Had some unexpected guests for the weekend so I didn’t get to put in as much time as I would’ve liked, still managed 205 contacts in the little time I was on.
Florida QSO Party, 205 CW QSOs
New Comms Tower
Since I moved I’ve had my WX satellite receiver antenna on the old tripod from the hexbeam and it was kind of in the way in the garden. A club member gave me a push up pole they weren’t using and I finally got the parts I needed to set it up. From the top down, 2m antenna, FlightAware ADS-B 1090MHz Antenna and the QFH weather satellite antenna. Previously I was using the QFH to receive the ADS-B signals. I like to look up the planes that fly over while I’m sitting in the garden. I would get a peak of 17 planes at a time typically, with a range…
New Bureau cards
Been awhile since I’ve received a card and today I got 11, one from a shortwave listener
Florida State Parks on the Air 2021 – K-3663 & K-1878
I joined up with Corey N4FQ again for the FLS POTA Event. We activated Terra Ceia Preserve State Park K-3663 on Saturday which is pretty close to my house. I had activated this one before but we went further in this time. We found a good spot and wound up with 169 contacts. N4FQ invited some students from his EE classes and I think they enjoyed it, hopefully we’ll get a few new hams. Sunday we activated Hillsborough River State Park northeast of Tampa. This park is very simple but very popular. I forgot to take any photos but we made a few contacts. This park is all wooded so…
Triple play award delivered
Triple Play WAS Award finally
I was able to pick up Idaho on SSB during the Idaho QSO Party this weekend which finished off my Worked All States triple play award. That is a contact with every state in SSB(Voice), CW(Morse code) and Digital modes. I’ve just needed that Idaho contact for over a year. I paid for the award plaque, I’ll put up a photo of that when it arrives. I’m real close to working all states on a few other modes and bands but I mostly need North Dakota and there’s like only 2 hams up there.
Dee’s new antenna
Worked on the ground crew for install Dee’s new antenna. His antenna was damaged in the same storm that damaged the club tower. He had insurance on his so he got a replacement of the same antenna but the newer model. Quite a few club members attended and the install went very smoothly.
SPARC Club meeting in person
We finally got back to meeting in person. We met outside the church at our normal location. Had 36 people attend, everyone seemed very comfortable. I’ve done more meetings on Zoom than I’ve done in person so I’m still getting the hang of running official meetings. Club secretary Charles W4BPP gave a presentation on Superheterodyne receivers.
NAQP RTTY – 193 Contacts
Spent some time on the NAQP RTTY contest this week as part of the Aardvarks Wireless Group team. Ended up with 193 contacts, still didn’t get North Dakota. That’s the last one I need for Worked All States RTTY. My vertical antenna works much better on 80m, I got 53 contacts there. I really enjoy the Flex Radio, the filters are real tight so I don’t get much interference from close by station(of which there were many). There’s still the problem of people calling on top of eachother. Later in the day it was easier to get through.
Brooksville Hamfest 2021
We had a large donation so Norm KA1IJA and I packed up all the items and setup some tables at the Brooksville Hamfest. The weather was great and it was almost chilly at some points but we had a good time bartering with people. We came out with a decent amount for the club and sold most of the items. Decent turnout compared to the last time I went to the Brooksville hamfest.