Mark your Calendars!

Due to the holidays falling on Tuesdays, and other considerations, please note the following schedule changes for meetings:

Jan 1st 2013 (the first Tuesday of January) will be ragchew only, if enough people are interested.  Listen to the repeaters to hear if and where people are going to meet.

The SPARC Business meeting will be held on January 8th, 2013(the second Tuesday of January) at 7:00 PM at the Herald Journal Building.

The SPARC Board of Directors meeting has been changed from January15th, 2013 to Saturday January 19th at 8:30AM at the Junction Resaurant at Heron Circle.  The new SPARC trailer will be onsite.  The Board will be consider ideas for finishing the inside to safely contain the club's equipment.

All nets will be called on the usual days and times.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!!!

December Board Meeting

On Tuesday, December 18, 2012, the December Board Meeting will be held at the Spartanburg Herald Journal building located at 189 W. Main St., Spartanburg, SC.  The meeting will begin at 7 pm.  The rag chew will move from the east side Bojangles to the Herald Journal building for this Tuesday only.   

Membership Dues Reminder

With 2013 quickly approaching we wanted to remind you that 2013 club memberships should be renewed by January 1, 2013, and will be considered past due on January 31, 2013.  The  memberships available are:  Regular (licensed) $15, Family (licensed)  $8 plus the cost of the regular membership, Student (licensed) $8.  You can also upgrade  your membership to a Life (licensed) for $200.  Ann Thompson, KI4MEE, will be happy to take you payment of cash or check.  You can also mail your check to the club at the address listed on the side bar of this blog. 

Dean Phillips, Bret Phillips' Dad

We wanted to let you know that Dean Phillips, Bret (N9LPT) Phillips', Dad has passed away after a brief illness.  Bret's Dad died on 11/30/12 after being admitted to the hospital.  All funeral arrangements are being handled by Caughman-Harman Funeral Home.  Visitation is Monday, December 03, 2012, from 5:00pm - 7:00pm at Caughman-Harman Funeral Home - St. Andrews Chapel located at 5400 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC 29212.  The funeral service will be on Tuesday, December 04, 2012, at 11:00am at St.Andrews Lutheran Church located at 1416 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210-7623.  If you would like to send your condolences the funeral home has an online guest book that you can sign.  For more information and directions to the funeral home and church please visit www.caughman-harmanfuneralhome.net.

 

Just a Reminder, December meeting and Christmas gathering

Our December club meeting will be held at Golden Corral located at 1492 W. O. Ezell Boulevard in Spartanburg, SC.  Please join us for our last meeting of 2012 as we celebrate Christmas together.  Club members will eat for free and nonmembers will be dutch treat.  Make plans to join us!  All members, friends, and families are invited to attend!

33rd Annual Bill Drake Christmas Music Festival

It is once again time to support a great community event, the 33rd Annual Bill Drake Christmas Music Festival.  Once again this year SPARC will support this event by assisting those in attendance find parking spaces.  All club members who can help need to be at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium by 12:15 pm on Sunday, December 2nd.  Bring your hand held radios and come support your community!

Field Day Pins

If you earned a FD pin this year by participating in some way with Field Day activities, and have not received your pin, please plan to attend the business meeting (any, but Oct 2nd would be a good one).  If you cannot attend a business meeting, please arrange some other terms with Bret, N9LPT.  Don't get left out!

Nominations for SPARC Board due at the October Business Meeting

As the year end approaches, so does the end of term for three of the SPARC Board members.  At term end are NN4SS, Larry; K4XP, Keith; and K4RNV, Niles.  Nominations for these three seats will be accepted next month and the voting for the nominees will be in November.  Please be sure to consult with the potential nominees; it does no good to nominate someone who will not accept the nomination!

The October business meeting will be October 2nd 2012 at 7 pm at the Herald-Journal Building.

CU there!

73

Niles

August VE Test Session

Attention VEs & Hams wanting to test in August

The August 14th VE test session will be held at the Herald Journal Building, not the public library.  The usual time (6:30pm).  Park in the employee parking lot and use the side entrance.  Please pass this on to all VEs and anyone interested in testing in August.  73

W4NTO BIRTHDAY BASH

The July 24, 2012, rag chew will move from the eastside Bojangles to the Super Clock of Spartanburg located at 2725 Reidville Road.  It's a birthday bash for W4NTO, Fritz on his 90 something birthday (only Fritz knows his true age).  Let's all come out for a great meal (dutch treat) and wish him a happy birthday. The bashing will start at 7 pm.  Don't miss the fun!

The Board Meeting scheduled for 19 June 2012 has been cancelled.  There will be the regular ragchew meeting at the Eastside Bojangles.

FD 2012

Field Day is June 23rd and 24th.  We will be at Barnett Park, downtown Spartanburg, under the pavillion.  Antenna setup will commence at 8am Saturday.  If you are able to help with set up, please come on down!  We will have two stations, one SSB and one CW.  Operations begin at 2 PM on Saturday and will continue through the night into Sunday.  Parking is available nearby.  Government parking spaces are OK to use on the weekends.  The Funeral home and the church are available as long as they are not having services.  More parking info will be available as the event gets closer.  Snacks and drinks will be available throughout the weekend.  On Saturday pizza will be provided @ 6 PM.  Local restaurants are nearby.

Please plan to come out and participate in SPARC's FD in the field!   73

REMEMBERING MEMORIAL DAY

Modern Verities: Remembering Our Heroes: An excellent Memorial Day video from the Knights of Columbus.

Assault on Mt. Mitchell May 21 2012

It's that time, the Assault on Mt. Mitchell is almost here.  Remember the assault starts at 6:30 am rain or shine.  Somethings you may want to pack:  sunscreen, bug spray, raincoat, and if you are working water stops 5 or above, a warm jacket.  Net control will be using the Mt. Mitchell repeater  145.190 MHz as the primary transmission frequency.  Net control will be using tactical call signs (your water stop number or sag number) please use your call at the end of your transmission.  Please let net control know when the first riders pass your water stop.  We want to thank all the club members who have worked with the Freewheelers before the Assault helping us prepare and to the club members for taking the time out of there busy schedule to work the Assault.  Lets get those go bags packed, the radios charged and have a great day of fun supporting our community! 

1. Current weather conditions on Mt. Mitchell.

Have You Heard

The Clubs 220 repeater is on the air, climbers installed the new antenna Saturday, May 12, 2012.  The frequency is 224.440 mhz with no tone and is located on the ETV tower in Whitestone, SC at 200 ft agl.

2012 Field Day

The Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club will hold it's annual Field Day at Barnet Park 248 East St. John St. Spartanburg, SC on June 23-24, 2012.

Museum Ships Weekend 2012

Museum Ships Weekend 2012 – June 2 2012 0000Z  June 3 2012 2359Z . Activating IOTA NA-143 (Pelican Is.) Brazos Valley ARC will be operating from radio rooms of WWII Submarine USS Cavalla and Destroyer Escort USS Stewart from Seawolf Park on Pelican Is. in Galveston , Texas . We will be operating on 10-80 meters (SSB and CW). Be a part of living history as we commemorate the actions of these ships and crews.  More information at http://www.bvarc.org/index.php?page=ms  Special Event QSL with SASE via KK5W (QRZ.com).

Mr. Billy Burdette K4NJS (SK)

The funeral service for Billy Burdette K4NJS will be on Tuesday April 3 at 2 PM at the Eggers Funeral Home,

195 Rainbow Lake Road in Boiling Springs SC. Billy passed away on Sunday March 25 at Spartanburg Regional

Hospital. Billy was a long time member of the Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club dating back into the early sixties.

His health in the past 10 years or so prevented him from attending meetings. Billy was well known by most of the

hams around the upstate and he will be missed by all of us.

Farewell Meal for K4SAW

As many of you know, Steve, K4SAW will be moving out of town in April.  To thank him for his many years of service to the club and to wish him well on his journey we will have a dutch treat "feed" in his honor.  The rag chew for Tuesday, March 13, 2012, will move from Bojangles to The Super Clock of Spartanburg located at 2725 Reidville Road, Spartanburg, SC and will begin at 6:30 pm.  Family and guests are also invited to attend.  Lets send Steve off with what we do best, eating and a great rag chew!

RAG CHEW LOCATION

The Board has picked the Bojangles at 1793 E. Main Street in Spartanburg as the new location for the Club's weekly rag chew.  The "chews" start at 7 p.m. each Tuesday night except for the first and third Tuesday's of each month when the Club's business and board meetings occur.  Come join the fun and fellowship at this new location. 

Reminder - February Board Meeting

Just a reminder that the February SPARC board meeting will be held this coming Tuesday, February 21st at 7:00 pm.  Tuesday's meeting will be held at the Spartanburg Herald Journal building with parking and the entrance located on the east side of the building. A rag chew will be held after the board meeting as a preview to the new meeting room.  A location for the March board meeting will be announced at a later date when a  location is chosen. 

K4II Repeater is on the Air!

The K4II SPARC 440 repeater (442.075) antenna has been placed atop the ETV tower in its permanent location.  From all reports the antenna location is working well so make sure to try it out!    
 

WE HAVE A NEW HOME

The Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club has a new home for our monthly business meetings.  These meetings will be held at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal located at 189 W. Main Street in Spartanburg SC. The first meeting in our new location will be in March (03/06/12) and will begin at 7:00 pm.  Parking will be on the east side of the building with members and guests entering the building through the entrance on the east side of the building.  The use of this location will be for business meetings (1st Tuesday of every month) only.  Stay tuned for updates on new locations for weekly rag chew and monthly board meetings.  For the latest information tune into the Monday and Friday nets and look for blog updates.  

Repeater Coverage

Locations within the green circle should be 100% copy; Locations between the red & green circles may have some spottiness. This was generated by John Crockett, W3KH, based on the new location of the K4JLA antenna.

K4JLA IS ON THE AIR

On February 8, 2012, the power switch was thrown on the Club's new 2 meter repeater located on the ETV tower in Whitestone, SC.  The antenna is at a height of 1414 feet MSL, 600 feet AGL.  The repeater has a temporary tone of 123.0.  The assigned tone of 91.5 will be set in about a week.  From all reports the repeaters performance has been excellent and is providing coverage throughout Spartanburg County and beyond.  Break out the radio manuals and set the tones so you can enjoy the new repeater! 

Amateur Radio License Testing

The Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club's Team of  Volunteer Examiners will be holding testing for Amateur Radio License at a new location starting in February (2/14/2012). The testing site will be the Spartanburg  County Public Library, 151 South Church St. Spartanburg , SC.  Please plan to be there at  6:30 pm  to fill out your application and testing will begin at 7:00 pm.  The fee is $15.00 and you will need a photo I.D.  If you are upgrading your license you will need the original license and a copy.  (You may make copies at the Library for a fee.)  Also if you have any Certificate of Completions you will need to bring them to be eligible to upgade your license.  The testing is open to all persons who would like to begin to experience this great hobby or to upgrade your license.  You do not have to be a member of Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club to test, all are welcome.  As a bonus, if you earn your initial license at a Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club testing session you will get a free club membership.  The Club's rag chew will continue to meet in its current location.

Reminder!

Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club has a new mailing address: 
                  Spartanburg Amateur Radio Club
                  P.O. Box 171433
                  Spartanburg, SC 29301

Christmas "Feed" 2011

Club members and guests spent an evening together on December 6, 2011, at Golden Coral.  Those in attendance enjoyed delicious food and wonderful fellowship.  The evening included tales of rare QSO's, talk of radios from long ago that glow, old friends where remembered and new friend where made.  This was a fitting end to a year where many lives in the community were touched by our members through club projects.  Thanks to all who helped give a ride when mountains were too high, searched for lost bags, and found parking spots at Christmas events.  2012 is sure to bring more fellowship and fun!