News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

Maybe someone is interested, but a little far away for us.

Gordon, NQ4K
*******

From: Al Brown

A free training class for the Extra Class Amateur Radio license
exam will be held at the Historical Electronics museum beginning
Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30 pm.

The Museum is located at 1745 West Nursery Road in Linthicum.

For directions see:
.

The classes will run approximately 12 weeks, and the FCC exam will
be administered at the last class.

Classes are open to anyone with General class license.

For information or to register contact:
. Phone: 410-765-7279.
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posted by SPARC'ie  # 9:22 PM

Hi,

Jim, AF4MO, and I did a mass mailing to announce our upcoming SPARC meeting on Wednesday, 6 September 2006 at 7:30 PM. A post card was directed to 236 hams in the local area. The words are below.

Jim volunteered to be the contact person if anyone had a had a question about the Club.

The mailing was done through a service offered by the US Postal Service. Very convenient. Upload the words you want on the postcard and the address list, pay the folks, and away it goes.

It will be interesting to see if we get any benefit from the mailing. I understand that this was attempted a few years ago without much success. However, Jim and I got each other enthusiastic about trying it so we did.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

*************

The Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club invites you to attend our next meeting on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 at the Sterling Community Center Annex starting at 7:30 PM. Monthly meetings are on the 1st Wednesday of each month from Sep to Jun.

SPARC is a small, friendly club whose members have a common interest in Amateur Radio. Our meetings typically feature a guest speaker or other activity, a refreshment break, and a club activity planning session. Our major annual activities include supporting Sterlingfest, operating the 2 letter, prefix "4" incoming QSL bureau, running the Virginia QSO Party, participating in Field Day and entering a few contests as a club.

Our website, http://www.qsl.net/sterling, has additional information. Or contact Jim, AF4MO, at 703-437-6379 or jaschappell@cox.net.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

September 9 and 10, 2006 marks the 48th annual F.A.R.Fest amateur radio hamfest at the Montgomery County Agricultural Center in Gaithersburg, MD. F.A.R.Fest will once again host the ARRL Maryland-DC Section Convention.

See http://www.farfest.org/index.php

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

We had an excellent August Pizza Party last night at Joe's Restaurant in Sterling. We all should express our appreciation to John de N3QT for taking the initiative to respond to suggestions for a new Pizza party location and for the coordination.

It was delightful seeing all the members walk in. The attendees were (I hope I have them all) Jim, AF4MO; Bill, KC4ATU; Dick, W2YE; John de N3QT; Joe, WB2SAI; Jim, KF4PQL (and Joyce); Ray, KD4RSL (and his son); Don, K7CS; Henry, K2BFY; Bill, WF1L; Kevin, W4KLS; Russ, W3RST; Don (a soon-to-be ham attending his first meeting), and myself, Gordon, NQ4K (and Carol). A really good turn-out.

We did have one business item. We had to select a new meeting date for the Club. After many years, we will no longer be able to meet at the Sterling Community Center on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Hence forth, we will meet on the 1st Wednesday of each month (except July and August). That date does cause problems for some members, but appears to the best selection for most members of the Club.

We also discussed changing the meeting time. Dick, W2YE, noted that we tend to run a little long at our meetings and suggested that we start our meetings at 7:30 PM instead of 8:00 PM. All present apparently agreed to the change.

See you at the next meeting on Wednesday, 6 September 2006, at 7:30 PM.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

There is a nice mention of Sterling Park ARC in the September issue of QST about our participation in the 2006 ARRL International DX Phone Contest.

In the Affiliated Club Competition list on page 100, Sterling Park ARC is listed in the "Local Category" with 718,539 points with 5 logs submitted.

In the write-up on page 101, it says " "In the Local category, the Wireless Association of South Hills submitted fewer but larger scores to push pas the Mt Frank Contesters to take the gavel. A number of new names made their appearance this year, lead by the Albequerque DX Association and the Sterling Park ARC in 3rd and 4th places."

Good going.

Of course I do not yet understand why the ARRL on-line scores database only shows 3 logs submitted with a total score of 354,966.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K
****************
Dick, W2YE, replies:

Bet you didn't add in the CW DX contest scores, which are included in the totals.

Bet we can do even better this year...

73, Dick, W2YE

Hi,

The summer is almost over. I have not been on the radio much this summer. I hope to get on the air (15M) for the NAQP starting today at 2 for a while. Hope the list of things to do arounf the house does not get too long.

John de N3QT reports:

"I reserved space at "Joe's Pizza" on Sterling Blvd near the Safeway; 8/21/06 @ 6:30p for 15-20 people. The reservation is under SPARC."

JOE'S PIZZARIA ITALIAN RESTAURANT
Telephone: 703 444-9500
Address: 22360 Sterling Blvd #D102 Sterling

I hope to see you all there.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K