PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) Mar 26, 2022 MEETING NOTES
* Thirty-one PARS members, visitors and guests attended the 9 am
breakfast meeting chaired by President Mike Marsh, K4NLC, at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant.
* No awards or upgrades were reported.
* Mike presented Wally’s treasurer’s report. The club is solvent.
Reimbursement for repeater expenses was made. Dues are still slowly
coming in.
* Paul, K4MMB, reported the N4PRS Website is down this morning. Cause is
unknown but he hopes the problem to be cleared quickly. There have been
about 145 visitors with each seeing 3 pages this month. With the
repeater change, most visits have been to the change instructions and
repeater page.
* Propagation Report: Conditions on the bands 40M and above are good
and activity on 10 meters is up. Lots of TEP and even F2 activity on six
meters reported. Look for Comoros, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam this week.
* Mike, our PCN controller, reported 5 training sessions during the
month amounting to 31.4 man-hours.
* Bruce, K4ONC, our county AUXcomm lead, announced the next PCT Meeting
will be on Saturday, April 9th, at the Florence Station 25 Fire Dept.
The station will not be available on the regular first Saturday meeting day.
* Mike and Bill, KR4LO, reported that even with the increased load from
the new repeater and the UHF KR4LO repeater operating at the Kershaw
tower site combined with recent overcast days, the upgraded solar power
system is performing well.
* This year, the Oriental Croakerfest will be on July 2nd. Paul expects
to drive the “N4PRS” tractor in the parade. Mike indicated a booth
should be considered.
* Bill, WM3X, briefed the group on the new FCC $35 licensing fee to be
imposed for most applications including vanity requests beginning April
19th. An initial license or upgrade request will cost the applicant $50
when combined with the ARRL VE fee. Applicants will have only 10 days
from the date the FCC receives the application to pay the FCC fee or the
application is voided. Details are still being worked out. The ARRL
plans to assist those aged 18 or younger by covering the FCC fee and
only imposing a $5 VE fee. [Watch the ARRL WEB site, www.arrl.org, for
the details as they are announced.–ed]
* Bill also reported a very successful VE session on March 10th for
eleven candidates: 7 new licensees (5 technician, 2 general), two
upgrades to general, one to extra, and reinstatement of an expired
general class license. [See PARSgram 2022-03-14 for the list.–ed]
* Lor, W3QA, reported the new Kenwood repeater was cut-over on
Wednesday (Mar 23rd) for operational testing. It required users to
change their PL tone frequency and CTCSS squelch settings. The flurry of
user activity raised a number of minor issues, most were resolved by
Friday when DMR capability was also activated. To improve repeater
receive sensitivity, it will be swapped with the old one for a couple of
weeks so it can be fine-tuned using special equipment. The new PL tone
and squelch setting remain. Users do not have to change them back to the
old.
* Digital Voice Modes–DMR, DSTAR, C4FM and more. Wayne Beasley,
KO4OJC, led a lively group discussion on these digital modes, the ENC
DMR NC4ES Network, Hotspots, and codeplugs. The new Oriental DMR
repeater will initially serve only the Pamlico area.
* There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:07 am.
Following the meeting members helped each other program their radios for
the new repeater.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. There are 5 numbered sunspot regions
on the Sun facing Earth this morning. The Prediction Center expects
solar activity to be low today through Wednesday. There is a 10 percent
chance for M-class flares each day. On Sunday the observed Solar Flux
Index (SFI) at Penticton was 130. (Last Sunday it was 95.) The index is
predicted to measure 129 at noon today and also Tuesday and Wednesday.
The SFI 90 day trailing average is dropped two to 108.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to active yesterday. For our
middle latitude, NOAA expects conditions to reach minor storm levels
today, quiet to unsettled on Tuesday and then quiet on Wednesday. The
estimated Kp-index of 2 reported at 5 a.m. local this morning indicates
quiet geomagnetic conditions.
We can expect good operating conditions today on 80 through 15 meters.
Conditions will be fair on 12 and 10. Keep checking six, you never know.
According to DXmaps, there’s lots of Es activity in Europe this morning.
For an explanation of the numbers used in our PARSgram, see the
excellent article written by Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA at
http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere.
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
For listing in the PARSgram send me your amateur radio related items
that are for sale, trade, or wanted. PLEASE let me know when you have
have sold your item or your listing is no longer needed. Listings will
EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise.–Jim.
NO Listings. Send me something to sell.
PARS CALENDAR:
* DATE CHANGE Apr 9, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM MEETING, Saturday, 9am,
Florence-Whortonsville VFD. AUXCOMM & ARES–All are welcome. For more
info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC, 252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* Apr 30, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Mike Marsh, K4NLC,
252-636-1257 or mike@MarshConsulting.org
* May 28, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Mike Marsh, K4NLC,
252-636-1257 or mike@MarshConsulting.org
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Wednesdays,”Pamlico Communications Net”, 7:30 pm local, 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/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.com
73, Jim AI4WL
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