We are in the last days of the grace period for your dues! If you are not a member, YOU want to be! Join PARC today and you will not be disappointed in your choice!
Author: DJ Stewart Page 11 of 18
A very heartfelt recognition goes out to all! Vendors, Patrons, Guests, Visitors, Support Staff, Members, Volunteers, and all who made the Playground Hamfest successful! We cannot engage with the community the way we do without your support and dedication!
Do you need to test?! We got you!
Are you hungry?! We got you!
Do you want to buy, swap, trade, sell, or barter Ham gear and more?! We got You!
Come one, come all to the 55th Annual Playground ARC Hamfest!
1958 Lewis Turner Blvd Fort Walton Beach Florida
Friday 3pm to 6pm
Saturday 8am to 1pm
Saturday 8am to 1pm
Vendors set up Friday starting 8am. No public show until 3pm.
Vendors set up Saturday 6am. No public show until 8am.
The show closes at 1pm.
We offer:
Testing, must pre-register must have FRN (Federal Registration Number)
Testing, must pre-register must have FRN (Federal Registration Number)
PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM
Testing will be at 10:00 AM CST
Indoor Booths
Food Concessions
National Vendors
Local Ham Radio Dealers
Area Club Tables
ARRL Representatives
Food Concessions
National Vendors
Local Ham Radio Dealers
Area Club Tables
ARRL Representatives
Camping
Rv’s Welcome
Reserve your tables and spots: PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM
$8.00 admission
$15.00 per table/spot
$15.00 per table/spot
Boy Scouts in Uniform Free
12 and Under Free
90 and Above Free
12 and Under Free
90 and Above Free
Contact Information: PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM,
or the NWFL Hamfest Hotline at 850-359-9186.
All voicemails will be returned if no answer.
A PROCLAMATION TO DESIGNATE MARCH 6, 2025, AS “FRANK M. BUTLER, JR. DAY”
At the Okaloosa County Regular Board Meeting today, a proclamation was approved to designate March 6, 2025 as Frank M Butler Jr. day. Frank will celebrate his 100th birthday, March 6, 2025
Frank obtained his commercial and amateur federal radio licenses in the early 1940’s and became a broadcast engineer at several radio stations and he during his career at Eglin Air Force Base he was involved in field testing major weapon systems, including Hound Dog, BOMARC and the Air Launched Ballistic Missiles; his career included design and testing multiple communication, radar and electronic warfare systems.
He enjoys time with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, David, Nellie, Steve, Jacki, Ryan, Stephanie, Michael, Kate, Lisa, Jake, Claire, Katie, Thomas and Valarie, his close friend, Joy Bates, and the many loving members of his church congregation.
Get YOUR Spot, while it’s hot! The PARC 55th Hamfest is a foot on March 14/15 2025! We are ready to host and serve YOU!
https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/playground-arc-55th-annual-hamfest
Join us for the 55th Annual Playground Amateur Radio Club Hamfest!
1958 Lewis Turner Blvd Fort Walton Beach Florida
Friday 3pm to 6pm
Saturday 8am to 1pm
Saturday 8am to 1pm
Vendors set up Friday starting 8am. No public show until 3pm.
Vendors set up Saturday 6am. No public show until 8am.
The show closes at 1pm.
We offer:
Testing, must pre-register must have FRN (Federal Registration Number)
Testing, must pre-register must have FRN (Federal Registration Number)
PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM
Testing will be at 10:00 AM CST
Indoor Booths
Food Concessions
National Vendors
Local Ham Radio Dealers
Area Club Tables
ARRL Representatives
Food Concessions
National Vendors
Local Ham Radio Dealers
Area Club Tables
ARRL Representatives
Camping
Rv’s Welcome
Reserve your tables and spots: PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM
$8.00 admission
$15.00 per table/spot
$15.00 per table/spot
Boy Scouts in Uniform Free
12 and Under Free
90 and Above Free
12 and Under Free
90 and Above Free
Contact Information: PARCFWB@GMAIL.COM,
or the NWFL Hamfest Hotline at 850-359-9186.
What a great time all of Team PARC had! We went to Fred R. Gannon State Park in Niceville Florida and operated as a 2 Oscar. We had satellite contacts, VHF contacts, and HF contacts! The best part was of course hunting down the signals. Thank you to all who participated on one end of the microphone or the other!
Want to know how the Fox Hunt went?!!! Sure you do! Here’s the scoop!
KQ4FRB snuck out of the Playground Clubhouse and eluded detection. Traversing multiple streets, roadways, and avenues, she made her way to the top secret location [although public by nature (pun indented)]. Once there, she communicated it was a go for the hunt of the transmitter hidden in plain sight, somewhere in the Beautiful Downtown area of the City of Fort Walton Beach!
Out of the shack and into the cars the hams and guests then went! Grabbing their Yagi’s and signal detection gear. After the roar of a faint tone they separated ways to triangulate and isolate areas where the transmission was to be stronger. Arriving at areas where they thought it might be, they swept narrow and wide which made them flee.
Moving throughout the city, watching the meters and listening for the tones, they adjusted their squelches on multiple radios. Using harmonics they zeroed right in and found the elusive Fox securing a win! Even non-hams played along and found the transmission, but not before KI4ZER and his guest Derrick, securing the win! N2XU was next with his friend Steve, and little did they know, KQ4FRB had a trick up her sleeve! Once he was close, she had DJ raise the antenna from a few feet to above the trees! Now N2XU was puzzled and asked for clues from me! Gave him one we did but it only puzzled him more until finally, N2XU arrived and could celebrate once more!
If you did not participate you missed a great Fox Hunt! Following the event, we went by AA0EU’s and had ourselves a brat and dog BBQ!
Be sure to stay tuned for more events like this that you wont want to miss!
Team PARC gathered on Saturday 11 Jan 2025 at 0900 for another awesome testing session! The results are in and the team was able to license 1 new ham going through his tech exam and also passed the general exam while aiding the upgrade of 4 others to general!
Amateur Radio is alive and well and we sure are happy to be a regularly scheduled testing location to provide the community with the capacity to test and hon their skills! Everyone is welcome to test and upgrade while we also encourage membership! This is truly a hobby where you get out what you put in and all are welcomed at the Playground Amateur Radio Club here in Fort Walton Beach Florida!
stryker_three-ham-radio-licenses
On the day of the First Pile Up, Team PARC took a new to us server rack to the repeater site! While there we tested and inspected the W4ZBB and K4FWB Repeaters and even paused to take a couple of pictures! You’ll note that the PARC Activities Director is taking an active interest in the repeater site post being awarded her General ticket and got a full tour of the site today from WA4BOZ and KI4ZER!
We hope your 2025 is going well and don’t forget to join us on our weekly net on Sunday’s at 730pm!
Have a safe and enjoyable New Year! We will not be having our Tech Night on Jan 2, 2025, but we will have our Jan 16, 2025 Monthly Meeting at 730 pm!
We will also be continuing with our regularly scheduled Pile-Ups on Sunday’s at 3pm at the Clubhouse; 17 First St Se FWB, FL!
