PARS CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST MEETING AND “GIFT” EXCHANGE DEC 28TH
Business will be kept to a minimum for our final gathering for the year.The
“program” will be the exchange of small gifts not to exceed $10 or so in
value. These “presentos” should be related to ham radio in some way. Put
your imagination to work. Something new, that’s OK, but first dig through
the junk box and see what you can find. Wrap your gift and bring it to the
meeting. Bring one, get one, that’s the plan. This a family affair; spouses
and kids are invited to join in for breakfast and the fun. (There is no need
for them to bring a gift to exchange). BTW, if you have not completed and
returned those membership forms you got in the mail, bring them and your
check along. See you at the Village Restaurant in Oriental on Saturday,
December 28th, 9 am.
NEUSIOK TRAIL RUN COMMUNICATIONS HELP WANTED
A unique event, at least for Eastern North Carolina, the Neusiok Trail Run
is being held for a third year in the Croatan National Forest on Saturday,
January 4th, 2014. The Neusiok trail is 21.5 miles long running from the
Pine Cliff Recreation area on the Neuse river (Just East of Marine Corps Air
Station Cherry Point) to Oyster Point Campground east of Newport, NC.
Completing the course abundant with wild life and obstacles will be a
considerable challenge to the runners. At the beginning of December over 100
runners had already signed up for one of the three courses, the longest
being a 100 Kilometer run. Organizers from the Carteret County Wildlife Club
assisted by the Onslow Amateur Radio Club are seeking help in maintaining
communications for 18 hours or more to and from command posts on each end of
the course and each of the three outposts along the course. The 3 outposts
will be manned by troops from the Cherry Point Young Marines detachment who
will camp on station overnight.
Race Director Brandon Wilson wrote recently, “The logistics of this event
are challenging, and communications are essential for the safety of all
involved… There is not a single, significant trail race in Eastern NC,
this is the first. The Neusiok trail is a hidden gem and our goal is to
bring awareness to it. The proceeds from this event will go to the Carteret
County Wildlife club. They blazed this trail more than 40 years ago and are
the only volunteer organization involved in the upkeep of the trail. ”
More information can be found on the race website:
http://www.neusioktrailrun.com/Home.html. If you can find the time to help
provide communications support during this worthy event please contact
Brandon at 252-933-5373 or Jerry Jones, KF4ASE at 910-265-3724,
kf4ase@ec.rr.com.
ARRL 10 METER CONTEST THIS COMING WEEKEND
OK Bunkies, here’s your big chance to work the world in a
weekend–propagation gods permitting. Open to amateurs of the Technician,
General, Advanced, and Extra Classes alike, this contest offers a great
opportunity to work a bunch of tough-to-get countries in a short 36 hour
period. (All stations operate no more than 36 hours out of the 48-hour
period.) Hams have been known to get enough for their DXCC during this
contest alone. The contest is for Phone and/or CW modes, and runs from Dec
14, 0000Z to Dec 15, 2359Z. Stations exchange: RS(T) and State/Prov or
serial (if out of the US, Canada, or Mexico). See the complete rules at
http://www.arrl.org/10-meter. Consider gathering some of your friends for
multi-operator play. Have fun! Good Luck!
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was low during the 24 hours ending Sunday
night at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a C2 event observed
at 09/1130Z. There are currently 5 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk. The Sunspot count this morning is 83 down from the 104 of last Monday;
the Solar Flux is 166 well up from the 143 last week. The Solar Flux is
expected to stay about the same through Wednesday, perhaps rise a few
points to 172. NOAA predicts Solar activity to be low with a chance (30%)
for M-class flares through Wednesday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field varied from quiet to major storm levels over
the weekend. The K-index peaked at 6 for a short time around 7 pm local on
Saturday. The estimated planetary K-index at 7 am local today, 25 November,
was 1. Geomagnetic conditions are expected to be quiet/active today and
tomorrow and quiet/unsettled on Wednesday.
DX CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK
NIUE, E6. Operators Alan, VK4WR and Graeme, VK4FI will be QRV as
E6RQ and E6SG, respectively, from December 7 to 17. Activity will
be on 40 to 6 meters, with an eye towards good sporadic-E and TEP
propagation into Asia. QSL both calls direct via VK4FI.
Just so you know, from Wikipedia: Niue ( NEW-ay) is an island country in the
South Pacific Ocean, 1,500 mi northeast of New Zealand and within the
triangle formed by Tonga (to the west), Samoa (to the north) and the Cook
Islands (to the east). Its land area is 100 sq mi and its population,
predominantly Polynesian, is around 1,400. They commonly refer to the island
as “the Rock”, a reference to the traditional moniker “Rock of Polynesia.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Jim – Just had a QSL with T32TM In East Kiribati [on Monday Dec 2, about
2100Z]. Had to look up. Its in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Got it 10
Meters, 28.485 MHz. Not bad for barefooting, eh? –Mike KK4HPS
Jim, I have contacted and chatted with individuals in New Zealand and Taiwan
from the radio shack and antenna here at Travelers Rest [60 miles north of
Tampa, FL]. The radio here right now is an old Yaesu HF rig driving my
HLA300+ amplifier (it works like the gorilla on the golf course – it puts
out 300w whether your input is 2w or 15w. More than 15 and it shuts down).
The antenna is a dipole cut for 40m and oriented pretty much
northeast-southwest, and up something close to 55 feet. We’re off tomorrow
for the Virgin Islands. Expected return date 12/15. 73, Jamie KJ4JK
Hope some of our PARS folks got over to Newport and the NWS for Skywarn
Appreciation Day. From the home QTH here in the suburbs of Whortonsville, I
waited my turn to chat with Rick at the NWS station in Oxnard, CA, my old
hometown (Oxnard High Class of 1960). Conditions on 20 meters Saturday
afternoon were not great but good enough to find that the weather on the
beach there was about the same as here, high 40’s with light rain. Jim,
AI4WL.
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 :
* Dec 13 — QRP Fox Hunt (80 meters)
* Dec 13 — NCCC Sprint
* Dec 14-15 — ARRL 10 Meter Contest
* Dec 14-15 — International Naval Contest, CW+SSB
* Dec 15 — QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint, CW
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.)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* WANTED Microphone that will work with an Icom Transceiver, IC-745. Please
contact Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI, at 249-1257 or
charlie@dockline.net.(20131202)
——————–
(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:
* Dec 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. 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.
NEW: Photos of the Nov 20th PARS trip to the VOA transmitter site near
Greenville, NC have been posted. If you have photos of PARS activities
please send them on with a short description to Larry.
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
Jim, AI4WL