PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) FEBRUARY 2014 MEETING NOTES
* 21 members and guests attended the February meeting at Brantley’s
Restaurant in Oriental last Saturday.
* President Bill Olah KR4LO gave the financial report on behalf of Wally
KK4ASP, Club Treasurer.
* Mike KK4HPS, our ARES EC, reported the Pamlico Emergency Net check-in
numbers. He noted that we now have a new NC Section Manager with the
“retirement” of Bill Morine. He urged ARES members to sign up for the
monthly ARES E-Letter. The latest Feb 19th issue was especially
informative.
* Jim, AI4WL, reported that VHF activity has been low. Pete AG7C noted
that tropo propagation actually has been good–Donnie, KJ4RB in Pink Hill,
was strong on the 6 meter net last Thursday. It’s just that there are not
many folks “making noise”. Jim summarized the current Solar conditions.
* Tom Corwin, KI4NSP reminded everyone about the North Carolina QSO Party.
Pamlico County contacts are in demand, especially for those who are county
hunters or trying to work all NC counties during the event.
* According to Larry Wall KK4SEO our club WebMaster, he has now posted
photos from the 2011 PARS Field Day weekend. He has set up a mechanism to
make captions/comments for the pictures. He welcomes help from those who
were there to make the pictures more meaningful as part of the club history.
There are now “For Sale” and “Wanted” sections back on the site.
* Bill reported that the club had been contacted by the organizers of the
big Cycle North Carolina event to be held in Oriental in early April. Mike
Hurm and Mike Marsh will co-chair our support with an assist from Bill
Cresswell, K2ONN.
* Mike Marsh is taking the lead on the 2014 Field Day activity, the 4th
weekend in June. Plans are to keep it at the Neuse Ave. site with no major
changes from past few years.
* There will be no “Lucky Charms” event this year.
* Bill asked those interested to stay for the roundtable discussion on
DX’ing, QSL’ing and logging. He seeks topics for presentation or
roundtables at future meetings. A discussion on FM repeaters and how to
stimulate repeater use was suggested.
* After a short break, assisted by Dave Purifoy, N4ENE, Dick Goodwin,
K4JJW, led a very informative roundtable on logging, loggers, DX’ng, and
QSL’ng. From the questions asked and participation, there remains
significant member interest in DX’ng, not only working the rare ones, but
also making contacts with fellow hams around the world.
THE DX CODE OF CONDUCT
The good, the bad, and the ugly operators all came up during our recent
roundtable on DX’ng at the February Meeting. As promised, here again is the
DX Code of Conduct.
I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling. [This is
the only way to hear if the DX station is working split and where he is
listening for us.]
I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly.
I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station’s call
sign before calling. [It’s amazing how many yahoos connect with the DX
station and then ask for its call sign!]
I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling and will never
tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot.
I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call. [This problem
seems to be getting worse. Calling before the stations clear just adds to
the confusion.]
I will always send my full call sign. [Many DX stations no longer answer to
only a suffix.]
I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call
continuously. [Another worsening problem.]
I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine.
I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine.
I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than
mine. [It seems this relates to the problem of not listening.]
When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think
he has copied it incorrectly.
I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact.
I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their
respect.
[For more on the Code, go to www.dx-code.org. There is also guidance for
DXpeditions and DXstations that offers clues on how best to get through
to them.]
THE (DX) QSL BUREAU SYSTEM:
The ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau provides a means for our ARRL members to send
QSL cards to non-US stations for little cost. For information on how the
international QSL bureaus work–specifically the ARRL Outgoing Bureau–go to
www.arrl.org/outgoing-qsl-service. Look at the web page for the “do’s and
don’ts” for filling out those cards. For INCOMING QSLs, the ARRL DX QSL
Bureau System is made up of numerous call-area bureaus that act as central
clearing houses for QSL cards arriving from foreign countries. Volunteers
staff these “incoming” bureaus. Not all PARS members will use the same
incoming QSL call-area bureau. For more information see
www.arrl.org/incoming-qsl-service.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was at moderate levels during the 24
hours ending Sunday night at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event was
a M1 event observed at 24/1205Z this morning. There are currently 6 numbered
sunspot regions on the disk. The Sunspot count this morning is 185
significantly higher than the 137 we saw last Monday morning. The Solar Flux
is at 172, also up from the 154 NOAA reported last Monday. Very active
sunsupot group AR 1967 is about to return from the far side of the sun–for
the third time. It has probably decayed some but may still have some zip.
That said, solar activity is expected to be low with 50/50 chance for
M-class flares through Wednesday. The Solar Flux is expected remain around
175 through Wednesday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to active
levels over the weekend. The estimated planetary K-index at 7 am local today
was 2. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels
today and Tuesday and low on Wednesday.
DX CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK
TONGA, A3. Klaus, DK1AX and Heidi, DK1MA will be QRV as A35AX from
Tongatapu Island, IOTA OC-049, and from Vava’u Island, IOTA OC-064,
from February 24 to March 7. Activity is holiday style on the HF
bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via operator’s instructions.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
All quiet on the Right Coast. Hope you all had fun at the North Carolina
QSO Party yesterday….
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the ARRL Letter, from the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar or the ARRL Contest Corral. You can receive the Letter weekly via
email as a member of ARRL :
* Mar 1-2 –ARRL International DX Contest, SSB
* Mar 1 — Open Ukraine RTTY Championship
* Mar 2 — OK1WC Memorial Contest
All dates & times, unless otherwise stated, are UTC.
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
are a great way to get those last states on your Worked All States (WAS)
Award list.)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS. W1AW Centennial Stations W1AW/8 in Michigan
and W1AW/4 in Florida are QRV until 2359z on 25 February. In
addition, W1AW Centennial Stations W1AW/7 in Washington and W1AW/0
in Kansas will be QRV starting at 0000z on February 26. They will
be active until 2359z on March 4.
SPECIAL EVENT STATION. W1AW Centennial Station W1AW/KG4 in
Guantanamo Bay will be QRV starting at 0000z on February 26 and
active until 2359z on March 4. QSL to ARRL Headquarters.
(Courtesy of the ARRL DX Bulletin)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE “I have an FT-857 separation kit, with all cables and
instructions, brand new in the box. I don’t need this, mostly because I
don’t have an 857. Any offers by email would be considered…” Jamie
kj4jk@arrl.net (20140210)
——————–
* FOR SALE Cushcraft R 7 antenna, $125 Please
contact Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI, at 249-1257 or
charlie@dockline.net. (20131230)
——————–
(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).
PARS CALENDAR:
* Mar 22, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com
* Apr 4,5,6, 2014 Cycle NC Coastal Ride, Oriental and Pamlico County (PARS
Community Service)
* May 3, DownEast Hamfest, Saturday, 8 am-3 pm, Lenoir Community College,
Kinston, NC. Gene Rybolt 252-523-0988, Janice Hopkins, KJ4JPE
hopkinszoo1@msn.com.
PARS NETS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Swamp Talk” roundtable, around 8:15 pm local, 28.463
MHz plus or minus, USB. An informal forum originally established to assist
our new Hams, this freq. is in the 10M voice segment open to technician
licensees and above. Radio 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/
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 think
would interest our folks, please send it to me. Thanks
73, Jim AI4WL