New General Booklet Latest SPAR Contribution

New Welcome Booklets Only Small Part of SPAR

The recent completion of “So Now You’re a General!” marks the second in a series of customizable booklets available from the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR) website. SPAR is a non-partisan group of concerned amateur radio operators working together to ensure the vitality of the Amateur Radio Service by promoting technical abilities among Amateur Radio Operators. SPAR encourages innovation yet strives to balance advances with efforts to ensure the preservation of legacy modes.

The two booklets available on the SPAR website are a simple “Welcome to Amateur Radio” designed to get the new Technician Class licensee off on the right foot, and “So Now You’re a General!” which assists new General Class licensees navigate the head waters of HF operation. Both booklets allow local clubs and organizations to customize with regional or local information including club name, names of local “Elmers”, local nets or repeaters (depending on the booklet) all before compiling an Adobe Acrobat PDF file that can be downloaded and printed for distribution. The booklets are free of charge to all and you don’t have to join to use them. The web address is http://www.spar-hams.org/index.php . We especially invite clubs and volunteer examiners to review the booklets and use them freely!

SPAR has also been active in the restructuring process and is currently preparing comments on the bandwidth bandplanning petition filed by the ARRL. Unlike the ARRL, SPAR members get a vote in group business. Anything coming out of SPAR to be posted or filed on behalf of the organization must pass a member vote. When the ARRL dropped the “Rag chewer’s Award” two years ago, SPAR picked up the tradition and issues the award to any Amateur who has a QSO of at least 30 minutes. Like all things from SPAR, the certificate is free and is generated as a PDF file you can print yourself. For many “paper chasers”, the Rag chewer’s Award is the first award they sought over the years. And yes, each award is still signed by “The Old Sock” himself.

Another popular award from SPAR is the ARTS (Amateur Radio Tolerance Society) award available to be given to YLs and XYLs for their patience in putting up with Amateur Radio operators as significant others. Appropriately, this one is signed by “Mrs. Old Sock”. Like the other SPAR awards and booklets, you can generate a PDF file to print a certificate for yourself in just a couple minutes.

But that’s not all! SPAR members are working on AMP, the Amateur Multicasting Protocol which sets the standard for multi-part, multi-transmitter broadcast of information. Others are working on a “busy detect” that can be used on digital software to detect a human voice QSO or a CW signal. Some members are working on a CW certification program with online code copy test and an online written test to be certified at 5, 13, 20, 25WPM and above. SPAR anticipates that if the Element 1 requirement is removed, Amateurs will still see the need to certify themselves in CW. Many members are working on projects of their own, and meet on the SPAR Forum to share ideas and progress

All this activity, and not so bad for an organization barely 2 years old! SPAR is open to all interested amateurs, worldwide. We invite all like-minded hams to join us in the promotion of technical achievement, as stated in our Statement of Principles. To join SPAR, simply go to the Forum and register, using your call sign as your user name. You will be asked to agree with the Statement of Principles, provide an email address and password. It's that simple.