It was an absolutely beautiful day for Hamcation on February 10, 2024 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, FL.… Read the rest
UPARC
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 27 & 28, 2024. 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 is a 24 hour operating exercise where … Read the rest
It was chilly when I met Ryan AF4O for breakfast at the Sunset Grill restaurant in Clearwater. We needed to fuel up before tackling our next project, swapping out a 10M vertical antenna for Olev KO4WUB.… Read the rest
The 2023 Award for the most weekly net check-ins goes to…… Read the rest
The Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club was well represented at this year’s 2023 Tampa Bay Hamfest. Some of the usual suspects made an appearance and posed for a group photo.
There were plenty of vendors and fellow hams selling their wares.
Surprisingly some people actually made it out of the event without spending anything! I know, right? Hard to believe. A strike team is still trying to figure out how Ryan AF4O didn’t buy a single thing. A supercomputer in an undisclosed location is still trying to calculate the cause of this event.
This seems like a good time for the new Webmaster’s Award. The inaugural award goes to Fred W2SUB for the most un-amateur radio purchase at a … Read the rest
Congratulations to the 2024 UPARC Board of Directors. They assume office on January 1, 2024.… Read the rest
President’s Award
Karen Isak KQ4HNI
Karen received the President’s Award for the following:
Progression in Amateur Radio skills, outstanding attitude and great cookies!
Congratulations Karen!
Presentation
We had a terrific presentation on Flex Radios by Michael Walker VA3MW from Flex Radio. Flex is a great radio with some terrific capabilities!
Club Business
Dee W4DCH, head of the nominating committee checked with those attending to see if there were any nominations from the floor for the officer elections. Hearing none, the slate was locked for voting at our November meeting at John Chestnut Sr. Park in East Lake.… Read the rest
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
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