News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

Another month has gone bye and it is time for our January meeting.

I had a good month. Worked the ARRL 10M contest (29 QSOs on 15M). I turned on an old Clegg Venus and it worked (at least it received. I had an old National power supply and learned when it crackled that it also had a speaker in it that was connected to the radio. Also have a Clegg Apollo 6 amplifier, but have not hooked it up or turned it on. Also, I fixed my daughter's laptop that had a broked power connector. Took it all apart and soldiered a broken soldier joint. Took 8 hours, but it was interesting and fun.

Refreshments this month will be by Duane, K4UW, and Gary, K4SRX.

As usual, we will start our meeting by having all present introduce themselves and tell us about their activities for the past month. If you have something to bring you can talk about, please do that also.

We have three agenda items for this month.

First, the gift exchange. Bring something small and cheap (but very valuable to someone who could use it), preferably ham radio related (or anything else left over from X-Mas past), used or new, and in a bag or wrapped. Some things in the past have been a small screwdriver set, old vacuum tubes, a book, or a roll of wire.

Second, this is annual dues collection. Dues are still $10. Payable to our treasurer Ray, KD4RSL. Please tell our Secretary, Mark, KI4OBT, that you are a member and have paid your dues. (I hope this does not scare Mark and Ray away from the meeting.)

Third, we have some things to talk about in preparation for the upcoming Virginia QSO Party. We are about 2 1/2 months away from the Party and it is time to get the advertising activities started.

See you at the meeting,

73,
Gordon, NQ4K

Reminder: SPARC will operate a special event station from the W&OD caboose in Herndon this weekend, Dec 12th and 13th. Thanks to Bill, WF1L, for organizing the operation. We'll operate on HF (80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m) and VHF (simplex on 146.580 and on various local repeaters when they are not busy). Henry, K2BFY, has created a web site with more details on the event. You can check it out at http://sites.google.com/site/herndonk4h/

73,
--MARK KI4OBT

SPARC held their monthly meeting on Dec 2nd, at the Claude Moore Community Center. We had 18 members in attendance and two guests.

The meeting began with a round of member introductions and discussion of everyone's ham radio activities. Several members reported participating in the ARRL November Sweepstakes, both phone and CW.

This month's presentation was from two members of the 23rd Battalion of the Virginia Defense Force. Chaz Holland and Tom Woolman (KJ4JWO) led a discussion on the mission and activities for this part of the state militia. The Virginia Defense Force reports to the state's Adjutant General and their purpose is to provide support to the National Guard in areas of security (unarmed), communications, and disaster preparedness. They are often called on to secure National Guard facilities and support their families when the Guard is mobilized. The organization is staffed entirely by volunteers and Virginia residents (meeting certain minimum criteria) are eligible to become members. In support of their communications mission, they operate four Mobile Command Posts providing a variety of HF, VHF, and UHF services. Thanks to Chaz and Tom for the informative session.

Reports were provided by the Secretary, Treasurer, and QSL Bureau Manager. Dick, W2YE, is looking for volunteers to take over three letters for the QSL bureau.

Red, N3TG, the trustee for K4NVA, has developed a form to be used when we will use the K4NVA call sign for a club event. Please get in touch with Red if you have an upcoming event. Red also showed a sample of the club's new QSL card. If you organize an event for K4NVA, provide a copy of the log to Red so he can manage our QSLs.

The next club event will take place Dec 12th thru 13th at the W&OD train station in Herndon. The club will be operating HF and VHF stations from the caboose next to the station. Setup will take place on Friday. Contact Bill, WF1L, if you'd like to assist with operating or setup/teardown.

Finally, we discussed preparations for the upcoming Virginia QSO Party (March, 2010). So far, four presentations to other clubs have been scheduled and they will be delivered by Gordon, NQ4K, and Mark, KI4OBT. Several publicity activities will take place: Bill, WF1L, will take care of magazine announcements; Bud, W4KSN, will handle mailings to Virginia clubs; Jim, AF4MO, will organize the calling campaign; and Mark, KI4OBT, will contact the Virginia Section to request an announcement on their web page. We still need a volunteer to pass announcements to as many of the nets as possible.

Our next meeting is Jan 6th at 7:00 PM, at the Claude Moore Community Center. We'll have a little fun with our (sort of) traditional holiday exchange.

73,
--MARK KI4OBT