H.T.”TOMMY” BANKS, K4XMT, SILENT KEY
With sadness we belatedly report the passing of Tommy Banks, W4XMT, on
Friday, December 23rd, 2022 at the age of 91. Tommy was one of our long
time members. Tommy was almost a Pamlico County native. Born in
Virginia, he grew up in Arapahoe and graduated from Arapahoe school in
- Tommy was a Navy Veteran, served in Korea, went to NC State, then
spent a thirty-six year career with Carolina Telephone. He joined PARS
soon after earning his license in October, 2005. After gaining General
then Extra privileges, Tommy found HF and became an active HF operator.
Until the last few years, Tommy never missed a Field Day, and certainly
not a PARS meeting. He is missed. Our sincere condolences go to his wife
Clara and their family.
PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) FEB 25, 2023 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-nine PARS members, visitors and guests attended the 9 am
Saturday breakfast meeting chaired by President Mike Marsh, K4NLC, at
Brantley’s Village Restaurant.
* Awards and Upgrades: Ben Barnett, KI4NSO, reported he had just earned
his Extra. His upgrade was awarded on the 23rd. Bill Michne, WM3X,
displayed his Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) Centurion certificate. It
required 100 CW QSOs with SKCC members. Bill offered that the SKCC,
founded in 2006 and over 27,000 members strong, offers excellent help
for those wanting to learn Morse. Tom Wiggins, W1GTB, said farewell to
the group. He is returning to Red Bank, NJ in early March after 20 plus
years and gaining his long desired ham license in Pamlico County. Mike
thanked Tom for donating much of his equipment to the Oriental Repeater
Group, the proceeds from sale of which will go to support the
maintenance and replacement of Pamlico County repeaters.
* Mike delivered the Treasurer’s report on behalf of Wally.
* AI4WL’s Propagation Report: The Sun has been active with recent HF
blackouts affecting the US, Pacific, and Indonesia and Australia. There
is a chance for M-class flares almost daily as well as X-class flares.
The solar flux 90 day average continues to rise, now 166 vs 152 last
month, a good sign as cycle 25 continues to improve. Prop good this a.m.
Our QRP FT8 transmission was received 11420 miles distant by VK4JNA/5 in
Australia–2605 miles per watt! DX. Look for Wake Island and Myanmar
this coming week and next.
* ARES/Pamlico Communications Net: Mike reported four Wednesday night
practices. Eleven hams correctly moved to the new Arapahoe repeater to
check in last week when the Oriental Repeater was non-op. All are
welcome to check-in at 7:30 p.m. every Wednesday.
* Bruce, K4ONC, advised that the Pamlico Communications Team will next
meet on Saturday, March 4th, 0900 at Oriental VFD Station 19. The focus
will again be on DMR.
* Paul reported the N4PRS web site is doing well despite ongoing
attempts by outsiders to gain access to member-only pages. There were
131 users in the past 30 days.
* Repeater update: Lor, W3QA, reported that–
– The Kershaw (Oriental) repeater is showing its age. A couple of short
outages have been caused by issues in the receiver power supply. The ORG
believes current fixes are only temporary.
– He noted that the Arapahoe repeater can be noisy, it’s likely better
grounding is needed.
– A XLX digital reflector on a server with Debian Linux is being
assembled. XLX is a piece of software originally created only for D-Star
and DMR that runs on a Linux server that can be linked to and from other
repeaters and hotspots via the internet much like a hub and spoke
design. It now also handles Yaesu’s YSF. In short, it’s an assembly that
allows cross-protocol communication. It’s possible that it will be under
test by this summer. More details to come.
* Bruce thanked Bill Cresswell, K2ONN, for allowing a repeater on the
nearby Arlington tower to share the Cresswell’s internet service. The
connectivity is in place and has been tested but not yet activated.
* Bruce also announced that Wayne Beasley, KO4OJC, is a new member of
the ORG. Wayne brings a strong technical background and a lot of
enthusiasm to the group.
* Another Fox Hunt is being planned, this one is scheduled for Saturday
April 15th. Hunters will assemble at the Oriental VFD Station 19 at 9
a.m. A two leg event is being considered, two foxes, one chased after
the other. More to come.
* Buck, AA4SN, drew the winning number for a Brantleys Gift
Certificate; Charlie, KO4YWM, drew a belated Christmas gift (from
Gerald, KN4CKL)–a soldering station–Wow; and Bill, K2ONN, ended up
with a big ARRL Spectrum Defense coffee cup donated by Chris, W4SLH.
* There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:45 am.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was moderate during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 4 p.m. local. The largest recent solar event was a
M5 event 9:28 p.m. Sunday. There are 9 numbered sunspot regions on the
Sun facing Earth this morning. There were 6 last Monday. The Prediction
Center expects solar activity to be moderate today through Wednesday
with for M-class flares expected and a slight chance for an X-class
flare. The 4 a.m. NOAA Geophysical alert predicts brief radio blackouts
(R1) are likely on the sunlit side of the earth.
Yesterday’s noon Solar Flux Index (SFI) observation at Penticton was
- Last Sunday’s was 159. The index is predicted to measure 185 today,
190 tomorrow and 200 on Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average was
170 yesterday. It was 167 last Monday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was unsettled to active yesterday. It is
expected be active and reach minor storm levels (G1) today. It is
expected to be active Tuesday and then unsettled on Wednesday. The
estimated Kp-index of 2.33 reported at 4 a.m. local this morning
indicates quiet geomagnetic conditions.
For today, HF conditions are expected to be good during the night on 80
-15 Meters. The best conditions are likely to be found on 15-10 meters
during the day.
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.
DX THIS WEEK–
Extracted from ARLD009 DX news:
–AZERBAIJAN, 4K. Dirk, DK1DKE is QRV as 4K7DK near Baku City until
March 13. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters using SSB and FT8. QSL to
home call.
–GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, HC8. Operators WB2REM, KE2D, VO1IDX, and K4LT
are QRV as HD8M from Santa Cruz, IOTA SA-004, until March 11.
Activity is on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, FT8, and FT4. QSL direct
to WB2REM.
–WILLIS ISLAND, VK9W. Sands, VK9WX is here until April. Activity is
in his spare time on 80 to 10 meters. QSL via M0OXO.
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
Send me your amateur radio related items that are for sale, trade, or
wanted and your contact information. 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 left. All items have been sold, traded, given away or put
back in the attic. Send me one.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Mar 25, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Mike Marsh, K4NLC,
252-636-1257 or mike@MarshConsulting.org
* Apr 8, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM MEETING, Saturday, 9-10:30am,
Oriental VFD Station 19 on Straight Rd vic. NC-55. All are welcome. For
more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC, 252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* Apr 15, PARS FOX HUNT, Saturday, 9 a.m., Oriental VFD Station 19 on
Straight Rd. More info to come.
* Apr 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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