News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

SPARC held their monthly meeting on Sep 7th at the Claude Moore Recreation Center. There were 17 members present.

The meeting started with member introductions and our annual "show and tell". Notable achievements included Bill, KJ4VTH, who recently upgraded to Extra class. Congratulations Bill!!

Gordon, NQ4K, gave a report on the sale of ham gear from Art Nevins, WA4NTP. Nearly all of the equipment has been sold and Art has graciously donated a portion of the funds to SPARC. Art is a former president of SPARC. Thanks, Art. Now, if we could just get Don to pick up that 2-meter rig and try his hand at a little FM.....

The main item of interest was locating a new meeting location. The staff at the Community Center is no longer able to support us beyond 8:00 PM. It was the desire of the club to keep the meeting time from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Fortunately (in the days following the meeting), Jim Purks was able to locate a new location at the Easter Loudoun Sheriff's office on East Frederick Drive in Sterling. We'll begin meeting there in October.

Gary, K4SRX, discussed possible club involvement with ARES and recommended that we establish an ARES liaison in SPARC. Gary will work with Jim, KF4PQL, to develop a detailed recommendation for discussion at an upcoming meeting.

Initial plans for SterlingFest were presented and SPARC will again operate an HF station and support an information booth. The festival will take place this year on Oct 8th, and setup starts at 9:00 AM. We should receive our booth location soon. The detailed plan can be found on the website and will be finalized at our next meeting.

The club calendar for 2011-2012 has been posted and there are still several openings for presentations. Several ideas were proposed and included QSLing, bureau operations, Skywarn, and Band Plans. If you have any ideas or suggestions for presentations, please bring them with you to the next meeting.

We had a brief discussion on running a license class and exam session this year. We will examine the possibility of including a General Class session if enough volunteers are available. Discussions will continue at the next meeting.

Our next meeting will be on October 5th, 7:00 PM, at the Eastern Loudoun Station of the Sheriff's Office.

73,
--MARK KI4OBT