NO PARSGRAM NEXT MONDAY
The next regular PARSgram should be in your in-box on February 8.
PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 this Saturday, January 30, at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental. Please park on the side or
out back. Our meetings are held the last Saturday of each month except June
when the club participates in the annual ARRL Field Day or when in conflict
with a major holiday. We hope to see you all there. For more information
contact Pamlico Amateur Radio Society President Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287
or w_olah@yahoo.com.
Lots of things to talk about at this meeting in addition to the monthly
reports: the next Fox Hunt, changing the annual voting meeting month (or
not), and PARS participation in the NC QSO Party (see below). Also on the
agenda is a review of possible topics for presentations and roundtable
discussions Bill will likely start with Sam/Dave’s list–
“1, Everyone’s most cherished QSL cards (bring them to the meeting) and
maybe a story to go with it.
2, Talks on RTTY,JT65, PSK31 etc from club members who are into different
modes.
3, Talk on logging programs and why member chose the program they did.
4, Talk about the HF rig that members chose and what they like about it.
5, After the business meeting a field trip to different hams shack to have a
show and tell.”
If you have more ideas bring ’em along.
N4PRS AT THE NORTH CAROLINA QSO PARTY?
The North Carolina QSO Party, sponsored by the Raleigh Amateur Radio
Society, will be held on Sunday,February 28, 2016, from 1000 EST to 2000
EST. Bill, WM3X, and others would like to see more PARS member participation
in this event, especially participation by our newer hams. Thoughts include
operating several home stations in the event. Station owners would host
newer operators and those without HF stations or those that just want to get
together. The N4PRS club call would be assigned to one of the stations or
perhaps shared on a rotating basis using time slots or even by band.
Pamlico has been a much sought after County in the past so contacts should
be easy. For more information about the NC QSO Party see
http://www.rars.org/ncqsoparty/ Let Bill know what you think at
billmichne@embarqmail.com or just reply to this PARSgram. Let’s talk about
this at our January meeting.
ARRL JANUARY VHF CONTEST THIS WEEKEND
Operators will be out in force for the ARRL January VHF Contest during
the weekend of Jan 30 (1900Z) — Feb 1 (0359Z). This contest gives
hams of all license classes a chance to do some contesting during the winter
months on the Ham bands 50 MHz AND UP. Although most activity occurs on
these bands during June and July, there are lots of QSOs made on 6 Meters
via sporadic-E in colder months too. Plenty of other chances for enhancement
exist as well. Almost all the newer HF transceivers cover the 6 Meter band
so make up a 9 1/2 foot long dipole and give that band a try. (You might
also find that your 40M antenna will tune there as well). On six meters
start by listening on the USB calling frequency of 50.125 MHz USB and then
move up. (The frequencies of 50.100-50.124 MHz are for DX contacts so don’t
work stateside contacts there.) The exchange is simply your grid square. You
can find that by looking yourself up on QRZ.com and clicking on “details”.
Exchange of signal reports is optional. For the contest rules go to
http://www.arrl.org/january-vhf. BTW, even if you don’t want to
participate in the contest, this is a good time to look for activity on the
VHF & UHF bands beyond what you find on the repeaters. Consider using the FM
simplex frequencies if your radio won’t do SSB.
PARS LOANER HAND HELD VHF RADIO
REMINDER…The Club has a fully operational ICOM handheld, along with the
manual, that is available for members to borrow….Tom Hill, W4OLR, was the
last to take advantage of the HT. Contact Tom Corwin, KI4NSP, 249-2590, to
make arrangements to pick up the radio.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hours ending
yesterday at 4 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a C1 flare
observed at 0907Z this morning. There are 2 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 47, just down from the
48 reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 104 yesterday
at noon, nearly the same as the 101 in our last report. According to the
Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity is expected to continue to
be very low for the next three days with only a chance for C-class
flares.. The NOAA forecast has the SFI rising slightly to 108 on Wednesday.
The 90 day trailing average is 109
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled yesterday. Expect
quiet to unsettled conditions today. The field is forecast to vary between
quiet and active for the next three days due to solar winds. The Kp-index
was reported to be a quiet 1 at 8 a.m.local this morning.
Expect good conditions on 30 and 20 Meters and 40 at night, fair to poor
on the higher bands. Continue to watch for E-layer propagation on 6 Meters.
There was some Es from the Northeast into Louisiana this morning.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
ETHIOPIA, ET. A group of operators are QRV as ET7L from the INSA
Radio Club in Mekanisa, Addis Ababa. Activity is in their spare
time. QSL via US0LW.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Looking for more reports from those who worked K5P Palmyra Isl and VP8STI
Southern Thule Island. Both Dick K4JJW and Glen N4LV put them in their logs.
Anyone else?
The team will close out SP8STI tonight and then be enroute to their next
stop, South Georgia Island. VP8SGI will be QRV February 1-9th.
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the ARRL Letter, from the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar, the ARRL Contest Update or the ARRL Contest Corral. You can
receive the Letter weekly via email as a member of ARRL :
* 29/2200-31/2200Z Jan CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
* 30/1700-31/1700Z Jan Winter Field Day, CW Ph Dig
see www.winterfieldday.com
* 30/1900 Jan-01/0359Z Feb ARRL January VHF Contest
CW Ph Dig see www.arrl.org/january-vhf
* 31/1400 Jan-03/0800Z Feb Classic Exchange, CW
* 06/0000-07/2359Z Feb Vermont QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
* 06/0001-07/2359Z Feb 10-10 International Winter Contest, SSB
* 06/1400-06/2359Z Feb FYBO Winter QRP Sprint, CW Ph Dig
see www.azscqrpions.com
* 06/1400-06/2359Z Feb Minnesota QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
* 06/1600-07/0400Z Feb British Columbia QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
* 07/0000-07/0400Z Feb North American Sprint, CW
See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/>, the
ARRL Contest Update http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-Update/ and the
WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>
for more info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the
ARRL Special Event Station Web page<http://www.arrl.org/special-events>. For
a LIST OF STATE QSO PARTIES, see
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/stateparties.html. (State QSO parties
and the W1AW Centennial Stations are a great way to get those last states on
your Worked All States (WAS) Award list.)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE — Yaesu FT-450 Transceiver, MD 100 desk mike and a Pyramid
35 amp power supply. All for $550 and the FT-450 alone for $450. All you
will need is an antenna to be on the air. Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI,
charlie@dockline.net or 252-249-1257. (20160118).
(Send me your amateur radio related items for sale, trade, or wanted for
listing in the PARSgram. PLEASE let me know if your listing is no longer
needed. ITEMS listed will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear
otherwise.–Jim).
UPCOMING REGIONAL HAMFESTS:
A complete list can be found on your PARS Website, www.n4prs.org
According to Janice, KJ4JPE, the 2016 KINSTON HAMFEST is scheduled for
Saturday, April 23rd. More details to come.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jan 30, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Feb 27, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
PARS NETS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Swamp Talk” roundtable, around 8:15 pm local,
28.463 MHz plus or minus, USB. This is an informal forum originally
established to assist our new Hams. The frequency is in the 10M voice
segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related
topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Wednesdays, Pamlico Emergency Net Practice and Rag Chew, 7:30 pm,
Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4).
PARS WEB SITE:
https://www.n4prs.org/
* Chief Editor and Administrator is Greg Wadsworth KM4DZM, 252-322-1033 or
gwadsworth1@ yahoo.com
* Web Master is Larry Wall, KK4SEO, wallmailbox@yahoo.com.
PARSgram ITEMS
We are always looking for items of interest to PARS members to put in
the PARSgram. If you run across a timely item or think of something you
believe would interest our folks, please send it to me. Thanks.
Jim AI4WL