PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) OCT 31, 2015 MEETING NOTES
* Thirty-one PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting
Saturday chaired by President Bill Olah, KR4LO.
* Bill Michne, WM3X, showed the “vintage” power supply he built using 1937
era components. Bill is building and assembling radio equipment comparable
to that in Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra airplane flown on her last
flight. Bill identified several of the reasons for Amelia’s communications
failure that, once lost and out of gas, greatly contributed to her likely
demise on July 2, 1937 near Howland Island in the Pacific..
* Dick Goodwin, K4JJW, briefly talked about ladder line and how simple it
is to construct with available plastic snap spreaders and 14 ga. wire.
* “Wally” Wallace KK4ASP presented the treasurers report.
* Mike Hurm,K4HPS, our ARES EC, reported 5 ARES sessions in
September for 11.63 man-hours and 4 in October for 17.48 man-hours. A
display was set up for Pamlico County Heritage Day comparing Amateur Radio
as an emergency service with CB and Cell service. The ARES go package and
an HT with amp were both demonstrated. A significant number of visitors
attended. Thanks to the team of Greg Wadsworth KM4DZM and Joy McCracken,
Mike Hurm K4HPS, Dennis Giorgio KD2DSY, Randy Davis K4WRD, and Mike Marsh
K4NLC who manned the Heritage Day booth.
* I reported that the VHF bands have been quiet for weak signal operations
(SSB/CW/DIG) but better winter conditions are coming.
* According to Bill Olah, our local Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) had lots of
competition this year from other activities. Only the younger scouts
participated at Camp Sea Gull, but they seemed to have a good time. Jamie
King KJ4JK reported the 30 or so scouts mostly enjoyed 2 Meter repeater
contacts with Carteret County scouts. Few HF contacts were made. Thanks go
to Mike Marsh, Jamie King KJ4JK, Billy Blanchard KM4EFX–a visitor from
Burlington, Alamance County– all led by Bill Olah KR4LO who worked with the
scouts.
* Bill opened a short discussion about changing the date of the annual
election to November and for those elected to begin their term in January.
Wally talked about adding more detail to the Bi-Laws. This is needed if the
club is to successfully apply for Federal Tax exemption.
* The slate of Bill Olah for President, Randy Davis for VP, and Wally
Wallace for Treasurer was presented for election as officers for 2016. They
were reelected by acclamation.
* Bill Michne reminded everyone of the November 16th Amateur License
Testing Session at Pamlico Community College. Open to all, this will offer a
local testing opportunity for those studying on their own.
* In response to Dick Goodwin”s request, Bill Olah replied that another
Fox Hunt is being considered.
FIELD DAY RESULTS ARE OUT
The scores are now available on the ARRL Website. The round-up article that
will be in the December issue of QST Magazine is there too. Our Pamlico
Amateur Radio Society faired well considering only operating the N4PRS
stations for about 8 hours over the two day weekend. PARS ended
with 1,978 points from our 327 QSOs plus bonuses. That score placed PARS in
the middle of the pack of NC 2A category clubs(8 of 16) and 19th of 25 in
our Roanoke Region. Although “not a contest”, it’s always fun to see if you
can do better than the year before.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hours ending
yesterday at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a C7 flare
observed at 1000Z this morning. There are 4 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 88, up from the 63
reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) is 124, also up, this
from the 106 reported last week. (The 90 day trailing average is now at
104.) The NOAA forecast has the SFI staying about the same at 120 through
Wednesday. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity
is expected to be moderate for the next three days with a slight (15%)
chance for X-class flares, but a much better chance for M-class flares
(55%). Massive sunspot AR2443 has continued to grow with increasing
activity.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field varied from quiet to unsettled over the
weekend. NOAA forecasters estimate a 90% chance of geomagnetic storms on
Nov. 2nd-3rd when a fast-moving stream of solar wind is expected to hit
Earth’s magnetic field. Solar wind speeds could exceed 800 km/s and spark a
strong G3-class geomagnetic storm. So, expect unsettled to severe storm
conditions today, active to major storm levels Tuesday and active conditions
on Wednesday. That said, the Kp-index was reported to be a quiet 1 at 0800
local this morning.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
VIET NAM, 3W. An international team of Merditerraneo DX Club
members will be QRV as 3W3MD from Da Nang, while some operators will
also be QRV as 3W3MD/p from Cham Island, IOTA AS-162, to November 9. QSL
both calls via IK2VUC.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Zippo!
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the ARRL Letter, from the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar, the ARRL Contest Update or the ARRL Contest Corral. You can
receive the Letter weekly via email as a member of ARRL :
* 07/1200-08/2359Z Nov SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, CW
* 07/1200-08/1200Z Nov Ukrainian DX Contest, CW Ph
* 07/2100-09/0300Z Nov ARRL Sweepstakes, CW
* 07/2100-09/0300Z Nov NA Collegiate ARC Championship, CW
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
and the W1AW Centennial Stations are a great way to get those last states on
your Worked All States (WAS) Award list.)
DX EXPERIENCE
We’re trying something new courtesy of Jamie, KJ4JK. Every few weeks we’ll
put up a new “experience”. You might learn something new and then have fun
if and when you make the contact. Here’s the first one:
The most expensive city in the world to live in–Singapore.
This city has recently beat out Tokyo, Japan, for the title of “most
expensive city” for 2014. Cars can cost between 4-6 times as much in
Singapore from what they cost in the US or UK … (for example, a Toyota
Prius actually costs about $150,000.00 there).
If you make successful contact, call or email Jamie King KJ4JK and he’ll put
you on the eligible list for the prize.
mailto:kj4jk@arrl.net or telephone 249-1549. (20151012)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE– 100 ft. 600 ohm low loss ladder line manufactured by True
Ladder Line LLC. #16 AWG 23 strand insulated wire, 3-1/2″ spacers.
Perfect for feeding balanced wire antennas. Brand new in original carton.
Cost $70 w/shipping, sell for $45. See www.trueladderline.com for details.
Dick Goodwin K4JJW 633-7873, rgoodwin41@suddenlink.net
* FOR SALE –SGC SG-2000 transceiver with tuner, asking $800. Gill
Grabowski KB1GHA, 339-832-4257 or grabg1@aol.com. (20150907)
——————–
(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).
UPCOMING REGIONAL HAMFESTS:
A complete list can be found on your PARS Website, www.n4prs.org
PARS CALENDAR:
* Nov 16, VE Testing Session, Pamlico Community College Room 412, 6:30 pm.
For more info contact Mike Marsh K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or
mike@marshconsulting.com or Bill Michne, WM3X, 249-1175 or
billmichne@embarqmail.com.
* Nov 28, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287
or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Dec 4-5, SKYWARN Appreciation Day, 7 pm to 7 pm, National Weather Service
Forecast Office, Newport, NC. John Hopkins KJ4EJH hopkinszoo1@msn.com
PARS NETS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Swamp Talk” roundtable, around 8:15 pm local,
28.463 MHz plus or minus, USB. This is an informal forum originally
established to assist our new Hams. The frequency is in the 10M voice
segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related
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/
* Chief Editor and Administrator is Greg Wadsworth KM4DZM, 252-322-1033 or
gwadsworth1@ yahoo.com
* Web Master is Larry Wall, KK4SEO, wallmailbox@yahoo.com.
ABOUT THE PARSgram
The PARSgram is a weekly email publication for members of the Pamlico
Amateur Radio Society (PARS), an association of amateur radio operators
located in, near, or from Pamlico County, North Carolina. The PARSgram
contains announcements and information about current and planned activities
of the Society and other items of specific interest to its members. Except
to summarize information related to Solar Activity or announce expeditions
of amateur radio operators to unique distant places, special event stations,
and contests, it does not generally repeat information available elsewhere.
The PARSgram does offer a means to make known to its subscribers radio
equipment and other related items for sale or trade. Since PARS members may
have limited internet access, the PARSgram is sent in text format and kept
relatively short. Log on to the PARS Website at https://www.n4prs.org/ for
longer news articles, photos, archived PARSgrams and more. We are always
looking for items of specific interest to our 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 at jth350@embarqmail.com. —
Jim Hartmeyer, AI4WL, Editor (20150406)
Jim, AI4WL