PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 this Saturday, February 27, at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental. Please park on the side or
out back. Our meetings are held the last Saturday of each month except June
when the club participates in the annual ARRL Field Day or when in conflict
with a major holiday. We hope to see you all there. For more information
contact Pamlico Amateur Radio Society President Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287
or w_olah@yahoo.com.
Members will sort out what we as PARS will do for the annual North Carolina
QSO Party Sunday. That’s right, it’s this coming Sunday and there will
be a lot of folks on the air wanting to log Pamlico County. The where and
when for the PARS Fox Hunt will be on the agenda. And don’t forget to bring
a favorite QSL card and the story that goes with it to the meeting. It will
be a ham’s version of show and tell!
PARS AND THE NC QSO PARTY–THIS COMING SUNDAY
From Bill Michne, WM3X–
Want to get on the air with little time and effort and NO MONEY? Want to
try some different radios, bands, and modes? PARS will make it easy.
Several PARS members who have working stations are willing to host guest
operators to work the NC QSO party on Sunday, February 28, during the hours
from 10 AM to 8 PM. This is an opportunity for our members, and even ham
radio wannabes, to operate a working amateur station for an hour or two,
more or less, with the assistance of an experienced operator at their side.
The NC QSO party is a relaxed fun event during which hams try to contact as
many NC stations as they can. As a guest operator you may even, if you
wish, use your own call sign (within the limits of your license), keeping
and submitting your own log. You can visit more than one host station to
try different radios, antennas, and modes. Single sideband? Plenty of
that. FM? Sure. Digital? Lots of PSK31 and maybe even some RTTY. Morse
code? There will be some slow speed operators and all will slow down for
you if you ask. And your host can help you with the copy. You can even try
making QRP contacts. Even experienced operators can be guest operators to
try out new stuff, or even visit the guest QTH to help the guest get on the
air with their own stuff (I call this the traveling host). Complete
information on the event can be found at www.rars.org/ncqsoparty. Guests
and hosts can make their own meeting arrangements, or I can put them in
touch with each other. I can be contacted by email at
billmichne@embarqmail.com, or by phone at 252-249-1175. Let’s put Pamlico
county on the air!
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending
yesterday at 4 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a B2 flare
observed at 1006Z this morning. There are 3 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 47, down from 52
reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 96 yesterday at
noon, down from the 108 in our last report. According to the Space Weather
Prediction Center, solar activity is expected to continue to be low for the
next three days with a very slight chance for M-class flares.. The NOAA
forecast has the SFI staying rising slowly to reach about 110 on Wednesday.
The 90 day trailing average is 108.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. The field is forecast to
be quiet today and tomorrow and then become unsettled on Wednesday. Solar
wind escaping from a very large coronal hole should reach
the Earth late Tuesday according to pundits at spaceweather.com. The
Kp-index was reported to be a very quiet 1 at 8 a.m. local this morning.
Just like last week, expect good conditions on 30 and 20 Meters and 40 at
night, fair to poor on the higher bands.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
D2, ANGOLA. Paulo, CT1ITE, is now active as D2/CT1ITE from Luanda until
the end of March. Activity will be limited to spare time on 80-10 meters
(possibly 160m) using CW and SSB. QSL via his home callsign.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Sam/Dave Bacon, KD2T, should bring his brand new plaque for show & tell
Saturday. He has been working hard to catch those tough to get DX stations
and has been awarded 5 Band DXCC as well as credit for 3 WARP Bands. He has
only to get up to 100 countries on 160 to have done ’em all. Congratulations
Dave!
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 :
* 26/2200-28/2200Z Feb CQ 160 Meter Contest, SSB
see www.cq160.com/rules.htm for details
* 27/1400-28/0059Z Feb South Carolina QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
see www.scqso.com/rules
* 27/1800-28/0559Z Feb North American QSO Party, RTTY
* 28/0900-28/1700Z Feb High Speed Club CW Contest
* 28/1500-29/0059Z FebNorth Carolina QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
see www.rars.org/ncqsoparty
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.)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE — Yaesu FT-450 Transceiver, MD 100 desk mike and a Pyramid
35 amp power supply. All for $550 and the FT-450 alone for $450. All you
will need is an antenna to be on the air. Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI,
charlie@dockline.net or 252-249-1257. (20160118).
(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
* RARSfest 2016 and North Carolina Section Convention, Saturday April 2, NC
State Fairgrounds, Raleigh. See www.rars.org/rarsfest for more info.
* 26th Annual Down East Hamfest , Saturday, April 23, Kinston, NC
Details will be on http://www.downeasthamfest.org later.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Feb 27, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* NC QSO Party, Sunday Feb 28, 1000-2000 local, various host stations.
* Mar 26, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Mar 26, SKYWARN Training, 10 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Greg, KM4DZM, 252-322-1033 or gwadsworth1@yahoo.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.
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
believe would interest our folks, please send it to me. Thanks.
Jim AI4WL