UPGRADES, NEW TECHNICIAN
Congratulations go to William Neilson of New Bern who passed his FCC
Technician Exam at last Monday’s VE Session. He should get his grant
shortly. Upgrades at the recent session include John Wiseman KM4HAU of
Crestview, FL , and Pamlico Amateur Radio Society Members Carl Baxley
KJ4CFG, Bill Flynn KC4NMK, and Torrey Neill KA4TMN who all are now AG’s.
Congratulations all.
And thanks go to those Volunteer Examiners who assisted our
Chief Instructor, Bill Michne WM3X by conducting the examination session:
Randy Davis K4WRD, Bill Olah KR4LO, Bill Cresswell K2ONN, Tom Wiggins
W1GTB, John Hopkins KJ4EJH, and Glenn Everest N4LV. Well done!
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity has been high during the 24 hours
ending yesterday at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a
M9 event observed at 07/2222Z . Since then there was only a minor C4 burst
at 09/1008Z. There is currently only 1 numbered sunspot region on the disk
facing Earth The sunspot count this morning is 23 well down from the 66
reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index is 124 not far down from
the 128 in our last PARSgram. The forecast shows the SFI staying about the
same through Wednesday. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center,
solar activity is expected to be low through Wednesday with a chance (40%)
for M-class flares and a slight chance for an X-class flare.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field reached active levels yesterday. The
geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to active levels today and
Tuesday and unsettled on Wednesday. The K-index was reported by NOAA to be
back to a quiet 1 at 0800 local this morning.
The near X-class flare on Saturday afternoon both hurt and helped hams
participating in the ARRL International Contest . The eruption zapped the
ionosphere with intense radiation causing a brief blackout (R2) in the
Western Pacific, the dayside of the Earth directly facing the sun.
Frequencies in our lower bands, 30 Meters and below, were attenuated but the
higher frequencies were enhanced by intense reflective ionization.
Apparently, some hams were able to work some unexpectedly good DX just
after the flare. Although a Coronal Mass Ejection did occur, NOAA reports it
will miss the earth.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGES
ERITREA, E3, Zorro JH1AJT, and a multi-national team with 8 others is
operational until March 17th as part of Eritrea Project 2015
for thee SEISA/Foundation for Global Children. They are using four
transceivers consisting of two Elecraft K3 radios with the KPA500
amplifiers and two Kenwood TS590 transceivers with the ACOM 1010 amplifiers.
Activity was planned for all HF bands although some antennas were damaged
enroute. E3 will be tough. Number 20 on the Club Log most wanted, the
“European Wall” and the rowdies are in the way. Try this week, should be
better!
TONGA, A3. Nobuaki, JA0JHQ will be active as A35JR from March 12 to
16. Activity will be on 30, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters using CW and
SSB, and if possible, on 20 meter CW. QSL via his home call sign,
direct or by the Bureau.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Glenn was the first to report on last week’s challenges:
“Both this weeks challenges are in the log – FP/KV!J St. Pierre & Miquelon
and E30FB Eritrea.” — Glenn
And then Dick reported on how tough it was to work Eritrea:
“…. I’ve been fortunate to have worked E30FB (Eritrea) on 40m and 20m CW
and it was a struggle both times. They’re working splits that are 20-30 KHz
wide and the DQRM seems worse than with K1N, probably because their signals
are weaker to both EU and NA. I read a report saying that their WARC
antennas and a lap top were damaged in shipment so they may never appear on
the WARC bands. I hope that anyone who needs E3 for their DXCC has an
opportunity to work them….be patient and good luck.”
— 73 Dick K4JJW.
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 14, 1400Z – Mar 15, 0200Z Louisiana QSO Party
* Mar 14, 1500Z – Mar 14, 1800Z QRP ARCI Spring Digital Sprint
* Mar 14, 1600Z – Mar 15, 1600Z EA PSK63 Contest
* Mar 14, 1800Z – Mar 15, 0800Z Tesla Memorial HF Contest
* Mar 14, 1800Z – Mar 15, 1800Z 50 QCWA Spring QSO Party
* Mar 14, 1900Z – Mar 15, 1900Z Idaho QSO Party
* Mar 15, 0000Z – Mar 15, 0359Z North American RTTY Sprint
* Mar 15, 1800Z – Mar 16, 0100Z Wisconsin QSO Party
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 28, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Apr 25, 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.
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