SPARC

After Holidays Party

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 12/02/2015

In an effort to improve our collective culinary diversity, we have a new venue for this years After the Holidays Party. This year, 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 31, 2016. 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 Beach. Dress is casual.

Be sure to sign up at the meeting or email Bob, N2ESP (click here) with the number of attendees.

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2015 SPARCFest Review

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 11/28/2015

It was a crisp morning, but it was a welcome respite from a summer in Florida that decided to overstay its welcome. Start time was 8:00 AM but as usual, that means folks were lines up at 6:30 to get the best spots. The SPARCFest at Freedom Lake Park in Pinellas Park is in its 3rd year now. This is an extension of the hamfest the club used to do at Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg. The SPARCFest had the usual assortment of people selling treasures from their attic to yours. VE Testing was there as well as the now famous “SPARC Dogs” on the grill. As it was a cold morning, the club sold all its coffee so clearly the club treasurer has an “in with the weather”.

Attached you will find some pictures taken by various folks. If you missed it, we hope you will plan now to attend next year. It’s generally the first or second weekend in November (more to come on an exact date for next year).

Bob, N2ESP tending the cash drawer at the refreshments stand

Tom NY4I turning a hamburger not pressing on it, honest.

Waiting for the rain that NEVER happened

l-to-r: An unknown Gator fan, Clayton KJ4RUS, Bob N2ESP, Johnnie, W4TSP, Ed NZ1Q

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SPARC Eyeball QSL Cards Available

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/12/2015

In order to promote our club, SPARC “eyeball” QSL cards are available free to members. These cards are business card size versions of our world famous W4GAC QSL cards, and feature our web address and Mr. Sun on the reverse side.

Carry a few in your wallet or in your car. When asked about the world’s greatest hobby, simply hand out a card. Personalizing the card with your name and call is encouraged.

Cards are available at all club meetings.

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SKYWARN Basic Spotter Training Available

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 10/30/2015

WHO: Open to all, but you must be 18 to receive an I.D.

WHAT: SKYWARN Basic Spotter training by the National Weather Service.

For more information on SKYWARN, click here.

WHEN: Tuesday, December 15 at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Pinellas Coty EOC 10750 Ulmerton Rd. Largo, FL 33778

Seating is limited to 100 people so sign up by clicking here.

For additional information, contact:

Clayton Parrott, KJ4RUS

Emergency Management Coordinator

Pinellas County Emergency Management

(727) 464-4526

cparrott@pinellascounty.org

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SPARC at the St. Petersburg Science Festival

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/27/2015

<h5>by Bob Wanek, N2ESP —

Not a bad place to spend a Saturday... — Not a bad place to spend a Saturday…

The weather was perfect with a cooling breeze blowing over our waterfront venue. The 20M vertical and VHF/UHF Yagi antennas rose above the tent that provided us shade from the Florida sun. Signage identified our mission as strange sounds emanated from the radios we had set up. This was the scene at the SPARC booth as the 2015 St. Petersburg Science Festival got underway.
Tom, NY4I was searching for satellites to work aided by the custom antenna base/mast assembly designed and built by John, KI4UIP. Two large computer screens showed our visitors the available satellites and radio/antenna operations. Dave, KR4U demonstrated how hams could “text” over the radio using PSK31 as he made contacts around the country. Dee, N4GD and Bob, N2ESP had the best job, teaching our young visitors to tap out their names in Morse code on our code practice oscillators.
Thanks to Leslie, WA4EEZ and Roger, K4SHI who loaned us their PSK/SSB station and Felax, KI4TWQ assisted us getting our station ready for the big show, and Clayton, KJ4RUS who provided our graphics. SPARC members dropping by the booth included Kyle, N4NSS and Coy, KK4JMP.

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Attracting New Hams with Bright, Shiny Objects

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/08/2015

As you may have read on this site, SPARC is setting up a display at the St. Pete Science Festival. This is the first year I have been in town to attend so I thought it would be a “cool” display to go “whole-hog” with the satellite demonstrations. One of the things that first drew me to amateur satellites was, believe it or not, the rotor turning automatically. I visited a ham in Salt Lake City and he had two beams (2m and 440) on a common boom and they were not only moving in the horizontal plane, but also vertical. Being a software person but also a ham, I always loved whenever software controlled hardware. I always thought it was a great integration of computers and radios to automatically track the antenna. Some of you know at Field Days past, we have used my single 2m/440 beam with a simple azimuth rotor to track the satellites. Well, this year at the science festival, we are going a bit bolder.

The setup will be a Yaesu G5500 Azimuth/elevation rotor so the antennas will move in both planes. I have also separated the antennas so we will have one circularly-polarized (CP) 2m beam and one CP 440 beam. This should make for a very cool display with the antenna tracking things throughout the day. I will make sure there is always a satellite we are tracking. When we do have a pass, we will be making attempts to contact other hams on a satellite.

If you are interested in satellites, I highly recommend you come out and help. This should be a great experience to introduce others to the joy we all have received through amateur radio. I owe what some would call a very successful career to my early interest in amateur radio. If you have young teenagers or grandchildren of the same age, you cannot go wrong introducing them to the technical side of our hobby.

I should also mention that AMSAT had a successful launch today of their Fox1A satellite. If all goes well with the initial checkout, there will be an FM satellite available again. I have made many contacts on the old AO-51 and AO-27 from my dual-band radio while mobile. You really do not need much to work them particularly on the higher elevation passes (like right over your head). More information on working these “easysats” is available here.