Amateur Radio Activities

As the old saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". SPARC is no different. So even though our "major" is public service, our minor is "fun". And boy, does SPARC have fun!

SPARC puts NPOTA on the air! At our March meeting, we decided to put the Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail on the air.  Fortunately for SPARC, the trail (TR-23) runs less than 50 feet away from our meeting place. With a little coaxing, we were able to get some SPARC Rookies on the air, and when it was all over, we made over 50 QSOs in less than two hours and put SPARC and NJ2SP on the ARRL's Activator list.

ARRL Rookie Roundup

Speaking of Rookies, one of SPARC's goals is to get our newly licensed Hams comfortable behind an HF rig. We make an effort to participate in the ARRL's "Rookie Roundups" so that newly licensed Amateur Radio ops will learn that there's way more to our hobby that just dual-band HTs.

Special Event Station

2016 marked the 90th Anniversary of the founding of South Plainfield. It only seemed natural to put a Special Event Station on the air. So with the attitude that "Everyday is Field Day", SPARC put NJ2SP on the air to celebrate. The fact that it was the hottest Saturday in August did not deter us in the least!

Technician Licensing Classes Nothing is more fun than introducing new people to Amateur Radio. SPARC tries it best to bring the hobby to new generations of Hams. Marv K2VHW, Larry W2LJ and Drew W2OU are ARRL Certified Instructors. Successful license classes have brought dozens of new Hams into the hobby.