November 19, 2019

New rig, Flex Radio 6600

When I get into hobbies I tend to go all in right away. With ham radio I found that strategy to be a little financially irresponsible. The Icom IC-7300 had just come out when I started and spending over grand on just one piece for the new hobby didn’t sit well with me so I found a deal on the Icom IC-7410 used (from a military officer, so I felt comfortable buying it over the internet). I’ve mastered the 7410 and wanted more. I’ve been radio shopping for a few months and finally pulled the trigger on the Flex Radio 6600. This radio is basically a server, you connect the…

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written by AA0O - Posted in Uncategorized

November 19, 2019

QSL Card from Joe Taylor K1JT!

I worked K1JT Joe Taylor, the creator of the FT8 mode, during the ARRL June VHF contest and I received his QSL card today. This one will get a prominent spot on my board.

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written by AA0O - Posted in QSL

November 18, 2019

ARRL Sweepstakes SSB 2019 – 102 contacts

This is a contest I was looking forward to. The goal is to try and work all the sections in US and Canada(83 total). I decided to do it unassisted (without the aid of internet spotting networks). I worked more contacts than last year but less sections(53 of 83), probably due to the spotting networks. Saturday I went over to TARC Fest in Tampa, it was a little rainy so there weren’t too many vendors. I chatted a bit with Jim KG4JSZ, the new ARRL vice director for the Southeastern division and he’s a member of the SPARC club. This is the contest where you give your year first licensed…

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written by AA0O - Posted in Contests

November 15, 2019

QSL card from Panama

It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten a QSL card, not sure why it’s slowed down so much, I used to get them all the time. This is a nice one: Thanks Steve!

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written by AA0O - Posted in QSL

November 15, 2019

SPARC Fest 2019

This past weekend was the annual SPARC Fest, the club’s hamfest. It’s free for vendors so we keep getting a great turn out. 65 vendors showed up. As the new President I ran the club table, we sold quite a bit of stuff. It’s interesting what people will buy. I also made a post on the club website: Next ham fest we’ll be doing is the Tampa Bay Ham fest in Plant City on Dec. 13th

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written by AA0O - Posted in Club, Hamfests

November 2, 2019

AAØO elected President of St Petersburg Amateur Radio Club

At tonight’s SPARC meeting I was elected as club president. I am looking forward to leading the club and getting even more involved in the hobby. The first event after my election is next Saturday 11/9 for the annual SPARCfest at Freedom Lake Park in Pinellas Park, FL, it’s free so come on out.

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written by AA0O - Posted in Club

October 28, 2019

CQ WW SSB 2019 – 230 contacts

I spent some more time on this contest than last year and had much better results. All sorts of DX. I had quite a few contacts on 15m which is new to me, usually it’s pretty dead. I had my typical troubles on 40 and almost none on 80m due to the low height of my off center fed dipole. Summary:Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries——————————  80:    5    4        5  40:  36    9      27  20:  139    16      58  15:  48    13      32  10:    2    2        2——————————Total:  230    44      123  Total…

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written by AA0O - Posted in Contests, DX

October 25, 2019

It’s DX season

For the past couple months things have been pretty slow in the QSO department. I made a few contacts here and there but not much new was happening. I think summer is a slow time for ham radio, which is unfortunate since I’m in Florida and it’s too hot to go outside a lot of the time. Anyhow, last week my Parks on the Air activation got all sorts of long distance (DX) contacts and this week there were a few DXpeditions that I’ve been picking up contacts with. VP6R, Comoros, and 5K0K are DXpeditions, Seychelles is really far way over 9,200 miles. I had a contact with San Andres…

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written by AA0O - Posted in DX

October 18, 2019

POTA K-3656 South Fork State Park

It’s starting to cool down a little in Florida so I went out for a Parks on the Air activation. At 82F it was still sweaty but bearable. A little down the road from park K-3607 that I activated previously, is South Fork State Park, K-3656. This is land that I think they are reserving for a future park, or protecting it from becoming farmland by calling it a park. It’s part of the Southwest Florida Wildlife Management District, which I needed to walk through to get to the state park land. It’s an oddly shaped park due to the WMA and farms around it. This map doesn’t show the…

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written by AA0O - Posted in Parks on the Air

September 25, 2019

Radio clubs in the park

Once again the St. Pete, Clearwater and Upper Pinellas radio clubs joined forces for a radio clubs in the park event. We met up at Eagle Lake park in Largo, FL. This is a nice county park so it doesn’t count for Parks on the Air but it was still a fun event. Unlike Field Day where we setup specific antennas and radios to compete in the contest, everyone was encouraged to bring their own equipment to this event. I setup my 40ft Spiderbeam mast with a wire dipole antenna. Other people brought end fed antennas, ham sticks and a dual Wolf River coil. Band conditions have been really bad…

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written by AA0O - Posted in Club, Parks on the Air