2016 dues (forms Word, PDF) are due by January 1!  Membership Application/Renewal forms are to be filled out and sent or handed with proper payment to the club secretary. Any questions, please contact club secretary Tim Farrell, KD2EKN.

The annual holiday luncheon was held Saturday, December 5, 2015 at the Chimney Rock Inn, 342 Valley Rd, Gillette, NJ. A good time was held by all. If anyone has any photos, please pass them along to both David KC2WUF for the website and Frank K2EZR for the newsletter.

January Kids Day was held Sunday, January 3, 2016 at The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. This is an ARRL event to promote getting kids involved in amateur radio. A flyer was provided via the reflector recently. Please print and post at least a copy or two on your local bulletin boards or hand it out to some of your neighbors with kids.

Barry K2JV is looking for volunteers to: 1) acquire the food and drink for setup, 2) help setup the rooms for the day, 3) talk to the parents and kids about amateur radio, 4) demonstrate/teach kids CW using the code oscillators that Barry will provide. If you have any questions, please contact Barry K2JV.

The annual NPARC Auction was held Friday, February 19, 2016 at the New Providence High School. Look for more details shortly.

The digital net will be on hiatus while David KC2WUF is off the air or until someone else can pick up the net.

Another Field Day has come and gone. By all accounts a good time was had by all. Thanks to all those who supported our effort before, during and/or after the event, especially those who braved the elements during the heavy storm period (Basically the entire operating period). Special thanks go out to our Activities Manager Paul W2PTP for all his efforts in organizing all of the pieces needed to make the weekend a success. More information will be posted on this site as it becomes available. Also, we ask that any pictures taken be passed on to David KC2WUF for inclusion in our Field Day archives. Next to the newsletter archives, this is the largest content to our website. 2015 Field Day Archive pages will be created shortly after all information has been submitted for our club entry. The 2014 pages are nearly complete. Sorry for the delay - KC2WUF

NPARC 50th Anniversary HF Special Event - Various NPARC members will be operating as N2XJ throughout 2015 on the HF bands to help celebrate our 50th Anniversary. The assignments so far are as follows:
- Overall Event Manager - Paul W2PTP - responsible for maintaining the operator schedule and the overall event.
- Electronic Log Manager - David KC2WUF - responsible for gathering log files, uploading to LotW and eQSL (when available), and reporting progress through the year.
- Event QSL Manager - Bob K2GLS - responsible for fulfilling requests for special 50th Anniversary NPARC QSL cards.

More information is available here. There is also a status page available here which will be updated periodically (hopefully weekly) throughout the year.

NPARC Sunday Night Net - Al K2AL is net control on the W2LI-VHF (2-meter) repeater (147.255, input +.600 MHz, Tone 141.3) every Sunday at 9 p.m.  We encourage and welcome members and non-members alike to join us on the net.  It is an informal, directed net.  We discuss topics related to our ham radio activities, club activities and other topics of general interest. Note: TCRA has been nice enough to link the W2LI-UHF repeater (449.975, input -5.000 MHz, Tone 141.3) in for our net.

NPARC Digital Net - David KC2WUF is net control for the NPARC Digital Net currently held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month at 9 p.m. local time. Digital mode and frequency are announced via the reflector sometime during the week leading up to the net. Often the operating parameters are also announced during the club business section of the NPARC Sunday Night Net the night before. We encourage members who are equipped for operating digital modes to check in to the net. Lately the mode of choice has been SSTV and the signal frequency has been 28.686.000 MHz. The net is a directed net and will be handled round-table format similar to the Sunday Night net as long as conditions permit. The net is a good forum for members who are new to digital modes as there is no pressure to "complete the QSO" quickly. Note: Talk-in during SSTV is available on the same frequency during the net and will probably be used to direct traffic.

NPARC Kids Net - Nick KC2ONP former net control for our NPARC Kids Net is away at school.  The Kids Net is in recess until a new net control is identified.

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ARRL Contest Calendar - In addition to listing all upcoming ARRL-sponsored contests, there is a link to past Contest Corrals and instructions on how to sign up to receive the Contest Update to your email account.

WA7BNM Contest Calendar Site - Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, has created a site that includes an 8-Day Contest Calendar among many others. The 8-Day Calendar shows all contests for the next 8 days. It also has links at the top of the page to look forward or backward one week from the current calendar.

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Once again NPARC marched in the New Providence Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 25, 2015. A small contingent represented us.

Our 2015 edition of the Annual NPARC Auction was held Friday, February 27, 2014 at the New Providence High School. Fun was had by all who attended. If you missed it, please look for our 2016 edition around the same week in February next year. Details will be posted on this website as they become available.

The February 23, 2015 meeting featured the talk titled "Antenna Analysis with an Oscilloscope" given by our esteemed vice president Jim K2UI.

Our next scheduled meeting on February 9, 2015 is being cancelled due to the forecasted inclement weather. Many of the members are going to try and have on-air meeting again. Several members "attended" an on-air meeting we had 2 weeks ago when the meeting was cancelled. The on-air meeting will be held on the W2LI-VHF repeater @ 8:00pm barring any other net using the repeater. Depending on availability, the talk scheduled for the past 2 meetings will be made at the February 23, 2015 meeting. Further details on that meeting will follow.

Our next scheduled meeting on January 26, 2015 is being cancelled due to the forecasted inclement weather. This is to be the beginning of a major snow storm that may include blizzard conditions. Depending on availability, the talk scheduled will be made at the February 9, 2015 meeting. Further details on that meeting will follow.

 The January 12, 2015 meeting featured a brief review of the 50th Anniversary HF Activity so far.

January Kid's Day 2015 was held January 4th, 2015 at the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence located at 15 E. 4th St, New Providence, NJ. According to the accounts received so far it was a rousing success.

Anyone with photos or other personal accounts are asked to contact the webmaster with specifics to post in the historical records.

ARRL Centennial QSO Party : Wednesday, January 1, 2014 - December 31, 2014. This is a 2 part full year event to celebrate the centennial of the ARRL. The first part is working W1AW portable operation in each of the 50 states and most US territories. During 2014, W1AW will be operating in each state during 2 different weeks as well as many of the US territories. The second part is Centennial Points Challenge where you accumulate points by contacting ARRL member stations. Point values are awarded based on the position(s) held by the station/operator. The W1AW portable operations also counts for the points as well. All scoring and awards from this event will use the honor system with logs submitted to LotW. Since this is more of an event than a contest, WARC bands are acceptable for QSOs. More information is available on the ARRL web site here. The schedule for state portable operations is available here.

The December 22, 2014 meeting featured a talk given by Barry K2JV on a visit some club members took a few years ago (I believe 2010) to the Battleship New Jersey BB62 and the amateur radio station NJ2BB on board. This was in preparation for a trip some members were planning on taking the following Saturday. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the trip was not completed as planned.

As 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of NPARC, we have discussed a number of possible events to help celebrate. As was recently posted via the reflector, the first event announced will be the operation on HF bands (160m - 10m) of the primary club call, N2XJ, by club members during the 2015 calendar year. Each member will be able to sign up for individual weeks (Thu 0000 UTC - Wed 2359 UTC) throughout the 2015 calendar year. More information was available in the reflector posting and will be posted on this website shortly. If you are interested and capable of operating, please sign up for one or more operating slots with our Activities Manager, Paul Wolfmeyer, W2PTP. Paul had the list available at the Holiday Luncheon and will again have it at the next club meeting, December 8, 2014. After that, please email or call Paul to schedule a future operating week. It is hoped that we can work both DXCC and WAS (via LotW) as a club during the 2015 calendar year. We plan on having all log entries submitted to LotW (and hopefully eQSL). Paper QSLs should also be available with details to follow. For those of you new to the hobby or who are unsure about operating, please seek out Elmer help from another more experienced or better equipped club member.

The annual NPARC Holiday Luncheon was held Saturday, December 6, 2014 at the Chimney Rock Inn located at 342 Valley Rd in Gillette, NJ. A good time was had by all who attended. In addition to the meal and good conversation, the following awards were made:
- Perfect Meeting Attendance, etc. - David KC2WUF
- Rookie of the Year - Brian W2EMC
- Grand Ol' Ham - Jim K2UI
- Wouff Hong Award - Bob K2GLS

Finally, the 2015 officers were presented and Activities Manager Paul W2PTP distributed the "door prize" (2014 ARRL Radio Handbook) to the winner Bill WA2CG. Paul also showed the signup sheet for our 50th Anniversary HF event.

Anyone with pictures are asked to send them in for posting on the website.

The December 8, 2014 meeting at the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence featured a program by the Mile 17 Ham Radio group for the 2014 New York City Marathon. Bill WA2CG, Mile 17 Captain, gave an informative talk on the groups preparation and involvement followed by a picture slide show given by Tim KD2EKN and a short montage of videos by Stu KA2HZP. Also present from the Mile 17 team was Brian W2EMC. The slide show and video was accompanied by popcorn. A copy of some/all of the presentation should be made available shortly.

Elections were held at the November 24, 2014 meeting and the officers for 2015 were elected as follows:
- President - David Bean, KC2WUF
- Vice President - Jim Stekas, K2UI
- Secretary - Tim Farrell, KD2
- Treasurer - Dave Barr, K2YG
- Activities Manager - Paul Wolfmeyer, W2PTP

Our regular club meetings have been relocated to the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence for the upcoming 2014-2015 school year.

The "Hands-on Antenna Modeling using EZNEC Workshop" Parts I, II and III were held during 3 consecutive club meetings (September 22, October 13 and 27). Part I included a basic overview of EZNEC by David K2MUN along with a 40-meter dipole and then he added some drooping ends. Part II was run by Barry K2JV with David K2MUN walking around the room to help. Barry began by reviewing the basic operation of EZNEC and then taking the "Back Yard" dipole model that comes with EZNEC and modifying it to show what various changes can do to the results. He also showed the SWR graph of his approximation of his 300 foot loop that he had when he lived in Massachusetts which he proposed to model at the following meeting. Part III was Barry K2JV running through setting up a 4x70-foot sided horizontal square-loop which he hinted at the previous meeting. Many questions were posed during the 3 weeks and many members came away with positive comments on the capabilities of EZNEC for modeling simple antennas.

Finally, both David K2MUN and Barry K2JV have been gracious enough to provide some information about their talks:
    Part I - David's October President's Column. (.pdf and .doc formats) are available.
    Part II - Barry's outline (.pdf and .docx formats) and presentation (.pdf and .ppt formats) are available.
    Part III - Barry's presentation (.pdf and .ppt formats) are available.

Barry K2JV finished up the "Hands-on Antenna Modeling using EZNEC Workshop" by reviewing an approximation of his 300 foot loop that he had when he lived in Massachusetts at the October 27, 2014 meeting. Our next meeting will be held on November 10, 2014 at the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence.

Barry K2JV joined David's "Hands-on Antenna Modeling using EZNEC Workshop" demonstrating a simple dipole and refreshing us on the various settings. Barry has graciously volunteered to continue this subject in a Part III at the next meeting and plans on modeling his 300 foot loop that he had when he lived in Massachusetts. The next meeting is October 27, 2014 at the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. Since it will be hands-on once again, hope to see you all there with your laptops.

Finally, it would be nice if at least a few of you could bring your own "real-world" antenna descriptions to be modeled. Basic element (wire, rod, etc) dimensions (lengths, etc.) and conditions (height above ground, etc.) is all you really need to provide.

David K2MUN began his sessions guiding us through a "Hands-on Antenna Modeling Workshop using EZNEC". Many members brought their laptops and followed along. David would love to get some feedback and is willing to try to address some particular issues (if he can). Please send your feedback and/or questions to k2mun at arrl dot net. Please try and bring your same laptop(s) with you so that you can follow along some through the more advanced analysis. The second session of this will take place on Monday, October 13, 2014 at the new regular meeting location of the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. Hope to see you all there with laptop in hand again.

During our next 2 club meetings (September 22nd and October 13th), David K2MUN will be guiding us through a "Hands-on Antenna Modelling Workshop using EZNEC". Please try and bring a Windows capable laptop with you so that you can get the freeware version of EZNEC and try out some of your own antenna models. Both of these sessions will be held at the new regular meeting location of the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. Hope to see you all there with laptop in hand.

Our next meeting (September 8, 2014) will feature ???. The meeting will begin shortly after 7:30pm EDT and will be held at the new regular meeting location of the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. Hope to see you all there.

Dave AC2GL gave a brief demonstration of the "DVB-T Dongle & SDR# Software" at the August 25, 2014 meeting.

The presentation files from the August 11, 2014 meeting have been updated by Jon, AE2JP, based on some of the feedback he received. The new versions of "Software Defined Radio: State-of-the-Art & State-of-the-Future" are available in both .pptx and .pdf formats. August 18, 2014

The August 11, 2014 meeting featured a short discussion on impressions of the ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford, CT from several of the members that attended at least some of it last month. This discussion was led by Paul, W2PTP. After that Jon, AE2JP, gave a talk entitled "Software Defined Radio: State-of-the-Art & State-of-the-Future". The talk was inspired by two of the talks that Jon saw at the convention. The original slides are available here in .pptx and .pdf formats.

The second week of W1AW/2 operations from New Jersey starts Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 0000UTC and runs until Tuesday, August 12, 2014 at 2359UTC. The sponsoring club is looking for operators to run some band-mode slots for whatever time you can manage. If you didn't read the email forwarded by David, K2MUN, and would like more information, contact either David, K2MUN, or David, KC2WUF, for a copy of the email from the sponsoring coordinator. They especially expressed a need for digital operators. For those of you looking to see what a pileup sounds like from the other end, you might want to give it a try. You must be able to send in an ADIF file with all QSOs that you make during your time operating as W1AW/2.

QSL Night - Our next meeting (July 28) will feature QSL Night where everyone is asked to bring some of their favorite QSL cards and share them along with a story or two about one or more of them. The meeting will begin shortly after 7:30pm EDT and will be held at this year's summer location of the The DeCorso Community Center of New Providence. Hope to see you all there.

ARRL Centennial Convention: Thursday, July 17, 2014 - Saturday, July 19, 2014. Information about this event was presented by Hudson Division vice Director Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, at the January 27, 2014 meeting. Additional information is available here.

Don't forget our next big event is Field Day this coming weekend. We will be operating from the first field directly behind Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights as we have for the past several years. Setup will begin around 9:30am and all of your help will be greatly appreciated to get us ready for the 2:00pm start to operations. Make sure you've read the attachment on the email that our Activities Manager, Paul W2PTP, has sent out identifying every members tasks. If you have any problems with the tasks assigned you or you think you were supposed to be identified on the spreadsheet, please contact Paul directly so that things run smoothly this weekend.

Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, ARRL Hudson Division Director led an informative discussion on several current topics related to amateur radio operations. He discussed RM-11708, CC&R's, recent FCC changes, the ARRL Centennial among other topics.

Thanks to the find that Al Hanzl, K2AL, made prior to our 2013 Luncheon and the effort being undertaken by David Bean, KC2WUF, to scan them in, additional past issues of Mountain Spark Gaps, starting with 1987, are now available on the website via the Newsletter archive page. Scanning will be done in reverse chronological order as that is how they were filed in the book that Al discovered. Check back often to see when additional years become available.

Additional Mountain Spark Gaps Newsletters from 1986 (January - November), 1985 (March - June and September - November), 1984 (January-June and September - November), 1983 (January - July and September-November), 1982 (January-June and September - November), 1981 (January, October and November), 1980 (January - Jun and September - October), 1979 (January - March, May and September - November), 1978 (January - June and September - November), 1977 (January - April and September - November) and 1976 (January - June and September - November)  have now been scanned and are available in the newsletter archives.

1983 includes the change to the current club frequency. 1978 and prior include some mimeograph copies resulting in poorer quality scans.

The task of scanning all available Mountain Spark Gaps was completed on June 7, 2014. This includes the first Mountain Spark Gaps circa April 1966.

Harvey Klein, WS2Q, gave an interesting talk about "Remote Station Operation" at our June 9, 2014 meeting. He discussed the hardware and software he uses to access his HF rig at his Home QTH from his smartphone and tablet devices. He also discussed some of the other communications options he employs for emergency communications.

The talks scheduled for the last two meetings (Barry, K2JV, and Mike Lisenco, N2YBB) which both had to be postponed have been rescheduled along with a talk by Harvey Klein, WS2Q. Barry will give his "RF Safety" talk at the Tuesday, May 27th meeting. Harvey will give his talk on "Remote Station Operation" at the June 9th meeting. Mike will now speak with us at the June 23rd meeting.

Once again this year as we have in the past, NPARC will have a contingent of marchers in the New Providence Memorial Day Parade. Please contact Rick Anderson WB2QOQ if you have an interest in participating or any questions. Please consider representing our club in the most public display we have each year.

At the same time we are marching,  the NPARC ERT will be providing communications support to the parade organizers as they have for the past few years as well.

Hamvention® 2014: Friday, May 16, 2014 - Sunday, May 18, 2014. This is considered the premier ham event in the United States if not the world. It has been said that every amateur radio operator should go to this event at least once in their lifetime. Each year one or more members of our club make the trek to Dayton, OH and have a good time. If anyone plans on attending and wants to see if others are headed there, please start a thread by posting to the reflector. Additional information can be found here.

Mike Lisenco N2YBB, ARRL Hudson Division Director, will be unable to make tonight's meeting (May 12, 2014). He will need to be rescheduled for a later date. Details will follow as they become available.

The "RF Safety" talk from Barry K2JV scheduled for this coming meeting (April 28, 2014) needs to be rescheduled for a future meeting. Details will follow when available.

At the March 10, 2014 meeting, Rich Taylor, N2AUG, gave an impromptu presentation on some additional uses (besides finding the resonant frequency of your antenna) for the venerable MFJ-259B. He also proposed a future program/demonstration of the various aspects that make up a high-end and low-end receiver. More will follow on this as additional details become available.

Our 2014 NPARC Auction was held on Friday, February 21 at the New Providence High School. Pictures are available here.

2014 Dues (forms Word, PDF) should have been paid by January 1!  Renewal notices will be sent to all current members.  You may also send in the linked forms. Any questions, please contact club secretary Tim Farrell, KD2EKN. If you haven't already paid, please get your dues in soon as the grace period ended March 31, 2014.

Kids Day was held Sunday, January 5, 2013 from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM at the Berkeley Heights Community Center.  Even with less than ideal weather (both on the ground and in the sky) we had several youngsters turn out to talk to people (other kids and adults) from around the globe. Photos are now available here and in the photo archive. Flyers (PDF, DOC) are still available for reference.

NPARC Officers for 2014 were elected at the November 25, 2013 meeting and were formally introduced at the Holiday Luncheon on December 7, 2013. Current Officer are always shown on the Club Information page.  Four officers continue from 2013: David Berkley, K2MUN, President; David Bean, KC2WUF, Vice President; Dave Barr, K2YG, Treasurer and Paul Wolfmeyer, W2PTP, Activities Manager.  A new Secretary, Tim Farrell, KD2EKN was also elected for 2014, replacing outgoing Secretary, Hillary Zaenchik, KC2HLA.

Jim Stekas', K2UI, talk about 'A Practical Portable Antenna' is now available online here.

The NPARC Holiday Luncheon was held on Saturday December 7 at the Chimney Rock Inn in Gillette.  It was, once again, a fun affair.  Photos are now available.

The 2013 Field Day Results have been posted by ARRL and are shown for NPARC on the Field Day 2013 Page.

Take a look at the wonderful B&W, medium format high-quality photos for NPARC Field Days from 1994, 1996 and 1997, that Jim, N2TSJ, uncovered in his collection.

David, K2MUN, presented "Software to Predict HF Propagation (Part I - Tools; Part II - Applications)" at the September 9 and 23, 2013 meeting. Click on the title to view the PowerPoint.

The 2013 NJ QSO Party (pdf) took place on July 27 - 28 (the last full weekend in July).  We encourage members of NPARC to participate and to designate "New Providence ARC" as their club entry.  This will not affect your individual score.

Field Day 2013 is in the books!  Great Field Day; the weather and bands cooperated.  Here are some 2013 Photos  and  Results as submitted on July 10 posted. Take a look!  Additional found photos (2003 and more from 1993) have also been posted.

Take a look at found photos from Field Day 1993 (from David Bean, KC2WUF and Bob Willis, K2GLS).  Bob also found a set of photos from a decade later, Field Day 2003.

Some photos have been posted from our club trip to W1AW on January 30, 2013.  As a bonus, there is also a photo of participants from many years ago.

Kids Day was Sunday, January 6, 2013 from 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM at the Berkeley Heights Community Center, 29 Park Avenue next to the Town Hall.  There was a good turnout both of club members, parents and kids.  Flyers (PDF, DOC).  Photos when available

During the July 23, 2012 meeting, David Bean, KC2WUF, discussed use of the N1MM contest logger for the NJ State QSO party this coming weekend, Saturday - Sunday, July 28 and 29.  We hope that participants will enter as New Providence ARC members.

David Berkley, K2MUN, NPARC Webmaster introduced the new NPARC Wiki to members present at the July 9th meeting.

NPARC had a good turnout for the May 29, New Providence, Memorial Day Parade.  See photo.

Our 2012 NPARC digital mode series of presentations can be found at:
-- "Software to Control Radios" (Barry Cohen, K2JV):  Slides HTML; PowerPoint (0.6MB)
-- "Hellschreiber" (Andy Meyer, N2FYE): Slides (HTML)
-- "PSK" (David Berkley, K2MUN and Frank McAneny, K2EZR): Slides (HTML)
-- "Packet Radio" (Bob Willis, K2GLS): Slides (HTML)
-- "RTTY" (Dave Barr, K2YG): Slides (2.6 MB PowerPoint)

The December 12, 2011 NPARC meeting was a panel discussion of Emergency Power Systems with good attendance by hams and the general public.  Presentations and discussion were well received.  Discussion material is available here.

NPARC is pleased to announce that the FCC has assigned a second call sign, W2FMI, to the Club.  This call sign was held by Jerry Sevick (SK) and we expect that it will be used at many special events, including Field Day, Kids Day and wherever we can use it to honor Jerry's memory.