SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

Scotty, N4RI, places in the 2015 DX Marathon Formula Class

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/03/2016

WPX RTTY 2009 N4RI — N4RI Working 2009 WPX RTTY

SPARC member and fellow W4TA contester Scott O’Keefe N4RI placed second in the 2015 CQ DX Marathon Formula class. Scotty finished with 250 countries worked in 2015 just behind winner Joe W4TV with 254 countries. The Formula class is for people that are using only vertical or simple dipole antennas and 100 watts (there is a separate QRP category).

You can find out more information about the DX Marathon here. The way the award resets each year allows the people that have worked just … Click for more

Some New Toys Released at Dayton

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 05/20/2016

Here are some pictures I collected from Twitter feeds of the Hamvention in Dayton.

New Kenwood APRS and DStar HT (in the flesh)

Related Images:

Tower Installation Coming Soon

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 05/14/2016

The site behind the DMI Research building where the SPARC station is located is being prepared for the tower. Click on photos to enlarge.

Tower siteA — Silt Fence (required by permit) Protects Grass From Sand

Next step is getting the dirt out that is in the way of the concrete (a.k.a. a BIG hole is needed). White paint marks the spot! The hole will be dug near the building foundation. The tower base will be angled to allow folding over with clearance for the fence and A/C units. John, KI4UIP reports the … Click for more

NY4I, Bridge Builder

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 05/10/2016

SPARC member Tom, NY4I has taken responsibility for the bridge program that enables two popular ham radio programs to share QSO data.

“N1MM” is a popular contesting program that is configurable for competition in most international Radiosport contests. “DXKeeper” is the logging component of a suite of programs known as “DX Labs.” The “bridging” program Tom is working on transfers the QSOs entered in N1MM to DXKeeper in real time. This allows you to update your needed DXCC entities list as you are contesting. The bridge is also compatible … Click for more

May Meeting Program Update

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 05/02/2016

At the May 6th club meeting our program will include several examples of a “Go Box.” These portable communications centers can easily be

transported by one person, setup quickly and provide communications on different bands and modes during emergencies or other communication events..

Learn about their purpose, capabilities, how to plan and make your own. Our presenters will each demonstrate their own projects. We will hear from: Andy, KI4VOS; Udo, KF4KUL and
Clayton, KJ4RUS. We also plan to fire up some of the equipment as a demonstration. … Click for more

Extra Propagation

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 04/26/2016

The SPARC daily net’s Q&A session run by Ed, NZ1Q is moving on to Propagation questions from

the Amateur Extra question pool. Ed and his team have just finished running through questions covering the digital modes available to radio amateurs. A question is presented every evening with answer/discussion following at the end of the net. Those studying for an exam find the material helpful and those licensed long ago learn new material. As an added bonus, occasionally a ham radio trivia question sneaks in, offering some diversity to … Click for more