PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
Congratulations to Patrick Pawlik of San Mateo, CA. Pat is in the military, stationed in Fayetteville. He made the trip Saturday morning to Oriental to take the Technician exam, and passed! When he left he was pretty enthusiastic about working toward his General. _…_ PARS welcomes our newest member, Cody Vanhook, KN4RFG, of Bayboro. Cody took his Tech exam back in December, and passed. He had been looking at the General material as well, so he took a shot at it at the same test session, and passed that, too! He is interested in working the HF bands, and is well on his way with radios and antennas. Congratulations, Cody! _…_ Our next VE session will be Saturday, September 7. That’s plenty of time to prepare for that upgrade you’ve been putting off for years. While PARS does not have any formal courses scheduled at this time, a series of informal exam practice groups is not out of the question. I’m thinking of a couple of hours one night a week for several weeks before the exam. Interested? Let me know. …_._ de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending yesterday at 5 pm local. There is one new sunspot region on the sun facing earth this morning. From all indicators it is from the the next solar cycle, Cycle 25. Since Dec 20, 2016 we have seen short lived “precursor sunspots” belonging to Cycle 25, five of them before this one. None of them were assigned a number designation, this one was (AR2744). It looks like the transition, albeit very slow, is beginning. For the near term, activity will continue to be very low according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. On Sunday, the reported Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was 67. The index is predicted to be 67 for today through Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average is down to 70.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. It is expected to be quiet today and then quiet to active on Tuesday and Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 1 at 5 a.m. local this morning indicates quiet conditions.
We can expect good daytime and good nighttime operating conditions on 80 and 40 meters for the next few days. Poor conditions will continue on the higher bands. Six Meters is still a challenge but there was much joy here in the DownEast this week. We had a nice opening into Europe on Monday afternoon (Jul 1). According to some, it was the best opening for us in years. Your editor worked England, Ireland, N. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, all in less than two hours on FT8 with 40 watts using an OCF dipole. Dick, K4JJW, had even greater success. Openings into our Midwest occurred for the several days following. Then Sunday, zippo! The Magic Band is unpredictable, a teaser, seductive!
For an explanation of numbers used in our PARSgram, see the excellent article written by Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA at http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
From Gary, NC3Z on the 13 Colonies Special Event: “Clean sweep, all states plus all 3 bonus stations.” So, who else? K4ONC?–ed
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
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. Listings will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise.–Jim.
** NEW FOR SALE**
– New ultra low loss coax. SOLD
**For Sale**
– Ameritron ALS-606 600W Solid State Linear Amplifier with Power Supply. New, 2 months ago, I have 2 of them and only need one! Priced at $1,600. It can be seen and tried at my QTH in Comfort (Jones County), NC. Will deliver as far as New Bern. For more info contact Terry Brown, KE4ULF at terbrw@yahoo.com (20190520)
**For Sale**
– Kenwood TS-870SAT Transceiver. Works and looks as new. Has hand mic and power cable, no box. $650.
– Ameritron ATR-20 Antenna Tuner. Has new roller inductor, works perfectly. Condx is 9 out of 10! Asking $175.
Contact Don Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com or 252-568-4011 (If no answer please leave message). (20190520)
**For Sale**
– CUSHCRAFT 17B2 2 METER SSB ANTENNA
Original cushcraft, not MFJ version, in the box sealed for $150.00 they list for mid $300’s now. It is 31 ft long when assembled. Contact Don Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com. (20190409)
UPCOMING NC HAMFESTS –
(Courtesy of Karl Bowman, W4CHX, North Section Manager, in a Jul 3, 2019 email to ARRL NC Section members)
–July 20: Mid-Summer SWAPFEST, sponsored by Cary Amateur Radio Club, Ritter Park, 301 West Lochmere Drive, Cary, NC 27511, http://www.qsl.net/n4nc (source: ARRL website)
–July 27: WCARS Hamfest 2019, sponsored by Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society, Haywood County Fairgrounds, 758 Crabtree Road, Waynesville, NC 28785, http://www.wcars.org/wcarshamfest.htm (source:ARRL website)
–August 10: 21st Annual Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society Swapfest, sponsored by Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, Cumberland County Shrine Club, 7040 Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC 28301, http://cfarsnc.org (source: ARRL website)
–August 30 – September 1: 63rd Annual Shelby Hamfest, sponsored by Shelby Amateur Radio Club, Cleveland County Fairgrounds, 1751 East Marion Street, Shelby, NC 28150, http://shelbyhamfest.org (sources: ARRL and Shelby Hamfest websites)
–October 12: W4NC Fall-Fest, sponsored by Forsyth Amateur Radio Club, Robinhood Road Baptist Church, 5422 Robin Hood Road, Winston-Salem, NC, http://W4NC.com (source: ARRL website)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jul 27, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Aug 1, Emergency Communications Training for ARES, Thursday, 7-9 pm, Brinson Building Room 412, Pamlico Comunity College, Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or mike@marshconsulting.org
* Aug 31, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Pamlico Swamp Roundtable” (“Swamp Net” for some), around 8 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 10 Meter Band voice segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Tuesdays, Newport Weather Service SKYWARN Practice Net, 9:00 pm local, Oriental (147.210+ (PL151.4)) and all other local repeaters. Open net for severe weather warning and reporting continously monitored upon activation.
* Wednesdays, Pamlico Emergency Net Practice and Rag Chew/ARES, 7:30 pm, Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4).
* 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/
Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.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.
73, Jim AI4WL
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This email is sent to members and friends of the Pamlico Amateur Radio Society. We are pleased that you asked to receive our weekly newsletter and hope that you enjoy reading it. If you no longer wish to receive the PARSgram please let us know by reply email or by email to jth350@embarqmail.com. Thanks.