UPARC Raises an Antenna a Long Time Coming

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on October 6, 2023

Ever since moving to Clearwater, club member Tom NY4I has been looking to raise an HF beam at his house. Having used a multi-band off-center fed (OCF) dipole, getting to a beam was key. The plans were modest. No large tower was to be installed just yet (that’s a future project). The HF beam would reside on a Glen Martin 5 foot roof tower mounted on a flat roof covering Tom’s outdoor kitchen. Tom opted for a Mosley MP-33-NW 5 band Yagi-Uda (“Yagi”) antenna at a height of 22 feet.

This project took place over several months. First was the project to install the requisite VHF/UHF vertical along with the aforementioned OCF dipole. Then came the KF7P entrance panel… Read the rest

UPARC and CARS Monthly Breakfast

By Jack Kinney on September 24, 2023

On Saturday, September 23, 2023 the UPARC and CARS radio clubs got together for their monthly breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe in Clearwater. We had what we believe was the largest turnout ever with 20 people.

I’m not sure we could have fit another person in the room. Why break just one record when you can add another. This breakfast definitely had the largest appearance of XYLs ever in one place plus a YL friend of an XYL. We always love having the ladies show up at events!… Read the rest

September 2023 General Meeting Recap

By Jack Kinney on September 16, 2023

President’s Award

Jason Esterline N4BOZ

Jason received the President’s Award for the following:

- Outstanding Service to the Club
- Long Time Board Member
- Contributor to all Club events

Congratulations Jason!

Presentation

There were two presentations: Route 66 Contest Event by Fred W2SUB and QRP Demo, Show & Tell by Bill, KG4ZQZ of SPARC and Dee W4DCH of UPARC.… Read the rest

Amateur Radio Technician License Study Class

By Jack Kinney on September 14, 2023

The Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club is hosting a free Technician License Training and Exam course.

This is a two-day course: November 11 (Training) and November 18 (Training and Exam).

Click here for more information.… Read the rest

Station Projects with UPARC

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on August 24, 2023

UPARC members stopped by the QTH of Tom NY4I on Sunday August 20, 2023 to get ready for Tom’s antenna raising in September. Work included assembly of the Mosley MP-33-NW beam antenna and some projects in the shack. Thanks to the work party including (alphabetically): Alan W4UB, Bob K1NLS, Fred W2SUB, Jack N4KIN, Olev KO4WUB, Rob WD4IFT, Ron W4RFA and Ryan AF4O.

A few notable events included the beam assembly. Mosley sent the wrong instructions in the box so the team had to resort to watching a YouTube video to learn about the installation of the antenna. The team setup saw horses in the living room to assemble the elements with Fred W2SUB checking the video on his phone. I … Read the rest

August 2023 General Meeting Recap

By Jack Kinney on August 6, 2023

President’s Award

Dee Hooker W4DCH

Dee received the President’s Award for service to the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club and for being a past member of the Board of Directors. Congratulations Dee!

Presentation

There were two presentations: Awards and CW Key. The CW Key presentation was terrific. There were straight keys, iambic paddles, single lever paddles, keyers and more from vendors such as Bencher, Bengali, MFJ, Vibroplex, and more. It was great being able to try different styles of keys. You can see a few in the photo above. Sadly we didn’t get a photo of just the keys.

Meeting after the Meeting

After a morning of updates on the club and learning something new, some … Read the rest

Get on the Air (GOTA) Awards Presented

By Jack Kinney on July 20, 2023

Get on the Air (GOTA) Awards presented for outstanding Field Day Support

In this month’s meeting, Club President, Fred Botero, chose to recognize many individuals who provided outstanding support for the recent ARRL Field Day held on June 24-25. These hard working folks were all presented with the official ARRL Field Day GOTA pins in recognition of their hard work to ensure all of us were able to get on the air at Field Day. The pins are quite handsome, showing the ARRL logo with a large GOTA title on a gold and black background. They are something to be proud of and suitable for wearing on radio themed clothing, hats or at our events.

Three groups were recognized with … Read the rest

2023 ARRL Field Day is a Wrap

By Fred Botero on July 12, 2023

ARRL Field Day 2023 is in the books. This year we put up a lot of antennas and set up a lot of radios in some very hot and tough conditions to post a greater score than we achieved last year! In addition, we had some great food and learned a lot about being flexible in setting up our antennas when fire trucks were parked in our regular OCF dipole antenna spot.

We operated on SSB, FT8, CW and Satellite achieving unofficial 3326 points. This is 570 points more than we achieved last year.

Our satellite contact came quick this year on the first RS-44 pass of Field Day. Tom NY4I made the contact on SSB with assistance from Ryan

… Read the rest

June 2023 General Meeting Recap

By Jack Kinney on June 6, 2023

President’s Award

Josh KO4VVX & Melissa KS4MOM Luria

“In recognition of your outstanding contributions and achievements in service to the Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club for the following:

Promoting amateur radio to scout organizations and organizing an outstanding JOTA event.”

Presentation

There were two presentations: GMRS by Ryan AF4O and ARRL Field Day.

Meeting after the Meeting

After a morning of updates on the club and learning something new, some of us head down the road to continue the fellowship over lunch at Sonny’s BBQ in Clearwater. We had a good time, ate good food and the author cannot comment on adult beverages as he wasn’t there.… Read the rest

Field Day 2023 – June 24th and 25th

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on May 31, 2023

Registration for meals is now closed.

But you are still welcome to come out–just 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 24thstarting at 2:00 PM until Sunday June 25th 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 … Read the rest