PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) FEB 27, 2016 MEETING NOTES
* Thirty-five PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting
chaired by President Bill Olah, KR4LO.
* Wally Wallace, KK4ASP, presented the treasurer’s report.
* Mike Hurm, K4HPS, our Pamlico County ARES EC, reported 4 ARES sessions in
January for 13.8 volunteer man-hours.
* According to AI4WL, there has been little VHF activity recently, only
weather enhanced tropo on 2M and a few E layer skip Q’s reported on 6M. For
DX this month, look for the DXpedition to Heard Island to be active starting
on 20 March.
* Bill Michne, coordinating club participation in the NC QSO Party, advised
several stations will be hosting PARS members including his station, WM3X,
Glenn’s, N4LV, Bill Olah’s. KR4LO, and Jim’s AI4WL. N4LV and KR4LO will
focus on RTTY, AI4WL on weak signal (SSB) VHF. The intent is to have those
without the equipment and those wanting contesting experience a station to
use and help if desired.
* Next Fox hunt is being planned for Saturday, March 19. A directional
antenna with attenuator will be helpful and members can get help with both.
Email Randy, K4WRD, for info on the attenuators (randyd@centurylink.net)
Let Randy know if you need materials for your antenna.
* Dave Bacon KD2T reported reaching the 8 band DXCC level. Mike Hurm,
K4HPS, passed the exam for Extra Class.
* There will be an equipment auction following the March meeting before the
SKYWARN course. SKYWARN training is being provided by John Cole from the
Newport National Weather Service.
* Tom KI4NSP reminded that all are welcome to check into the SKYWARN
practice net on the Oriental or other local repeaters at 2100 local Tuesday
evenings. He emphasized that SKYWARN not gives emergency warning to those
monitoring, but in turn provides the NWS eye-witness ground truth reports on
severe conditions in the reporting area.
* The Kingston Hamfest for 2016 will be on Saturday, April 23. A VE
Testing Session will be offered as well as SKYWARN training.
* Following the business meeting, several members talked about memorable
QSOs and the (QSL) cards or documents that confirmed them.
PARS AND THE 2016 NC QSO PARTY
Several local hams visited Pamlico Amateur Radio Society member host
stations for the annual North Carolina QSO party Sunday. Bill Michne, WM3X,
.hosted Jan, KK4LSQ, Eric, KG4ISY, Elizabeth, KK4NLH, and Dodge, KJ4CFE for
part of the day. They got a chance to do some logging, and most got over
their mike fright to actually make some contacts. While their score wasn’t
high, the goal of the exercise, getting some of our inexperienced members on
the air operating, was a huge success. The group, under Bill’s tutelage,
used the club call N4PRS for which Bill is custodian. Bill Olah, KR4LO,
focused on RTTY operation and introduced Jim, W4NLD to the normally fast
paced mode. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much contest activity in that mode,
but Jim reportedly learned a lot just the same.
Other PARS members were active for all or part of the event. Tom Corwin,
KI4NSP, and Charlie Overcash, WA4GSI, were on the air as was Jim, AI4WL.
There may have been others. Charlie reportedly filled “a page full” of
contacts. Jim AI4WL, lacking visitors, started on the very quiet VHF
bands but soon moved to 40 meters where there was lots of life. He logged
198 contacts in well under three hours “running” on just two frequencies.
Thus, the demand for contact with quiet Pamlico County was confirmed. It is
hoped that next year we can be even more active giving more contesters the
chance to work all NC counties and, even more important, make events like
this a regular part of our training program.
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 B2 flare
observed at 1152Z this morning. There are 2 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 38, down from the 47
reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 93 yesterday at
noon, down 3 from the 96 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 staying rising to reach about 110 on Wednesday. The 90
day trailing average is 107.
That said, spaceweather.com notes this morning that sunspot region AR2506
could break the quiet today. AR2506 has a magnetic field that holds energy
for strong M-class solar flares and is almost directly facing the Earth.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. The field is forecast to
be quiet today, active tomorrow, then become unsettled on Wednesday. The
Kp-index was reported to be a very quiet 1 at 7 a.m. local this morning.
No real change from last week: expect good conditions on 30 and 20 Meters
and 40 at night, fair to poor on the higher bands.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
EAST KIRIBATI, T32. Operators KG8CO, N6FS, N8LJ, K8MU, K8QKY, K8AQM
and AC8W plan to be QRV as T32CO, T32FS, T32LJ, T32MU, T32SB, T32TR
and T32WW, respectively, from Kiritimati, IOTA OC-024, from March 1
to 16. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters with four stations
using CW, SSB and various digital modes. This includes entries in
the upcoming ARRL and BERU contests. QSL all calls via AC8JF.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
A handfull of special QSO’s were shared at the PARS meeting Saturday.
Sam/Dave KD2T brought in a timely record of his contact long ago with Heard
Island. It was last active nearly two decades ago. The rest of us will all
get a chance to work that most wanted country starting on or about March
20th.
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 :
* 05/0000-06/2359Z Mar ARRL International DX Contest, SSB 1.8-28 MHz
see www.arrl.org/arrl-dx for info
* 05/0600-05/0800Z Mar Wake-Up! QRP Sprint CW, 7-14
* 05/1800-06/1359Z Mar Open Ukraine RTTY Championship, 1.8-28
* 06/1100-06/1700Z Mar DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest, 28 MHz
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
* RARSfest 2016 and North Carolina Section Convention, Saturday April 2, NC
State Fairgrounds, Raleigh. See www.rars.org/rarsfest for more info.
* 26th Annual Down East Hamfest , Saturday, April 23, Kinston, NC
Details will be on http://www.downeasthamfest.org later.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Mar 19, Pamlico Fox Hunt, Saturday, 9:30 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Mar 26, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* Mar 26, SKYWARN Training, 10 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Greg, KM4DZM, 252-322-1033 or gwadsworth1@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.
Happy Leap Year!