PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 Saturday, July 30th at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental. Please park on the side
or out back. We hope to see you all there. For more information contact
Pamlico Amateur Radio Society President Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257
or mike@marshconsulting.com.
N4ONC/R 147.210 MHz REPEATER CHANGES
As of noon on Saturday July 23rd, a new N4ONC/R VHF repeater is playing
on frequency. All your current settings and programming should allow you
to use it without difficulty. The machine supports both analog FM and
DMR modes. Users of one mode will not hear conversations on the other.
The machine retransmits whichever mode it hears. Users can tell if the
repeater is in use in the other mode by observing their radio’s incoming
signal activity (signal strength/RSSI) indicator, or perhaps a ‘receive’
LED on some radios. Please exercise courtesy not to transmit while the
repeater is active on the other mode and wait until the other QSO is
complete.
Preliminary observations are that it outperforms the old machine,
especially in terms of audio quality and Digital coverage through trees.
Your help by commenting on-air your observations of any difficulties and
if performance is better—or worse—for you in previously troublesome
places will be much appreciated. If you will be transiting out of the
area, range tests in either mode will be helpful. We will be listening!
Here are some details:
The machine TX power is currently at about 30W to the feed line and
antenna at about 400′. We will optimize power for coverage and balance
between TX/RX.
Normal Analog FM:
147.210 TX (RX on mobiles and portables) Tone squelch or PL 88.5 decode
is needed to silence DMR transmission noise.
147.810 RX (TX on mobiles and portables) PL 88.5 encode to get the
machine to recognize you.
Time out timer: 3 minutes
Squelch Tail: 2 seconds
FM Wideband (25 KHz channels)
There is no ‘courtesy beep’ to signal ‘clear to talk’ but you can hear
the repeater unkey after your partner’s transmission and a 2 second
squelch tail with a crunch if you listen.
“DE N4ONC/R” CW ID every 10 minutes during active use periods. It will
avoid sending ID during a user’s transmission. A partial ID may result
if interrupted. No problem.
Simultaneous conversations on FM and DMR are not possible.
DMR:
Same frequencies and general settings as above. PL tones do not apply.
Color code 1 on all channels.
The DMR side is NOT connected with the NC4ES network for the test
period. Only local DMR users are served.
Talk Group programming of user DMR radios using the NC4ES network
template will work if the channel frequencies above are set. You only
need to be set on the same talk group and time slot as your QSO partner.
Two simultaneous independent DMR conversations are supported by the
repeater when conversations use different time slots. In the NC4ES
template, this will allow one simultaneous QSO on TG 2 (Cluster, using
time slot 2) and another on any other talk group (which all use time
slot 1). Suggest using TG #9 ‘Local’ as the other TG. Please use the
convention of calling on TG 2 (Cluster) and moving to TG 9 (Local), Chat
1, or Chat 2 for longer conversations.
Complete Talk Group Template programming details are given on the NC4ES
network info page at: http://cluster.NC4ES.org:8080 [INFO]
Here is a list of minimum TGs that will function in our current
non-network setup:
TG 2 Cluster TS 2
TG 9 Local TS 1
TG 27501 Chat 1 TS 1
TG 27502 Chat 2 TS 1
Thanks and enjoy!
Lor W3QA
Bruce K4ONC
For the Oriental Repeater Group
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. There are 6 numbered sunspot regions
on the Sun facing Earth this morning. There were 8 last Monday. The
Prediction Center expects solar activity to be low through Wednesday.
At noon yesterday, the observed Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was
- Last Sunday it was 166. The index is predicted to measure 108 at
noon today, 106 Tuesday and 102 Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing
average was 128 yesterday. Last Sunday it was 131. A quiet week.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled yesterday. NOAA
expects conditions be quiet to unsettled today then quiet Tuesday and
Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 1 reported at 5 a.m. local this
morning indicates current quiet geomagnetic conditions.
We can expect fair day and good operating conditions today on 80 to 40
meters, fair to good on 30 and 20, fair on 17, 15 and 10. Six meters
continues to have daily openings into the Midwest and Canada but fewer
openings into Europe for the those of us in the Southeast.
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.
Help Wanted: If anyone knows how to reprogram a Kenwood TK-7150 please
shout out. All I need is to tweak the new tones etc. on it for our
Oriental repeater. Please contact K4MMB at davitbay@gmail.com. (20220620)
For Sale:
* Icom IC7600 with 125 power supply and sp23 speaker. This speaker has
filters in it. With hand mic, $1000
* Tentec Jupiter green screen with ps963 power supply and Heil desk mic.
$500
* Second Tentec Jupiter with desk mic and 963 power supply, $500
* Heathkit solid state transceiver built by Yaesu. Heathkit SB-1400 same
as FT-747 but better looking. Has matching power supply, speaker combo,
clean $300
* MFJ 40 mtr QRP CW rig with matching tuner and battery pack. With
chargers and flat key, model num 9040 tuner is 971 power neat late
model. Look up MFJ prices abt 600 for all, my price is $100
* MFJ model 949c manual 300 watt tuner ..clean $75
* Alpha 76ca amp 160-10 meter Peter Dahl trans super clean, $1000
* Acom 1000 amp.. 160-6 meters at 1000 watts built in tuner 3 to 1, $1000
* TE Systems model 0552g ss amp mobile. Needs to be fed with 50 amp
power supply. 20 watts in, 350-400 out, $350
Have other equiptment for future listings. Thanks guys. All of this
equipment is clean and works perfect. Can demo here at home.
Contact Don Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com or 252-568-4011 (If no
answer please leave message). (20220613)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jul 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
* Aug 6, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Oriental
VFD Station 19 on Straight Rd vic. NC-55. AUXCOMM & ARES–All are
welcome. For more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC, 252-626-2730 or
K4ONC@aol.com
* Aug 27, 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, N4ONC
(Oriental) Repeater, 147.210 + (CTSCC Tone Squelch 88.5).
* 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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