The SPARC Contesters invite everyone to come out and operate the CQ WPX SSB contest starting at 8:00 PM on Friday, March 23. We will be at the club station to work as many stations as we can–all on phone. The WPX contest is a fun contest as we use a rare prefix (NY4) which makes us a multiplier and hence, a desired station to work. You can experience what it is like to operate on the “other side” of the pileup. Rates of 100 contacts an hour are not … Click for more
Posts published in “Contesting”
In yet another new feature to bring more contesting to you, you can now watch the SPARC contesters live in the shack. Click here to go to the Upcoming HF Events page here and you can watch a live bird’s eye view of the stations operating. It is video only (no sound). We will be down there until 1:00 AM Sunday morning.
You can also watch how we are doing with our real-time score board available here.
While we hope people can make it to the station, this is the … Click for more
This past weekend (February 10th – 11th, 2018), the SPARC Contesters activated the SPARC club station again to participate in the CQ WPX RTTY Contest. You may recall that in last year’s effort, SPARC achieved the highest score in our history and had the top score in the 4th call area. We also had the 7th highest score in the US in the Multi-operator, Single transmitter category.
The WPX RTTY contest, sponsored … Click for more
One of the first Field Days I ever attended (back in 1982) was at the Fairgrounds in Largo (home of the Renaissance festivals). At that event, the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS), the Metro Repeater Association (Metro) and the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) came together in the spirit of inter-club cooperation to put on a huge ARRL Field Day effort. This was complete with a great location, good equipment, operators to man the stations, great food and loads of fun.
SPARC received word that we did well in last year’s RTTY Roundup, Multioperator Low Power category.
- First in the West Central Florida Section
- Second in the US & Canada
- Winning the Southeast Division
Operators enjoying this victory are: KA4IOX, KB8ESY, KP2N, KR4U, N2ESP, N4GD, N4KPJ, N4RI, NY4I, VE3XD, W4CU and W4TSP.
Not to be out done, the 2018 Roundup just ended. Some new antennas and software enabled the W4TA team to beat … Click for more
SPARC members are all welcome and encouraged to assist at the assembly, repair and erection of antennas at W4GAC. 
Starting at 9:00AM on Saturday 12/16, the tower will be lowered to replace the rotator. At the same time, adjustments will be made to accommodate the center support for the new 80/160 dipole. The south end of the dipole will be attached to a tree near 90th Avenue. The north end will terminate at a new “tower” to be installed at the north end of the property. Finally, a new … Click for more
