11/26/2024
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
Another Winter Field Day has come and gone (more than a few weeks ago due to my belated report). The weather was mild if not just a tad cold at night (for us Floridians anyway). The now annual combined Winter Field Day effort between the Clearwater ARS, St. Petersburg ARC and Upper Pinellas ARC took place the weekend of January 25 at the Clearwater Fire Training Center.
As you may recall, the club experienced damage due to the tornado in Pinellas Park last week.
Dave KR4U, John KI4UIP, Pat AA0O and Billy KN4LUZ were on site to work on the project (The author arrives late so anyone was had already left, please accept my apology for the omission).
The tower was bent just above the first section nesting point. With the help of a crane secured by Pat AA0O, the tower was safely lowered on Thursday 2/13 along with the … Click for more
The recent tornado that passed through Pinellas Park on Thursday February 6th was not kind to SPARC. While this damage pales in comparison to people that had trees fall on their homes; nonetheless, the tower at the club station suffered some damage such that it will not crank down. The tower appears to have bent at the base of the joint where the sections overlap. One element on the log periodic antennas appears damaged as well.
Further behind the club station, you can see from this picture … Click for more
For the last few years, SPARC has held Homebrew Night in February. No, we are not talking about beer. In a long tradition, Homebrew in Amateur Radio is the things you craft yourself that you find useful in some aspect of radio. This is an evening where club members can show the projects they have built over the past year. The loose definition of 
homebrew equipment is something you built from scratch or a piece of gear you modified to suit your purpose. It can be an antenna project, a … Click for more
Don’t forget about the annual SPARC after-holiday party on February 9, 2020. That is the Sunday after the club meeting and the same weekend as Orlando Hamcation. So unless you are spending the whole weekend in Orlando, stop by Brooklyn Pizza in Seminole and join the club at 3:00 PM. No signup needed as there is plenty of room. More info is available here.