News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

The monthly SPARC meeting was held Nov 4th at the Claude Moore Community Center. There were 18 members in attendance. As is customary, the meeting began with member introductions and discussion of ham activities in the past month. Special congratulations to Bruce, KJ4MFF, for successfully upgrading to General class and to Gordon, NQ4K, for his certificate in the CQ WW contest.

Bill, WF1L, discussed preparations for the upcoming special event station to take place in the W&OD RR caboose in Herndon. The station will operate Dec 12th and 13th on HF and VHF (on 2m). An inverted-V will be used for HF bands and Bill is seeking antennas for the VHF station. Our operation is at the same time as Herndon's Holiday Model Train Show.

The discussion then turned to club participation in contests. Gordon and Dick, W2YE, encourage members to participate and submit logs. Upcoming contests include the ARRL Sweepstakes in November (both CW and phone) and the ARRL 160 meter and 10 meter contests in December. Results for 2009 Field Day have been posted and SPARC posted a 10th place finish in category 3A with 2,217 QSOs.

Preparations for next year's Virginia QSO Party continued at this meeting. Gordon has begun soliciting for plaque sponsors and growing costs will require a small price increase for the 2010 awards. Two rule changes were discussed and approved: satellite QSO's will specifically be allowed and mobile stations must identify themselves as "mobile" so that proper scores can be determined.

The meeting ended with a viewing of the Icom video on the K3LR super contest station. "Ham shack" is an understatement and the antenna farm at this Pennsylvania station is incredible. If you missed the meeting and would like to see the video, it is available on the Icom web site. Enjoy.

The next club meeting will be Dec 2nd, 7:00 PM, at the Claude Moore Community Center.

73,
--MARK KI4OBT