News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

It is time for the June monthly club meeting. Wednesday, 7 June at 7PM.

June is a busy month.  We have the Herndon Festival booth on Saturday, the 5/10K race support on Sunday, 4 June, Virginia QSO Party Awards Ceremony on Sunday, 4 June, at 0900, The monthly meeting on 7 June, and Field Day at the end of the month on 24-25 June.  This is a very busy month.

Refreshments for this month will be provided by Blair, KC9BBW.

This month the presentation is on field Day.  We have many new members to the club and this is a good time to explain how we do field day and to organize the activity.  Generally we are going to repeat what we did last year, with changes due to changing club membership and interest.

Several members of the club have volunteered to speak about their role and experience with Field Day. These are:

  Gordon, NQ4K  - An overview
  Dick, W2YE  - CW Station
  Jim, AF4MO  - SSB Station
  Gordon, NQ4K  - GOTA Station
  Eric, AJ4LN  - N1MM Logging and Computer Support
  Russ, W3RST  - Power

And there may be others.

The only other club business is the election of officers for next year. We could use a new president.  If anyone is interested, please let me know.  Henry, K2BFY, was nominated for president at our last meeting, but he was not there to accept the nomination.  Maybe he will attend this meeting.

See you at the meeting,
73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

We are in the middle of May and the month of June is almost upon us. SPARC has several events in June which we should all put on our calendars.

HERNDON FESTIVAL is 1-4 June.  SPARC operates an information booth on Saturday, 3 June and supports the 5/10K races on Sunday, 4 June. Plans are on our website at
   http://www.qsl.net/sterling/HerndonFest/HerndonFest.html.

Our booth will be in the parking lot between Great Harvest Bread and the Dominion Animal Hospital.  We need a few volunteers to be at the booth to talk to visitors.  If you would like to commit to doing this, please send me an email.  Otherwise, please stop by and chat a while.

Support to the 5/10K races is the only event during the year when most of us use our handheld 2M radios.  The event coordinator this year is Marty, NV3H.  This event involves many of our SPARC members.  It also is an excellent opportunity to become familiar with net operations, repeater operations, tactical callsigns, etc.  We have filled all positions but could use a few extras in case something happens. Please direct your questions to Marty, NV3H.

The VIRGINIA QSO PARTY AWARDS CEREMONY will be held at the Manassas hamfest on Sunday, 4 June, at 0900 (the same morning as the Herndon Fest 5/10K races).  Gordon, NQ4K, will moderate the event with help from Eric, AJ4LN, and Bill, KJ4VTH.  If you are planning to be at the hamfest, please stop by, we could use a little extra help.  The logs have been tabulated (tnx to Eric, AJ4LN, and Henry, K2BFY), plaques have been ordered and the certificates had been printed. See our webpage for information on the VQP.

The JUNE SPARC MONTHLY MEETING is on Wednesday, 7 June.  This month we will devoted to Field Day. Five speakers will discuss the major activities (Gordon, NQ4K; Dick, W2YE; Jim, AF4MO; Eric, AJ4LN; and Russ, W3RST). This will be the introduction to field day for new members to the club as well as an opportunity to call for volunteers.

FIELD DAY will be during the weekend of 23-25 June.  We set up a radio station at Park View High School and operate for 24 hours in this US and Canadian event. Typically several thousand stations are on the air. Plans and photos from previous years are on our website at http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Field_Day/2016FD/2016FD_Main.html.  The draft plan for this year will be posted shortly.

Everyone should participate.  We need help setting up and there will be lots of time for all to get on the radios.  If you are new or do not have a license, there will be hams there to show you how to operate the radios and be the control operator so you can get on the air.

Events start with antenna rope hanging on Friday, 23 June, at 7PM. Followed with setup beginning on Saturday, 24 June, at 1000AM and ending with tear-down on Sunday, 25 June at 2PM.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the events.  Please mark your calendars and come out and join us.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

We have updated the list of members on our webpage.

http://www.qsl.net/sterling/Members/members.htm

If you consider yourself a member and I have left you off the list, please email me back.  We consider you a member if:
  you attend meetings  OR
  you attend some of our activities  OR
  you paid your dues   OR
  you just want to be considered a member.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi,

Herndon festival is coming up at the beginning of June.  3-4 June.

We provide some race support for the 5/10K races Sunday morning (4 June).

This email is about needing additional hams to man the mile post stations.  The description of the duties are in the attached plan. Basically,

  We meet at the race start line at about 6:15AM.

  We do a radio check.

  We take a group picture.

  We assign a volunteer timer (provided by the race organizers) to each of the hams manning a mile post.

  The mile post ham goes to the mile post with the volunteer timer (the ham provides the transportation).

  Upon arrival at the mile post, check into the net.

  Collect some information on the first 5 racers to post the mile post (racer number, time).

  Pass this info to the the net control station.

  When the last racer has gone by, check out of the net and return the volunteer timer to the start line.

This is a good opportunity to participate in a VHF handheld exercise. It gets out radios on the air and allows us to work through the mechanics of providing this type of support. It also does not take much time.  We are usually done by 1000 AM.

Please email if you are interested in trying this out this year.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

*For those of you who have an interest in such things, the dates, frequencies and schedule for the Armed Forces Day activities, including the Amateur Radio / Military Communications Cross-Band Test are now available.*

*Unfortunately, they seem to come out later and later each year and have recently been missing the publication deadlines for most radio magazines.  As I had not seen anything in ARRL channels, or on the MARS FB Page or Web Page, I sent the MARS Program a note and "Voila!" the information should appear on the Web Page and elsewhere as of Wednesday afternoon.*

*http://www.usarmymars.org *

*http://www.usarmymars.org/home/announcements*

*https://m.facebook.com/HQArmyMARS/?refid=46&sld=eyJzZWFyY2hfc2lkIjoiMzhkMDQ1NmU3MjNkZTUzN2Q5NDRiNzU0OWY4YzA1YTUiLCJxdWVyeSI6ImFybXkgbWFycyIsInNlYXJjaF90eXBlIjoiU2VhcmNoIiwic2VxdWVuY2VfaWQiOjE5NTY2OTAyMjQsInBhZ2VfbnVtYmVyIjoxLCJmaWx0ZXJfdHlwZSI6IlNlYXJjaCIsImVudF9pZCI6Mjg5Nzk0OTI3NzY3NjIwLCJwb3NpdGlvbiI6MCwicmVzdWx0X3R5cGUiOjI3NH0%3D*

*To hit the highlights, things are about the same as last year, regarding most of the MIL stations and frequencies.  Likewise the hours are about the same.  The main point to note is that although Armed Forces Day is 20 MAY 2017, the Cross Band Test is 13 MAY 2017, to avoid conflicts with other Ham Radio activities  (Dayton?).  The hours are ZULU and vary a little by the MIL station location. *

*Most stations will be on the air starting around 1200Z on 13 MAY, and running through 2359Z on 13 MAY.  A few stations are running longer; e.g., going a few hours into 14 MAY.  One hardy soul (you know who you are) may be operating until 0200Z on 15 MAY.*

*The RTTY/Digital/CW messages will be broadcast at a variety of times and that info is available on the web site, etc.*

*Likewise, again this year, there will be some direct contact opportunities on the various 60-Meter channels.*

*Being cross-band, this test is somewhat of a challenge at times, but it is also a lot of fun and an opportunity to pick up a couple unique certificates and/or QSL cards.*

*73,  Dave*
*Dave Williams - K7HMP/4*
*Stafford, Virginia*