12/05/2025
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
SPARC will again be participating in the St. Petersburg Science Festival. This event is designed to
provide children hands-on access to the wide world of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).
If you are interested in being part of SPARC’s ham radio demonstration team, please contact Bob, N2ESP. Additional details on the festival can be found by clicking here.
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Don’t miss a special presentation by Retired USAF Colonel Craig Hook, KE4VPK and SPARC member. Craig will tell us about military use of communications equipment used in the field and share some of his slides from his deployment in Afghanistan right after 9/11.
The US Military has developed robust satellite communications used in conjunction with more traditional HF radio communications. We will hear about communications equipment in the military, how it is deployed, used, important features, and some of Craig’s experiences, along with comment on how well it all really works and perhaps an anecdotal story or two.
Craig has degrees in electrical engineering, physics and international law. He served in the military for 25 years, primarily assigned to embassies in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He is fluent in five languages including Russian and Persian and served with the White House Communications Corp as an official White House translator for Presidents Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, and Clinton. Craig has diplomatic translator ratings in nine languages.
Craig retired as US Air Force Colonel in 1999. He was recalled to active duty in Sept 2001 with CENTCOM in Tora Bora, as Station Chief electronic intelligence.
Please add this meeting date to your calendar and don’t miss the special presentation about communications equipment and the military.
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 about every DX country in the world to have a goal. As the DX Marathon site states, “It gives them a reason to turn on the radio each day.”
Congratulations, Scotty!
Here are some pictures I collected from Twitter feeds of the Hamvention in Dayton.
The site behind the DMI Research building where the SPARC station is located is being prepared for the tower. Click on photos to enlarge.
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 rebar is bought, cut and bent. Hole digging to start soon.
The Log Periodic antenna (20M-10M) and rotor that is currently on top of the parking lot container will be placed on the tower.
It ought to be a great antenna setup. Stay tuned for more details….