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UPARC

Why We Ask Club Members if you are an ARRL Member?

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on September 17, 2024

As you may know, UPARC is an ARRL-affiliated amateur radio club. This means we support the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and its mission to further the interests of Amateur Radio. UPARC was affiliated with the ARRL on August 10, 2012 shortly after our founding as a club.

So why you might be asking why we ask if you are an ARRL member? We ask to know if you are an ARRL member as ARRL-affiliated clubs are asked to maintain 51% of their voting members as current ARRL members. Hence you see on the sign-up sheet (and the club sign-up/renewal form) a question about your ARRL membership status. Please do indicate on the sign-up sheet if you are a member. … Read the rest

ARRL Field Day 2024 Report

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on July 9, 2024

CARS and UPARC have used the Clearwater Fire Training Center for both summer (ARRL) and winter field day for quite a few years now. This year was no different. Members and guests from both clubs set out on Saturday June 22, 2024 bright and early to setup temporary antennas and operating positions at the wonderful Clearwater Fire Training Center off of Belcher Road in Clearwater. A total of 50 people stopped by to setup, operate, enjoy lunch, socialize, and tear-down the site all commencing at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning.

As the clubs have operated from this site several times and know the ins and outs of the site, this year we “mixed it up” a bit by using only … Read the rest

ARRL Field Day 2024

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on May 31, 2024

Last Day to signup to guarantee food is Monday June 17th, 2024 at 11:59 PM EDT.

Sign-up link: https://forms.gle/6K12y76MakHGtDHL7

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 Saturday, June 22nd starting at 2:00 PM until Sunday, June 23rd at 2:00 PM. Setup generally begins in earnest at 8:00 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

UPARC in the Park Event – April 2024

By Fred Botero on April 30, 2024

On Saturday, April 20th members of UPARC met at Honeymoon Island to host our annual POTA (Parks on the Air) event. We had about 15 members and guests turn out and made over 80 contacts on SSB and FT-8. The team braved very heavy mosquito swarming early on to get setup and was on the air around 8:45 AM.The wind picked up a bit and blew away most of the bugs by 10:00. That and some very compassionate sharing of bug spray by those well prepared individuals helped us get to the task at hand.

This year, thanks to Tom NY4I, we were able to turn in logs which gave credits to both the club callsign W4AFC and each individual … Read the rest

Ryan AF4O Receives the President’s Award for April 2024

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on April 11, 2024

Club president Fred W2SUB bestowed upon Ryan Rager AF4O the April 2024 President’a Award. The President’s award is granted to club members for exemplary service to the club. Ryan as most of you know helps the club and members in so many different areas. No matter if it is serving on the club board, working to raise antennas at member’s houses or the countless other things he does, Ryan is everywhere and UPARC is glad to have him as a member.… Read the rest

UPARC Members Visit Crooked River State Park in Georgia

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on March 25, 2024

Over the weekend of March 20th – March 23rd, 2024, Ryan AF4O, Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I traveled to Crooked River State Park in Georgia for a RISK Tournament (yes, RISK the board game). The tournament is in the park in rented cottages. Besides the tournament, there is plenty of time for other activities so Ryan brought his Icom 7300 and the Elecraft amplifier along with wire antennas to activate the park for POTA with 500 watts of power. Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I were also able to operate the station setup in the kitchen table of a cabin. The pile-ups were really big as the power and park attracted lots of stations wanting to work the park. All three … Read the rest

UPARC/CARS Monthly Breakfast Maxing Capacity

By Jack Kinney on February 25, 2024

Yesterday we had our monthly UPARC-CARS breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe in Clearwater. We believe we had the largest turnout every with 21 people. If this keeps happening (which we’d love) we’ll need to find another place to meet! If you haven’t join us before, feel free to come out. Details about our next breakfast can be found at Monthly Breakfast with CARS – UPARC… Read the rest

Get On the Air Installs Team helps Olev KO4WUB

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on February 25, 2024

On Saturday February 24 after the club breakfast and under a clear-blue sky, several club members stopped by Olev KO4WUB’s place (QTH) to do some antenna work. The team included the following UPARC members:

  • Bob K1NLS
  • Jack N4KIN
  • Olev KO4WUB
  • Ryan AF4O
  • Rob WD4IFT

On the docket was to install a 6 meter beam as well as move a 2 meter/70cm vertical to a new mast.

The club has many great members always willing to help with antenna projects so let’s Get On the Air!… Read the rest

Winter Field Day 2024

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on February 22, 2024

For Winter Field Day 2024, UPARC returned to the Clearwater Fire Training Center with our friends at the Clearwater Amateur Radio Society. This year was surprisingly warm enough to host the event outside (all evidence to the contrary given our current temperatures).
We had the usual assortment of HF stations with the three Elecraft K3 transceivers and the Hex Beam with the triplexer. Two wire antennas rounded things out on HF for low bands. Both clubs were well-represented with approximately 40 people attending.

So how did we do? In total, we made 1149 QSOs. You can see a breakdown of the contacts including the actual log on our website here.

We only missed one section in the US and a … Read the rest

Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club

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