PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) OCT 2014 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-eight PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting
chaired by President Bill Olah, KR4LO at Brantley’s in Oriental.
* “Wally” Wallace KK4ASP presented the treasurers report.
* The local Jamboree-on-the Air effort up at the Phosphate Plant Recreation
Area in Aurora went well last weekend according to Bill Olah. He noted that
mostly younger kids participated this year. Thanks go to Mike Marsh K4NLC,
Brian Shepard, K4LTE and Randy Davis K4WRD who, along with Bill, set up the
station and worked with the scouts. Joy MCCracken, wife of PARS member Greg
KM4DZM, put together a collage of photos taken at JOTA. Extremely well
done, you can see it at https://animoto.com/play/sBIlsaPFxDDGyCXK04jM6g
* The VHF bands are quiet. We are waiting for Winter weak-signal
activity to begin according to Jim, AI4WL In contrast, he reported lots of
DX activity on the HF bands during the past 10 days. He cited several
possible reasons: HF propagation has been good with significant solar
activity including X-class flares bringing the SFU above 200, a number of
DXpeditions are active, and many DX stations are on the air preparing for
the CQ WW SSB DX Contest now underway.
* A final call for additional candidates for PARS officer positions was
made by the President. There being none and as only the current officers
stood for election, they were re-elected for the 2015 year by acclamation.
The slate: Bill Olah, President; Randy Davis, Vice President; and Gail
“Wally” Wallace KK4ASP, Treasurer.
* Bill Olah announced that auctions will be held after the November and
January meetings for items donated by Roland Johnson, W4KTG. Roland, a
retired audio engineer, has lost his storage space and must part with lots
of electronics items, mostly test equipment, wire and cable.
* Bill is still inviting ideas for short presentations at our coming PARS
meetings.
* On Bill Michne’s behalf, Tom KI4NSP read the announcement of the General
Class course you can find below.
GENERAL CLASS LICENSE UPGRADE COURSE
PARS will sponsor a General Class upgrade course beginning on January 5,
2015. The course will run for eight Monday evenings at the Sea Harbour
Yacht Club on Harbour Way in Oriental. The ninth session on March 2, 2015
will be an exam session, at which testing at all three levels, Technician,
General, and Extra will be available. There is no fee for the course, but a
text book is required, and there is a fee for the exam. For more
information, and TO REGISTER FOR THE COURSE AND/OR THE EXAM, contact Bill
Michne, WM3X, at 252-249-1175 or by email at billmichne@embarqmail.com.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was high during the 24 hours ending
Sunday night at 5 pm local. The largest solar event of the period was a X2
event observed at 26/1056Z from sunspot region AR 2192. It is the biggest
Sunspot (region) in 25 years according to SpaceWeather.com. Reportedly,
“it is crackling with magnetic activity. In the past three days alone it
has unleashed 3 X-class flares and 8 M-flares. The most intense of these
flares have caused HF radio blackouts and other communication disturbances
on the dayside of Earth.”
There are currently 6 numbered sunspot regions on the disk. The sunspot
count this morning is 138 well up from the 86, reported by NOAA last Monday.
And, even better, the Solar Flux Index is 217 well up from the 173 in last
week’s PARSgram. Unfortunately, the Solar Flux above 200 for days, is
expected to slip a few points to 210 on Wednesday. According to the Space
Weather Prediction Center, solar activity should be high through Wednesday
with a 55% chance for X-class flares each day and a 85% chance for M-class
flares. Radio blackouts on the sunlit side of the Earth reaching the R3
level (about an hour) are likely during the next 24 hours according to NOAA.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field activity was quiet to unsettled during
the 24 hour period ending yesterday afternoon. The geomagnetic field is
expected to be quiet to active today and quiet to unsettled on Tuesday and
Wednesday. The K-index was reported by NOAA to be a 3 at 0800 local this
morning. Usually, strong flares are accompanied by massive Coronal Mass
Ejections, “billion-ton clouds of electrified gas that billow away from the
blast site.” So far, however, none of the eruptions from AR2192 has produced
a major CME. Without a series of CMEs to hit Earth and disrupt the Earth’s
magnetic field, there have been no geomagnetic storms and therefore the
HF bands have been fairly quiet. Lots of ionization and low noise make for
very good long distance HF radio conditions. The 10 and 12 Meter bands
have been the place to be for some great DX.
DX CHALLENGES FOR THE WEEKS AHEAD–A TWO-FER STILL THERE
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, VK9X. A group of operators will be QRV as VK9XSP
from October 18 to 31. Activity will be with two or three stations
active simultaneously on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.
QSL via SP6EQZ.
TIMOR-LESTE, 4W. Jon, K7CO and a group of operators will be QRV as
4W/K7CO from October 19 to 31. Activity will be on 80 to 10 meters
using CW and SSB. QSL via operators’ instructions.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Back to normal–zippo! No reports.
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 :
* Oct 31, 0000Z — Nov 2, 2359Z — Haunted Lighthouse QSO Party
* November 1 — IPA Contest (India Pale Ale? Nels has a good one called
“Freedom”)
* November 1-2 — Ukranian DX Contest
* November 1-2 — Himalayan Contest
* November 1-2 — Radio Club of America QSO Party
* November 1-3 — ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW)
* November 1-3 — Collegiate ARC Championship
* November 2 — DARC 10-Meter Digital “Corona”
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/7 in Nevada
and W1AW/8 in West Virginia are QRV until 2359z on October 28. In
addition, W1AW/1 in Massachusetts, W1AW/7 in Wyoming and W1AW/KP2 in
the US Virgin Islands will be QRV starting at 0000z on October 29.
They will be active until 2359z on November 4.
(Courtesy of the ARRL DX Bulletin)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE–DRAKE R-8A communications receiver in like-new condition; no
cosmetic flaws, all knobs and meters intact, nesting spiders chased out.
Asking price $500. Comparable to those on Ebay advertised at $695.
HLA 300 Plus solid state HF linear amplifier; all bands 10-160,
automatic band selection and tuning, excellent condition. Asking price $500.
Comparable items available on the internet in lesser condition for sale at
$600-700.
Contact Jamie King KJ4JK at (252) 514-7497or kj4jk@arrl.net (20141006)
* FOR SALE– Recently purchased by a New Bern ham forced to
give up the hobby, a Radio Works Carolina Windom Antenna 160 model with
Dacron line (Heavy) and winches (2) to raise it high in the pines (See at
Radio Works,www.radioworks.com/). Make a reasonable offer for the whole
thing with coax and matching balun, We have a bid for the 160 Meter
Carolina Windom Antenna of 45$ Any one else interested? Other items from
Jim Reynolds’ (W4YLO) station:
SOLD –Autek Research RF 1 antenna analyzer
Bird Mod 43 Watt meter with choice of one slug. $ 100… More Slugs to
get as an extra, $35 ea.
B&K Scope 30Mhz with Tektronix Probes New Price $969. Make offer.
Logic probe for TTL & Cmos $5
MFJ 261 Dummy Load. 15 watts, 100 watts Peak. New $42 Sell for $25
Weller soldering gun $15.
New Rolls of Kester Solder 1 Lbs. Dia .031 Flux Alloy Sn63 $8 ea.
Jim’s equipment is clean and tested. Nonsmoking house.
Icom 756 Pro 2
Icom IC 7600
Icom KW amp Very rare.
Icom speakers and Power Supplies
Heil mic and desk boom. Icom Desk mic.
All manuals & cables & original boxes.
New items added to the list:
Xantrex 1500 watt inverter for a boat $95.
Radial Arm Saw 14 inch Rockwell Single Phase $470. Extra Saw Blades.
Contact Ed Valentine W2YPM at 252 637-3161 or
w2ypm@earthlink.net for information and pricing.
(20140602/20140804/20140929)
——————–
(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:
* Nov 29, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Dec 27, PARS Christmas Breakfast & Gift Exchange, 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. 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