SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

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

Log Periodic Antenna Moved

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/02/2016

The Log Periodic antenna was transferred from its old location atop the shipping containers to the new tower by John, KI4UIP; Donn, N4KII; Dave, KR4U; Bob, N2ESP; and Hal, W1EES. Ron, KP2N replaced the logging computer power supply. With luck, W4TA will be ready for the sweepstakes. Click on title for photos.

lp2 — The LP antenna removed from shipping containers.

lp1 — The LP antenna installed on new tower.

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Antenna Modeling with EZNEC

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/02/2016

The program for Friday, Nov 4, will be antenna modeling, building simple models and then comparing them to more complex antennas. Ed, NZ1Q will demonstrate EZNEC software, which offers a free demo program that can be easily downloaded. Ed will go through how to build an antenna model and read the resulting charts and graphs for a simple dipole, a two element beam and then as time permits, an Off Center Fed Dipole and other antennas., Radiation patterns, SWR, impedance matching and effects of grounds will be demonstrated.

Be sure … Click for more

Science Festival a Success

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 10/23/2016

SPARC participated in the St Petersburg Science Festival again this year. The photos below show our hobby can still draw a crowd. Thanks to Leslie, WA4EEZ and Roger, K4SHI for the loan of their HF transceiver and Ron, KP2N for loaning his power supply. Making this effort a success were: Dave, KR4U; John, KI4UIP; Dee, N4GD; Ed NZ1Q; Bob, NB2G and Bob, N2ESP.

spsf16-setup1 — John, KI4UIP and Dave, KR4U begin setup of our booth.

spsf16-setup3 — Dave, KR4U; John, KI4UIP and Dee, N4GD continue with booth setup.

spsf16-kids5 — Our demonstration begins to draw a

… Click for more

It’s Party Time

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 10/03/2016

Yes, it’s time for an antenna get together.

The plan is to remove the log periodic antenna from atop the storage containers, followed by the mast, rotator and thrust bearing. If you would like to help (or supervise) in this effort, the party starts at 10:00AM on Saturday (9/8) the day after the next SPARC meeting.

Hope to see you there.

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Tower Installed

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 09/27/2016

Our trusty tower team consisting of John, KI4UIP; Donn, N4KII and Dave KR4U were at it again. Today (9/27) the tower tilt mechanism was mated with the telescoping tower. The tower mounts to the base with two large bolts that also serve as hinges when the tower goes from horizontal to vertical or vice versa. Once the third leg is bolted to the base, the tower can then be extended to a raised height of approximately 54 feet.

Final installation details include adding tower grounding, installing the rotor, mast, and … Click for more