News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)
The SPARC web site is at http://www.qsl.net/sterling.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Field Day OVER
Field Day is over. What an exciting few days. Starting with antenna rope hanging on Friday, setup and operations for two days, tear-down, and finally an afternoon nap to get enough rest to enable me to write this email.
I had an amazing time with some really nice folks. I am not going to embarrass myself my trying to mention all the people who participated right now and forgetting someone. But I will try to tell the stories in the pictures as they get posted. We did get 4 new operators/non-licensed people through the GOTA station with 20 QSOs each. We did make more QSOs than last year. We did get more bonus points then last year. We all did have a good time.
I am looking forward to seeing you all again at the pizza party in August.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Friday, June 24, 2016
Field Day UPDATE
Bill, KJ4VTH, will be unable to join us for Field Day. He was going to do two of the 100 point bonus activities (Message Origination to Section Manager and Message Handling).
We need a volunteer to do these two activities.
Any volunteers?
Weather continues to look good.
See you tonight at 7PM at the Park View High School.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Field Day UPDATE
Weather continues to look good for the weekend.
See our website for a quick sketch of a layout for the proposed location.
Thoughts?
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Field Day UPDATE
Paul, K4PDF, checked on the high school field today and it is probably too wet to drive onto and there is standing water where we have pitched the QRM canopies in the past. And it is projected to rain some more tonight and tomorrow.
Paul and I looked at the area around the parking lot and baseball field. We were there for 2011 Field Day and it worked out fairly well. See http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Field_Day/2011FD/2011_FD_Pics/2011_FD_Pics.html.
We will probably go there. Paul is going to check to ensure that there are no baseball games scheduled.
Weather looks great for the weekend. High of 85 on both days. No rain.
See you on Friday.
73, Gordon, NQ4k
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
VA QSO Party Awards Ceremony
Pictures and the awards briefing have been posted on our website.
http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2016_VQP/2016_VQP_Main.html
Please email any mistakes to me.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Monday, June 20, 2016
Field Day UPDATE
This coming weekend is field Day. Activities start on Friday at 7PM at Park view High School with antenna rope hanging.
The current plan is on our website. Operators are slowly signing up, but we are still short. Please email back with a time you are willing to operate.
Also need a few items of equipment. These are indicated in red lettering.
The weather forecast looks good. Sunny with high temperatures in high 80s. No rain projected.
Looking forward to seeing all of you out there.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Sunday, June 19, 2016
VA QSO Party Awards Ceremony
The Virginia QSO Party Awards Ceremony came off very well today. Bill, KJ4VTH, with help from Gary, K4SRX, presented the plaques. About half fo the plaque sponsors and plaque awardees attended. Ray, KD4RSL, took a lot of pictures and with the help of the list of names recorded by Eric, AJ4LN, we hope to have these posted on our website in a day or so.
We saw many club members at the ceremony and wandering around the hamfest including Jim, AF4MO; Duane, K4UW; Kevin, WB0POH; Charlie, KC3AQV; Marty, KV3H; Evelyn, NLY; Kevin, W4KLS; and Monte, KV4KS. In addition, Don, K4YND, won a plaque. And Bill, KC4ATU, our past president, stopped by to say hello. Finally, Dick, W2YE, was running the ARRL QSL Buro booth.
All in all a good time.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Saturday, June 18, 2016
VA QSO Party Awards Ceremony
This is a reminder that the Virginia QSO Party Awards Ceremony is tomorrow, Sunday, 19 June, at 0900 at the Manassas Hamfest.
This is the culmination of the 2016 VQP. We started back in September with a review of the rules, held the on-air event in March, and have been working steadily to verify the scores and select plaque winners.
We will be inside the building near the back (i.e., far) gate.
At the awards ceremony we will publicly announce the plaque winners and present the plaques to those present. In addition, attendees can pick up there certificates for participating in the party.
The SPARC members directly involved in the ceremony are:
Bill, KJ4VTH, the plaque manager;
Eric, AJ4LN, the recorder;
Ray, KD4RSL, the photographer; and
Gordon, NQ4K, the narrator.
We could some extra help with passing out the plaques and taking pictures.
In addition, the Manassas Hamfest (http://manassashamfest.org/) will have stuff to look at and buy.
Remember that there is an admission fee ($10) to get in.
Please come out and join us.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Field Day Update
Eric, AJ4LN, reports that all went well with the computer radio checkout.
The weather appears to be holding well for the weekend of Field Day. A little warm with a low probability of rain on Sunday morning. This changes frequently, but I am optimistic.
The plan is available on our website. We still need some tables and we have a lot of openings for operators. Please let me know if you van provide a table or two and when you want to operate.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Telegraph-101 // "Cootie Key" Question
During my Telegraph-101 talk at the May SPARC meeting, someone ask what a "Cootie Key" was. I had heard the term before, but was unable to find the reference in any of the books I brought with me at the time. Here's the answer:
At first, I almost got side-tracked. There was a company named "O. E. COTE" that made "bugs" back in the 30s. It was similar to the "narrow base" style Vibroplex, but that's not a "Cootie".
I mentioned my Dad and his handwriting, etc. To some extent, many telegraphers had what was called "Glass Arm" or "Telegrapher Paralysis", due to the constant UP and DOWN movement of manually Hand Keys. I suppose today, that would be called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
This was mostly back in the good old days of SPARK, when the keys were large, heavy-duty and clunky! Keying tended to be with the hand, wrist and arm, elevated off of the desk top. To a great extent, the wrist was the weak point, but the whole arm was strained to some extent.
On the landline circuits, the “Glass Arm” problem was resolved by “The Bug” in many shapes, forms and manufacturers. Hand and wrist movements were smaller and the arm could rest on the desk surface.
Unfortunately, in the wireless world (“Spark Gap”), due to power (voltage and current) across the contacts of the key, the “BUG” as we know it today, would not survive long before “arcing” would eat up the contacts and small flexible spring metal.
Enter the COOTIE KEY or SIDESWIPER.
The COOTIE was a heavy-duty key with extra large contacts and was frequently mounted on a slate base. One of the most popular was fabricated by Bob Karlowa (9XR). Mechanically, the COOTIE would be like the “left side” or DASH portion of a BUG – but with very heavy gauge metal for all the pieces and contacts. It might also be compared to some of the earlier “Keyer Paddles”.
NOTE: My reference was not clear, but it appears that the keying was all done to one side, with the arm resting on the desk top. However, in one photo, there appears to be adjustable contacts on both sides of the center “Swing Arm” or “Swiper”, so there may have been variations where the Dots were on one side and the Dashes on the other, but the duration of each was still manually determined by the Operator.
73, Dave
Dave Williams – K7HMP/4
Stafford, Virginia
Monday, June 06, 2016
Herndon Festival booth and Race Support Pictures
We had a great time a the festival and the race.
Pictures are at:
http://www.qsl.net/sterling/HerndonFest/2016/2016_Herndonfest_Pics/2016_Herndon_Festival.html
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
Rob, W4VRD, presentation on DSTAR
The subject presentation is available on our website on the activities page. See links after today's meeting.
http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Activities/activities.htm
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Archives
April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 June 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 September 2011 October 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024 April 2024 May 2024
