PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 Saturday, April 27th, in the back room
of Brantleys Village Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental. Please park
along the side or out back. We hope to see you all there. Come early for
breakfast with your fellow hams. For more information contact Pamlico
Amateur Radio Society President Bruce Perkins, K4ONC, 252-626-2730 or
K4ONC@aol.com
The ever changing repeater situation always has something new going on.
At this writing, Arapahoe is back up. Then, Dick Goodwin recorded the
signal from CHU in Ottawa through the eclipse. He will show and talk
about some very interesting results. Expect to get the latest on the
“Eastern Express”, the NC4ES-6 pico balloon. Then there was the FOXHUNT.
Lots more to talk about plus a chance for a Brantleys Gift Certificate.
SATURDAY’S SPRING FOX HUNT A SUCCESS
Paul Manganaro, KO4MHM, took the bragging rights for finding the fox
fastest. He did it one minute quicker than the team of Beasley, Beasley
and Beasley! Organizers had to triple check their arithmetic. Paul,
hunting solo and a last minute entry, said he just pointed his antenna
from the back over the passengers seat toward the windshield and
followed the tone. Paul’s elapsed time to the fox was 1 minute, 27
seconds; the Beasley team 1 minute, 28 seconds. The Joe Lupton/Bruce
Perkins team was third. Every team had a story to tell!
The day started foggy and rainy but it turned out to be a beautiful day
for the hunt and for the social that followed. Thanks go to Bill Olah
for finding a neat den for the fox… to Bill Schrader for coming up
with great award certificates… and to Mike Marsh for putting together
a super lunch with most delicious hamburgers and those hot (non-hunting)
dogs.
WHERE IS SHE NOW? DAY 32 (or so)
On her second lap around the Earth, last Sunday the Eastern Express had
entered the Pacific heading northeast. Two days ago, on the 19th, she
was near Whitehorse in the Yukon very slowly floating south-southwest
possibly beginning a big loop on an otherwise easterly trajectory. She
has not been spotted since. Unless there was some sort of failure, there
are reasons she has not been reported. Perhaps just not enough sun into
those little panels to make enough juice to burp out a signal. Let’s
hope that she will say she’s still up there, perhaps today.
As noted last week, Paul, K4MMB, started an “Eastern Express” page on
our N4PRS.ORG web site. Go there for reports, some neat photos and more
about her fascinating adventure.
You can follow her journey on the web at www.wspr.rocks or
https://aprs.fi/info/?call=NC4ES-6. Congrats go to Matt WU2V, Chris
Cieszko, Lor W3QA, and Bruce K4ONC–The NC4ES Eastern Express Team.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reports that solar activity was moderate during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. The Space Weather Prediction Center
expects solar activity to be moderate today through Wednesday with a 20%
chance for X-class flares. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are
expected. There are 17 numbered sunspot regions on the Sun facing Earth
this morning. There were 10 last Monday, 6 the Monday before.
Sunday’s noon Solar Flux Index (SFI) observation at Penticton was 217,
last Sunday’s was 178. The index is predicted to measure 215 today, 215
Tuesday and 200 on Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average was 161
yesterday. It was 159 last Sunday.
The geomagnetic field was unsettled to active yesterday. The SWPC
expects the field to be quiet to unsettled today, quiet to active
Tuesday and quiet to unsettled on Wednesday. The planetary K-index at 8
a.m. this morning was 2.00 indicating quiet conditions.
For today, propagation is expected to be much the same: poor day, fair
to good at night on 80 to 20; good on 17 and 15, and good day, poor
night on 12 and 10M. 6M is still quiet.
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 TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK–
Extracted from ARLD016 DX news:
–BHUTAN, A5. Janusz, SP9FIH and Leszek, SP6CIK will be QRV as A52P
and A52CI, respectively, from April 19 to May 4. Activity will be
on 40 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, and various digital modes. QSL via
Club Log.
–MARIANA ISLANDS, KH0. Look for operators JA6REX, JH6HZH and JA6VQA
to be QRV as KH0/JA6REX, KH0/W6HZH, and WH0B, respectively, from
Saipan, IOTA OC-086, from April 25 to 30. Activity will be on 160
to 6 meters using FT8, FT4, with some CW and SSB. QSL via LoTW.
–CHAD, TT. A group of operators are QRV as TT8RR, TT8XX, and TT8TT
until April 30. Activity is on 80 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY,
and FT8 with four stations. This includes being active on Satellite
QO-100. QSL direct to I2YSB.
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. Thanks, Jim.
–FOR SALE:
- Kenwood TM-V71A Dual Band 2meters 440 $350
- Kenwood TM-281A $70
- TH 9000 Pi-Ps TYT Mobile with TYT Mike $70
Selling for a friend. All in good shape. Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI,
919-210-5168. (20240401)
–FOR SALE: MFJ-259B antenna analyzer covering 1.8 – 170 MHz. The unit
includes the MFJ-66 dip meter adapter coils for determining the resonant
frequency of LC circuits. It also includes ten rechargeable NiMH AA
Energizer cells, and an AC adapter for using the analyzer and charging
the batteries, as well as complete operating manuals. I am selling
because I need an instrument that covers up to 500 MHz. The price to
PARSGram readers is $125. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-671-6703, or
drmichne73@gmail.com. (20240219)
–FOR SALE:
- Yaesu FT2DR handheld, digital/analog C4FM includes radio, antenna,
box and data cable $300 obo
- Kenwood TS-820S, operational with strong tubes gives 100+ watts out!
Includes radio, kenwood box, power cord, hand mic and spare donor parts
rig $475 obo
- I’m looking for a backup/ secondary hf + 6m solid state rig so I will
be open to trades or working out a deal if your interested in any of my
listed items!
Contact Cody, KN4RFG, at 252-229-4542 or codyakamudduck2005@gmail.com
(20240122)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Apr 27, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC,
252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* May 4, 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
REPEATER/NODE STATUS
(See www.n4prs.org/frequencies/ for set-up)
N4ONC VHF FM Oriental — Operational
N4ONC (old KR4LO) UHF FM Oriental — Operational
NC4ES VHF FM/DMR Arapahoe — Operational/test. PL: Dec 100Hz/Enc 88.5Hz
NC4ES UHF DMR Florence — Operational.
WM3X-ONC VHF C4FM/WIRES-X NODE Oriental (145.530 simplex)– Operational
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, “Pamlico 10 Meter Net, 7:30 pm local, on or near 28.464 MHz,
USB. A non-directed net for technicians and above. Radio
topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Wednesdays,”Pamlico Communications Net”, 7:30 pm local, N4ONC
(Oriental) VHF Repeater, 147.210+ (CTSCC Tone Squelch 88.5). A directed
net open to all. Net activates on call during emergencies.
* 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 Editor
——–
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