HAPPY NEW YEAR!
PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) DEC 30, 2023 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-one members, visitors and guests attended the 9 am Saturday
breakfast meeting and annual gift exchange chaired by President Bruce
Perkins, K4ONC, at Brantley’s Village Restaurant.
* Bruce delivered the Treasurer’s report on behalf of Wally. The club
is solvent. She reports that all the remaining funds granted to the
Oriental Repeater Group were expensed. Bruce added that the money was
used to pay for the Kershaw cable reattachment.
* AI4WL’s Propagation Report: Activity has remained fairly steady since
the November meeting, low activity on average but offering good
propagation particularly on the 17 and 15 meter bands. Those bands, as
well as 10 meters during the day and 20 at night, have delivered the
best DX during the month and likely will continue to do so. Current DX
opportunities: Rodriques Island 3B9AT, East Kiribati T32TT, and St.
Helena XV9.
* ARES/PCN. Bruce, with a big round of applause, thanked Mike Marsh,
K4NLC, for being the net’s “full-time” controller for the past 5 years.
He reminded the group that starting in January, net controllers will
rotate. Bruce will take January, Jim AI4WL February, Wayne KO4OJC March
and Charlie WA4GSI, April.
* The Pamlico Communications Team meets monthly on the first Saturday
at Station 19. The next meeting will be on the 6th of January. All are
welcome.
* Bruce reported that the Kershaw N4ONC VHF repeater controller repair
should be finished soon. When done, the Arapahoe NC4ES repeater will
operate only in the DMR mode and connected full time to the EHPC area
wide network. It can be quickly reconfigured if the Oriental N4ONC
repeater becomes unavailable.
* Bill Michne, WM3X, advised that his C4FM node is back on the air. He
had turned it down while on travel.
* Bill Schrader, K2TNO, related he recently saw his Dad’s call while
using WSJT-FT8. He contacted the current holder. The holder sent Bill a
QSL card sent to him but intended for his Dad. Then Bill, for a quick
show and tell, displayed and described his tiny RadioDitty RF760 pocket
receiver.
* Dick, K4JJW, had a similar experience: he had a QSO with W3AYT. W3AYT
was Dick’s old call. He had to give that call up when he moved to a
different call area. It was the rule in the old days. He said was
strange “talking to himself.”
* As a “warm-up” for the gift exchange, tickets were drawn for the
monthly door prize. Visitor and ham to be, Jeff Cunniff took home the
Brantley’s gift certificate.
* There being no further business, Bruce then orchestrated the eagerly
awaited gift exchange. Lots of oohs and aah’s– many very well thought
out gifts. Thank you all!
* The meeting adjourned at 9:50 am.
MUSINGS
– By Bill Schrader K2TNO:
— On Settings for PC running Windows 11 connecting K3 to N1MM+ and WSJT-X:
I have finally taken the time to compile a PowerPoint report on the
correct settings for my K3 [with the KIO3B board] connected to my Lenovo
laptop running Windows 11. I describe settings for use with N1MM+ and
WSJT-X stand-alone programs. I use N1MM+ for general logging and for
contests. I use WSJT-X for FT8. I included lots of screenshots showing
settings… Perhaps this integrated, illustrated guide will be helpful
[to those who use K3’s. Please contact Bill at wtschrader@gmail.com if
you want a pdf copy]
— On Biosketch of Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. — creator of WSJT:
Perhaps you already knew Joe Taylor had won the Nobel Prize in Physics
[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1993/summary/] in 1993. He is
on the Physics faculty at Princeton University.
His Wikipedia section has a part devoted to his ham radio interests
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hooton_Taylor_Jr.#Amateur_radio].
I did not know that he’d been at the Greenbelt WV radio telescope and
also was at the Arecibo PR one as well.
I happened upon a brief biosketch
[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1993/taylor/biographical/]
that he wrote for the Nobel awards book— interesting.
Especially this quote:
“…In our school years, Hal and I filled most of the third floor with
working ham-radio transmitters and receivers. Our rigs were mostly built
from a mixture of post-war surplus equipment and junk television sets.
We learned by experience that when you need high voltage, the power
company’s 6,000-to-120-volt transformers work admirably in reverse; and
that most amplifiers will oscillate, especially if you don’t want them to.”
— This gem just came across the [Elecraft-K3] users group…
If you’re a collector– this is the one for you! –even posted by N6KR…
———- Forwarded message ———
From: N6KR <n6kr@elecraft.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 11:00 PM
Subject: [Elecraft-K3] OT: Elecraft K2 serial #00001 — our very first
production unit — is looking for a new home
To: <elecraft-k3@groups.io>
Season’s greetings from the Left Coast. Hope everyone is having a great
holiday!
Meanwhile–with apologies for the bandwidth:
K2 S/N 00001 is among the early Elecraft radios I’ve had in cold
storage. Unboxing it brought back fond memories from 1999, the year we
started shipping, back when Elecraft had approximately 2 employees. This
unit saw a few very successful Field Days. It was also my workhorse
during the evolution of the K2’s firmware and option modules. It
includes the KSB2 SSB option.
Last week I sent the radio off to our legacy product tune-up guru, Dave
Van Wallaghen (W8FGU), who has now fully checked it out, tuned it up,
installed most of the missing upgrades, and given it an on-air
shake-down. Given its ancient pedigree, it features the first examples
of some of the hardware mods. (Though I lack mil-spec soldering
certification, I did put a lot of TLC into this rework.)
If you’re looking for a K2 of a certain age, either for a collection or
to put on the air, please contact me directly.
73,
Wayne
N6KR
—————————————————————
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reports that solar activity was moderate during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 4 p.m. local. The Space Weather Prediction Center
expects solar activity to be moderate today through Wednesday. There is
a chance for M-class flares. At 7 am this morning, NOAA advised radio
blackouts reaching the R2 level on the sunlit side of the earth are
likely. There are 4 numbered sunspot regions on the Sun facing Earth
this morning. There were 8 last Monday, 8 the Monday before.
Sunday’s noon Solar Flux Index (SFI) observation at Penticton was 146.
Last Sunday’s was 155. The index is predicted to measure 145 today, 140
Tuesday and 140 on Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average was 149
yesterday. It was 149 last Sunday.
The geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. The SWPC expects the field to
be quiet to active today and tomorrow then be quiet on Wednesday. The
planetary K-index at 7 am this morning was 1.67 indicating quiet conditions.
For today and tomorrow, propagation is expected to be fair on the 80
through 40 meter bands during the day, good at night. Fair conditions
during the day and good at night for the 30 and 20 meter bands are
likely. Propagation is predicted to be good day and night for 17 and 15,
but then only fair day, poor at night for 12 and 10.
For an explanation of the numbers used in our PARSgram, see the
excellent article written by Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA at
http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere.
DX TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK–
Extracted from ARLD052 DX news:
–RODRIGUES ISLAND, 3B9. Luca, IV3JVJ and Ivan, IK3ZAQ are QRV as
3B9AT until January 6, 2024. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using
CW, SSB, and FT8. QSL via IV3JVJ.
–EAST KIRIBATI, T32. Members of the Rebel DX Group are QRV as T32TT
from Christmas Island, IOTA OC-024, until January 12. Activity is
on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, FT8, and FT4. QSL via OQRS.
–ST. HELENA, ZD7. Chris, HB9FIY and his wife Agata are QRV as ZD7CA
and ZD7AA, respectively, until January 14, 2024. Activity is on 40
to 10 meters using SSB and various digital modes. QSL via EA5GL.
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
Send me your amateur radio related items that are for sale, trade, or
wanted and your contact information. PLEASE let me know when you have
have sold your item or your listing is no longer needed. Listings will
EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise. Thanks, Jim.
–FOR SALE: K9AY low band receive antenna for 160-40m, just in time
for the fall/winter low band DX season. $110. Price includes a four
direction control box (N-E-S-W), exterior weatherproof direction
switching relay box w/connector, two 85’ wire loop elements (#18
insulated stranded Cu clad), insulators, installation instructions and
schematic diagram. It requires a single 25’ support such as a pole or
tree limb, and about 18’ radius for the loops. It’s ready to install,
good condition and fully checked out. Just add your own RG-59 feedline
and Cat 5 control cable. Dick Goodwin K4JJW rgoodwin41@suddenlink.net
252-633-7873 (20231113)
–FOR SALE:
#1 – YAESU SWR & POWER METER 1.6-60MHz YS-60. Working. Exceptional
little unit — needs a better home. $60.00 Pickup in Merritt.
#2 – MFJ Artificial Ground MFJ-931. Works as it should (at least, it did
when I last used it). Dusty & lonely & needs a new home. $90.00 Pickup
in Merritt.
#3 – ICOM IC-735 HF Transceiver. Used. Working. Missing the plastic
cover over the slider controls. $225.
Contact Jan, KK4LSQ, 252-239-3953 or kk4lsq.onc@gmail.com (20231218)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jan 6, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM MEETING, Saturday, 9-10:30am,
Oriental VFD Station 19 on Straight Rd vic. NC-55. All are welcome. For
more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC, 252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* Jan 27, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC,
252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
REPEATER/NODE STATUS
(See www.n4prs.org/frequencies/ for set-up)
N4ONC VHF FM Oriental — Down for repair.
N4ONC (old KR4LO) UHF FM Oriental — Operational. Please ID.
NC4ES VHF FM/DMR Arapahoe — Operational
NC4ES UHF DMR Florence — Operational
WM3X-ONC VHF C4FM/WIRES-X NODE Oriental (145.530 simplex)– Operational
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, “Pamlico 10 Meter Net, 7:30 pm local, on or near 28.464 MHz,
USB. A non-directed net open to technicians and above. Radio
topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Wednesdays,”Pamlico Communications Net”, 7:30 pm local, N4ONC
(Oriental) VHF Repeater, 147.210+ (CTSCC Tone Squelch 88.5). A directed
net open to all. Net activates on call during emergencies. While N4ONC
VHF is under repair this net meets on the Arapahoe repeater 147.285+
(CTSCC Tone Squelch 88.5).
* Thursdays, “DownEast/Pamlico Six Meter Net”, 8 pm local, 50.200 MHz,
USB. A non-directed open net to promote operation on the ‘Magic Band’.
(For more nets see www.arrl.org/arrl-net-directory-search )
PARS WEB SITE: https://www.n4prs.org/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.com
We wish you all a very happy and healthy new year.
73, Jim AI4WL Editor
——–
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