News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

Wow! Another month went by very, very quickly. And I am late in sending out the reminder for the meeting this coming Wednesday. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM, not 7:30. We voted on this at the last meeting. The change is primarily due to the changing hours at the new meeting place. They are not staying open as late. So see you at 7:00!

I did not do very much this past much. X-Mas took up most of my time. I did have the opportunity to talk about the Virginia QSO Party at the Williamsburg Amateur Radio Club meeting a few weeks ago at the invitation of Hershel, W4TMN. Sixteen members attended. They were enthusiastic and I hope that most of them will participate the 2008 VQP.

The primary event this month is a Ham Gift Exchange. Please bring a present, preferably ham related, to give away. Not too expensive. We will make a little game out of it. In addition, if you want to bring something to talk about, please do so.

I will be bringing refreshments.

We have a few things to discuss concerning the Virginia QSO Party. It is time to begin working on publicity. We need a volunteer to mail flyers to all the clubs in Virginia. We need someone to coordinate with the VA Section and with the Roanoke Division for publicity on their web sites and monthly bulletins. Finally, we need to begin our Virginia County and Independent City Coverage effort. The folks who did these things last year will have first opportunity to volunteer on these tasks this year.

I am looking forward to a good meeting and to seeing you all in the New Year.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The Virginia QSO Party is only 3 months away. 15-16 March (local time).
See http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2008_VQP_Main.html

We are sending an email to all the amateur radio clubs in Virginia to
remind them of the event so that you may start your planning.

Why start planning now, you ask.

Because there are several plaques being awarded which require some
coordination and cooperation between members of your club. For example:

"High Virginia Club - Virginia QSOs Only" only counts QSOs in the
state of Virginia and the key is having many members participating in
the Party and each contributing their log.

"High Multiple Operator Single Transmitter Station" requires several
operators to coordinate their schedules.

"High Expedition" requires planning for one or more suitable
locations in Virginia. Typically these are locations where we have had
few if any QSOs in past Parties.

Some of the single mode or band plaques like the "High Virginia QRP
CW," or "High Virginia Single Operator Digital Mode" requires the ham to
make an early decision as to the mode or band.

So an early start on planning can only be beneficial. In addition, we
hope that reminding hams of the event will foster increased
participation as it has for the past several years.

This year as for the last two years, we are offering to give a
presentation to your club on the Virginia QSO party. This covers the
rules and statistics from prior Parties. We gave this presentation to 10
clubs in 2007 and to 7 clubs in 2006. If you have not seen the
presentation before, please email me at nq4k@arrl.net and we will see if
we can arrange a visit to your club.

See you on the air!

73,
Gordon, NQ4K
Chair, Virginia QSO Party

Hi,

Another month has gone by quickly. It is time for the December SPARC meeting.

NEW LOCATION FOR MEETING. Starting this month our meetings will be held at the Claude Moore Park Recreation Center. See our web page for directions. Go to http://www.qsl.net/sterling and follow the links or go directly to http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Meetings/meetings.htm.

I personally was very active on the bands this month. I worked both the ARRL sweepstakes phone and the CQWW CW contest. Had a great time on both. This was my first CW contest and had fun. Of course it was all mostly computer sending and receiving, but still fun.

Dick, W2YE, has been collecting information on club participation in the ARRL and CQWW contests. Hopefully he can bring us all up to date and we can hear from other club members on how well they did.

This month we have a special guest speaker. Russ, W3RST, will talk to us on Rover Operations. Russ is the expert and I have never done one, so I am planning on learning a lot. I have seen his truck a few times, and it is an amazing vehicle loaded with radios.

In addition, we will have a final review of the rules for the Virginia QSO Party. Dick, W2YE, started the discussion at the last meeting with the review of other State's parties and we were interrupted by closing time.

Finally, I am looking forward to some great Christmas refreshments from Jim, AF4MO.

See you at the meeting,

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The Loudoun Amateur Radio Group will be holding a free 2-day Amateur Radio “Boot
Camp” where you can learn everything you need to earn your entry-level Technician class
Amateur Radio License.

Date: Jan 19-20, 2008
8:00am – 6:00pm both days
Location: Leesburg VFW Hall
401 Old Waterford Rd. NW, Leesburg, VA
For class details, go to WWW.K4LRG.ORG, then click “TRAINING”
To reserve your seat, call 703-404-8398 or email KW4H@ARRL.NET

73,
Gordon, NQ4K