11/24/2024
St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
Don’t miss a special presentation by Retired USAF Colonel Craig Hook, KE4VPK and SPARC member. Craig will tell us about military use of communications equipment used in the field and share some of his slides from his deployment in Afghanistan right after 9/11.
The US Military has developed robust satellite communications used in conjunction with more traditional HF radio communications. We will hear about communications equipment in the military, how it is deployed, used, important features, and some of Craig’s experiences, along with comment on how well it all … Click for more
SPARC member and fellow W4TA contester Scott O’Keefe N4RI placed second in the 2015 CQ DX Marathon Formula class. Scotty finished with 250 countries worked in 2015 just behind winner Joe W4TV with 254 countries. The Formula class is for people that are using only vertical or simple dipole antennas and 100 watts (there is a separate QRP category).
You can find out more information about the DX Marathon here. The way the award resets each year allows the people that have worked just … Click for more
Here are some pictures I collected from Twitter feeds of the Hamvention in Dayton.
The site behind the DMI Research building where the SPARC station is located is being prepared for the tower. Click on photos to enlarge.
Next step is getting the dirt out that is in the way of the concrete (a.k.a. a BIG hole is needed). White paint marks the spot! The hole will be dug near the building foundation. The tower base will be angled to allow folding over with clearance for the fence and A/C units. John, KI4UIP reports the … Click for more
SPARC member Tom, NY4I has taken responsibility for the bridge program that enables two 
popular ham radio programs to share QSO data.
“N1MM” is a popular contesting program that is configurable for competition in most international Radiosport contests. “DXKeeper” is the logging component of a suite of programs known as “DX Labs.” The “bridging” program Tom is working on transfers the QSOs entered in N1MM to DXKeeper in real time. This allows you to update your needed DXCC entities list as you are contesting. The bridge is also compatible … Click for more