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Posts published in “Operating”

Honeymoon Island Activation April 2023

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on May 2, 2023

On Saturday, April 29, 2023, UPARC members set out to Honeymoon Island State Park to operate in the field for a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. Being a Florida State Park, Honeymoon Island is POTA park K-1880. Normally, this means we setup antennas and radios and sit back and work the pileups. But this day, the HF propagation gods took their time showing up. Initially, contacts were hard to come by on SSB. FT8 started off OK but 20m SSB was quite tough. But with perseverance, Team Luria (Charlotte KO4WNK and Joshua KO4VVX) made the majority of the SSB contacts with Olev KO4WUB and Rob WB4IFT making the FT8 contacts.

All total we worked 61 stations with 36 SSB … Read the rest

UPARC in the Park is coming on Saturday, April 29th!

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on April 20, 2023

UPARC will again be activating Honeymoon Island State Park for a POTA activation on Saturday April 29th, 2023 starting at 8:00 AM.

Honeymoon Island State Park is POTA park K-1880 located at the end of the Dunedin Causeway. In case you have not been there before, there is a fee for each car to get into the park so carpooling with others would allow you to share the entrance fee. Pavilions are first come, first serve but we plan to get there early to grab a location with power. Ask on the club’s repeater (147.12 + PL 100 Hz) or on the club’s Slack channel. You can also look for all the antennas in the parking lot near … Read the rest

Why People Say “This Is” when Checking into a Net.

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on February 20, 2023

You may have listened to a local 2m net and heard people saying “This Is” before they give their call sign during check-ins. An alternative is they may say “Net Control” instead of “This is”. Plus there is the combined effort of “Net Control, This is”. Why are they doing this? If you have wondered about that, here is the answer…

One problem when the net control station calls for check-ins is that stations all try to check-in at once and thus can double. Doubling is when two or more competing stations transmit at the same time, one station captures the receiver and gets through rendering the calls of other people transmitting moot since they are not heard. Another … Read the rest

Winter Field Day 2023

By Jack Kinney on January 29, 2023

 

 Winter Field Day LogoWinter Field Day in West Central Florida is a misnomer. However, it doesn’t stop Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club and Clearwater Amateur Radio Society clubs from having a great time!

Antennas

The most important component are the antennas. Without them nothing matters. The antenna team and “The Band Boss” ensure antennas are installed, tuned and ready for contesting. I apologize. I meant to say an Emergency Communications exercise. That’s what we are doing. Absolutely NO competition at the event. None!

The primary antenna is a hex beam antenna. It handles the 10m, 15m and 20m bands. Installed on the top of a five story fire training tower it is higher than everything in surrounding area.

If you have never … Read the rest

Winter Field Day 2023

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on January 7, 2023

Click here to sign up now.

Do you like operating in the field but hate dripping in sweat while setting up antennas? Does the idea of enduring another Field Day constantly fighting off every mosquito in Tampa Bay make you wish they held Field Day in January? Well, you’re in luck! Winter Field Day is an event very similar to the June ARRL Field Day except—you guessed it—it’s held in Winter. Specifically January 28 & 29, 2023. This is a joint operation with the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS). The event will be held at the Clearwater Fire Training Facility on Belcher Road south of Sunset Point Road in Clearwater. Prior efforts were a great success.

Winter Field Day … Read the rest

POTA Activation at Honeymoon Island

By Fred Botero on November 1, 2022

On Saturday, October 29th, UPARC had a very fun day at Honeymoon Island activating two club stations and making over 150 contacts as a Parks on the Air (POTA) activity. We had a great turnout of club members along with family and some visitors who had curiosity about ham radio which we took care to enthusiastically explain our wonderful hobby. The star visitor was a very sizable gopher tortoise that wandered close to our antenna guylines but eventually decided to high-tail it out of there (well, as fast a tortoise can go)! The weather was very nice and our pavilion (special thanks to Ray W8RD) had shade, tables and shore power along with a few mosquitoes, but we did not … Read the rest

Jamboree-on-the-Air a Success

By Jack Kinney on October 18, 2022

The Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club went to Lutz, FL to help Boy Scout Troop 12 participate in the 2022 Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA) event. We assisted with training, license testing, setup and operation of amateur radio equipment. The most important part was getting the Scouts on the air so they could learn about our hobby and work toward a Radio Merit Badge. Contacts were made around the US as well as Ireland, Germany, LY5A in Lithania and ZS6CCY in South Africa.

Here the Scouts were learning from Ryan KO4KGP about how a Satellite can be used to talk to different parts of the planet and even the ISS in outer space! The team tried really hard to make an ISS … Read the rest

Detailed map of Field Day Site

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on June 25, 2022

For anyone that has not been to the site before, it is at 1716 N Belcher Road in Clearwater. We operate in the Clearwater Fire Training Center which is behind the fire house off of Belcher Road. This is just south of Sunset Point Road and north of the railroad tracks. Turn off of Belcher and follow the directions on the map below.

Come into the doors up the ramp and follow the signs. We are on the east side for the building. Setup begins at 8-9 AM and operating starts at 2:00 PM Saturday. Talk-in on 147.12 + 600 (PL 100 Hz). You can also email info@nulluparc.org or call me at 727-437-2771 as a last resort if … Read the rest

Announcing ARRL Field Day 2022 – June 25th and 26th.

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on May 27, 2022

Deadline to signup to be guaranteed meals has passed. Feel free to attend but plan on bringing your own meals. 

ARRL Field Day is a combined event to test our ability to setup radio communication under less than ideal conditions–think temporary antennas, generators and radio gear. Our event this year is a combined event with two clubs—the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society (CARS) and the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club (UPARC). The date is June 25th starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday June 26th at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. The location for all of this is the Clearwater Fire Department Fire Training Center at 1716 N. Belcher Road in Clearwater. Click here… Read the rest

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