News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

It is time for the May SPARC meeting. Time has really flown since the
last meeting and I did not get on the air at all.

We have three things to discuss at the meeting this month.

First, the Virginia QSO Party is coming to a close. Dick, W2YE, and I
finished scoring the paper logs at my home a week ago. The scores have
been posted to our web site and, after an initial flurry of corrections,
the scores database is as correct as we are going to get it. We ended up
with 353 logs. At our meeting next week, we can review the list of
plaque awardees and more importantly, discuss the awards ceremony to be
held at the Manassas Hamfest on Sunday, 3 Jun 07. I hope everyone can
pitch in again like they did last year.

We are now the 4th largest State QSO Party behind Florida, California,
and Pennsylvania, based upon the number of logs submitted. Not too bad
considering that we are the 11th in terms of the number of hams.

Second, Field Day is coming up soon. Jim, KF4PQL, volunteered to get
permission to use Park View High School. We also updated the
"Plan" from last year so we can use that for our discussion of this
year's field day activities. At least four ideas that bear some
additional thought. First, Jim, KF4PQL, and Ray, KD4RSL, mentioned
operating a 10M station in conjunction with the VHF station. Second,
John de N3QT and Don, K7CS, had a discussion of some different antennas
to improve our scores. This is going to be important because the solar
minimum is continuing and so propagation will not be as good as last
year. Next, maybe we can talk about testing the computers before field
day to verify they work OK. Finally, I am hoping that someone has a good
idea about operating facilities. Computer monitors are still had to see
in the bright light and it got very wet last year and very hot the year
before.

Finally, it is that time of the year, where we nominate officers for
next year with the election being at the June meeting. We are always
looking for new leadership. Jim, KF4PQL, indicated that 2 years is
enough as Vice President, so we are looking for someone to take on that
responsibility. In addition, if anyone wants to be President, I will not
stand in their way.

See you at the meeting,

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The number of logs received has reached 341 and Dick, W2YE, has not reported the paper logs received today.

We have already scored 312 between the electronic processing and the paper logs we checked at the last club meeting.

That leave at least 29 plus the paper logs that will come in the mail.

I propose a scoring party at my home on Sunday, 22 April, at 1300. Should only take an hour or two to complete.

If you can come, please email back, or just show up and join the fun.

See you then,

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

******************
On, 4/10/2007 8:46 PM, gormil@aol.com emailed::
> Hi,
>
> Dick, W2YE, made his pickup at the club mail box / ARRL In-coming QSL buro Mail box. With the ones he received on Monday and the ones we already had, we now have 313 logs received. Hams have until 15 Apr to mail their logs. So we have 1 -2 weeks to go.
>
> Last year we did 279. A good increase.
>
> Two club meets ago, we did a pool to see how many we would receive. Here are the guesses:
>
> Henry, K2BFY 343
> Don, K7CS 352
> Bill, WF1L 400
> Gordon, NQ4K 500
>
> We will probably be having a scoring party at my home. I will send around a date/time in a couple of days.
>
> 73,
> Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

It is that time of the month again for a SPARC meeting.

The month has gone by very quickly. The Virginia QSO Party happened. Several of us (Henry, K2BFY; Dick, W2YE; Jim, KF4PQL; John de N3QT, Gordon, NQ4K; and Bill, WF1L) worked operated as the club station, K4NVA, on CW and SSB at Dick's. Kevin, W4KLS, operated as K4NVA from his home station on RTTY. Had a really good time. Several of us also worked a few stations at our own stations. Since then, we have received about 220 logs via email. Using Henry's scoring program, we have re-scored most of them already. Dick, W2YE, reports that he has about 40 paper logs. We are therefore at about 260 logs and still have several weeks to go before the deadline for submissions.

For the club meeting,

First, we have another film to watch.

Second, we need to do some long range planning for field day. It is coming up soon and we need to finalize our location.

Finally, if we have time, we can verify the score on the paper logs. I am sure Dick will be bringing the logs that he has received. Not exciting, but needs to be done.

See you at the meeting.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K