News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

Time has gone by quickly and it is time for the December meeting.

I have been busy doing ham radio things this past month. I worked the Worked all Europe (WAE) DX Contest on 8-9 Nov 08 for 61 QSOs and 244 points on 80M. I worked the ARRL Sweepstakes Phone for 53 contacts and 2544 points on 15M. Finally I worked the CQ-WW-CW on 28-29 Nov for 96 contacts and 14632 points on 15M. I had a good time. Also put up a butternut vertical that Don gave me almost two years ago. It works great. Now I am thinking about mounting it on my chimney, but that is for another day.

Refreshments for this meeting will be provided by Mark, KI4OBT.

Mike, KA2ZEV, gave an excellent presentation at the last meeting on his summer vacation. He volunteered to give another presentation for this meeting on "ECM 101." It should be interesting.

Finally, we can talk a little about the status of the VA QSO Party.

See you at the meeting,

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

We had a few more that I did not mention in the original email below.

Make, KI4OBT, emails: Il submit a log for this one, even though it is pretty small. With my location and lack of a significant antenna, the HF contests are tough. I was able to work on 80M early Sun morning and again that evening. Did a little work on 20M late Sunday morning. Talk to you soon. 73, MARK KI4OBT

Henry, K2BFY, emailed: Even though I hate most contests, I managed to make 6 contacts on 20m and 40m. I like the VA QSO party a lot better. VQP is a lot easier. 73, K2BFY

Jim, AF4MO, emailed: I was on this weekend, worked 179 q's and 61 sections. Not quite as good as last year. Last year was 212 q's and 57 sections. Oh well there is next year. 73, JimC

I think that makes a total of 8 entries so far. Anyone else?

73,
Gordon, NQ4K


On, 11/17/2008 9:14 PM, GorMil emailed::
Hi All,

I worked ARRL SS also this weekend. Did 52 QSOs into 24 states. All on 15M. Almost all on west coast and Hawaii. Only 1 on east coast - MDC. Of course I was trying to make a contact and had called a station several times, and who should come booming through but Don, K7CS. Almost ruined my power meter he as so loud and he got through on the first try.

Jim Purks emailed: "I worked the Sweep Stakes this week-end and logged 75 contacts. I know that's not a big accomplishment but I had a lot of fun. One of my contacts was W1AW. I worked some 20 and 40 Meters but mostly 80"

Bill, WF1L emailed: "10 hours worked. 186 QSO's 60 Sections worked 20M was crummy Sunday afternoon. Had to scratch for every Q. 40 & 80 were better pickings and 15M provided a couple surprises. All S&P no Runs.
Bill - WF1L"

Don, K7CS says: "Not much of a showing. Very frustrating to keep calling S9+ stations and can't get them. CQ WW CW is rapidly approaching." Reported QSOs: 101

And of course, Dick, W2YE, says: "I was shooting for 300, but ran a bit short as the "birthday crew" showed up a bit earlier than expected yesterday. Hard to believe I've got 37 year old kids! 15 did have some suprises, like PAC, AK, and a few W7 rare states. Think I wound up with 71 sections."

Anyone else work ARRL SS this weekend?

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Starting Saturday afternoon at 2100Z (5 PM) and going until Sunday evening (0300Z Monday) this contest is an opportunity for folks with modest stations and without CW skills to have fun. If you don't like competing in pileups, by Sunday afternoon all the big guns will have worked the other big guns and you'll be able to get through fairly easy. The exchange, however, is complicated: Serial number, "Precedence" which is "A" for most of us (low power), then your callsign, "Check" which is the year you were first licensed, and finally ARRL section (Virginia). Listen for a while to get the hang of it. Check the contest rules on the ARRL website for more info. Other "precedences" are B, U, M, Q, and S.

This is one of those contests where we can get our club listied in QST. Last year we were 17 of 29 in the "Local" club catagory (see June 2008 QST, page 90).. Not bad, but we can do better. In fact, in the CW portion a couple of weeks ago, Don, K7CS, had a good entry and I had a slightly more modest one, but between the two of us we probably already exceeded our last year's score, so any phone logs will be of great help in getting a decent ranking.

While the CQ contests require a club official to send in a list of claimed scores, ARRL only requires that you specify "Sterling Park ARC" in your log info when you submit it. However, you do need to be a club member in good standing. So if you plan to enter SS, be sure you are listed as a member on the club website, or let me know within a couple of days after the contest, as I will be sending a member list to ARRL HQ.

73, Dick, W2YE

Hi,

Another month has gone by and it is time for our November 2008 Meeting. Wednesday, 5 Nov at 7:00 PM.

I have a great month. worked the CQWW SSB contest with 73 QSOs for 8040 points. Don, K7CS, and Dick, W2YE, both mailed saying they well. I will let them tel you how much better than me they did. Bud, W4KSN, set up a station for the Jamboree on the Air in Ashburn. Craig,KJ4GZY, and I enouyed helping the scouts and made a few contacts ourselves. And we cannot forget Sterlingfest. Several came out. Pictures are at: http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Sterlingfest/2008_Sterlingfest/2008_SF_Pics/2008_Sterlingfest_Pics.html

Bud, W4KSN, will bring the refreshments this month. Lets all encourage him to go all out.

Mike , KA2ZEV, has volunteered to give a presentation on "How I spent my summer vacation" about the 1st year overseas. He mentioned this last year when he first started to come to our meetings. We are just now getting around to getting him on the agenda. This should be interesting.

We do have a few items of club business to complete.

Dick, W2YE, can bring up any remaining Virginia QSO party rule changes. We have had a couple of suggestions since our last meeting.

Finally, We can talk about how well we have done in the recent contests.

See you there!

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Dick, W2YE, and Bill, WF1L, report that ARRL has posted our Field Day results.

Our entry was:
7000 points, Category 3A, 1922 QSOs, and 25 Participants.

Overall, against the total of 2410 entries, we did very well.
112th overall
16th overall in Roanoke Division
10th overall in Virginia Section

We operate a Category 3A station. Here we did very well also.
19th overall in Category 3A
No 2 in Roanoke Division
No 1 in Virginia Section

We are getting better. Here is a comparison of our 2007 and 2008 entries.

2008 ranking was 112 of 2,410 entries 7,000 points, 1,922 QSOs
2007 ranking was 184 of 2,333 entries 5,846 points, 1,403 QSOs

Congratulations to all SPARC'ies for this excellent turnout.

73,
Gordon, NQ4K