News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)
The SPARC web site is at http://www.qsl.net/sterling.
Monday, May 30, 2022
Monthly Meeting, Wednesday, 1 June, at 7 PM
It is time for our monthly meeting. Wednesday, 1 June, at 7 PM, IN-PERSON.
We will try for a zoom setup, but there are no guarantees. Paul, KK4AIA, has volunteered his laptop. It worked last time and may also this time. It is also hard to go outside and participate in our antenna measurement activity on Zoom.
Refreshments will be provided by a volunteer. We need a volunteer to bring some refreshments. A couple bottles of soda, a couple packages of cookies, a few paper cups, some paper towels and maybe some ice.
Our principle activity will be the measurement of some wire antennas.
We have a few volunteers who will bring antenna analyzers. Kevin, W4KLS; Eric, AJ4LN; Daniel, W5DJV; and Larry W8ANT.
We could also use some people to bring some long tape measures, paper and pencils.
We will give a wire antenna to a team lead. Each team will have 2-3 additional members. They will unravel the wire antenna, measure it with the tape measure, get at least two of the antenna analyzers to measure the RF resonances, and record all the data, and neatly fold or coil the antenna. After all is done, and we are all assembled in the classroom, they can tell us what they have found. Be interesting to see if the physical length measurement corresponds to an analyzer measurement and then with the second antenna analyzer measurement.
After all is done, we will have our usual introductions and club business meeting.
This is our last meeting of our regular SPARC year. We need a few volunteers to be officers for next year.
Hope to see you all there.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Monthly Meeting Wednesday 1 June at 7 PM - Advance Notice
We need hams with antenna analyzers.
Monthly meeting is coming up. In-person at the Sheriff Substation in Sterling.
We will also try to run Zoom, courtesy of Paul, KK4AIA. Paul has the only laptop in the club which is modern enough to support both Zoom and the connection to the room projection and sound system.
The primary activity of the meeting will be trying to figure out what some wire antennas I have are. I believe I have three. Maybe four. Will have to separate them out before the meeting. We can form teams of 3 or 4 folks to layout and measure each antenna. They will unravel the wire antenna, measure it with tape measure and antenna analyzer, and then carefully wrap it up. After the measurements are complete they can present the results to the group.
Each team will need an antenna analyzer, long tape measure, pencil and paper. Kevin, W4KLS, and John, KK4AIA, have promised to bring their antenna analyzers. We could use one or two more.
It would also be interesting to see if two analyzers would give the same answer.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Friday, May 27, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 25 May at 8 PM- SUMMARY
Excellent meeting. Eight attendees.
Winning joke of the week.
Why did the dog cross the road twice?
It was chasing a boomerang !!
HA HA
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 25 May at 8 PM
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
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 18 May at 8 PM - SUMMARY
We had seven attendees. Six on Zoom and one on the 2M repeater.
My favorite joke.
A passerby noticed that a husband always sat on the porch when his spouse was singing. When asked why, the husband responded "So the neighbors will not think I beat my wife."
HA HA
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 18 May at 8 PM
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
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 11 May at 8 PM - SUMMARY
We had ten at the virtual meeting Wednesday evening. A good group.
My favorite joke.
Why does a duck pay cash?
Because it has bills.
HA HA HA Good enough to tell my grandkids.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Wednesday 2M/Zoom Net - 11 May at 8 PM
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
Monthly Meeting - Wednesday, 4 May, at 7 PM - SUMMARY
We had a very good meeting. 18 members and guests present. About half in-person and half online.
Paul, KK4AIA, had a laptop that could support both Zoom and the in room projection system. Worked very nicely.
I started the Zoom meeting on my laptop and gave co-host control to Marty, NV3H, who was remote. When my computer stopped, maybe due to overheating, the Zoom meeting continued because Marty was co-host. Paul's laptop in the community room continued to work, but he did not have sound on so all could not hear. Eventually I restarted my laptop and all was well again. Maybe time for a new laptop.
We discussed Field Day and we are still on for it. I need to adjust the operating shift times for some folks. Still looking for more operators.
The Virginia QSO Party is nearing its end. The actual operating part of the Party is over. The logs are all in and rescored (thanks to Marty, NV3H, and Henry, K2BFY). The metadata has been posted and all have been given an opportunity to make corrections. We are now identifying the plaque awardees (a cooperative effort between Barry, KD4BK; John, KX4O, and me) . It is very interesting. We will order the plaques in about a week. The Awards Ceremony will be at the Manassas Hamfest on Saturday, 4 June, at 1100. Hope to see some of you there to help with the ceremony. will need a photographer, a recorder, and 2 plaque presenters.
It was nice seeing all again.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
Sunday, May 01, 2022
Monthly Meeting - Wednesday, 4 May, at 7 PM
It is time for our May monthly club meetings. This is on Wednesday, 4 May, and starts at 7 PM. This will be an in-person meeting. We will also connect via Zoom. And we hope the Zoom connection will be stable enough to support the meeting.
We need a really good laptop to host the Zoom meeting at the sheriff Substation and concurrently connect to the projector system. My laptops are not up to the task. they are a little old and while are running Win10 do not have the CPU/GPU capability to maintain a stable connections to both the projection system and Zoom. If anyone has a high quality laptop, please let us know. The projection system in the room used Clickshare, not a wired connection, and we will need to download the clickshare software to your laptop.
Gordon, NQ4K, will provide some refreshments at the meeting.
Marty, NV3H, has arranged for a presentation on Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) by John, K7VE, the ARDC Outreach Manager. The title of the presentation is "ARDC - Overview, Applying for Grants and Net-44 Addresses." I believe this will be a different take on digital communications from the recent presentation on DMR. Some information may be found at https://www.ampr.org/. John will be joining us via Zoom.
We have some items of club business to discuss.
We have Field Day coming up. We can have a general discussion on preparations thus far.
We also have nomination of officers for next year. We are looking for volunteers for all positions.
73, Gordon, NQ4K
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