News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

It is time for the April SPARC meeting. Wednesday, 3 Apr, at 7PM.

I had a great month, but did not do much radio. Too much other stuff going on. Oh well, there is always next month.

Refreshments this month will be provided by Dick, W2YE.

Don, KC4RCG, volunteered to give a presentation on software defined radio.  I read a few articles about this, but remain slightly confused.  I hope that Don will explain all.

We also have several items of club business to go over.

We have a tech class and examination session scheduled for 18-19 May. We still need volunteers for two of the classes and are hoping that some other club members will volunteer as instructors and help some new hams get their start (and really learn the material that techs should know by teaching it). We need instructors for:
  T9 - Antennas, feedlines
  T0 - AC power circuits, antenna installation, RF hazards

Herndon festival and Herndon 6/10K race support are coming up on 1 and 2 June.  We will go over the plan (same as last year) to see if we have any issues.

Field day is coming up on 22-23 June.  We will go over our plan (same as last year) to see if we have any issues or anything that we may want to do differently.

Finally, The Virginia QSO Party is over and we are heading rapidly towards the awards ceremony at the Manassas Hamfest on 9 June.  We have a scoring party at my QTH on 21 Apr to verify the scores on the paper logs.  Don, K7CS, can provide an update on plaques.  Bill, KI4VTH, has scores all the submitted electronic logs using the software developed by Henry, K2BFY.  277 logs so far, not counting any paper logs received.

Should be a good meeting.  Please come out and join us.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club is again holding classes to help people pass the technician class examination and obtain an amateur radio license.

The class and examination will be held on 18-19 May at the Loudoun County Sheriff's station in Sterling, VA.

For more information, see http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Licensing/licensing.html.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

Our March meeting will be held on Tuesday, 12 March, at our normal meeting location.  the agenda will be the same as before, see below.

Thanks to Jim, KD4PQL, for coordinating with the Sheriff's Station to arrange the date.  Unfortunately, next Wednesday was already booked so we chose an alternate day so we could have our meeting before the Virginia QSO Party.

Hope to see you all at the meeting.  Maybe we will see a few members who are unable to make it on Wednesdays.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The monthly SPARC meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 6 March, is cancelled.

Jim, KF4PQL, informs me that the community room where we have our meetings is no longer available due to its potential use as a command post in the event of severe weather and snow removal issues with the parking lot.

We are considering our options for a meeting next Wednesday, 13 March.  We will let you know.

I will miss seeing you all on Wednesday.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

It is time for the March SPARC monthly meeting.  7PM on Wednesday, 6 March.

Refreshments will be provided by Eric, AJ4LN.

Henry, K2BFY, will give a presentation on VA QSO Party Scoring and Scoring Software.  Henry has been presenting a variant of this presentation for a couple of years to remind us of how the Virginia QSO party is scored and to explain the use of his software.  Henry has been developing the electronic scoring program for several years and it is now to the stage where he is only making minor changes.

We have a couple items of club business.

First, the Virginia QSO Party is upon us.  It is the 3rd weekend in March - this year on 16-17 March. I now estimate we are tied as being the 3rd largest state QSO party, tied with with PA, and smaller than CA and FL.

Dick, W2YE, normally hosts the club station at his QTH.  Maybe he can provide a few words on how he will run it this year.

Don, K7CS, reports that all the plaques have been paid for except for two and he is working on those.

We may have several new hams attending our meetings. I am hoping that some members of the club will be able to open their stations to some of the new hams during the VQP.  This would to show the new hams how to work in a contest and ease their transition into operating radios.

Second, Red, N3TG, and I have been talking about the possibility of proposing the club conduct a technician licensing class and examination session in May.  There was a full house at our last class in February and we had to turn a few folks away.  Since that time, we have had a few additional queries as to when our next class would be.  If there is enough interest by the club and especially the instructors and volunteer examiners, then we should consider scheduling a class. Potential dates are: 4-5 May and 18-19 May.

Third, Mark, KI4OBT, has been investigating how to conduct a club Foxhunt.  This can be done with VHF radios, could be done by our new technician class members, and is fun.  Mark can fill us in on the proposal and lead a discussion on whether the club wants to put this event on our calendar.

Finally, we have Field Day coming up in June.  For several years we have been slowly getting better in our organization of field day and we hope to continue this progress.  A discussion on anything we want to change could be helpful.

Sounds like a full agenda.

See you at the meeting,
73, Gordon, NQ4K