From: James Hartmeyer <jth350@embarqmail.com>
Date: February 11, 2019 at 7:21:04 AM EST
To: PARS Members <ai4wl@arrl.net>
Subject: PARSgram 2019-02-11
NO PARSGRAM NEXT WEEK
There will be no PARSgram published on Monday, February 18. Consider this one an early reminder of our next Pamlico Amateur Radio Society meeting on Saturday, February 23. Come for a chance to win the door prize and lots more…
PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
Calling all VE’s! As we move forward with the club license exam program, we will of course need VE’s to make it happen. If you are a VE and are interested in helping out at these sessions, please send me an email to that effect, unless you’ve done so already. Before you do, however, check your accreditation date on your VE badge. If you are near or past expiration and would like to continue, please arrange for your renewal. There is no grace period for serving at a session. _…_ Calling all junkies! Not the drug kind, but the makers among us. RARSfest is coming on April 20. It’s a great opportunity to pick up all manner of stuff for the junk box. I have often found use for stuff that went into my junk box 20, 30, and even more years ago. _…_ OK, so you don’t have a multikilobuck radio and a VOA tower/antenna system, and the bands are lousy anyway. But it never ceases to amaze me how marginal a station can be and still make contacts. A couple of weeks ago I strung up a 40 meter OCF dipole at about 20 feet and fed it with some coax that had been marinated in salt water ala Florence. The built in antenna tuner could only manage to get the SWR down to about 2.7, but I could hear some signals. On a lark I answered a CQ from I1MMR in Genoa, Italy. He came back to me, with a 339 report, but we had a solid contact. So turn on your radio and you may have a pleasant surprise! …_._ de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOVA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending yesterday at 5 pm local. There are no numbered sunspot regions on the sun facing earth this morning. We are now up to 11 days in this spotless stretch, 25 for the year so far. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center activity is expected to be very low today through Wednesday. On Sunday, the reported Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was 70. The index is predicted to be 70 today, 71 Tuesday and then 72 on Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average jumped up one to 71.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled yesterday. It is expected to be quiet today and then quiet to unsettled on Tuesday and Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 1 at 7 a.m. local this morning indicates quiet conditions.
We can expect fair day and good night operating conditions on 80 and 40 meters, fair both day and night on 30 and 20. Poor conditions continue on the higher bands. DXmaps showed lots of Sp-E FT8 contacts and a few CW and phone on 6 meters yesterday afternoon and evening. Most were from the Northeast into the Midwest. Is it time to give the band another look?
For an explanation of 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 WATCH
Observations on the DX world by Dick Hattaway, W4PID in Salisbury, NC:
Well, I thought it couldn’t get much worse, conditions wise, but as usual, I was wrong. This last week has been a real snoozer concerning activity. Saturday afternoon when the bands are normally jumping (20 and above) it took three hours to get 15 spots on 20 M CW. I’ve seen that many in three minutes last fall.
BUT, there is DX to be had, and the conditions can be very good. V31FO has a great signal from Belize on many bands. J3/G4HSO has been active on 17M with 5 watts on the beach with a KX3 and a vertical stuck in the sand. Hey, somebody’s gotta take the bullet for the group…. He has a great CW sig in 17 BTW. ZP6/N3BNA has been active from Paraguay. And Mic, FK8IK is very active from New Caledonia, with a big CW signal on 20 M.
The big guns will be tuning up for the upcoming CW DX contest this week. The contest is next weekend, and is normally a time that you can almost work DXCC in one weekend if that’s your goal. Or you can compete, but I am too old for that. The report the other guy is gonna want is RST signal report and your state ( NC for most of us ). He’s gonna send you RST and power. Don’t be confused by the crazy shortcuts that are used. You will hear ENNATT for instance. E = 5, minus four dits ( takes way too much time ) .. NN is of course 99, A for 1 ( again, why send the other four dashes.. waste of precious QSO time ) and TT for the 00 part. Thus he sent you 599100 …
But don’t wait till the weekend. These guys travel from all over the world to exotic places to operate, and they will spend the entire week next week just making sure there’s no water in the coax, etc. So have fun working them.
Oh, and you SSB guys, your turn is coming soon… heads up 🙂
Dick
W4PID ( w4pid@arrl.net )
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
FERNANDO DE NORONHA, PY0F. A group of operators will be QRV as PY0Ffrom February 13 to 18. Activity will be mainly on the low bands using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL direct to PY7RP.
DXPEDITION CALENDAR 2019
From various sources, a chronological list of planned major DXpeditions. If you are aware of others, please let us know. Changes from last week are in italics.
3Y0I Bouvet Island, delayed TBD (https://bouvetoya.org )
V84 Brunei, 7-18 February (http://v84saa.ko8sca.com/)
XX9D Macao, 11-26 February (https://xx9d.mydx.de)
A5 Bhutan, 27 Feb-9 Mar (http://www.fgc.or.jp/english)
T31EU Kanton Island, 16 Feb-5 Mar (http://www.kanton2019.de)
7P8LB Lesotho, 8-16 Mar (http://www.la9vpa.com/7p8lb/index.html)
5X0T/5X0X Uganda, 13-25 March (www.12ysb.com/idt)
5V Togo, 14-28 March (https://5v7ei.com)
VK9N Norfolk Island, 1-14 April
ZK3 Tokelau Islands, 1-15 October (https://tokelau2019.com)
A2 Botswana, 20-29 October
VP6 Pitcairn Island, late October 2019, (https://pitcairndx.com)
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the weekly 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.
* 16/0000-17/2359Z Feb 1.8-28 ARRL International DX Contest, CW (www.arrl.org/arrl-dx)
* 16/2300-17/2300Z Feb 1.8-14 AWA Amplitude Modulation QSO Party, Ph (www.antiquewireless.org)
Ahead–
* 23/1500-24/0159Z Feb 1.8-50 South Carolina QSO Party, CW Ph Dig (scqso.com/rules)
* 23/1800-24/0559Z Feb 3.5-28 North American QSO Party RTTY, Dig (www.ncjweb.com)
* 24/1500-25/0059Z Feb 3.5-144 NORTH CAROLINA QSO PARTY, CW Ph Dig (www.ncqsoparty.org/rules)
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 for your Worked All States (WAS) Award.)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
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. Listings will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise.–Jim.
FOR SALE– I have a Yaesu FT-897d I’d like to sell. I will lower the price for the local hams because I don’t have to go through the hassle of shipping it. I’d like $600 for it. Please post the link and note this is pick-up only. No shipping. More info at https://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=1409643
Contact Tom Akin, KB1MIQ, 801 Midyette St., Oriental. 207-432-5399 (20181224)
UPCOMING REGIONAL HAMFESTS:
A complete list can be found on your PARS Website, www.n4prs.org
FCC AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR LICENSE EXAMINATION SESSIONS
The Pamlico Amateur Radio Society sponsors Amateur Radio License Examination sessions four times a year. They are on the first Saturday of January, April, July, and October at 9am in the Oriental Town Hall on Broad Street in Oriental, NC. Exams are offered for all license classes. There is an administrative fee of $15.00 for the initial test, be it for a new license or a license class upgrade. If the test is passed, the next higher level exam may be taken for no additional charge. A legal photo ID or acceptable proof of ID is required, e.g Birth Certificate, etc. Walk-ins are allowed although to assure sufficient materials are available, candidates should contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Feb 23, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Mar 30, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* April 6, FCC License Examination/VE Session, Saturday 9am, Oriental Town Hall, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Pamlico Swamp Roundtable” (“Swamp Net” for some), around 8 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 10 Meter Band voice segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Tuesdays, Newport Weather Service SKYWARN Practice Net, 9:00 pm local, Oriental (147.210+ (PL151.4)) and all other local repeaters. Open net for severe weather warning and reporting continously monitored upon activation.
* Wednesdays, Pamlico Emergency Net Practice and Rag Chew/ARES, 7:30 pm, Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4).
* 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/
Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, davitbay@gmail.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