News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi, It is time for our November meeting. Wednesday, 3 November, at 7 PM. This will be a hybrid meeting. We will meet in-person at the Sheriff station in Sterling and we will concurrently establish a zoom video-conference. Zoom connection information is below. This will be a learning experience. Marty, NV3H arranged for an excellent guest speaker. Ben, N4CV, will talk about DMR. That is Digital Mobile Radio. I know that a couple of our club members praise the mode but I know nothing about it and am therefore looking forward to learning about it. A companion talk will be the Tech Ten Talk by Scott, WB6EFW, who operates a DMR repeater in Sterling/Ashburn. Refreshments will be by Gordon, NQ4K. He has stuff left over from last month's meeting. If we have time, we can discuss any Virginia QSO party Rule changes that folks may want to make. Our meeting location is a Loudoun county building, so please bring a mask. 73, Gordon, NQ4K Zoom Connection Information Topic: SPARC Meetings Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85420830985?pwd=VkwyKzgxbVJnTzJtYkxuUEE5MWhyUT09 Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985 Passcode: 111111 One tap mobile +16465588656,,85420830985#,,,,*111111# US (New York) +13017158592,,85420830985#,,,,*111111# US (Washington DC) Dial by your location +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) Meeting ID: 854 2083 0985 Passcode: 111111 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbKf2sG3me

Hi, Another Wednesday is coming up. We will have a meeting online via the 2M repeater and Zoom. 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

Hi, William "Red" Free, N3TG, passed away Thursday morning. The funeral service will through Adams Green in Herndon. Actual funeral probably at St. John Neumann in Reston. Burial (eventually, most likely, at Arlington. https://adamsgreen.com/tribute/details/12327/William-Free-Jr/obituary.html#tribute-start This only happened yesterday, so information is sparse. As time passes and his family makes decisions, more information will become available. Red was a long time ham and member of the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club. He was our call sign trustee for many years and was active in all of our field days and other events. We always enjoyed seeing him at our club meetings. He will be missed. 73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi, We had a good meeting. Six attendees. Five on Zoom and one on the 2M net. Good jokes. I wrote four down to repeat to me XYL. COVID is still out there. Stay safe. 73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi, Another Wednesday is coming up. We will have a meeting online via the 2M repeater and Zoom. 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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su76QvChuEU&ab_channel=MikeRitz forgot the link On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 11:17 PM Don Sambol wrote: I thought this was cool. I did not know the very early history. Ran across this tonight on youtube. Don, K7CS

posted by SPARC'ie  # 5:30 AM

Hi, We only had one response to the below email asking if we should continue the Stand-Ins. Paul, KK4AIA, emailed he would attend if someone else did also. No other responses. Therefore, with no interest in continuing, we are cancelling the event. We are continuing our Wednesday evening 2M/Zoom net in addition to our regular monthly meetings. COVID is continuing so stay safe. 73, Gordon, NQ4K On 10/15/2021 4:02 PM, Gordon Miller wrote: > Hi, > > What is the consensus among those who attend? > > Should we do another Stand-In or Not? > > Remember we have started in-person monthly meetings again. > > 73, Gordon, NQ4K

Another productive ZOOM net. Had 8 check ins on Zoom, Evan, KI4AD handled the 2 meter side of things with 3 RF check ins. The million dollar question is will there be a Stand In on Sunday October 17th? Inquiring minds want to know. 73, Kevin W4KLS

Hi, Another Wednesday is coming up. We will have a meeting online via the 2M repeater and Zoom. I will probably will not be able to attend. I have a family obligation. We need a net controller. Preferably one with both Zoom and 2M access. If not then Zoom access is good. I will supply the Zoom account information. If you can do this let me know and the Wednesday evening Net will continue. 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

Hi, SterlingFest was today and it was a great success. We set up a booth, had an HF radio with a vertical antenna, a handheld radio, some ham radio magazines, and some flyers for those visitors who were really interested. Got serious queries from 4-5 folks. We will probably see a few of them join us at our future meetings. Many thanks to those who worked hard to make this happen. Equipment was provided by John, KK4AHY, Eric, AJ4LN, and Gordon, NQ4K. John, KK4AHY; John, Kevin, W4KLS; Gordon, NQ4K; and Joe, W2SIA; helped set up and operate the booth for the duration . Duane, K3UW, and Paul, KK4AIA, joined us during the day. It was a great time. Pictures to follow soon. 73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi, We had a very good meeting. Sixteen attendees, split between in-person and virtual. We had an interesting time in the community room. We got there early. The community room had been rearranged to support the operation of a temporary DMV office. Photo camera, eye exam, booths for clerks, etc. We worked around that. However, the audio visual equipment in the room has been modernized. The old overhead projector attached to the ceiling has been replaced with a new one mounted directly above the white board in front of the room. Supposed to be able to be accessed through WiFi and a special USB doggle. We could not make it work. Tried for 45 minutes. It defeated me, Kevin, W4KLS, Kevin, KJ4OTQ, and maybe a few other people. We gave up and finally used several laptops and a cell phone to provide visuals of all to the hams on Zoom. Almost like a Zoom meeting but with half the people in the same room. The presentation by Marty, NV3H, was very fascinating. I did not realize that the genesis of modern ham optical communications went back at least 60 years. Marty remembers it somewhat fondly from his youth. It sounded like maybe a couple of members may try it out. The Tech-Ten-Talk by Earl, KB0NRK, reminded me that I have a Raspberry PI in the basement that I have never used. Earl talked about using them in general and in ham applications. He was not able to finish his presentation because we ran out of time. We will reschedule him. Maybe with some addition commentary from other folks. The in-person meeting was nice. A few people showed up that I have not seen for a while, such as Monte, KV4KS, and Kevin, KJ4OTQ. Hope we can do it again. 73, Gordon, NQ4K

Hi, It is time for our monthly club meeting. Wednesday, 6 October 2021, at 7 PM. We will be having a hybrid meeting. We will meet IN-PERSON at the sheriff's substation community room. In addition, we will run ZOOM so folks can join us virtually if they are unable to participate in-person. Zoom connection information is below. This is same as we always use for our Wednesday evening meetings. Kevin, W4KLS, has volunteered to arrive at around 6:30 to set up the Zoom connection. Loudoun county COVID rules are that people wear masks while in county buildings. Se we will do that. I do not remember if we have a volunteer list for refreshments. Maybe Eric, AJ4LN, has a list. If not, and no one volunteers, I will bring something. Marty, NV3H, has volunteered to provide a presentation on “Amateur Radio Free-Space Optical Communication: An Overview.” I guess our boy scout training will be of good use. We can all bring our flashlights and use morse code to send messages. We have a few items of club business to discuss. SterlingFest is on Saturday, 9 October. We previously sent around a draft plan. John, KK4AHY, has volunteered to provide the HF radios. We are still discussing what to use as an HF antenna. This is also the month we have an initial discussion about any changes in the VA QSO Party Rules for next year. If anyone has suggestions, please let us know. We will close the meeting with a Tech-Ten Talk by Earl, KB0NRK, on "HamPI." This should be a very good two hours. please join us. 73, Gordon, NQ4K 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