PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
What a beautiful almost spring weekend we had. I hope some of you were
able to get out and do some antenna maintenance if needed. For my part
I had a great ham radio weekend. On Saturday my General class students
stopped by the shack for what turned out to be an almost four hour fun
fest. We did hands on work learning the answers to many questions new
Generals would like to know more about. Things like how to tell if a
piece of used coax is usable or not, and how do I measure the bandwidth
of my new antenna. They also learned about computerized logging,
QSLing, LotW, and various awards. And to top it all off, we spent a few
minutes getting familiar with the Koch/Farnsworth approach to learning
Morse code. In about five minutes they were all able to accurately copy
two letters at 13 words per minute, with the characters being sent at 30
words per minute. _…_ Continuing with my great ham radio weekend, on
Sunday I began assembly on the ground of a slightly modified Mosley
TA-33 jr three element tribander. The modification was the insertion of
a 1:1 balun in the center of the insulated driven element. Not a
particularly difficult engineering challenge, although it did require
the fabrication of a few parts. With the antenna just three feet off the
ground I was able to establish that it was behaving as expected on the
three bands. Next comes the real fun part, getting it up in the air!
…_._ de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported solar activity was low during the 24 hour period ending
yesterday at 5 p.m. local. There are two numbered sunspot regions on the
Sun facing Earth this morning. Solar activity is expected be very low
through Wednesday with a slight chance for C-class flares. On Sunday the
observed Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was 78. The index is
predicted to register 78 today, Tuesday and Wednesday. The SFI 90 day
trailing average is 77.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field reached minor storm levels yesterday. NOAA
expects conditions to be quiet to unsettled today, then quiet Tuesday
and Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 2 reported at 5 a.m. local this
morning reflects our current quiet geomagnetic conditions.
For the next several days, we can expect fair daytime and good nighttime
operating conditions on 80 and 40 meters, fair on 30 and 20, poor on the
higher bands.
Spaceweather.com reminded us that Saturday was the anniversary of the
1989 Great Quebec Blackout, a power outage caused by the strongest
geomagnetic storm since 1903. The two successive coronal mass ejections
took out or crippled northern power grids for 9 hours. If you don’t
remember (or were too young to notice) that March 13th blackout and the
auroras that were seen as far south as Florida, take a glance at Dr.
Tony Phillips’ short article at
and then his referenced much more technical article by Dr. David Boteler.
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.
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
For listing in the PARSgram send me your amateur radio related items
that you have 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**
Tarheel 75A HF mobile antenna combo. Includes Tarheel 6′ Stainless Steel
Whip, Whip Quick Twist Disconnect, Plus these unused original parts:
Control Cable, Manual Switch, Fuseholder & Fuse, Original box and
Manual. $350. Contact Gary Mitchelson, NC3Z/4, nc3z.gary@gmail.com or
252-745-0655. (20210208)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Mar 27, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Virtual Meeting via
“Zoom”. We look for a return visit by Bob Heil, K9EID, of Heil Audio.
For more info, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or
drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Apr 24, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Virtual Meeting via
“Zoom”. Marv Hoffman, WA4NC, NC Section Manager will be making a
presentation followed by a Q&A session. For more info, contact Bill
Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* 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/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.com
73, Jim AI4WL
——
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