Date and time: Tuesday, January 2, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Salvation Army Building, 1033 Big Bethel Road.
Subject: The District 7 White Trailer on display, open for inspection.

This is the first issue of the reborn newsletter The SPARKGAP. I need lots of inputs from readers: articles, up coming events, post event stories, comments about The SPARKGAP and suggestions. I will credit submitters by using first names and call signs unless specifically requested not to. I'm an Aerospace Engineer by trade, therefore my English (both spelling and grammar) will leave something to be desired. I will leave it up to MS Word and the readers to notify me of all my errors. Category titles and comments in BLUE will appear monthly.

I will rely on the authors to provide technically correct information. Occasionally, I will ask someone to review a submittal. (I am only a Technician with a HT, licensed in May 2005, therefore, I have very, very limited amateur radio experience.)

Our organizations are also social gatherings so I’ll take Health & Welfare items also. Notices submitted for birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations, get well or for a SK will also be published.

I am trying to make this newsletter responsive to all of District 7 so the various clubs and organizations can come closer together. If other organizations want to have their officers listed and members included in the mailings, let me know. The newsletter name remains The SPARKGAP. If you received this newsletter and are NOT a member of SPARK, this is a one-time mailing for you. If you want to continue receiving the monthly issues drop me an email. Those previously indicating their desire for continued copies should do so again, some e-mails were lost in my recent computer glitch. All addresses in "Cc" will only receive further issues by send me an e-mail. All address in "To" will continue to receive further issues. The response to my initial e-mail has been tremendous. In addition to many individuals wanting to receive copies, the ARRL-VA Webmaster, Dan, AG4YU, will post copies of SPARKGAP on www.aresva.org and the District 6 New Kent County EC, George (from Norge), K2QIJ, wants to receive a copy and may also submit an article for the Emergency Radio Services section from time to time. When I stepped up to the question of reviving The SPARKGAP I didn't expect to have this response, and all this was before this first revived issue had been sent!

Comments and criticism are welcome. I promise that my notes will usually not be this long again.

The next edition will be mailed about January 31st. Articles and comments due by January 27th.

January

• 1st New Years Day
• 2nd 7:30 pm SPARK meeting
• 3rd 7:30 pm PARC Business meeting
• 6th 9:00 am Technician Class - continues each Saturday until February 3rd
• 8th 6:30 pm HPT BoD meeting
• 13th 10:00 am PEARS meeting
• 15th Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• 17th 7:30 pm PARC Program meeting
• 27th 8:30 am HPT Breakfast meeting – elections
• 27th 9:00 am Gloucester Test Session
  

February

• 5th 6:00 pm NNACT meeting
• 6th 7:30 pm SPARK meeting
• 7th 7:30 pm PARC Business meeting
• 10th 10:00 am HPT Test Session
• 10th 10:00 am PEARS meeting
• 12th 6:30 pm HPT BoD meeting
• 14th Valentines Day
• 17th 9:00 am General Class – continues each Saturday until March 24th
• 18th 8:30 am FROSTFEST (Early Bird 8:00 am)
• 19th Presidents Day
• 21st 7:30 pm PARC Program meeting
• 24th 8:30 am HPT Breakfast meeting

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Print this form and submit with your payment.

SOUTHERN PENINSULA AMATEUR RADIO KLUB
Membership Renewal Year 2007
Complete this form and submit with your payment
Single Member $18.00 -- Family Membership $24.00
Send renewals to SPARK, c/o Jim Wright, 121 Starboard Circle, Newport News, VA 23602-6210
(Please make your check payable to SPARK)
Membership renewals are due January, 2007

Call Sign________________ Name_______________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________________________________
City_____________________________________ State_________ Zip__________________________
Phone(____)____-_____________ License Class________________ ARRL Member? Yes___ No___
Email Address__________________________________
Family Members:
Name______________________________ Call Sign____________ License Class_______ARRL_Y__N
Name______________________________ Call Sign____________ License Class_______ARRL_Y__N
Name______________________________ Call Sign____________ License Class_______ARRL_Y__N
Name______________________________ Call Sign____________ License Class_______ARRL_Y__N

Thanks to KC4F for suggesting this section. There will be articles from the DEC and the many area EC’s on a rotating basis.

The next article will be from Ed, WD0FYV, DEC D7.

District 7 Hams conducted a very successful Holly Dazzle parking event. The temperature was great on December 1st but too windy for the fireworks. The crowd was large and disappointed when it was announced that the fireworks would take place the next day. Hams came back on the 2nd and were just as successful.[Stu, N4STU]

HPT was very successful in marshalling the Hampton Holly Days Parade on December 9th . The white trailer was used by KC4F for NCS, thanks to KR4MA’s help. Hams helped with staging the parade units and then keeping them moving. Thanks to Addison, AA4V Chuck, KI4JNI, Chris, KC4F, Cindi, AI4OO, Dave, WA4WX, Earl, KR4AMA, John, KE4UP, Michelle, KC4JST, Stu, N4STU, Val, KI4JZW and Wayne KI4JZU. [Stu, N4STU]

Watch for future information.

[from the recently started ARRL Club Newsletter – 1st issue, December 2006]

Doughnuts Are Health Food

Healthy, active clubs are the foundation of Amateur Radio. It doesn't matter if your club has eight members or several hundred members, your club is your ham radio family. Our local radio club is where we get to interact with other hams and share information and knowledge. It is through the local club where many hams earned their first Amateur Radio license or upgraded to a higher license class. Amateur Radio clubs act as a catalyst where close personal friendships grow. Whether the activity is Field Day, a licensing class, a public service event or an antenna party, the local club really is where the rubber meets the road.

Clubs with a strong social appeal tend to be more active clubs. On the surface, Amateur Radio may appear to be a technical hobby, but it really is about people. Ham radio is people communicating and sharing ideas with each other. For 100 years hams have developed and exploited technology to be able to communicate with other hams and on behalf of the people in their communities. When we get on the air we are people sharing a common interest. During times of disaster hams are people helping other people. Members of our radio clubs are our friends. The magic boxes have changed quite a lot over the years, but the one thing that remains the same are the people who use them.

Though not scientific, a recent ARRL web survey indicated that 57% of those who attend club meetings do so because of social contact with other amateurs. Coffee and doughnuts are hardly technological marvels but they are a large part of what keeps a radio club active. Many clubs have rearranged the format for their meetings where they have a presentation or guest speaker at the beginning of the meeting followed by a social break, and then the business portion of the meeting is held at the end. Interestingly, many members who did not regularly attend club meetings because they were forced to sit through the business meeting at the beginning, before socializing, not only increased their attendance at meetings but these same folks stayed for the entire meeting-- including the business segment. Serving desert first not only satisfies the sweet tooth, but it also quenches the need to be with friends. Even though the doughnut is not listed in the major food groups of healthy eating, the fried treat is essential to a healthy radio club.

In an historic move, the FCC has acted to drop the Morse code requirement, element 1, for all Amateur Radio license classes. I do not know how anyone missed this news, therefore I will not elaborate. [Stu, N4STU]

KE4ZXW, the Amateur Radio Satellite Station Exhibit at the Virginia Air and Space Center (VASC)

[ed. note: This historical information was extracted from their web site. Additional Station Operators are needed. Your editor starts training January 8th.]

• When the VASC opened for visitors during the first week of April of 1992, the Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Klub (SPARK) set up a "Special Events" station operating on HF.
• During the first anniversary of VASC, SPARK members set up a demonstration Satellite Station which created much interest among visitors to the Center.
• In March of 1994, the VASC gave preliminary approval for a permanent exhibit.
• In November of 1994, the VASC Amateur Radio Group, Inc. was chartered as a not-for-profit corporation consisting of 10 participating area clubs with one Director named to represent each club. Later, an additional club joined the Group.
• Satellite Station KE4ZXW was put on the air in full automatic operation on September 17, 1995.
• The Amateur Radio Satellite Station Exhibit was "Formally Opened" on September 21, 1995.
• An Operator Training Plan was formulated to include a 3-hour Orientation and Station Demonstration Session followed later by 2-hour "Hands-On" training on Saturdays and Sundays in groups of 2 or 3 working under a Control Operator and then working in pairs on the first assignment.
• The first group of 14 Operator Trainees met for the initial training session on November 16, 1995.
• Presently, the training plan has been modified so that individual Amateurs are given two training sessions under a Control Operator. One is primarily orientation and the other is demonstration and hands on operations. Certification is at the recommendation of the Instructor. [Ed. Note: Operators enjoy the same privileges as VASC Docents.]
• The total estimated value of the Exhibit exceeds $17,000, of which the manufactured radio equipment alone is more than $10,000. This complex project has been supported financially by cash contributions from Tidewater Radio Conventions, Inc., Member Clubs, and individual Hams. All major station equipment has been donated by manufacturers and vendors. In addition, hundreds of skilled man-hours were generously donated by local Hams to design & build cabinets, equipment, circuit boards and subsystems as well as to provide specially purchased items.

Prepared by: Ken Pierpont, KF4OW - November 14, 1996, Station Engineer and Secretary

[Ed. note: Contact Ken or Stu, N4STU for an application for Operator training]

Please send me information and comments.

[information from SERA Repeater Journal, November ’06, except 146.940]

Please send me corrections, additions and deletions

Please send me corrections, additions and deletions

BoD - Board of Directors
DEC – District Emergency Coordinator (ARES)
EC – Emergency Coordinator (ARES) (of a locality)
HPT - Hampton Public-Service Team
LPEN - Lower Peninsula Emergency Net
MPARC - Middle Peninsula Amateur Radio Club, (Gloucester/Mathews County)
NNACT - Newport News Amateur Communications Team
PARC - Peninsula Amateur Radio Club
PEARS - Peninsula Electronic Amateur Radio Society
SPARK - Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Klub