDATE
At the April 7, 2017 meeting, this motion was presented, seconded, discussed but voted down therefore the by-laws remain unchanged.

Pursuant to the notification rules, at the April 7th, 2017 meeting, SPARC will consider a By-Law change. This was introduced at the last meeting.

The proposed change is as follows:

Proposed to amend Article 5, Section 1 by adding
—
2. Prior to a vote of the membership authorizing a non emergency equipment expenditure >$200 the Secretary or party designated by the Secretary, shall make notice as to the … Click for more

Automatic Antenna Switch Decoder added to W4GAC Station

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 03/20/2017

Ron KP2N and Tom NY4I added a Top Ten Devices Band Decoder to the W4GAC station. This switch ties into the existing Six Pack antenna switch. The idea is that rather than the operator having to select the right antenna, the Band Decoder follows a signal sent from the radio that tells the decoder what band the radio is on at the time. The corresponding position is then switched on the antenna switch. So when the radio is on bands 10m – 20m, the Log Periodic is selected. When … Click for more

Operators needed for W4S at the Sun n’ Fun International Fly-In & Expo in Lakeland.

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 03/04/2017

Coverage is needed Tuesday, April 4, through Sunday, April 9, 2017. Operating hours are 0900 – 1700 each day except Sunday, 0900-1500. W4S will be setup at the back West exit of the Museum. General information on the Fly-In, can be found at the Sun n’ Fun web site click HERE.

Volunteer time will be 3 1/2 to 4 hours per day. I need to know the day they wish to and if they would like to work AM or PM hours. Volunteers will get a pass into the … Click for more

SPARC Members attend West Central Florida Section TECHCON

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 02/26/2017

Section Manager Darrell KT4WX discussing PICAXE Microcontrollers.

On Saturday, February 25, several members of SPARC made the trip to Sarasota for the 3rd annual WCF section TECHCON. This is a free technical conference put on by the WCF ARRL section technical staff. The location changes to various places around the section to allow the most section members to attend.

This year, there were two conference tracks. One focused on more introductory topics such as station design, antenna building, APRS and programable microcontrollers such as the PICAXE and the Arduino. … Click for more