SPARC | St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

Another W4TA RTTY Win

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 12/13/2019

W4TA, the SPARC Contest Group, continues its winning ways by taking First Place in both the West Central Florida section and ARRL Southeast Division as well as Third Place in USA/Canada in the Multi-operator, Single transmitter, Low power category of the 2019 RTTY Roundup.

Posting a score of 88,788 points were: Paul KA4IOX, Rex KB8ESY, Ron KP2N, Dave KR4U, Bob N2ESP, Dee N4GD, Don VE3XD, Tom W4CU, Johnnie W4TSP and Leslie WA4EEZ.

If you are interested in joining this elite group of operators in the 2020 RTTY Roundup, save January … Click for more

SPARC’s Winter Field Day Plans

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 12/13/2019

Only 16 Days left to register to ensure your meals

Do you like operating in the field but hate dripping in sweat while setting up antennas? Does the idea of enduring another Field Day constantly fighting off every mosquito in Tampa Bay make you wish they held Field Day in January? Well, you’re in luck! Winter Field Day is an event very similar to the June ARRL Field Day except—you guessed it—it’s held in Winter. Specifically January 25 & 26, 2020. This is the third time SPARC is participating in … Click for more

W4TA World Champs

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 11/13/2019

Radio teletype (RTTY) may be a technically ancient mode of communication in these days of sophisticated digital modes, but it can be a lot of fun. Members of SPARC’s contest team proved that by winning 1^st place Worldwide and 1^st place North America in the Multi-Operator High Power (Multiple Transmitter category in the 2019 running of the Makrothen RTTY Contest. With a total score of 3,003,769 points consisted of 652 QSOs, each having an average distance of 2,902 mi (4,607 km).

Member taking place in this record setting … Click for more

Great turn out for SPARC Fest 2019!

By Pat AAØO on 11/10/2019

The 2019 SPARC Fest started off a little rainy in the early hours during setup, but cleared up before the official start time to make for a very nice day. Many people commented that it was the best turn out yet with an unofficial count of over 50 vendors. The SPARC Dogs were a big hit as well as the donuts. We look forward to next year!

Related Images:

Virtual Science Festival 2019

By Ed NZ1Q on 11/01/2019

Since the weather caused the Sci Festival to be canceled a few weeks ago, the Festival Committee has provided a Virtual Science Fair as mentioned in their note below. SPARC’s video was included near the beginning as you scroll down their web page – leave time for downloading as you scroll.

“Dear Valued Exhibitors,

We are proud to share a Virtual Science Festival with you! We are so grateful for our sponsors and exhibitors preparedness and wanted to show off what would have been an amazing Saturday event.
We compiled … Click for more

1500 watts and a Beam…

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 10/22/2019

With apologies to “100 watts and a wire”, why not go big with the SPARC remote club station! For those that may not know, one of the benefits of SPARC membership is access to a great remote station. The station happens to be the SPARC club station we use for contesting. The station is available using the RemoteHams software (free or $10 for an Android app).

Using your PC and headset, or a paddle and keyer if you prefer (including a straight key if you are really adventurous), you can … Click for more