Tech night last night at the Playground Amateur Radio Club was designed by Hams, for Hams! @everyone who made it out had wonderful ideas and deployment kits ready to display! Share your knowledge and expertise! You never know who you’ll inspire and what ideas you’ll exchange in the future development of Amateur Radio!
What in the Sunday is going on?! Listen, there was so much action at the Sunday Pile-Up that we didn’t get to annotate all of it. From Wires-X, Digital modes, computer center improvements, equipment testing and tuning, DX to Australia, radio programming, Elmering, and more, you couldn’t help but use a divination tool [aka water dowsing tool] but to find your way!
Puns aside, another great project at the Playground Amateur Radio Club Pile-Up came by way of Shane, KQ4YXY, who brought in an QRP Antenna! We took the opportunity to go out into the field and use an antenna analyzer to determine its performance and capabilities! This is not a plug for you to go buy one, this is an educational note that sometimes the things you see on the internet are indeed not too good to be true!
Specs:
Easy setup, easy deployable radios, and great results! This antenna does take up some overhead space and the ground plane is large enough that we suggest an area where no one is going to walk or traverse through. Otherwise performance on the meter is just wonderful for the band ranges listed above! Expect to see this in action as Shane continues to evolve his radio collection and CQ / DX in the very near future!
What’s cooler than cool? Geeking out over vintage Ham Radio Gear that’s what! Today Bryan, KB0MEE (great call sign) brought in an Instructograph! A What? An Instructograph! The Instructograph is a paper tape-based machine used for the study of Morse code. Talk about awesome! These vintage assets are still in circulation and while some are not in operational condition, this one was! And we got to play with it, inspect it and use it! The Sunday Pile-Ups at the Playground Amateur Radio Club continue to never disappoint and bring in things that you normally do not see or get to experience!
Following the time we spent drooling over cool stuff, we helped Bryan program one of his radios, teaching him how to do it, and teaching him how to operate it! While Bryan is not new to Ham, he asked for assistance with his new to him radio and wanted a hands on approach! If you are in the Fort Walton Beach area [or even nearby] (don’t be afraid to travel to us either) you are more than welcome at the Playground Amateur Radio Club and take part in this exceptionally awesome pastime! We would love to see your projects or collectible pieces and share your story. We might even posit on our website, social media or make a tech night out of the experience!
What in the Ham Radio?! We went out to Valparaiso Florida for thier Heritage Museum event and interacted with the public while demonstrating Amateur Radio to all of the public! While there we made multiple contacts for the log over many different set ups! From portable gear to micro transmitters to satellites to aprs and WIRES-X, we surely had a ton of interest and enjoyed showing off! We even talked to Ukraine, Switzerland, France, Texas, and more!
We even had a GOTA station and had multiple people get on the air from all ages of 7 to 86! The Playground Amateur Radio Club thanks the city of Valparaiso and all that stopped by including all members that came out to support this local community communications event!
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. A major theme for 2025 is celebrating 100 years of IARU.
WARD is Friday, April 18, 2025, at 0000 UTC until Saturday, April 19, 2025 at 0000 UTC
This Event page will be updated as we have more details, and we hope to see you and your friends and family down at the Clubhouse!
17 First St SE Fwb Fl
*ANNOUNCEMENT *
FOX HUNT!!!
There will be a foxhunt at 10am Saturday April 19th! Following the foxhunt at noon, there will be a BBQ at the Playground Amateur Radio Club Clubhouse! Successful hunters will receive a ticket for free lunch and 1 free entry into the Split-the-pot 50/50 raffle!
Here’s what you need to know:
Start @10am
Fort Walton Beach area
Open to the public, bring a friend!
BBQ @12pm at 17 First St SE FWB
Plates are $5 for burgers, brats or dogs, chips and a drink
50/50 Split-the-pot $2/ticket
Fox frequency 145.300
WARD Open House operations will continue until 7pm, come join the fun!
World Amateur Radio Day is coming to PARC with an open house!
17 First St SE, Fort Walton Beach Florida 32548
Open from 1900 Fri 18 April to 1900 Sat 19 Apr 2025
What: Ham Radio Open House for World Amateur Radio Day 2025
Who: All amateur radio operators worldwide
When: WARD is Friday, April 18, 2025, at 0000 UTC until Saturday, April 19, 2025 at 0000 UTC but the Ham Radio Open House can be held any time in April, as works best for your local club.
Where: A global event covering all regions of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
Why: 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. A major theme for 2025 is celebrating 100 years of IARU.
How:
Get Ready for “Ham Radio Open House” for World Amateur Radio Day 2025
To help promote amateur radio science and technology, and to honor the 100th anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), ARRL is inviting radio clubs and schools to organize a Ham Radio Open House in April, centered around World Amateur Radio Day on April 18, 2025. The event is intended to highlight the Amateur Radio Service for its development and practice of the latest radio communications and technology, and as a hands-on pathway into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for the next generation. In April 2025, amateur radio clubs, school stations, and other groups will have the opportunity to advance public knowledge about ham radio by welcoming their communities into their stations for the Ham Radio Open House, around World Amateur Radio Day. The focus will be on scientific advancement and demonstrating cutting-edge technology. This is a chance to not only shape the conversation about modern ham radio but also to show how it serves as a steppingstone and testbed for many young people pursing future STEM education and high-tech careers.
One Million Acts of Science
ARRL has teamed up with HamSCI — Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation — and the science community organization SciStarter to invite the public to participate in One Million Acts of Science during April, which is Citizen Science Month. By hosting a Ham Radio Open House at your group’s station in April, you’ll introduce individuals who might never otherwise find out about today’s amateur radio where science and technology intersect with fun and learning. Clubs are encouraged to showcase the latest weak-signal modes, such as FT8 using WSJT-X or other digital modes. This could be a great opportunity to explore new areas of amateur radio and demonstrate how the service is at the cutting edge of electrical engineering.
HamSCI and SciStarter Collaborations
HamSCI (hamsci.org) has built a community by connecting radio amateurs and citizen scientists in ionospheric research. The Solar Eclipse QSO Parties held during the 2023 annular eclipse and the 2024 total solar eclipse provided significant data for researchers studying the ionosphere’s response to the eclipses, wrapped into fun operating events. SciStarter is working to engage people from all walks of life in one million acts of science during Citizen Science Month in April (scistarter.org/citizensciencemonth), to promote public participation in scientific research. ARRL’s Ham Radio Open House provides a unique opportunity to help achieve that goal.
Imagine your open house visitors seeing a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) waterfall display and then hearing what the signal they see on the screen sounds like—that’s an act of science! Taking it a step further, let them take a Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) measurement of an antenna, modify it slightly, and take another reading. They’ve just gathered data, made a physical change, and measured the impact of their modifications. Not only is that an additional act of science, but it’s also a great way to engage people in hands-on learning about ham radio. With this kind of involvement, visitors will be more likely to return for a club meeting or participate in future events. Clubs will be asked to track those acts of science and submit a report to ARRL detailing the number of acts and the total number of visitors.
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.
World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest but rather an opportunity to “talk” about the value of amateur radio to the public and our fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about your radio club and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day (held each year during the fourth full weekend in June) and another ham radio related activity in your community – such as volunteers who serve in local emergency communication readiness including the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service®.
Here are just a few ways to participate in, and promote, World Amateur Radio Day:
Join us in celebrating World Amateur Radio Day and all the ways amateur radio brings us together!
Road trip again! This time we headed East and stopped in Panama City with the invaluable team from the Panama City ARC as they hosted their Tailgate! What a great event and fun day in the sun as we all came across deals to be had and partook in cool refreshments! If you haven’t visited the PCARC, YOU are missing out on some great Hams and wonderful hospitality! If you are ever in their neck of the woods, take a moment and visit with them! You will not be disappointed!
Today’s Sunday Funday brough the PARC Team together inside the clubhouse! While there were multiple projects going on to advance the capabilities of the Playground amateur Radio Club, more space was renovated and repurposed to allow for a more professional look in the operators shack and in the meeting room!
The team added new computer desks supplied from donations of members who want to see more upgrades take place and increase the clubs functionality! This includes 3 of four computer stations upgraded! A radio programming center for all of the great things we do to teach users of various types of radios how to program them with the computer and manually! Another station was added to allow the exceptionally busy Activities Director dedicated space to work, plan, organize, and distribute information of events and efforts the Playground has, is, and will be taking on! They also added space for station 3! Station 3 is special because it is the future spot of another full time operating station to DX, CQ, and QSL the day and night away! What an improvement! Be sure to see it when you visit the Playground Amateur Radio Club!
P.S. – Looks like we wore out KM4DYA!
The sign is back! Thanks to Flamingo Graphics on Hollywood Blvd in Fort Walton Beach for redoing this! Hanging the sign is Mike, Bill, Shane and others! It sure brings us great joy to have it back in full color!
Did you know the Playground Amateur Radio Club has WIRES-X, LOG#4OM, WSJTX with JS8 Call? Mark has been busy each weekend and during certain weeks enhancing out digital status on station 2 in the Clubhouse!
WIRES-X freq is 146.400 under the call AA0EU, room 091172 node 01172.
The rest is call W4ZBB!
Multiple other projects were going on with wire trouble shooting with Tony and radio programming with DJ and Steve! Guess what else, a tour of the attic to see about removing old RG8 to allow for more room through the connection point to enhance the signal coverage of WIRES-X!
Queenie started planning for our Annual Swampfest on Nov 15 2025! You are not going to want to miss that!
All this and more at the best Amateur Radio Club in Florida!
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!
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