PARSgram 2015-01-26

PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 this Saturday, Jan 31st, at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant on Broad Street in Oriental. Please park on the side or
out back. Our meetings are held the last Saturday of each month except June
when the club participates in the annual ARRL Field Day or when in conflict
with a major holiday. We hope to see you all there. For more information
contact Pamlico Amateur Radio Society President Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287
or w_olah@yahoo.com.

THE DENTRON STORY
Well, well. We thumb through our February issue of QST and what do we find
on page 99 but an article about PARS Member Dennis Had, W4USR and his
DENTRON Radio Company! Surprise, surprise! We won’t say more here, except
to recommend you read the fascinating article about our friend Denny.

“NEW DXER’S HANDBOOK”
Thanks to Editor Ted Mirgliotta, KB8NW and the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1198,
a pointer to a very well done compendium for hams new to DXing. It even has
some good stuff for the old timers. The DXER’s Handbook now in a Second
Edition is available for FREE at http://www.k7ua.com. Bryce, K7UA, started
this project several years ago as a series of articles for his local DX
club. He noted that, “…Much to my surprise it has turned into a fairly
big thing with thousands of copies of it out in the world. It was translated
into other languages too. The original has become outdated and wasn’t
written for a broad audience in the first place. I am retired now and I had
some time to improve it. It is now available for download in the revised
second edition. It is still free of charge as my gift to the world’s new
DXers.”

K1N NAVASSA OPERATIONAL NEXT WEEK
Don’t miss this opportunity! The organizers advise that the last time
Navassa was active was 22 years ago and it won’t be available again for 10
more years. Navassa is number 1 on the Club Log Most Wanted List so the
pile-ups will be huge. (Some good hints on how to work through pile-ups are
in the “New DXER’S Handbook”.) On the plus side for Pamlico County hams, we
can expect high grade communications paths on several bands each day.
Details of the operation including frequencies and band plan can be found at
www.navassadx.com. Good Luck!

PARS BIT BUCKET
Sam/Dave, KD2T sent in a couple of items for the PARS Bit Bucket recently.
You might find interesting:
* ICOM’s 2013 Band Plan Chart in PDF with Common DX Prefixes on a second
page or–depending how you print it–reverse side. You can find it at
http://qrznow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2013_BandPlan.pdf
* Another old time ham radio film, this one by MGM, for you Facebook types.
[I could not get it to run, maybe you can-ed.] Find it
https://www.facebook.com/QRZNow/posts/790076011030067:0

SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity has been low during the 24 hours
ending yesterday at 4 pm local. The largest solar event of the period was a
C1 event observed at 25/0229Z. There are currently 4 numbered sunspot
regions on the disk facing Earth The sunspot count this morning is 65 well
down from the 133 reported by NOAA two weeks ago. The Solar Flux Index is
127 also down from the 154 in our last PARSgram. The forecast shows a SFI
rise to 140 by Wednesday, but still below the 90 day trailing average of
151. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity is
expected to be low through Wednesday with a 25% chance for M-class flares
today and Tuesday and a 30% chance on Wednesday.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field has been quiet during the past 24 hours.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels today and Tuesday
and vary between quiet and unsettled Wednesday. The K-index was reported by
NOAA to be a quiet 3 at 0700 local this morning.

THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
EAST KIRIBATI, T32. Dick, AD7AF is QRV as T32RL from Kiritimati
Island, IOTA OC-024, until February 9. Activity is on 160 to 10
meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. This includes an entry in the CQ 160
Meter CW contest. QSL direct to home call.

QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.

Nothing from hither or yon…

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 :
* January 31 — Feld-Hell WAAAEO Sprint
* January 31-February 1 — UBA Contest (SSB)
See the ARRL Contest Branch page , the
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. For
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
——————–
* NEW 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)
* NEW 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)
* 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.
Contact Jamie King KJ4JK at (252) 514-7497or kj4jk@arrl.net (20141006)
* FOR SALE/FREE– Last items from Jim Reynolds’ (W4YLO)
station. Jim Reynolds W4YLO is in a care center with late stages of
Parkinson’s disease. His wife would like to sell his shop tools and
equipment and gain back the garage. If you have any interest in these items
please call me, Ed Valentine, and set up a visit time to view them.
– Free, Two large paper format printers. With software and cables. Come
look and take.
– One HP3570 Scanner 8/12 X 10 inch, software and USB cable. $10.
– Dentron Super Tuner ( Rated very good tuner in QRZ) $145.
– Radial Arm Saw 14 inch blade. Made by Delta With a few blades. $250.
– Sorenson Power Regulating Transformer. 6 in x 6 in x 18 in long @ 75 lbs.
1000VA $20.
– Icom AH4 Antenna Tuner $250.
– Bird Power Meter Replacement Slug Socket and in-out connectors $65
– Xantrex True Charge Dual 20 Amps. With remote metering. $165.
– Xantrex 1500 Inverter. $98.
Contact Ed Valentine W2YPM at 252 637-3161 or
w2ypm@earthlink.net for information and pricing.
(20140602/20141222)
——————–
(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:
* 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:
* Thru Mar 2, PARS General Class License Preparation Course, Monday
evenings,6:30-8:30 PM, Room 412 in the Brinson Building,Pamlico Community
College, 5049 Highway 306 South, Grantsboro. Contact Bill Michne, WM3X, at
252-249-1175 or by email at billmichne@embarqmail.com.
* Jan 31, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Mar 2, 2015, Amateur Radio License Exam Session, Technician, General, and
Extra, Monday evening, time TBA. Room 412 in the Brinson Building, Pamlico
Community College, 5049 Highway 306 South, Grantsboro. For more information,
and TO REGISTER FOR THE EXAM, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, at 252-249-1175 or
by email at billmichne@embarqmail.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
believe would interest our folks, please send it to me. Thanks.

Jim AI4WL