News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

 Hi,

Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 28 July, at 8:00 PM.

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
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85420830985?pwd=VkwyKzgxbVJnTzJtYkxuUEE5MWhyUT09

 Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985
 Password: 111111
 One tap mobile
 +16465588656,,85420830985#,,,,0#,,111111# US (New York)
 +13017158592,,85420830985#,,,,0#,,111111# US (Germantown)

 Dial by your location
          +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
          +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
 Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985
 Password: 111111
  Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kew6N4ZTgf

posted by SPARC'ie  # 8:11 AM

 Hi,

Ten attendees.  3 on 2M and the remainder on Zoom.

I repeated 4 jokes to my XYL.  Jokes are getting better.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 8:10 AM

 Hi,

Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 21 July, at 8:00 PM.

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
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85420830985?pwd=VkwyKzgxbVJnTzJtYkxuUEE5MWhyUT09

 Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985
 Password: 111111
 One tap mobile
 +16465588656,,85420830985#,,,,0#,,111111# US (New York)
 +13017158592,,85420830985#,,,,0#,,111111# US (Germantown)

 Dial by your location
          +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
          +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
 Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985
 Password: 111111
  Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kew6N4ZTgf

posted by SPARC'ie  # 7:47 AM

 Hi,

Our regularly scheduled Stand-In is this Sunday, 18 July, at 1 PM.  Normal gathering place.  The amphitheater adjacent to the Claude Moore Park Visitor Center.  May be more crowded this  this weekend because the weather is looking good.

Looking forward to seeing you all again.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 7:15 AM

 Hi,

Good meeting.  Eight attendees.  No one on the 2M repeater. All on Zoom. 

The repeater seemed to be operating funny.  Not really sure why or how.  Did not get the Ker-chunk after releasing the PPT key and there was always a hum when receiving, even when no one was talking.

The jokes were good.  I wrote three down to pass along to my XYL.  Someone recommended I get a new source of jokes.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 7:15 AM

 Hi,

Red, N3TG, and Adrienne, K3MAF, donated several books to SPARC. 

Free to anyone who is interested.  Let me know. 
Otherwise they will go to Berryville Hamfest.

Paper backs from ARRL. 

"Getting Started with ham Radio," 1st Edition (still in plastic wrapper).

"The ARRL Satellite Handbook," 1st Edition, @2010.

"Radio Frequency Interference - How to Identify and Cure It,"   1987

"The ARRL Satellite Anthology," 3rd Edition, 1994.

"Weekend Projects for the Radio Amateur, Vol 1," 1979.

"Novice Antenna Notebook," 1st Edition, 1988.

"DXing on the Edge - The Thrill of 160 Meters," 1st Ed. 1999.

"Antennas and Techniques for Low-Band DXing," 2nd Ed. 1994.

And a few other paprbacks.

"SSB'ers Voice Newsletter #61 for 2011-2012," YL International SSB'ers, INC.,  2012.

"HF Operator's survival Guide," CQ,

"The Wonderful World of Ham Radio," Richard Skilnik, KB4LCS, MFJ Enterprises, 1st Ed. 1990

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 7:58 AM

 Hi,

Our weekly 2M/Zoom Net will be Wednesday, 14 July, at 8:00 PM.

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

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 7:58 AM

 Hi,

We had an excellent meeting.  Seventeen attendees. 

John, W3XWT, talked about the Numbers Stations. It was very interesting.  I had not realized they were so ubitiqous.

Kevin, W3KLS, will email all a little later in the month to solicit preferences for where to hold the August Pizza Party.  We probably have a choice between Kevin's QTH (with pizza from Joe's), or at Joe's Pizza (with pizza from Joe's). 

Kevin, W3KLS, closed the meeting with live video of his Yaesu FT-991A.  He sold his 991 and bought the newer model, the 991A.  Fancy displays, but still with plenty of knobs and buttons to push.  A very nice rig.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 6:50 AM

 Hi,

We are having our monthly meeting this coming Wednesday, 7 July, starting at 7 PM.  Zoom connection information is below.

Marty, NV3H, has arranged for John, W3XWT, to give a presentation on Numbers Stations.  This artifice of cold war spies is interesting and I think still ongoing. 

We also have a very few items of club business.

Our next club event is the annual pizza party and we need to discuss how we are going to host it. 

This may be our last virtual monthly club meeting.  We are scheduled to start our regular meetings at the Sheriff's Substation in September.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 10:01 AM

 Hi,

This is the weekend of the 13 Colonies Special Event.  Objective is to contact 13 special event stations in the original colonies (with call signs K2A thru K2M).  There are also three bonus stations: England (GB13 COL), France (TM13COL) and Philadelphia (WM3PEN). Fifteen stations all together.  The special event stations may operate on all modes and all bands.  .

See http://www.13colonies.us/

Very nice certificate if you want one.

I tried yesterday.  It was crazy.  Maybe hundreds of stations all trying to contact the few stations.  I got through to 6 stations in 5 states.  Will try again today and tomorrow. 

I look on DXsummit (http://dxsummit.fi/#/) to see which stations are on.  I work at it for a few minutes.  Then try again later.

There is a User Defined Contest template for this contest you can download for N1MM.  Otherwise use a paper log. 

Give it a try. It is fun.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 6:10 AM

 Hi,

Good net meeting. 

We had 12 attending.  At least two good jokes.

73, Gordon, NQ4K

posted by SPARC'ie  # 10:30 AM