PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) MAR 26, 2016 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-eight PARS members and guests attended the breakfast meeting
chaired by President Bill Olay, KR4LO.
* Bill presented the treasurer’s report on behalf of Wally Wallace, KK4ASP.
* There was no ARES report. Bill asked for volunteers to back-up Mike
Harm, K4HPS, our Pamlico County ARES EC, who conducts the Pamlico
Emergency Net on Wednesday nights. A script will be provided.
* According to AI4WL, there has been some VHF activity recently–several
contacts reported from the mid-West into Eastern Europe and the Med on 6
Meter CW. He also reported that the Heard Island stations now active
with over 8,000 contacts made in the first few hours of operation. Glenn,
N4LV reported he had logged the 20M CW station early through heavy QRM.
* Jim cautioned everyone to be wary of email from alleged hams identified only by call sign. He had just received one from a silent key. The text contains only a short greeting–the same as in the email subject line– followed by a URL likely to produce a virus or worse.
* At the urging of the President, Bill Michne, WM3X, described how he
helped a local ham report his house on fire. Just happening to be up late
with the Oriental repeater on, he heard Mike, KM4COD, call for help. His
phone was out and he had smoke. Bill called Pamlico 911 which then
immediately switched him to Carteret 911. The Stacy Fire Station quickly
responded. Due to the rapid response, the fire was contained to the attic
and damage was not severe. Congratulations and thanks went to Bill.
* The Fox Hunt on Mar 19 went well according to Randy, K4WRD. The challenge
may have been too easy with Wally, KK4ASP finding the fox only 35 minutes
after the 0930 start, quickly followed by Tom, W1TGB. Others found the fox
shortly thereafter. Randy promises a tougher course next time.
* A talk about Ham Radio as used by mariners was given by Tom Finta, K8TF
last Sunday to about 25 folks at the Oriental History Museum. In the last
of a series of presentations related to navigation before GPS, Tom
talked about the services provided then and now by and for amateur radio.
The talk was well received.
* Bill O. conducted an auction on boxes of vintage vacuum tubes, test
equipment and a FT-101 and VFO. All proceeds from the items donated by Mike
Hurm went to the club treasury.
* A SKYWARN Basic Course conducted by John Cole of the Newport NWS office
followed the PARS meeting. About 20 PARS members and others participated.
* Next month, look for a presentation on Digital Modes by Ed, WD4EDW.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending
yesterday at 5 pm local. The largest recent solar event was a B3 flare
observed at 0757Z this morning. There are 2 numbered sunspot regions on the
disk facing Earth. The sunspot count this morning is 23, about the same as
the 25 reported by NOAA last week. The Solar Flux Index
(SFI) was 88 yesterday at noon, the same number as reported a week ago.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, solar activity is expected
to continue to be very low for the next three days with a slight chance for
C-class flares. The NOAA forecast has the SFI dropping to 80 on Wednesday.
The 90 day trailing average has slid further to 100. After peaking in late
2013, Cycle 24 is well into a long period of slow decline to the next
minimum in 2019-2020.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled yesterday.
The field is forecast to be quiet to active today, become unsettled for
periods tomorrow and quiet on Wednesday. The instability is primarily due to
high solar winds disturbing the field. The Kp-index was reported to be a
quiet 1 at 8 a.m. local this morning.
Continue to expect fair conditions on 30 and 20 Meters and fair to poor on
the higher bands. Good conditions should continue for 40M at night. There
are more indications that the Spring E-layer skip season is coming for the
VHF bands. Lucky hams in the mid-west were working into Europe late last
week on 6M. Shorter distances were being experienced on N-S paths this
morning in the mid-west.
THIS WEEK’S DX CHALLENGE
VK0EK HEARD ISLAND DXPEDITION
A large group of operators are QRV as VK0EK until April 10. Activity will
be on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via M0URX.
You can see the current status of the DXpedition on the main website
<www.heardisland.org>, and on the blogsite <www.vk0ek.org>. Check out
VK0EK.ORG for recent press releases and photos.
QSO CORNER
This is the place to post contacts with DXpeditions, Special Event
Stations, or special QSO’s you would like to share.
Glenn, N4LV just reported that he has now worked Heard Island three times– on 30 and 20 CW, and last night 20 SSB. He added that Dick K4JJW worked
VK0EK three times also.
And then this arrived from Dick, K4JJW: “I got lucky last night and worked
Heard Island VK0EK on 80m and 40m CW. I got my ATNO on 30m the first day
they were on the air. They’re tough to work because of added QRM caused by
the confusion of working the DX station “down” instead of “up” in frequency.
This DXpdn has broken with the usual tradition of listening “up” in
frequency and this seems to be causing confusion and DQRM. This is a very
good and experienced group of dedicated DX operators. By the way they have a
very interesting and useful web site including a real time log…worth
checking out…just go to the DXA section of the VK0EK web site.” Look at
the Challenge above for the URL.
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 :
* 02/1400-03/0200Z Apr Mississippi QSO Party, CW Ph Dig, 3.5-UHF
* 02/1400-03/2000Z Apr Missouri QSO Party, CW Ph Dig, 1.8-UHF
* 03/0000-03/0400z Apr North American SSB Sprint, Ph, 3.5-14
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 at http://www.w4amc.com/pictures/2016downeasthf.pdf
PARS CALENDAR:
* Apr 30, PARS Monthly Meeting, Saturday, 9 am, Brantley’s Village
Restaurant, Oriental, Bill Olah, KR4LO, 249-0287 or w_olah@yahoo.com.
* May 28, 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.
73,
Jim AI4WL