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.
DON’T WAIT to register, class space is limited!
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hours ending
Sunday afternoon at 4 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a M2
event observed at 03/1153Z. There are currently 6 numbered sunspot regions
on the disk. The sunspot count this morning is 91 well down from the 138
reported by NOAA last Monday. The Solar Flux Index is 124, much lower than
the 217 in last week’s PARSgram. It is expected to slip a few more points
to 118 on Wednesday and is again below the 90 day trailing average of 141.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity should be
low through Wednesday with only a 10% chance for M-class flares.
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 Wednesday, quiet to unsettled on
Tuesday. The K-index was reported by NOAA to be a 2 at 0700 local this
morning.
During the last two weeks of October, the biggest sunspot in nearly 25
years, AR2192, rotated across the solar disk exploding with strong flares.
According to spaceweather.com there were 26 M-flares, 6 X-flares and,
perhaps most surprising, no Earth-directed CMEs–and, therefore, no
geomagnetic storms. If it does not degrade too much, we may see a return of
intense activity in two weeks time when the giant sunspot region returns
from its rotation around the Sun
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGES
TROMELIN ISLAND, FT/T. Seb, F5UFX, Michel, FM5CD, Flo, F5CWU,
Franck, F4AJQ, Fred, F5ROP and Vincent, F4BKV are QRV as FT4TA until
November 10. Activity is on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY
with five stations active. QSL direct via F1NGP.
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS, VU4. Krish, W4VKU, Chetz, VU3DMP and
Pai, VU2PAI will be QRV as VU4KV from Campbell Bay, IOTA AS-033,
from November 3 to 13. Activity will be on the HF bands with two
stations. QSL via W4KVU.
NAVASSA 2015
The long awaited activation of Navassa Isl. is going to happen in
January, 2015. David, N4ENE passed along the following message from the
Navassa team:
We are pleased to announce that the new Navassa 2015 DXpedition website
is up and running. It can be found at www.navassadx.com.
Also, it is official…our call sign will be K1N.
Team members are: AA7JV, K0IR, K4UEE, K5AC, K9CT, KT4TTT, N2OO, N2TU,
N4GRN, N6MZ, NA5U, NM1Y, W0GJ, W6IZT, WB9Z.
We will update the website often as more information becomes available.
We are working closely with the USFWS and are pleased with their “can do”
attitude. We should have specific dates shortly, but the team has cleared
their schedules to be available for the two week operation starting in late
January 2015.
Fundraising has begun. If able, we encourage you to financially support
the project.
73, for the DXpedition team
Bob K4UEE, Glenn W0GJ, Mike NA5U
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Dick, K4JJW sent this in last Tuesday, 28 October at around 7 pm local:
Here’s one for next week’s Parsgram…just worked FK8CP in New Caledonia on
6m SSB. It was 8,547 miles and my record DX on 6m. I’ve worked him on 20m
previously but I never dreamed that I’d ever hear or work a FK8 on 6m. It
seems that we have been having some rare openings shortly after sunset.
Dick K4JJW [Now, how about that! And just after yours truly reported at
our PARS meeting that the band was quiet and would be dormant until Winter.
….Oops.]
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 :
* November 8-9 — Worked All Europe DX Contest
* November 8-9 — ARRL EME Contest
* November 8-9 — 10-10 Fall Digital QSO Party
* November 8-9 — Japan International DX Contest
* November 8-9 — OK-OM DX Contest
* November 8-9 — Straight Key Weekend Sprintathon
* November 8-9 — Kentucky QSO Party
* November 8-10 — CQ WE (Western Electric)
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/1 in
Massachusetts, W1AW/7 in Wyoming and W1AW/KP2 in the US Virgin
Islands are QRV until 2359z on November 4. In addition, W1AW/7 in
Washington, W1AW/0 in Kansas and W1AW/KH8 in American Samoa will be
QRV starting at 0000z on November 5. W1AW/7 and W1AW/0 will be
active until 2359z on November 11. W1AW/KH8 will be active until
2359z on November 18.
(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– Remaining items from Jim Reynolds’ (W4YLO) station:
Dentron Super Tunner
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
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.
Rockwell 14 inch Radial Arm Saw + many blades
Xantrex True Charge 20 amp Two banks
Xantrex 1500 Watt Inverter
Industrial steel two door Floor Cabinet 6ft. H X 4 ft. W X 2ft. D
Contact Ed Valentine W2YPM at 252 637-3161 or
w2ypm@earthlink.net for information and pricing.
(20140602/20140804/20140929/20141103)
——————–
(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).
UPCOMING HAMFESTS:
* November 16: JARSFEST 2014, Johnston Amateur Radio Society, American
Legion Complex off US301N, Benson, NC,
http://www.jars.net
* February 7, 2015: Richmond Frostfest, Richmond Raceway Complex,
Richmond, VA, http://www.frostfest.com
* April 4, 2015: 43rd Annual RARSfest/North Carolina State Convention,
Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, State Fairgrounds,
Raleigh, NC, http://www.rars.org/rarsfest
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.
ABOUT THE PARSgram
The PARSgram is a weekly email publication for members of the Pamlico
Amateur Radio Society (PARS), an association of amateur radio operators
located in, near, or from Pamlico County, North Carolina. The PARSgram
contains announcements and information about current and planned activities
of the Society and other items of specific interest to its members. Except
to summarize information related to Solar Activity or announce expeditions
of amateur radio operators to unique distant places, special event stations,
and contests, it does not generally repeat information available elsewhere.
The PARSgram does offer a means to make known to its subscribers radio
equipment and other related items for sale or trade. Since PARS members may
have limited internet access, the PARSgram is sent in text format and kept
relatively short. We are always looking for items of specific interest to
our 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
at jth350@embarqmail.com. — Jim Hartmeyer, AI4WL, Editor (20121126)
Jim, AI4WL