PARS BREAKFAST MEETING THIS COMING SATURDAY
Our next meeting will be at 0900 this Saturday, April 27th 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 Michne, WM3X, 249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
Field Day and our annual social and dinner are the big items on the agenda for this month. We hope you already have Field Day on your calendar for the weekend of 22-23 June. And what’s “Hellschreiber”? Find out at the meeting.
PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
PARS welcomes Brandy North, KN4TZI, of Oriental. Brandy was the first candidate to take her exam under PARS’ new quarterly VE session program. _…_ Dustin, N8RMA, started a couple of years ago doing what he calls the annual State of Ham Radio survey. The results of the 2018 survey can be viewed here:
http://www.radiosoth.org/2019/03/2019-state-of-hobby-survey.html
This survey had 3,786 unique respondents, 53% Extras and 24% Generals. 65 % of the respondents were 55 or older, so some of the results may not come as a surprise. For example, 56% of the respondents can send and receive CW, most at about 20 wpm. The biggest concern was the aging out of the ham population, and one of the least concerns was the HOA restrictions issue. The report is lengthy, but full of great commentary and graphics, making for entertaining reading. I recommend it highly. …_._ de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported that solar activity was very low during the 24 hours ending yesterday at 5 pm local. There are no sunspot regions on the sun facing earth this morning. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center activity is expected to be very low today through Wednesday. On Sunday, the reported Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was 69. The index is predicted to hold at 69 today and then drop to 68 for Tuesday and Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average is 72.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. It is expected to be quiet today and then quiet to unsettled on Tuesday and Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 1 at 5 a.m. local this morning indicates very quiet conditions.
We can expect fair daytime and good nighttime operating conditions on 80 and 40 meters for the next few days. Fair conditions are expected on 20 and 30 meters. Poor conditions will continue on the higher bands. On 6 meters, afternoon and early evening E layer skip contacts (1000 miles or so) are being reported on DXmaps, mostly FT8 but some CW and SSB.
For an explanation of numbers used in our PARSgram, see the excellent article written by Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA at http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere.
HAM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE, TRADE, OR WANTED
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. Listings will EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise.–Jim.
**For Sale**
– 440 REPEATER.
I have a moto. master 2 base 440 repeater, with cellwave duplexers. new controller card, can be programed via ht. also has a new 85.00 preamp for receive. 100 watt pa with extra pa and heat sink assembly. all you need is coax, antenna, and power supply. works well can be demonstrated here in my shack. if you need or want one for your area, please don’t hesitate to make an offer, very very reasonable. is in excess to my needs — we put one up 5 miles away at 700 ft so don’t need one here. don’t be afraid of [making] a small offer. Contact Donie Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com. (20190409)
**For Sale**
– CUSHCRAFT 17B2 2 METER SSB ANTENNA
Original cushcraft , not mfj version, in the box sealed for $150.00 they list for mid $300’s now. It is 31 ft long when assembled. Contact Donie Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com. (20190409)
**For Sale**
– Pristine ICOM R-71A Receiver – Full set of filters – SSB FL-44A (2.4 kHz), SSB FL-30 (2.3 kHz), SSB wide FL-70 (2.8 kHz), CW FL-32 (500 Hz). See, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.radio.info/SA4AWmUI8js for filter descriptions. Includes EX-310 voice synthesizer. Realigned in 2008 and memory/battery module installed, then unit double-boxed and placed in storage. Unit powers up and works 100% (tested 4-8-2019). In “like-new” condition. Original finish pristine. Original box, manuals, power cord included. I took exceptional care of this receiver. Asking $375. Contact Eric Halber, KM4RDE, at 919-491-8641 or ephalber@gmail.com. (20190409)
** For Sale**
– MFJ-259B HF/VHF SWR ANALYZER. Unit has some slight cosmetic paint scratches but is completely functional. Covers 1.8 to 170 MHz. $160.00.
– MFJ-949E VERSA TUNER II. Like new condition. Features cross needle SWR/POWER meter that reads peak or average power, has two coax outputs, and built-in dummy load. Maximum 300 watts. Includes manual. $100.00. Contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com. (20190401)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Apr 27, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* May 2, Emergency Communications Training for ARES, Thursday, 7-9 pm, Brinson Building Room 412, Pamlico Comunity College, Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or mike@marshconsulting.org
* May 25, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Jun 6, Emergency Communications Training for ARES, Thursday, 7-9 pm, Brinson Building Room 412, Pamlico Comunity College, Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or mike@marshconsulting.org
* Jun 21, Field Day setup, Friday, time TBD, Pamlico County Shrine Club, NC306, Grantsboro, Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com
* Jun 22-23, ARRL Field Day, Saturday-Sunday, Pamlico Shrine Building, NC306 Grantsboro,
Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* July 6, FCC License Examination/VE Session, Saturday 9am, Oriental Town Hall, Oriental. Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* Mondays, Pete’s “Pamlico Swamp Roundtable” (“Swamp Net” for some), around 8 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 10 Meter Band voice segment open to technician licensees and above. Radio related topics/questions/issues welcomed.
* Tuesdays, Newport Weather Service SKYWARN Practice Net, 9:00 pm local, Oriental (147.210+ (PL151.4)) and all other local repeaters. Open net for severe weather warning and reporting continously monitored upon activation.
* Wednesdays, Pamlico Emergency Net Practice and Rag Chew/ARES, 7:30 pm, Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4).
* Thursdays, “DownEast/Pamlico Six Meter Net”, 8 pm local, 50.200 MHz, USB. A non-directed open net to promote operation on the ‘Magic Band’.
(For more nets see www.arrl.org/arrl-net-directory-search )
PARS WEB SITE: https://www.n4prs.org/
Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.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
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