History

History of the Sun Parlour Amateur Radio Club

It all started on Wednesday, 08 May 1968
The SPARC was formed by Bob Gradwell VE3BKG of Leamington and Pete Hodgins
VE3DVR of Wheatley. Several area ham radio ops attended the first meeting on Wednesday, 08 May 1968
held in the ‘community’ room at the former Leamington Arena at the corner of
Wilkinson Drive and Erie Street North in Leamington. Exactly who was there was
unknown although it is believed that the core group who for many years steered the
SPARC along were in attendance. The assumption is that early members and most
likely attending the first meeting included: John Carey VE3GUP, Harry Coomber
VE3GNH, Ken Holland VE3CWD, Bob Ross VE3TM and of course Bob Gradwell
VE3BKG and Pete Hodgins VE3DVR. Unfortunately, all of these legendary ham radio
ops located in the Tomato Capital of Canada are now Silent Keys but their memories
will be with us forever!

This is a work in progress <<<<<
We are working on a history of the SPARC with many years of Club monthly meetings
at hand but it is a long and tedious effort. To say that this is a work in progress is an
understatement. Mistakes will be made but as time progresses the hope is to have the
definitive history of the SPARC saved for eternity on the ‘interweb’…..
This is a work in progress <<<<<

1970s
The 1970s was a period of rapid growth for the SPARC. We have been involved with a
plethora of ham radio activities over the years from our first Field Day exercises in the
dawn of the decade, our first repeater in the later part of the decade, multiple meeting
locations, our first ‘permanent’ club station being set up and our dalliances with fund
raising. We sold ice cream treats at the Wheatley fish festival and scored major
‘Wintario’ funding from which we purchase an HF transceiver, a multi kilowatt generator
and ultimately the groundwork for our first club trailer back fifty years ago.
A roll call of the membership reveals Ken Holland VE3CWD, Harry Coomber VE3GNH,
Shirley Coomber VE3IIS, Al Sykes VE3IIO, Al VE3DUD, John Carey VE3GUP, Bob
Gradwell VE3BKG, Pete VE3DVR, Al VE3IJX, Bill VE3IHB and Eric VE3LER.
We know that the SPARC was involved in Field Day in 1973 and thereafter. Two
current ham radio ops were in attendance at that effort held in front of the Legion Hall
on Princess Street in downtown Leamington although neither was a licensed ham op
(but back then CB ops). Bill VE3ES and Dennis Hillman VA3HJH were in attendance
at the encouragement of Howard Hillman VE3ICG (the late uncle of VA3HJH). We
know that VE3BKG and VE3DVR were there as was a former Windsorite, Chris
Katsoufis VE3NGW who is now a broadcast engineer in the greater Miami Florida area.
IF memory serves me right, the SPARC ran a 3A effort (sound familiar?).

The SPARC was first involved with a VHF FM repeater around 1977. Bob VE3BKG
was in a tech position at the H.J.Heinz plant (currently Highbury Canco) and his
supervisor was also a well known local ham radio op, Ken ‘Buck’ Holland VE3CWD.
Heinz was replacing an old VHF FM 2-way radio system used by their ‘field inspectors’
with a locally available two-way radio company’s system. The club, through Bob’s
efforts were able to purchase at a reasonable price the Delhi 90′ tower, antennas,
feedline and a Canadian Marconi repeater. The repeater ultimately made it’s way to
the roof top of our then ‘permanent’ home at the former Selkirk elementary school in
downtown Leamington. The school had closed and was turned into a community
center. The SPARC had renovated a small room into our first club station. At the time,
VE3DVR was a carpenter while VE3CWD was a supervisor in the maintenance
department at Heinz and VE3BKG was in a technical job also at Heinz. This was the
first home for the repeater, our HF station and for several years our meeting site.

1980s
Many new faces appeared at the SPARC meetings which moved in the early part of this
decade to the provincial court room on Clark Street alongside the Leamington Police
Department office. Kim VE3EXP, Mike VE3TEK, Jim VE3CUM, Mike VE3UCY were
some of the new faces in attendance as the SPARC continued to grow. Throughout
the 1970s and into the early years in the 1980s, the meetings were usually populated
by about eight regular faces of the dozen or so members of the club. By the middle of
the decade and in part after a course that the club founders VE3BKG and VE3DVR
had put on we were seeing more faces in the seats and membership growth that
brought us into the low twenties full and associate members.

The SPARC FD effort was entrenched as a yearly effort with VE3SPR moving around
most years to various homes and locations throughout the Sun Parlour. Over several
years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, FD was held at the home of Al Derbyshire
VE3DUD just north of downtown Wheatley near the old Baltimore and Ohio railway
tracks. As my failing memory recalls, I believe that we also used the many acres that
make up the property of George VE3TPD in Wheatley once or twice for FD, a few times
the event was held in the park in Kingsville, at the Kingsville legion and I think a time or
two at Seacliff Park in Leamington. For a few years the SPARC had an on again, off again newsletter, a net on 80m (3.805 as I vaguely recall) and had started a net on the 2m band on the club repeater,
VE3TOM which began on our old frequency of 147.300 mhz. The repeater’s location
moved around more than a bit but ultimately settled on the Essex County highway
department’s tower on the 4th concession high atop Mt. Ruthven (this tower was removed a decade or more ago), just across the street from the current home of the VE3ZZZ repeater on 147.100.

1990s
The 1990s saw a slow decline in this fantastic hobby which impacted all of the ham radio clubs in the greater Sun Parlour area. The SPARC was not immune to this and we saw the membership levels taper off. The club had arranged for a room within the Sherk Complex to be used for an HF station and storage of the club’s assets. We also started having our meetings at the Sherk Complex in the meeting room of the administrative office on the main floor.
Regularly we had a dozen or so members attending and we were able to have more
than a few meetings with guest speakers and presentations.
to be cont’d……