PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) Aug 27, 2022 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-five PARS members, visitors and guests attended the 9 am
Saturday Field Day breakfast meeting chaired by President Mike Marsh,
K4NLC, at Brantley’s Village Restaurant. Mike thanked all who brought
equipment and other ham related items to the meeting for sale or trade.
He–as were others–was pleasantly surprised at the number and quality
of the items that covered the tables. They included relatively new
transceivers, power supplies, tuners and accessories. Buyers and sellers
were happy.
* No awards or upgrades were reported. Charlie, WA4GSI, showed the
certificate he received from working a SE station 90 feet down in
Shenandoah Caverns. Bruce brought in his Clean Sweep Certificate from
the 2022 Thirteen Colonies event. He worked all 13 and all the special
stations.
* Paul, K4MMB, reported 136 PARS Website visitors so this month, 3075
for the year so far. Somewhat disconcerting was the large number of
attempts to access the restricted pages. All probably probing bots.
* Propagation Report: Although NOAA reported a “quiet sun” yesterday,
it awoke early with an M7 flare causing a short HF blackout over
sun-facing Europe and Africa. More flares and blackouts are expected
this weekend. The solar flux 90 day average is 118 indicating fair to
good conditions continuing on 40 through 15 Meters and openings on the
10 meter band. Current DX opportunities include Macquarie Island (VK0)
and Myanmar (XZ).
* As part of our monthly show and tell, Jim showed the little pocket
size QDX SDR digital QRP transceiver in his “Miles Per Watt” reports.
[See this week’s report below.] Not only is it an inexpensive extremely
compact radio for making contacts using FT8/4 and other digital modes,
it is an excellent device when used with PSKreporter that indicates real
time signal propagation. Lor, W3QA, assembled and has available for
purchase several of these innovative kits from “QRP Labs”.
* Bruce, K4ONC, our county AUXcomm lead, announced the next Pamlico
Communications Team meeting will be on September 3rd at the Oriental VFD
Station 19 on Straight Road. Mike reported the Pamlico Communications
Net will have met 5 Wednesday nights in August for about 20 manhours.
* The organizers of the Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival have asked
PARS’s help to control vehicle access into the Festival zone on Friday,
September 30th. Bruce’s plea for help added several members to his
volunteer list but more would help reduce the shift at the six sites to
4 hours or so. Thousands are expected to attend. The Pamlico JROTC will
take over the barriers on Saturday. [See more in this PARSgram below.]
* Adding to the show and tell, Mike passed around his little Nano VNA,
a low cost yet high performance (at its price point of under a 100
bucks) vector network analyzer (VNA)/Antenna Analyzer. It has a LCD
display and is powered from a 3.7V Li-ion battery. Bringing low cost and
exceptional functionality in a small package, one of these is likely to
make its way into many ham stations.
* The last Fox Hunt sponsored by PARS and hosted by Bill Olah, KR4LO,
was eight years ago. Bill proposed having another. Bill displayed and
described his “fox”, a remote controllable HT plus smarts, then talked
about the last hunt and the challenge of finding a fox in hiding. Fox
hunting requires a little knowledge of navigation and radio direction
finding, a radio with directional antenna, and lots of common sense. An
ability to read a map is a big plus. So on a date to be determined and
with details worked out, PARS will most likely host a Fox Hunt. It
probably will be followed by a lite picnic of hot dogs, sodas and such.
A prize or two may be in play. Since some hunters may not have an
appropriate antenna, a build your own session will be a first step. Bill
will host a “tape measure yagi” build at his shop. The components will
be provided. The session may also include some helpful how-to-do-it hints.
* Guest, Jim Jenkins won the monthly drawing. He received a Brantley’s
Restaurant $20 gift certificate. New technician, Ed Caraballo, and Eddie
Lyon, K4NGR, took home PARS License Plates.
* There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:00 am.
OL’ FRONT PORCH MUSIC FESTIVAL- HELP STILL NEEDED
PARS has been asked by the organizers of the Ol’ Front Porch Festival to
volunteer and assist with the festival. The festival this year is Friday
and Saturday, September 30th and October 1st in Oriental. Our assignment
would be to assist ON FRIDAY at each of the 6 closed street locations.
We will need one person at each of the street closures. The festival
runs from 10am to 7pm but our likely hours on Friday would be 10 to 6.
With enough volunteers we could work 4 hour or shorter shifts. We would
ask that you have your HT VHF radio with you to maintain contact with
each other on the N4ONC Oriental repeater. It would also be a good time
to check your simplex frequencies.
If this years festival is anything like last months Croakerfest, it
should be well attended and lots of fun. This is a great opportunity for
PARS to interact with the community and get our club recognized. We can
be flexible with the work schedule but we need folks to volunteer.
Please consider volunteering for this worthwhile event, interact with
fellow PARS members and the community and have fun while doing so.
To signup for this fun and worthwhile activity please call Bruce
Perkins, K4ONC, at 252-626-2730 or email K4ONC@aol.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was high during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. The largest solar event of the period
was a M6 flare observed at 28/1619Z, just after noon EST. It caused a HF
radio blackout (R2) over the Americas for several minutes or more and,
according to spaceweather.com, produced “unusual propagation effects at
frequencies below 20 MHz for as much as an hour”.
There are 5 numbered sunspot regions on the Sun facing Earth this
morning. There were 4 last Monday. The Prediction Center expects solar
activity to be moderate through Wednesday with a chance for M-class
flares and a slight chance for an X-class flare.
At noon yesterday, the observed Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was
- Last Sunday it was 97. The unusually high flux index yesterday is
likely due to the intense solar flare only hours before the reading was
taken. The index is predicted to measure 126 at noon today, then 120
Tuesday and Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average was 120 yesterday
up one from last Sunday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled yesterday. NOAA
expects conditions to reach minor storm levels today if a CME approaches
the Earth’s magnetic field as expected. It should be quiet to active
Tuesday and then quiet to unsettled Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of
3 reported at 5 a.m. local this morning indicated quiet conditions.
We can expect poor day and good nighttime operating conditions today on
80 to 40 meters, poor day but good night on 30 to 20 and then good to
fair on 17 to 10. Six meters was quiet at 7 a.m. 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.
2606 MILES PER WATT!
I’m still trying out my new size-of-a-pack-of-Camels QDX QRP SDR Digital
Transceiver. From time to time I’ll report how it’s going. This week:
8/24/22 1126Z VK5PO 20M FT8 4 Watts OCF @ 50′ 10,426 Miles. See
https://qrp-labs.com/qdx for info. Lor, W3QA may have more of these neat
little transceivers.
DX THIS WEEK–
From ARLD034 DX news:
MACQUARIE ISLAND, VK0. Matt, VK0MQ has been QRV on 30 meters using
FT8 around 0900z. He is active until October 1. QSL via M0OXO.
MYANMAR, XZ. Simon, HS0ZIB plans to be QRV as XZ2A from Naypyitaw
Activity will be in his spare time on all HF bands, excluding 60 meters.
QSL via EA5GL.
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.
For Sale:
* SOLD Classic ASTATIC D-104 “Lollipop” microphone.
* MFJ-815B SWR/WATT Meter. $50
* MFJ-994B Automatic Intellituner rated at 600 Watts. $150
Contact Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI, at 919-210-5168. (20220801)
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:
* Sep 3, 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
* Sep 24, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Mike Marsh, K4NLC,
252-636-1257 or mike@MarshConsulting.org
* Oct 29, 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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