PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be in the back room of Brantley’s Village
Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental at 0900 Saturday, April 25th.
Please park along the side or out back. We hope to see you all there.
Come early for breakfast with your fellow hams. For more information
contact Pamlico Amateur Radio Society President Bruce Perkins, K4ONC,
252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
On the agenda: PARSgram email list purge, the Spring Fox Hunt and
Picnic, new and old local repeaters and ORG plans, DXpeditions in April
and another chance for a Brantleys’ Gift Certificate.
REPEATER UPDATE
Almost two weeks ago the “Wayne’s World” Yaesu YSF repeater was
relocated to use the much higher Kershaw tower. Early last week it was
found necessary to change the CTCSS tones to 100.0 Hz to avoid possible
conflict with another repeater. In the near future, a change in
frequency pair may be required. The good news: Wires-x is now working.
Give “Kansas-KC-Wide”, “Eastern-NC” or your favorite a listen.
The Kenwood “Oriental 210” repeater has been in place for years and, to
some, seems to be getting a little noisy. Well, that Kenwood has been
replaced by another to see if it is better. The “new” one is the one
that the ORG obtained in the Lupton purchase. You will notice a shorter
squelch tail but no courtesy tone. That should be rectified with the
installation of an ARCOM controller now in the works. The CW ID is set
to 20wpm to easily distinguish it from the YSF repeater. The “original”
will be kept in the rack as backup.
The addition of a modern controller will allow serving the EchoLink
network at the Kershaw site, bringing back “the talking man” (or soon
maybe woman) annunciator, control of both repeaters, and more.
Bill Olah’s KR4LO UHF FM repeater has been repaired but back at Baird
Creek for operational testing. The frequency and PL tone is unchanged.
Reports on all these repeaters, good or not so good, are welcomed by the
ORG folks. Call or text Bill Olah, Wayne, Bruce, Lor, or Bill Michne.
NET NEWS
Hank, KW1ZRD, reported that there were 19 WinLink and 20 voice check-ins
to the Pamlico Communications/Emergency Net last Wednesday, April 15th.
A test of simplex net operation followed with 14 stations being heard by
the NCS at the Oriental fire station. Those that participated were asked
to keep a list of the simplex stations that they heard. Our newest ham,
John KR4LEW, was welcomed to the net.
Monday night C4FM Net. On April 13th, nine folks including K4NLC,
KR4ABZ, K4ONC, KI4KEB, AI4WL, AC2GR, KR4LO, and N2PZG participated in
the weekly roundtable hosted by KO4OJC. For local users via RF it’s on
146.310MHz. Now with Wires-X operational on the relocated repeater,
remote users can join via Wires-X room “KO4OJC-Room 3” (ID 64163).
Only four hams made it to the DownEast/Pamlico Six Meter net on Monday
the 13th (N1IG, N1ZLE, KO4OJC, and AI4WL). All signals were strong even
though everyone was using a “compromise” antenna. Conversation was
lively. Come, join us if you can, Thursdays at 8pm on 50.200 MHz USB.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. The Space Weather Prediction Center
expects solar activity to be very low today, Tuesday, and Wednesday with
a chance for C-class flares.
There were 2 numbered sunspot regions on the Sun facing Earth yesterday
at noon. There were 3 last Sunday. We’ve had three days without sunspots
so far this year.
Sunday’s noon Solar Flux Index (SFI) observation at Penticton was 105,
last Sunday’s was 99. The index is predicted to measure 105 today, 110
Tuesday and 120 on Wednesday. The more important SFI 90 day trailing
average was 132 yesterday. It was 135 last Sunday.
The geomagnetic field reached major storm levels yesterday. The SWPC
expects the field to be quiet to active today and Tuesday, then quiet to
unsettled on Wednesday. The planetary K-index at 5 a.m. this morning was
4.00 indicating unsettled conditions.
Current conditions (1039Z/20 Apr): Poor day on 80 and 40 Meters, fair at
night; fair day and night on 30 & 20; fair day and night 17 & 15; poor
day, poor at night on 12 and 10. Please go to
https://www.n4prs.org/looking-up/ for the latest observations.
REVERSE BEACON NETWORK PROPAGATION TOOL
Before you try to work that guy running QRP on Phu Quoc Island, check
the prop with this easy and fun indicator. From ex-Beaufort-Bill
Schrader K2TNO with permission:
“This is a cool app that runs on the web on anything. I opened it on my
Android phone. It was done by W1VE. He describes it on his blog site:
‘portable web app. It runs EVERYWHERE, on anything: PC, Mac, Android,
iPhone, iPad, etc. See my blog for full details, or go to
https://rbsm.rm.gl/. You can install it on any of these platforms. See
https://blog.remote.radio/2026/04/16/an-rbn-s-meter/ For all the details.’
There is nothing to install. To take a look, click this URL: I chose
“GRID” and entered my grid square. The default skimmer stations radius
is 500 miles. [go to] https://rbsm.rm.gl ”
DX THIS WEEK–
Extracted from ARRL’s ARLD015 DX NEWS and DXWorld.net:
–GUINEA, 3X. Elvira, IV3FSG, is QRV as 3X3A from Roume Island, IOTA
AF-051, to 25 April. Activity will be on 80 through 10 meters and 6
meters using CW, SSB, and FT8, FT4, and FT2.
–TIMOR LESTE, 4W. Darren, VK4MAP, is active holiday-style as 4W6DA from
Timor Leste, IOTA OC-148. He also expects to be QRV as 4W6DA/P from
Atauro Island, IOTA OC-232. Activity is primarily on 10 meters SSB.
–LAOS, XW. Vincent, XW4KV, is QRV on 15 meters FT8. Logs are uploaded
to LoTW and Club Log.
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 if your listing is no longer needed. Listings
will EXPIRE AFTER 60 DAYS unless I hear otherwise. Thanks, Jim.
FOR SALE: Yaesu SP-2000 external speaker with protective cover. Perfect
condition. $100.00. Sam/Dave Bacon at davebacon1943@gmail.com. (20260302)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Apr 25, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC,
252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* May 2, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM (PCT) 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
* May 30, SPRING FOX HUNT and Picnic, Oriental VFD Station 19/Oriental
Dog Park. Straight Road, Oriental. Alternate date, June 6.
SELECTED LOCAL REPEATER/NODE/BEACON STATUS
(See www.n4prs.org/frequencies/ for set-up)
N4ONC FM Oriental (147.210MHz+ CTCSS 88.5Hz) — Operational
N4ONC FM/C4FM-YSF/Wires-x Oriental (146.310MHz- FM CTCSS 100.0Hz) —
Operational.
N4ONC FM Oriental (444.350MHz+ ENC 88.4Hz) — On-air test at Baird Creek
GMRS Repeater WSFL439 Oriental (Ch 21, Rptr 7 or 462.700MHz+) — Operational
NC4ES DMR Arapahoe (NC4ES Network)(147.285MHz+ CC1) — Operational
NC4ES FM Arapahoe (147.285MHz+ ENC 88.5Hz/DEC 100Hz) — Standby
NC4ES DMR Florence (NC4ES Network)(445.6625MHZ- CC1) — Operational
WM3X-ONC C4FM/WIRES-X NODE Oriental (145.530MHz smplx) — Operational
KE4TZN/Aurora FM/C4FM/WIRES-X (145.270MHz- FM CTCSS 131.8) —
Operational.
KE4TZN/Aurora DMR (PRN Network) (440.550MHz+ CC1) — Operational
Cedar Isl Mark’s Beacons: K4FWS/b FM14ux 144.282 CW; K1MAP/b FM14ux
222.055 CW; K1MAP/b FM14ux 432.305 CW (Very low power for rcvr,
propagation tests)
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, “Wayne’s World C4FM Net”, 7:30 pm local, using the C4FM
digital mode on the N4ONC Oriental FM/C4FM/WIRES-X repeater
(146.310MHz). Those outside RF range may join via Wires-X room
“KO4OJC-Room 3″ (ID 64163. This is a round-table open to all.
Discussions vary with member interest. 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 as the “Pamlico Emergency Net”
during emergencies.
* 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 WEBSITE: https://www.n4prs.org/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, PARSwebman@gmail.com. You can find
archived PARSgrams, articles, meeting notes, propagation information,
and photos of PARS activities there. Paul welcomes articles and photos
of member activities.
73, Jim AI4WL Editor
——–
This email is sent to members and friends of the Pamlico Amateur Radio
Society. We are pleased that you asked to receive our weekly newsletter
and hope that you enjoy reading it. This and previous PARSgrams are
archived on the PARS Website. If you no longer wish to receive the
PARSgram please let us know by reply email or to pamlicoham@pamlico.net.