“MARITIME MOBILE WITH NP2AZ”
It pays to read every page of your QST. On the “75, 50, and 25 Years Ago”
page in the November 2015 issue (page 104) we find that 25 years ago, our
own Marijane (Evans) Sipple, NP4AZ, wrote about her experiences with husband
Vince, N6JIB, cruising the blue water in their sailboat, “Centaurea”, with a
ham radio in the cabin and a dipole running along side the aft-stay. Cool!
You can still read Marijane’s article. It’s in the QST archives. Just do a
lookup using her call or name. (It was Marijane Evans then.) PARS members
from the earliest days, Marijane and Vince moved to Florida from Arapahoe
about four years ago. Still PARSgram subscribers, we trust they are doing
well.
SUGGESTIONS WANTED
PARS planners are again asking for ideas/suggestions for our
club meetings. What do you want to talk about, discuss, learn, or even
build? Last week we received some good ideas from Sam/Dave, KD2T. Why not
add to his list. Let Bill or Randy know, put a comment on our N4PRS Web
Site, or just reply to this PARSgram. Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or
w_olah@yahoo.com.
MONDAY NIGHT ROUNDTABLE ON 10
Yep, it’s still around. Pete hosts the Roundtable–some call it the “Swamp
Net”– at around 2015 local most every Monday night on or near 28.463 MHz.
This is a frequency available to technicians on up. Intended originally to
give the newer hams the opportunity to step into the HF world, it has become
a time and place for a good rag chew as well as some–well, a
little–exchange on ham radio related technical stuff. Join us if you can.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending
yesterday at 4 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a B3 flare
observed at 0507Z this morning. There are 4 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 48, well down from the
73 reported by NOAA last week ago. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 101
yesterday at noon, a little below the109 in our last report. According to
the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity is expected to continue
to be very low for the next three days with only a chance for C-class
flares.. The NOAA forecast has the SFI slowly dropping to 95 on Wednesday.
The 90 day trailing average is 110.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. Expect quiet to
unsettled conditions today. The field is forecast to be quiet but see minor
storm levels on Tuesday On Wednesday the field is forecast to vary between
quiet and unsettled. The Kp-index was reported to be a quiet 1 at 8 a.m.
local this morning.
Expect good conditions on 30 and 20 Meters and 40 at night, fair to poor
on the higher bands. Continue to watch for E-layer propagation on 6 Meters.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS, VP8. A large group of operators will be QRV
as VP8STI from Southern Thule Island, IOTA AN-009, from January 18
to 27. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.
QSL via N2OO. See their site at http://www.intrepid-dx.com/vp8
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Just in from Dick K4JJW–
Hi Jim: I managed to work K5P on Palmyra Is. on several bands but it was an
up hill battle all the way. Propagation has been poor and I think North
Carolina is a black hole. Let’s hope it’s better for the VP8 stations. 73
Dick K4JJW. [ed note- I heard K5P on 15 yesterday but unworkable. WM3X
mentioned he had the same situation days before].
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 :
* 23/0000-24/2359Z Jan YL-ISSB QSO Party, CW/SSB
* 23/1200-24/1200Z Jan BARTG RTTY Sprint, Dig
* 23/0000-24/2359Z Jan Montana QSO Party, CW Ph Dig
* 24/2000-24/2359Z Jan QRP ARCI Fireside SSB Sprint, Ph
see www.qrparci.org/contests for more on the QRP Sprint
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
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 — Yaesu FT-450 Transceiver, MD 100 desk mike and a Pyramid
35 amp power supply. All for $550 and the FT-450 alone for $450. All you
will need is an antenna to be on the air. Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI,
charlie@dockline.net or 252-249-1257. (20160118).
(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 REGIONAL HAMFESTS:
A complete list can be found on your PARS Website, www.n4prs.org
According to Janice, KJ4JPE, the 2016 KINSTON HAMFEST is scheduled for
Saturday, April 23rd. More details to come.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jan 30, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Feb 27, 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. This is an informal forum originally
established to assist our new Hams. The frequency is in the 10M voice
segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related
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/
* Chief Editor and Administrator is Greg Wadsworth KM4DZM, 252-322-1033 or
gwadsworth1@ yahoo.com
* 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