WORK SOME YOUNGSTERS–THE ARRL SCHOOL CLUB ROUNDUP IS UNDERWAY
The “Winter/Spring Term” School Club Roundup starts today, Monday,
February 10 at 1300 UTC, and continues through Friday, February 14, at 2359
UTC. Stations may operate no more than 6 hours in any 24 hour period (up to
a maximum of 24 hours). The twice-yearly event is an opportunity for school
club stations — from elementary school to college — to get on the air for
a friendly radio activity. Non-school clubs and individuals [–that’s us–]
are encouraged to participate too.
Sponsored by the ARRL, the ARRL Hudson Division Education Task Force,
and the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC), the contest aims to
foster contacts with and among school radio clubs.
Stations exchange signal reports, class (“Individual”, “Club,” or
“School”), and US state, Canadian province/territory, or DXCC entity.
Stations may operate on all amateur bands except 60, 30, 17 and 12 meters
(no repeater contacts, and VHF/UHF contacts must be on recognized simplex
frequencies, except calling frequencies). Stations may operate phone, CW, or
digital modes. The top three entries in each category will receive an Award
Certificate. Entry categories are Elementary, Middle/Intermediate/Junior
High School, Senior High School College/University. Non-school clubs or
groups and individuals are also eligible for certificates.
(Extracted from The ARRL Letter for February 6, 2014).
This is a fun event for everybody. Take some time out to chat with some
young folks. Let’s excite them enough to stick with Amateur Radio beyond
their school days.
NORTH CAROLINA QSO PARTY IN TWO WEEKS
Standby: the annual North Carolina state QSO Party will be Sunday, February
23rd, from 10 AM to 8 PM local time. The object is for NC stations to work
as many NC counties, States, Canadian provinces and DXCC countries as
possible. We exchange our call sign and county (PAM or PAMLICO) for the call
sign and NC county or State or Country of the other station. Signal report
is optional. Digital modes have been added to phone and CW and there are new
categories for portables and rovers. For more info go to:
http://www.ncqsoparty.org. The QSO Party comes the day after our February
PARS meeting. Be prepared, Pamlico County contacts are in demand!
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 solar event of the
period was a M1 event observed at 09/1617Z. There are currently 7 numbered
sunspot regions on the disk.The Sunspot count this morning is 180 up from
the 163 we saw last Monday morning. However, the Solar Flux is 169, down
from the 190 NOAA reported last Monday. Over the weekend, active sunspots
AR1967 and AR1968 rotated off the solar disk but three new active regions
have popped up to take their place. Solar activity is expected to be low
with a 40 percent chance for M-class flares today and likely to be low with
a lesser chance for M-class flares through Wednesday. The Solar Flux is
expected to fall to around 145 by then.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to minor storm
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 tomorrow and quiet levels on Wednesday, 12 Feb.
DX CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK
NAMIBIA, V5. Werner, DC8QT, Georg, DD8ZX and Klaus DJ9KM are QRV as
V5/home calls from the Otjikoko Guestfarm in Omaruru until February
14. Activity is holiday style on 160 to 6 meters using SSB, RTTY
and PSK. QSL to home calls. Not much time to work them….
Amsterdam Island DXpedition to end February 12: According to FT5ZM
DXpedition team leader Ralph Fedor, K0IR, the FT5ZM team will start taking
down the Antonelli site on the morning of February 12 local time (UTC + 5
hours). The Mataf site will continue to operate for part of February 12 but
will be off the air by the end of the day. FT5ZM logs are available
online…. Look for them on Club Log (www.clublog.org).The DXpedition
recently topped 100,000 contacts — Thanks to The Daily DX; The ARRL Letter
for February 6, 2014.
BTW: QSL via N2OO. The FT5ZM QSL processing order is as follows:
a.OQRS DIRECT (via ClubLog) c.OQRS bureau (via ClubLog)
b.DIRECT MAIL d.Regular incoming BUREAU
For more details, see their Web page at: http://www.amsterdamdx.org.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Add a couple more to the list: Dave KD2T, worked FT5ZM on 20M phone and Bill
KM1C, got ’em on 12 & 17. So we had Glenn N4LV, Dick K4JJW, Tommy W5XMT,
Dave N4ENE, yours truly AI4WL, and now KD2T and KM1C who all bagged
Amsterdam & St. Paul this go around. Any others?
In an email, Bill KM1C brought us up to speed on his doings: Besides
working FT5ZM he also worked S9TF, this one on 30 RTTY while trolling the
WARC bands. He went on to say: “The current “bug” that has bitten me is
JT65 and JT9, mostly at 5 watts, but sometimes up to 20 watts on 160 meters.
These modes are truly amazing! Not much info exchanged, but a superb way of
getting weak signal QSOs into the log. 47 states confirmed so far on LOTW,
with only 2 weeks of operating. Plenty of DX, too, even on 160.” Now
that’s something! Congrats Bill on your success with the slow modes.
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 :
* Feb 10-14 — ARRL School Club Roundup
* Feb 14 — QRP Fox Hunt
* Feb 14 — NCCC Sprint Ladder
* Feb 14-15 — PODXS 070 Club Valentine Sprint
* Feb 14-15 — Russian World Wide PSK Contest
* Feb 15-16 — ARRL Int’l DX Contest, 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.)
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS. W1AW Centennial Stations W1AW/4 in Georgia
and W1AW/KH6 in Hawaii are QRV until 2359Z on 11 February. In
addition, W1AW Centennial Stations W1AW/6 in California and W1AW/9
in Wisconsin will be QRV starting at 0000z on February 12. They
will be active until 2359z on 18 February.
(Courtesy of the ARRL DX Bulletin)
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
——————–
* NEW 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. I say by email
because we’re still in Florida enjoying 80 degree temperatures.” 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:
* Feb 22, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com
* Mar 15, Lucky Charms Walk/Run, Oriental, (PARS Community Service)
* 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)
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