News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

The foxhunt is still a go.  Mark, KI4OBT, was over at Claude Moore Park today and the trails are wet and a little muddy in places, but passable.

The weather forecast as of 9:50PM says 60 percent chance of rain.   We will be optimistic and hope for the 40 percent not rain.

See you there.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

Mark, KI4OBT, reminds us that the foxhunt is this coming Saturday, 1 October.  The event starts at 0900.

We meeting in the parking lot in front of the visitor center at Claude Moore Park.  Take the northern entrance, Old Vastels Gap Road off of Caxcads Parkway to get to the visitor center.  If you take the wrong road, the southern entrance, Loudoun Park Lane, you will arrive at the Recreation Center and Community Center.

See http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Foxhunt/Foxhunt_Main.html for more information.

See you there.
73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

Red, N3TG, emailed the results of the license examination session SPARC held on 11 Sep 2016.  See below.  It was a great success.

Thanks to all the members of the volunteer examiner team: Mike, WB8RDN; Duane, K4UW; Monte, KV4KS; Gordon, NQ4K; and Red, N3TG, who was the coordinator and spent a substantial amount of time doing all the paperwork.

In addition, we thank the hams who conducted the technician preparatory class on Saturday and Sunday before the exam.  The instructors were: Paul, K4PDF; Chris, KK4HDG; Bill, K4UPE;  Earl, KB0NRK; Kevin, W4KLS; Mark, KI4OBT; Blair, KC9BBW, and Monte, KV4KS. Gordon, NQ4K, coordinated the event.  They did a great job as all the members of the class passed the exam.

See http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Licensing/licensing.html for pictures.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: New Call Signs
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2016 21:43:09 -0400
From: Bill 

Here they are, the new ham call signs from the class of Nine Eleven
(2016, that is!) I had to call ARRL today to get the final call sign as
it was somehow not processed in the same stream as the others.
Nonetheless, you all made us proud as every person earned at least one
license class and a couple made it to General. Way to go!

Rich Agule            KM4WWM            Tech
Prasad Bachu        KM4WWN            Tech
Jim Beachell        KM4WWO                Tech
Mark Canter        KM4WWP                Tech
Nick Carr                KM4WWQ                Tech
John Crump            KM4WWR              Tech
Jonathan Dailey    KM4WWS                Tech
John Fanning          KM4WXM                Tech
Miles Fawcett    KC3HVW                        Tech
Cary Feldmann    KM4WWT                    Tech
Chris Gordon        KM4WWU                  Tech
Andrew Levy        KM4WWV                   Tech
Kevin Mahar        KM4WWW                   Tech
Don McCubbin    KM4WWX            General
Randall Meek        KM4WWY                Tech
Amit Mukherjee    KC3HVX                General
Kerry Popp              KM4WWZ                Tech
Tia Storey                KM4WXA                  Tech
Joshua Svendsen   KM4WXB                  Tech

Congratulations to all. May you all enjoy the hobby as much as we have,
the members of the VE examing team who were delighted to see your success.

Bill N3TG

Hi,

I jinked the presentation for the upcoming SPARC meeting by announcing it too early so all could make arrangements to attend.

Our guest speaker, John, KM4KMU, has had to cancel his appearance due to unexpected work travel.  Hopefully he will be able to come to one of our meetings in the near future.

That means we are without a presentation or activity for the October meeting.

Are there any suggestions?  Or a volunteer to give a presentation?

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

Our October SPARC monthly meeting is coming up on Wednesday, 5 October.

I am sending this early notice because we have a special speaker and I want to ensure you have adequate notice to make arrangements.

John, KM4KMU, has agreed to come to our meeting and give a presentation on UHF/VHF mobile contesting.  John has devoted a significant amount of effort in building his mobile rig and in participating in contests.


I encourage you to look at his website on QRZ.com under callsign KM4KMU.

John plans on being at our meeting location at 6:30PM to begin setup of his rig.  We are all invited to watch and join an early discussion during that setup.

AT 7, we will start our normal meeting and John will give his presentation.

See some additional comments from John below.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

**********
On 9/19/2016 8:21 PM, John wrote:

Gordon,

I finally got my log submitted and I am now starting on the presentation for the October meeting.

Sunset is at 6:44 pm. I would like to set up my mast and antenna's and start the presentation "Jeep side" and then go into the meeting hall. I would show up early, set up starting at 0630 for those who care to watch and then start the presentation at 7pm sharp. Those who don't see the set up will hear info on the rig and its design as well as the contest.

I will tear down after the presentation. Set up and tear down each
take 15 to 20 minutes, more in the rain as I move carefully when
climbing around on the roof of the Cherokee when its slick.

BTW: Contest went really well. My claimed score of 6708 is almost the
highest every score recorded, that honor goes to KK4SOG with a score of
7326 last June. He set the highest previous score of 5847 too. Maybe he
didn't do as well this September? Need to add 6M FM. That would provide
another dozen QSO points at a minimum but more importantly add 8 or 10
more grids for a score in the 7500-8500 range.

I am teaching an off road driving course the weekend before the
presentation so I will be stripping out the radio gear this weekend and
putting it back in on Tuesday before the presentation, then stripping it
back out for another off road event in November. If the weather is bad
and I cant reinstall the day before the presentation I may just have
video and pictures. I will be there one way or another.

73
John Young
KM4KMU

On Sep 8, 2016, at 6:23 AM, Ross Young <rossayoung@gmail.com
> wrote:

Hi Martin,

It was a pleasure meeting last night.  I would greatly appreciate if
you could help send this to the SPARC email or put it on the website.
I would love if you or other Hams could attend.

What: the Powhattan boy scout district is having a boy scout jamboree
over the air.  We will be using the bull run echolink repeater and
trying to talk to scouts all over the world.  If any elmer wants to do
HF to communicate and show the boys some gear that would be wonderful.

When: October 15 from 11am to 1pm

Where: LDS church at 1515 Poplar Grove Drive Reston Va (near lake
newport and fairfax county parkway)

Please send an email to rossayoung@gmail.com
if you would like to come.  Ross can
also be reached at 7038878351.

Thank you,
Ross Young

Hi,

Mark, KI4OBT, has announced that the 2016 SPARC Foxhunt will be held on Saturday, 1 October, at Claude Moore Park.  We will meet at the parking lot in front of the Visitor Center.  Take the north entrance to the Park to get to the visitor center.

We will not be having the potluck this year.  Just the Foxhunt.

See http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Foxhunt/Foxhunt_Main.html for more information.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

The summer has gone by very quickly and it is time for the September club meeting.  Wednesday, 7 September at 7 PM.

Refreshments will be provided by Jay, KM4RSS.

for many years the activity at the first meeting of the new SPARC year has been a "Show and Tell."  All bring in some items of ham equipment, or anything else that may be of interest, and talk about it for a few minutes. We will continue that tradition this year. I personally have at least one piece of junk,  I mean interest piece of amateur radio memorabilia, to show and tell.  Please remember to bring something.

In addition, we have a few items of business.

We have a tech class and exam scheduled for the following weekend. 10-11 September.  We have a full call, 22 students signed up with a couple of standbys, we have a full slate of instructors, and Red, N3TG, has volunteer examiners lined up.

Sterlingfest is on Saturday, 8 October.  We are looking for help in manning the booth.

Finally, we have the foxhunt coming up.  We have not settled on a date yet, but it will probably be in late September or October.  Last year attendance was very low.

See you at the meeting,
73, Gordon, NQ4K