Press "Enter" to skip to content

UPARC

Virtual Meeting for April

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on March 30, 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fire station is closed to the public.  Rather than not having our monthly meetings, we’ve decided to have them virtually until things resume to normal and it is safe again.  Please disregard any previous notices that stated otherwise.

Our monthly club meeting is next Saturday at 10:00am. There will NOT be any testing beforehand. We will have a full agenda, as well as a tech presentation.

There are a few ways in which you can join us (below), we recommend joining via a PC or MAC – however you can use a phone or tablet, or call in for audio only.  The best experience will be to have video as there will be a … Read the rest

Pinellas Emergency Operations Call for Volunteers

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on March 24, 2020

Who : Pinellas EOC / Clayton Parrott

What: Point of drop off for PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment)

When: Wed, Thurs, Friday, Maybe Saturday This week. 3/25-3/28 8AM-8PM

Where: An un-named Church in Tarpon Springs (To be announced)

Why: Pinellas County EOC is requesting businesses with Extra PPE equipment donate the equipment at one of 3 drop off points, North, Central, and South County. I was asked to contact Eastlake CERT and I also offered to ask UPARC if they wanted to volunteer for the North County site, hence this Email.

How: Business will be asked to drop off the equipment between 9am-7pm. This will be set up as a drive through drop off. Car drives … Read the rest

Weekly Net Resumes March 24 on East Lake CERT Repeater

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on March 22, 2020

Due to ongoing issues with the repeater behaving erratically, our club weekly net is moving to the East Lake CERT 70 cm repeater (W4ELC) that operates on a frequency of 442.800 Mhz with a PL tone of 146.2 Hz.
Our repeater team is actively working on the problem and determined that the W4AFC antenna system is at fault. We are doing our best to schedule a tower climber to work on the antenna during these difficult times.

Please use simplex 146.575 for local communications.

The UPARC Board… Read the rest

Winter Field Day 2020

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on March 16, 2020

Another Winter Field Day has come and gone (more than a few weeks ago due to my belated report). The weather was mild if not just a tad cold at night (for us Floridians anyway). The now annual combined Winter Field Day effort between the Clearwater ARS, St. Petersburg ARC and Upper Pinellas ARC took place the weekend of January 25 at the Clearwater Fire Training Center.

So how did we do?

Our total numbers of contacts was above 1200 making for the most we have made from this site in a Field Day (Winter or Summer). The total points of 19788 were sent in at the end of February with the results typically released about 4 months later. We … Read the rest

Repeater Status Page

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on March 9, 2020

March 24, 2020

We are working with local tower repair companies to schedule a climber, however have been impacted by the Corona Virus.

March 18, 2020

Alan W4UB visited the site and upon checking the antennas with an antenna analyzer, it shows a VSWR of 6.9:1. Alan double checked the hardline at the repeater end connector to no avail it appears we will be scheduling time with a tower climber to determine if we have a coax issue or antenna issue.

March 17th, 2020

Dave Shuey WA3VRE did extensive bench testing of the Kenwood repeater and it is working fine. Debugging continues to the next pieces in the chain (duplexers, coax and antennas).

March 9, 2020

Lady Luck is not … Read the rest

On the Air Magazine

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on March 8, 2020

The second issue of the ARRL’s new On the Air magazine is available to all ARRL members online. Click here for more information and to access the latest issue. While you may think you are an old hand that cannot learn anything new, so far both issues have been interesting. It is also good to read to know the types of things appealing to newer hams.

If you are not an ARRL member, please consider joining. It is our national amateur radio organization that provides many services plus advocacy on many issues regarding the various commercial interests with eyes on more and more radio spectrum. New ARRL members can choose to receive On The Air or QST. I would … Read the rest

Upcoming Events – March 2020

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on February 29, 2020

UPARC Events
3/07/20: UPARC TESTING – 8:30am @ Station #65
3/07/20: UPARC MONTHLY MEETING – 10am @ Station #65 — Tech Presentation: Wire Antennas
3/28/20: Breakfast Social – 9am @ Bob Evans

Operating Events
03/14/20: Radio Clubs in the Park – 8AM @ Lake Seminole Park, Shelter #6: 10015 Park Boulevard, Seminole, 33777 More Info

Hamfests: As provided by the ARRL West Central Florida Section
3/07/20: CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAMFEST 2020 – Punta Gorda Boat Club – Punta Gorda, FL.
3/14/20: GULF COAST ARC SPRING HAMFEST 2020 – Millennium Academy – New Port Richey, FL.
3/21/20: ZAARC HAMFEST 2020 – St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church – Zephyrhills, FL.
3/28/20: SERC HAMFEST AND TAILGATE 2020 – American Red Cross HQ – Sarasota, FL.… Read the rest

Echolink Progress

By Jack Kinney, N4KIN on February 15, 2020

Today we connected the audio output of the repeater to the Echolink PC. The repeater controller doesn’t recognize the PTT from Echolink so transmitting will not work. Tom NY4I will be doing some research on that front.… Read the rest

Upcoming Events

By Alan Streitman on January 29, 2020

What’s happening in February
Feb 1 – UPARC Testing – 8:30am Fire Station 65, 250 W Lake Rd, Palm Harbor, Fl 34684
Feb 1 – UPARC Monthly Meeting – 10am Fire Station 65, 250 W Lake Rd, Palm Harbor, Fl 34684
Tech Presentation: Magnetic Loop Transmitting Antennas – Richie, AA2MF
Feb 7,8&9 – Hamcation
Feb 22 – Breakfast Social – 9am at Bob Evans 29335 US Hwy 19 N, Clearwater, FL 33761… Read the rest

Mission News Theme by Compete Themes.