PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) SEP 2014 MEETING NOTES
Thanks to Tom Corwin, KI4NSP and Randy Davis, K4WRD, for taking
notes at the meeting.
* Thirty-six PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting chaired
by President Bill Olah, KR4LO at Brantley’s in Oriental.
* “Wally” Wallace KK4NPS presented the treasurers report.
* Mike Hurm, K4HPS, our ARES coordinator, advised that check-ins for the
Wednesday night Pamlico Emergency Net during the month ranged from 6 to 13
members resulting in 8.43 participation hours. (The ARES headquarters
keeps track of the hours–ed.) The County has agreed to allow the antenna
height to be increased at the Emergency Center. Mike will put together a
team to handle raising the antenna.
* Tom Finta, K8TF, presented DRAGON BOAT RACE T-Shirts to the
volunteers, John Radke, Susan king, Jamie King. Bill Olah, Torrey Neal,
Mike Herm, Ken Coit, Bob Mele. Tom is planning on coordinating our
participation in the event again in 2015.
* Bill Olah announced that the annual elections will be held at the October
25th meeting. He is also looking for input from the membership on subjects
for presentation at future meetings.
* Tom, KI4NSP, passed along that the General Class Licensing Course with
Bill Michne, WM3X, as Lead Instructor will start on Monday night, January
5th at the Sea Harbor Yacht Club in Oriental.. Times will be determined
after all the prospective students are contacted. (Note that this is a
different venue than in the past–conflict with already scheduled activity
at the Fire House–ed.)
* Bob Mele, of the New Bern Club, thanked the PARS members that assisted at
the New Bern Bike MS Event.
* Bill Olah presented Honorary Life Membership Plaques to Christine
Mele, W4SLH, and Ilona Forgeng, KI4NSN.
ANNUAL ELECTION OF PARS OFFICERS AT NOVEMBER MEETING
(Treasurer Gail “Wally” Wallace’s Notice of Elections is provided for those
members who may not have received it by email directly Saturday.}
At the monthly PARS meeting today, it was noted that the vote for the
2015 officers will be held at the October 2014 meeting.
A call for volunteer(s) to serve on an election committee did not
surface anyone available to undertake this effort. Therefore, Bill Olah and
I will serve as points of communication for anyone who wishes to serve in
any officer role.
At this time [October 25, 2014 PARS Meeting -ed], we will select a
President, Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer.
Current officers respectively are Bill Olah, Randy Davis, and me, Gail
M.”Wally” Wallace.
We three are willing to continue in our current roles, and we will be
put forward for a vote at the meeting.
Please let Bill Olah or me know if you would like to have your name
presented as running for any of these positions in October as well.
We plan to take an open vote via show of hands as we have done in the
past few years. However, as stipulated in the by-laws, if any member
eligible to vote would prefer paper ballets, this request will be
accommodated.
Thank you all for you efforts on behalf of PARS.
Regards, Wally & Bill
GENERAL LICENSE COURSE LOCATION SET
The PARS next Amateur General Class preparation course will be start Monday
Jan 5, 2015 and run through Mar 2, 2015 at the Sea Harbor Yacht Club, on
Dolphin Point in Oriental. The 8 weekly 3 hour or less class sessions on
Monday evenings will be followed by the FCC Exam on March 2nd. Class times
to be determined. The examination session will be open to all. Please pass
the word to those you think might be interested. For more information
or to sign up please contact Chief Instructor Bill Michne, WM3X, at
252-249-1175 or
billmichne@embarqmail.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was high during the 24 hours ending
Sunday night at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event of the period
was a M5 event observed at 28/0258Z. There are currently 7 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk. The sunspot count this morning is 200, a big jump from
the 72 reported here last Monday. The Solar Flux Index is 181, well up from
the 124 in last weeks report and much higher than our 90 day trailing
average of 135. The Solar Flux is expected to continue to rise to 195 by
Wednesday. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity
should be moderate with a good chance (75 %) for an M-class flares and a
chance (20%) for an X-class flare through Wednesday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field activity was quiet to unsettled during the
24 hour period ending yesterday afternoon. The geomagnetic field is expected
to be quiet to unsettled today and on Tuesday and quiet on Wednesday. The
K-index was 2 at 0800 local this morning.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occured during the last 24 hours
and are expected during the next 24 hours. R1 means weak or minor
degradation of HF radio communication on sunlit side, occasional loss of
radio contact.
DX CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK
VIET NAM, 3W. Bruce is QRV as 3W3B from Da Nang on the HF bands
using CW and RTTY. QSL via E21EIC. And coming up–
VK9L, LORD HOWE ISLAND. Mathias, DJ2HD, one of the team members of the
Lagunaria DX Group going to Lord Howe (signing as VK9DLXVK9LM), announced
that he received his VK9DJ callsign/license to use on Lord Howe between
October 10-12th before the main team starts their big operation. Activity
by Mathias will be on CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via DJ2HD, direct or by the
Bureau.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
So who had a QSO yesterday with “Mike Baxter KA0XTT “, the “Last Man
Standing”?
And just in this morn from Dick Goodwin–
Hi Jim: There is an active Dx’pedition operating from a very rare
entity…Tristan de Cunha Island, a remote and seldom visited island in the
South Atlantic. This Dx’pedition has not received a lot of advance
publicity in the DX radio publications. There are two experienced operators,
Nigel G3TXF and Paul ZS1S. They’re operating under the calls of ZD9XF and
ZD9ZS. ZD9XF is focused on CW on the WARC bands 30-17-12m and ZD9ZS is
operating SSB. They will be on the island operating full time until October
2nd. This is a very rare DX entity and anyone wishing to log them can still
do so during the next four days. The pile ups are big but they are very
workable. I’ve logged them on 4 bands so far.
73 Dick K4JJW
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the ARRL Letter, from the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar or the ARRL Contest Corral. You can receive the Letter weekly
via email as a member of ARRL :
* October 3-5 — DX/NA YLRL Anniversary Party
* October 4 — TARA PSK Rumble
* October 4-5 — Oceania DX Phone Contest
* October 4-5 — Russian World Wide Digital Contest
* October 4-5 — Worked All Britain HF Contest
* October 4 — New Jersey QSO Party
* October 4-5 — California QSO Party
* October 5 — RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest
* October 6 — EU Autumn Phone Sprint
* October 6 — OK1WC Memorial Contest
See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>, the
ARRL Contest Update http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-Update/ and the
WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>
for more info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the
ARRL Special Event Station Web page<http://www.arrl.org/special-events>. For
a LIST OF STATE QSO PARTIES, see
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/stateparties.html. (State QSO parties
are a great way to get those last states on your Worked All
States (WAS) Award list.)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS. W1AW Centennial Stations W1AW/5 in New
Mexico and W1AW/7 in Idaho are QRV until 2359z on September 30. In
addition, W1AW/KL7 in Alaska, W1AW/6 in California and W1AW/3 in the
District of Columbia will be QRV starting at 0000z on October 1.
They will be active until 2359z on October 7.
(Courtesy of the ARRL DX Bulletin)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* New For Sale – ICOM-756 PRO III by original owner, includes box and
manual. Fred writes, “This radio has lived a quiet life in an air condtioned
smoke free home since new, has never been in a contest and has never had a
repair.” Scratch and dent free, late S/N. Will demo if required. Currently
selling on QRZ for $1750-$1850 plus shipping. Will take $1600. Fred Elsner
W4FAE, 252-637-3742, or rjelsner@embarqmail.com. (20140901)
* Old Junk Wanted – Our Morse Code class will accept your old telegraph
keys, code practice units, keyers, paddles, bugs, small speakers, etc.,
basically anything that the students can use directly, or refurbish, or use
to build new units. So far, we have built one CPO/keyer, with another on
the way, along with a QRP transmitter. We have refurbed a MFJ keyer/paddle
combination, also. The stuff will be used only for educational purposes,
and will not be sold. Contact Bill Michne, WM3X, at 252-249-1175 or
billmichne@embarqmail.com. (20140602)
* For Sale — Recently purchased by a New Bern ham forced to
give up the hobby, a Radio Works Carolina Windom Antenna 160 model with
Dacron line (Heavy) and winches (2) to raise it high in the pines (See at
Radio Works,www.radioworks.com/). Make a reasonable offer for the whole
thing with coax and matching balun,
UPDATE ON THIS AND MORE EQUIPMENT RECEIVED TODAY:
New update on lots of Jim’s station equipment. Would like folks to
contact me [Ed Valentine] if interested in items. Can’t list it all.
We have a bid for the 160 Meter Carolina Windom Antenna [LISTED ABOVE]
of 45$ Any one else interested?
Have a Autek Research RF 1 antenna analyzer Price new $129 Sell for $62
Bird Mod 43 Watt meter with choice of one slug. $ 100… More Slugs to
get as an extra, $35 ea.
B&K Scope 30Mhz with Tektronix Probes New Price $969. Make offer.
Logic probe for TTL & Cmos $5
MFJ 261 Dummy Load. 15 watts, 100 watts Peak. New $42 Sell for $25
Weller soldering gun $15.
New Rolls of Kester Solder 1 Lbs. Dia .031 Flux Alloy Sn63 $8 ea.
Jim Reynolds’ equipment is clean and tested. Nonsmoking house.
Icom 756 Pro 2
Icom IC 7600
Icom KW amp Very rare.
Icom speakers and Power Supplies
Heil mic and desk boom. Icom Desk mic.
All manuals & cables & original boxes.
Ed Valentine W2YPM at 252 637-3161 or
w2ypm@earthlink.net is handling the sale. (20140602/20140804/20140929)
——————–
(Send me your amateur radio related items for sale, trade, or wanted for
listing in the PARSgram. PLEASE let me know if your listing is no longer
needed. ITEMS listed will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear
otherwise.–Jim).
PARS CALENDAR:
* Oct 25, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Nov 29, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
PARS NETS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Swamp Talk” roundtable, around 8:15 pm local,
28.463 MHz plus or minus, USB. An informal forum originally established
to assist our new Hams, this freq. is in the 10M voice segment open to
technician licensees and above. Radio topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Wednesdays, Pamlico Emergency Net Practice and Rag Chew, 7:30 pm,
Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4).
PARS WEB SITE:
https://www.n4prs.org/
Web Master is Larry Wall, KK4SEO, wallmailbox@yahoo.com.
PARSgram ITEMS
We are always looking for items of interest to PARS members to put in
the PARSgram. If you run across a timely item or think of something you
think would interest our folks, please send it to me. Thanks.
73, Jim AI4WL