The Lakeland Amateur Radio Club operated Special Event Station W4S at Sun ‘n Fun 2021. These are just a few of the highlights. Thanks to all who operated the station, including Mike Shreve, N6MRS; George Mann, KJ4UW; Dan Gagnon, NZ1P (and everyone else who operated but whose names were not provided)…and a couple of big shout-outs for Geoff Schuck, WA4MMO and Todd Rush, W7STR for spearheading the event. Many thanks to all for a great event!
The Florida QSO Party is an annual contest where the goal of stations outside of Florida is to work stations inside of Florida. The goal of Florida stations is to work everyone. It takes place in two ten hour blocks…from Saturday 16:00:00Z (Noon EDT) – Sunday 01:59:59Z ( Saturday 9:59:59 PM EDT) and Sunday 12:00:00Z (8 AM EDT) – 21:59:59Z (5:59:59 PM EDT).
It’s lots of fun, and there are lots of contacts to be made because for once everyone’s goal is to work YOU! For more information go to https://floridaqsoparty.org/
World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president.
Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short-wave spectrum?could support long-distance radio signal propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to promote the interests of amateur radio worldwide and to protect and enhance its spectrum privileges. Today, the IARU is a federation consisting of more than 160 national amateur radio organizations in as many countries and separate territories. The International Secretariat of the IARU is ARRL, the national association for amateur radio® in the United States.
On World Amateur Radio Day, all radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy our global friendship with other amateurs, and to show our skills and capabilities to the public.
IARU has chosen “Amateur Radio: Home but Never Alone” as the theme for World Amateur Radio Day, Sunday, April 18, 2021. The theme acknowledges that during our physical distancing to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, amateur radio stands out as welcome respite for its variety of activities and opportunities – even helping overcome online fatigue and social isolation. The amateur radio community has organized “wellness nets” to keep amateurs in touch and check on those who may be higher risk or elderly, “stay safe” special event stations across the globe, and has encouraged generally higher levels of on air activity.
(Courtesy ARRL)
The Lakeland Amateur Radio Club held it’s April meeting last night, April 12. The meeting was well attended with 41 present. The keynote speaker for the meeting was Mike Lunsford, KB4FHP, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL West Central Florida Section. Mike did an informative presentation on the Digital Voice Modes of Amateur Radio, including DMR, D-Star, Fusion and more. Thanks, Mike for an excellent presentation!
The next meeting will take place on Monday, May 10.
It’s the second Monday of the month, which means it’s time for the LARC monthly club meeting. It’s at 7:00 p.m. at Parkview Baptist Church, 501 Parkview Pl, Lakeland FL 33805. As previously posted, there will be no exams tonight.
The Lakeland Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce that we have been selected as the host amateur radio station club for the 2021 Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo.
W4S will be in operation April 13-18. The event will be headed up by Geoff Schuck, WA4MMO and Todd Rush, W7STR. The station will be set up by the education building, west of the museum and will have both HF and VHF/UHF radio stations. Please note that due to COVID restrictions, only those operating will be able to access the station. Visitors will not be permitted.
Have fun!
While we will be having our next regularly scheduled LARC club meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 12, please be advised that there will be no amateur radio license exams that night. See you at the meeting!
Herman “Top” Smith, WB6ZEQ became a Silent Key on Friday, April 2, 2021. “Top” was retired from the United States Marine Corps. He was active in his church as well as the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club, most recently serving as the club’s vice president.
Also, Wilbur “Chet” Carruth, AB4XK became a Silent Key on Monday, March 29, 2021. “Chet” served in the United States Navy, and was also active in his church as well as he was a member of the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club.
Both of these gentlemen will be missed.
This coming weekend is the Florida State Parks On The Air (FLSPOTA) event featuring stations operating portable from our Florida State Parks. Please check out the website at http://flspota.org
As this event is sponsored by LARC, this is our time to shine!
The CQ WPX SSB weekend is upon us, and it’s an easy contest…the object is to work as many different prefixes as you can, both stateside and DX. Essentially, work everyone! The exchange is easy as it’s the signal report and the sequential serial number starting with 001.
For complete rules and to learn more about it, go to https://cqwpx.com/index.htm
Happy hunting!