PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be in the back room of Brantleys Village
Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental at 0900 Saturday, January 25th.
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
Always lots to talk about plus a chance for a Brantleys Gift Certificate.
FOR THE 22 Jan 2025 WEDNESDAY NIGHT NET (PCN):
Let’s try something different for the January 22nd net check-in. Select
the Severe Weather Report form. Go to the templates manager, then
scroll down to Mapping-GIS forms. Select the Severe WX Report and
submit using data from the last severe wx event you experienced. It
could be hurricane Florence or a freak ice storm that occurred January
23. The idea is to be creative and gain the experience of using a new
form. Questions? Contact Wayne, K04OJC, at hwaynebeasley@gmail.com.
Wayne reported that there were 16 net check-ins and 9 Winlink check-ins
for last Wednesday’s (Jan 16) Pamlico Communications Net.
OUR NEWEST UPGRADES
Our congratulations go to our newest “Generals”! At the VE Session on
Saturday at Station 19, our newest “tech” Ray Lewis, KR4ABZ, and Brian
and Jeannie Tourville, KQ4UVY and KQ4UTN respectively, proudly walked
out the door with their CCSE’s proving they passed their exam. They can
now add “/AG” to their call and operate with their new privileges. They
studied hard. Congrats also go to their instructor, Bill Michne, WM3X.
Good job all.
MORE PARS HISTORY
Recently, our PARS WEBMAN Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, posted compilations of
Pamlico Amateur Radio Society (PARS) meeting notes for the years 2021
through 2024 on our PARS web site (https://www.n4prs.org/club-minutes/).
As I noted last week, these notes comprise a record of those meetings
and–through reports and discussion–a history of club activities. Last
week he added the notes for the years 2014-2020. Finding these notes in
old PARSgrams has been a challenge. Bill Cresswell, K2ONN, has spent
hours going through his email archive. Our first “PARSgrams” were sent
to members in 2007, the meeting notes were included starting in late
2013. Those notes taken in 2013 will be posted soon.
REPEATER UPDATE
–ARAPAHOE. Last Friday, Lor and Bruce, connected the Arapahoe DMR
repeater to the NC4ES network via ATT cellular internet service. A
temporary cell antenna was used. ATT cellular is being evaluated as the
possible long-term internet solution. Lor and Bruce would appreciate
user reports on range, dropouts, quality.
The NC4ES Network is a North Carolina Wide-Area DMR Radio system
supporting the Eastern Healthcare Preparedness Coalition. Except when
needed in an emergency, the network is available to all amateur radio
operators. For more information on the network, its repeaters,
talk-groups, bridges to other networks and more, go to
https://www.nc4es.org/.
To provide for the network internet connection, the repeater’s underused
FM mode was disconnected. Since Arapahoe is the backup for the Kershaw
repeater, connectivity to the network can be dropped and local FM analog
service quickly restored.
–AURORA (Nutrien Radio Tower). John, KE4TZN, has been working to
activate two repeaters, one a UHF Repeater on the PRN network and the
other, a VHF repeater with both FM analog and C4FM/Fusion capability.
While issues with the DMR repeater are being resolved and with
completion of the VHF antenna pending, the Yaesu repeater with local
FM/C4FM capability is operating using the UHF antenna. (440.55000+5.0
MHz, CTCSS 131.8Hz) Use of the temporary setup is welcomed, reports to
John at ke4tzn@gmail.com desired.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reports that solar activity was moderate during the 24 hour period
ending yesterday at 4 p.m. local. The Space Weather Prediction Center
expects solar activity to be moderate today through Wednesday. There’s a
slight chance (20%) for X-class flares, a greater chance (60%) for
M-class flares.
There are 8 numbered sunspot regions on the Sun facing Earth this
morning. There were 7 last Monday, 12 the Monday before.
Sunday’s noon Solar Flux Index (SFI) observation at Penticton was 234,
last Sunday’s was 155. The index is predicted to measure 235 today, 235
Tuesday and 235 on Wednesday. The much more important SFI 90 day
trailing average was back up to 200 yesterday. It was 198 last Sunday.
The geomagnetic field was quiet to active yesterday. The SWPC expects
the field to be quiet to active today, quiet to unsettled Tuesday, and
then quiet on Wednesday. The planetary K-index at 7 a.m. this morning
was 3.0 indicating quiet conditions.
Expect conditions to continue to be about the same: poor conditions
during the day on 80 to 40, fair to good at night; good day and night on
30 to 15; and good day, poor at night on 12 and 10M. You may have
noticed that 10 and 12 have been closing noticeably earlier in the
evening. Go to https://www.n4prs.org/looking-up/ for the latest
observations.
DX THIS WEEK–
Extracted from ARRL’s ARLD003 DX news and DXWorld.net:
–ANTARCTICA. Felix, DL5XL is be QRV as DP1POL from the German research
station Neumayer III, IOTA AN-016, until February 25. Activity will be
in his spare time on the HF bands using mostly CW with some SSB and
various digital modes.
–MARQUESAS ISLANDS, FO. A group of operators are QRV as TX7N on the HF
bands, and TX7MAS on 70 centimeter Satellites and 23 centimeter EME.
–MINAMI TORISHIMA, JD1. Take, JG8NQJ is QRV as JG8NQJ/JD1 until March
1. Activity is in his spare time. Of late, he has been active on 15
meters using CW around 2300z.
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 if your listing is no longer needed. Listings
will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise. Thanks, Jim.
–FOR SALE: Kenwood TS-50 hf transceiver 80 thru 10, 100 watt with
external kenwood tuner $400. Also a 6Meter 3 element beam $50. Contact
Bob, WA2FIS, at 732-533-8387. (20250113)
PARS CALENDAR:
* JAN 25, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bruce Perkins, K4ONC,
252-626-2730 or K4ONC@aol.com
* FEB 1, PAMLICO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM (PCT) MEETING, Saturday, 9-10:30am,
Oriental VFD Station 19 on Straight Rd vic. NC-55. Bring your laptop for
Winlink basics. 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 DMR Arapahoe (NC4ES Network) (147.285MHz+ CC1) — Operational
NC4ES VHF FM Arapahoe (147.285MHz+CTCSS ENC 88.5Hz/DEC 100Hz)–Inactive
NC4ES UHF DMR (NC4ES Network) 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 WEBSITE: https://www.n4prs.org/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, PARSwebman@gmail.com
73, Jim AI4WL Editor
——–
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