News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)
The SPARC web site is at http://www.qsl.net/sterling.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Monthly Meeting, Wednesday, 5 Aug, at 7PM On-Line
It is time for our August monthly meeting. In past years, we would have a party at Joe's Pizza. We have changed that this year to an on-line meeting using Zoom video-conferencing. The connection information is at the end of this message.
The meeting will start at 7PM. We will start the Zoom meeting at 6:45PM to allow time for all to join before the start of the meeting.
Refreshments will be provided by yourself. I expect that you will all enjoy what you bring.
Our first meeting of the SPARC year will be a "Show and Tell" and an an Annual Ham Radio Stuff Exchange.
For the Show and Tell, please bring an item to tell us about. Preferably a ham radio item but it can be anything. A new tool. A fancy video camera. A old shirt you are wearing. Up to you. Since you are at home, it will be difficult for you to pretend you forgot to bring something, because you can always just pick something up from your desk to talk about.
For the Annual Ham Radio Stuff Exchange, if you have some you would like to give away or sell, feel free to display it and tell us a little about it. I may have some radios I am ready to find a new home for.
After the above, Blake Edwards, KO4FUT, a very new ham, will briefly talk about his experience getting his Tech and General licenses. He watched videos online and then took his exams online. The world is changing.
We have other club business.
Amit, WY2Z, Mike, WB8RDN, and I have been discussing SPARC's September Tech class and license examination session. The emerging consensus is that we cancel them..
Sterling Festival is coming up on 10 October. So far, no one seems interested in participating. We will wail a few more weeks before we make a final decision.
Our Wednesday 2M/Zoom nets at 8PM are coming along well. Been having 10-12 people join. Nice conversation and good to see all once a week.
All activities for the Virginia QSO are almost over. We have mailed all the plaques and certificates except for those to the Fauquier Amateur Radio Association. Their members have 12 plaques and 53 certificates. My XYL and I are going to Warrenton on Saturday 8 August and setting up at the NE corner of the Walmart Supercenter between 9 - 11 to pass those out to FARA members. The remainder we will drop off to someone in the club to pass out at a later time.
We may conclude the meeting with a tech ten talk team tech ten talk.
I think that is all for now.
See you at the meeting on Wednesday at 7PM.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 29 July at 8 PM - SUMMARY
A good meeting. 12 Attendees. Including a new operator, Blake Edwards, who passed his tech and general a few days ago and has not received his license yet. chaz, KK4TNO, once again joined us from the Carolinas.
Most people are on Zoom. Only Henry, K2BFY, was only on the 2M net.
Jokes are getting better.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Monday, July 27, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 29 July at 8 PM
Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 29 July at 8:00PM.
Same agenda.
Open net
Check-ins
Initial round of introductions and comments.
Short story/tech talk (looking for volunteer)
Final round of comments with Joke
Close net
You can join us on 2M repeater or on Zoom or both.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Join via 2M Repeater
2M on the Dulles Repeater 145.310 (-) PL77
Join via Zoom Meeting
Email for link info.
Friday, July 24, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 22 July at 8 PM - SUMMARY
Good 2M/Zoom net meeting. We had ten participants. 9 on Zoom and 1 on 2M repeater.
I was having trouble with getting through on the 2M repeater. Signal weak. After the net meeting, I went outside and found my 2M antenna laying on the ground. I was surprised that we got through at all. My grandson helped me put it back up using our air cannon. All is well once again.
Antennas being down as a common theme. 2 or three people commented on it.
Conrad, N4ZQA, is beginning to work on setting up digital modes on his radio. Asked about which brand of interface worked the best.
Gary, K4SRX, joined us and was looking good.
Red, N3TG, received his 13 Colonies certificate.
The jokes are getting better.
See you next week Wednesday at 8PM for the 2M/Zoom Net Meeting.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Monday, July 20, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 22 July at 8 PM
Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 22 July at 8:00PM.
Same agenda.
Open net
Check-ins
Initial round of introductions and comments.
Short story/tech talk (looking for volunteer)
Final round of comments with Joke
Close net
You can join us on 2M repeater or on Zoom or both.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Join via 2M Repeater
2M on the Dulles Repeater 145.310 (-) PL77
Join via Zoom Meeting
Email for connection information.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 15 July at 8 PM - SUMMARY
Good net meeting. Nice conversation. Jokes are getting better.
13 attendees.
Conrad, N4ZQA, highlighted the program he used for morse code decoding. Called Morse Code Agent. He find it very useful and good at decoding. Runs on his android cellphone. Other versions are available.
Gary, K4SRX, suggested the club send a card to Ray, KD4RSL, who is not feeling well. All agreed this is a good idea. Someone suggested we send QSL cards instead. This is easier than getting a card signed by everyone. If you are interested, please send me a QSL card with a note on it for Ray and I will collect them and ensure he gets them. I will take what I have over to him in a week. My address is:
Gordon Miller
12315 Streamvale Cir
Herndon, VA 20170
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Thursday, July 09, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 8 July at 8 PM - SUMMARY
A good meeting. Ten folks joined in. 3 on 2M. The remained on Zoom.
The jokes are getting better.
We discussed the 13 Colonies Contest. Most of us had worked the contest. All agreed that GB13COL and WM3PEN were hard to get.
See you next Wednesday at 8PM.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Tuesday, July 07, 2020
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 8 July at 8 PM
Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 8 July at 8:00PM.
At the last 2M/Zoom Net we changed the time to 8:00 PM. This enables all to get home, have dinner and then get on the radio or Zoom without feeling rushed.
You can join us on 2M repeater or on Zoom or both.
Same agenda.
Open net
Check-ins with comment
Short story/tech talk (looking for volunteer)
Final round of comments with Joke
Close net
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Join via 2M Repeater
2M on the Dulles Repeater 145.310 (-) PL77
Thursday, July 02, 2020
July Monthly Club Meeting - SUMMARY
The meeting was great! Eighteen attendees over Zoom. The connections were all very good. Clear video and audio for all.
Marty, NV3H, introduced the speaker Marcel Stieber, AI6MS. Marcel joined us from California and it seemed like he was here.
He talked about batteries. A very good talk and he make the subject easily to underestand.
Copies of his slides and recordings from this and other presentations at: https://www.qrz.com/db/ai6ms. Overall this was one of the better presentations we have had in a while.
Marcel also mentioned two other items that are of interest.
First was an event called QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. The link is qsotodayhamexpo.com/. This could be interesting to watch.
Second, Marcel briefing discussed his participation in remote amateur radio exam testing. The link he provided is https://blog.hamstudy.org/2020/06/so-you-want-to-take-a-remote-exam/.
We also had a few items of club business.
1. Sterling Festival is 10 Oct. No one at the meeting seemed interested in participating. I did received an email from the organizers with registration information. The group consensus was to wait a while before making a decision. Regular registration fee through 6 September. After that there is a late fee. We can wait a while.
2. August Monthly Meeting is on 5 August. Normally this would be our pizza party at Joe's. No one was interested in doing this. The group proposed an on-line meeting for August. Marty, NV3H, will look for a speaker. In addition, you can all bring a slice of pizza to the party. HA HA
3. Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net Meetings will continue on Wednesdays starting at 8:00 PM. We are starting later to make it easier for people to join us. This misses dinner time and commute time. We will send a meeting notice with connection information before the meeting.
4. Virginia QSO Party is in the final cleanup stage. About half the plaques have been delivered. Certificatew will be printed on Friday, 17 July. Distribution by club will begin shortly after that.
That is all for now. See you soon,
73, Gordon, NQ4K
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