Posts published in “Operating”

Are You Ready to RTTY…

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 07/13/2019

As announced at the last meeting, will be participating as W4TA in the North American QSO Party-RTTY.

This contest begins at 2:00 PM local time on Saturday July 20, 2019. The contest continues for 12 hours, ending early Sunday morning. W4TA will be operating in class M2, i.e. two transmitters will be on the air at the same time, but on different bands.

This contest is a great chance for newcomers to get your feet wet in digital contesting. WARNING: RTTY contesting is addictive, so plan to stay awhile. … Click for more

Field Day 2019 Wrapup

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 07/03/2019

One could not have asked for better weather. An old standard is that ARRL Field Day is the fourth full weekend of rain in June. This year, that axiom proved false as there was not any rain in site the entire weekend. Of course, this being Florida, no rain at the tail end of June means heat—and it was HOT!

The three club banners on the big fire tower stairs [N2ESPhoto]

Antennas

Therefore, the antenna crew got an early start on Saturday June 22, raising the … Click for more

Who Needs Propagation?

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 06/24/2019

SPARC members were out in force for the 2019 Open Season QSO Party sponsored by Ten-Ten Net International, Inc. Using PSK 31, 5 watts and a flagpole antenna, Robert aka Dean, W8IM won not one but three certificates as shown below: 1^st Place QRP, 3^rd Place World, and 1^st Place 8^th call area.

Terrific effort Dean. Dean also noted that SPARC members Leslie, WA4EEZ and Dave, WS1ETI participated in the contest.

… Click for more

Information about Attending Field Day

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/18/2019

The following information may be useful for those attending the 2019 Field Day at the Clearwater Fire training Center, especially if this is your first Field Day.

As you may be aware, the radio room is inside, but setup will of course be outside for antenna work. You may want to bring a change of clothes/shirt, etc. The facility has showers and locker rooms if you so desire but you may want to bring your own towel/toiletries. Setup starts at 8:00 AM Saturday morning. We will have coffee and … Click for more

What is this Field Day Thing I Keep Hearing about and Why Do I Care?

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 05/22/2019

Last Day to Signup to be Guaranteed Meals: Monday June 17. Click here to sign up…

Hang around any group of hams in the springtime and eventually the subject of Field Day will come up. New people must be absolutely bewildered trying to understand this thing others speak of so fondly. So for those that may be new, or even those that know about Field Day but have not made it out to one in awhile, here is an overview.

Just Announced

We will be conducting an education … Click for more

2019 Florida QSO Party Report

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 04/29/2019

Wyoming and North Dakota proved elusive during the 2019 Florida QSO Party.

Building on our half-time report, we completed the 2019 Florida QSO Party under very tough 40 meter conditions with 1185 QSOs. Our goal was to defend our 2018 Club win and get some new operators on the radios. We ran two stations—20 and 40 meters. 40 meters during the day was quite challenging as 10 and 15 meters are not much use nowadays. We had 630 CW QSOs and 555 SSB QSOs. Dave KR4U had the high … Click for more