VE SESSION TONIGHT, MONDAY, MARCH 2
There will be a VE session on March 2 at 6:30 PM at the Pamlico Community
College. All levels of exam will be administered. For more information
contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or billmichne@embarqmail.com .
PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) FEBRUARY 2015 MEETING NOTES
* Thirty-two PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting
chaired by President Bill Olah, KR4LO, at Brantley’s in Oriental Saturday.
* “Wally” Wallace KK4ASP presented the treasurers report. She is still
awaiting a few more 2015 membership renewals. If you have misplaced your
renewal letter contact Wally [or just reply to this email and I will forward
your request on to Wally–Jim].
* Mike K4HPS gave the ARES Report. There were four drills during the
month. The test of the new dual band antenna is being rescheduled. Of
particular interest is evaluating simplex operation capability with remote
stations in the county.
* Greg KM4DZM will be at the VE session Monday [Mar 2]. Expect to see
photos on the PARS website soon after.
* Under-utilization of the PARS Website was discussed by Tom, KI4NSP.
According to Larry, KK4SEO, our webmaster, there are only 38 regular users
and limited activity on the forums. Since the PARSgram is limited to text
emails without enclosures or photos, this is the place to go for all the
details. The seven forums now cover 54 topics including DX, items for sale,
latest on local repeaters, technical issues…. The forums can be expanded
with user interests. There is even a page listing the frequencies and tones
of our local repeaters. The site has photos of past field days, our trip to
the VOA Grimesland Transmitting Site, a video on the Scouts JOTA last year
and more. Don’t miss the discussion on CHIRP, the free tool for programming
many radios using your computer. The URL is https://www.n4prs.org It is easy
to get a login and password to access PARS only areas.
* Pete AG7C did a quick show-and-tell on Raspberry Pi, the card sized low
cost computer. Originally produced in England for learning and
experimentation, the device has almost unlimited applications. Pete is
considering using it to run his digital computing application and remotely
control his antenna rotator. [Photos taken by Greg of Pete holding his
Raspberry Pi are already on the PARS website.]
* PARS now has added backup power capability for the Oriental repeater. A
local sailor, Doug Siedens donated 6 used 415 Amp Hour, 6V batteries to the
club. Bill Olah has found four to be in excellent condition.
* Andy Denmark donated a 5KW generator to club before moving west. With the
availability of small quiet generators for Field Day, the very noisy larger
generator will be auctioned at one of our future meetings with the proceeds
going to the club treasury.
* Field Day planning is going smoothly according to Mike Marsh, K4NLC.
PARS will return to the Neuse River site it has used for the past several
years.
* Members were reminded of the VE (FCC Examination) Session scheduled for
Monday, 6:30 pm, at the Pamlico Community College.
* The Spring Foxhunt will be announced when the weather improves. Contact
Randy, K4WRD, to join the group making “tape measure” antennas and for
information on building an attenuator for your handheld.
* Jim AI4WL reminded the group about the NC QSO Party and gave a heads-up
about the Eritrea DXpedition to be operational the first week in March.
* After a short break, Dick, K4JJW, led a roundtable on working DX, and
particularly the DXpeditions to most wanted “countries”. He highly
recommended reading “Ethics and Operating Procedures for the Radio Amateur”
that can be found on the ARRL Website http://www.arrl.org/operating-ethics
Dave N4ENE, and others also recommended reading the response by Glenn W0GJ,
of the Navassa Island DXpedition to questions posed by the Mediterraneo DX
Club, especially, question 3 asking why so many European operators did not
make contact. It is a most insightful commentary on how or how not to get
through. See http://www.mdxc.org/k1n-interview-for-mdxc-by-w0gj/#more-6209
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity has been low during the 24 hours
ending yesterday at 4 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a
M1 event observed at 02/0948Z. There are currently 4 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk facing Earth The sunspot count this morning is 66, a
few up from the 49 reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index
is 128 up 10 from the 118 in our last PARSgram. The forecast shows the SFI
dropping slightly to 125 by Wednesday. According to the Space Weather
Prediction Center, solar activity is expected to be low through Wednesday.
The center reported that there was only a 5 % chance for M-class flares, but
then we had one this morning.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field reached minor storm levels yesterday. The
Earth is inside a solar wind stream. The geomagnetic field is expected to
range from quiet to active levels during the next three days. The K-index
was reported by NOAA to be an unsettled 4 at 1000 local this morning. Expect
noisy conditions.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGES
ST. PIERRE AND MIQUELON, FP. Eric, KV1J is QRV as FP/KV1J from
Miquelon Island, IOTA NA-032, until March 10. Activity is on all HF
bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL direct to home call. [This one should be
easy. Eric quickly uploads his logs to LoTW.]
ERITREA, E3, Zorro JH1AJT, and a multi-national team with 8 others will be
QRV from Asmara from March 6 to March 17th as part of Eritrea Project 2015
for thee SEISA/Foundation for Global Children. They will use four
transceivers consisting of two Elecraft K3 radios with the KPA500
amplifiers and two Kenwood TS590 transceivers with the ACOM 1010 amplifiers.
Activity will be on all HF bands. [E3 will be tough. Number 20 on the Club
Log most wanted, the “European Wall” will be in the way. Good luck!]
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
No reports this week. Guess everyone is recovering from Navassa and getting
ready for Eritrea.
OTHER ACTIVITY ON THE RADIO:
This info is extracted from the ARRL Letter, from the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar, the ARRL Contest Update or the ARRL Contest Corral. You can
receive the Letter weekly via email as a member of ARRL :
* Mar 7, 0000Z – Mar 8, 2359Z ARRL Int’l Phone DX Contest
* Mar 7, 1200Z – Mar 7, 2359Z Straight Key Weekend Sprintathon
* Mar 7, 1800Z – See uarl.com.ua/openrtty Open Ukraine RTTY Championship
See the ARRL Contest Branch page
ARRL Contest Update http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-Update/ and the
WA7BNM Contest Calendar
for more info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the
ARRL Special Event Station Web page
a LIST OF STATE QSO PARTIES, see
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/stateparties.html. (State QSO parties
and the W1AW Centennial Stations are a great way to get those last states on
your Worked All States (WAS) Award list.)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* FOR SALE — Lightly used Ameritron AL-811H in good working order.
Output power is 800 Watts PEP, 600 Watts CW. It uses four rugged, fully
neutralized low cost 811A PA tubes. A backup set of four tubes is included
with the amplifier. The dimensions are 8 ¼” x 13 ¾” x 15 ½”. The operating
weight is 32 lbs. I am the second purchaser/owner of this amplifier. The
first owner is an active PARS member. This Amplifier has the factory
modification for operation on 10 meters. A copy of the manual is included.
Asking $550. Contact Bill Cresswell, K2ONN at 252-249-0148. (20150126)
* FOR SALE — Yaesu FT 450 Transceiver, MD 100 desk mike and a Pyramid
35 amp power supply. All for $650 and can be seen in action at my QTH to
check it out. All you will need is an antenna to be on the air. Charlie
Overcash, WA4GSI, charlie@dockline.net or 252-249-1257. (20150126).
* FREE — Coax. Belden 8281 video cable (blue jacket), 78 ft piece; RG-59U
two pieces (yellow jacket). Pick up in Morehead City or New Bern, contact
Stephen Freeman, KK4JOP, 252-725-3845. (20141215)
——————–
(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:
* March 28, 2015, DownEast Hamfest, Lenoir Community College Gym, Kinston,
8 am until 2 pm, http://www.downeasthamtest.org
* 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:
* Mar 2, 2015, Amateur Radio LICENSE EXAM SESSION, Technician, General, and
Extra, Monday evening, 6:30 PM. Room 412 in the Brinson Building, Pamlico
Community College, 5049 Highway 306 South, Grantsboro. For more information
contact Bill Michne, WM3X, at 252-249-1175 or by email at
billmichne@embarqmail.com.
* Mar 28, PARS Monthly Meeting, 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. Since this is an informal forum originally
established to assist our new Hams, this frequency 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