News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

SPARC held their monthly meeting on April 7th at the Claude Moore Community Center. Eighteen members were present and we began the meeting with member introductions and discussion of activities this past month.

The business portion of the meeting began with a discussion of the recent Virginia QSO Party. Logs are still being flowing in and, as of the meeting date, 243 logs had been received -- another successful year. An early highlight from the Party is the receipt of a QSL card from Kay Craigie, N3KN, with three separate QSO's to our club station. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Kay is the new ARRL President! To support scoring of the electronic logs, Henry K2BFY has updated the scoring software and Gordon NQ4K reports that it is working fine. For the paper logs we have received, a scoring party will be held at Gordon's QTH on Apr 24th at 0800 local.

Dick, W2YE, provided a report on the QSL Bureau and announced that Jim KF4PQL has taken over as the "X" letter manager. Thanks to Jim for helping out. Dick has printed new bureau information sheets and notices and provided copies to all the bureau letter managers.

Upcoming events include the annual Herndon festival on Jun 5th and 6th. We'll operate a booth on Saturday and provide radio support to the 5K and 10K races on Sunday. Bud, W4KSN, will be preparing details and seeking volunteers for the event.

We held initial discussions on the plans for Field Day and the draft plan will be finished at next month's meeting. We'll operate a class 3A station as in previous years and Jim, KF4PQL, will submit the request to use the site at Park View High School. We had a preliminary talk on antenna options and will finalize plans in May.

It's the time of year for officer nominations. If you'd like to hold a position in SPARC or make a nomination, please contact Gordon NQ4K or Bud W4KSN. Our next meeting will be May 5th, 7:00 PM, at the Claude Moore Community Center.

73,
--MARK KI4OBT

Hi,

Another busy month has gone by and it is time for the April SPARC Monthly meeting.

I had a very full month. I worked the Virginia QSO Party from my home station and also worked a shift at K4NVA station at Dick's, W2YE, QTH. Had a lot of fun. The electronic logs have been coming in. We have about 200 now, they are continuing to come in and we have not opened the paper logs yet. I also worked the ARRL DX Phone contest and the CQ WPS SSB contest. Had a great time in both.

This month's meeting will be interesting.

Refreshments will be provided by Eric, AJ4LN.

Bud, W4KSN, will give a presentation on running a station via remote control. He will use Ham Radio Deluxe as the rig control and Skype as the audio connection. I am not sure what that means but I expect that Bud will explain it to us.

In addition, the Herndon Festival is coming up and if Bud, W4KSN, has any additional information, he can share it with us.

Finally, Field Day is coming up in 3 months. We can discuss any ideas we have for improvements to our operation.

See you all on Wednesday,

73, Gordon, NQ4K