PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
Saturday’s PARS meeting featured a review of how we did on Field Day. ARRL accepted our preliminary score of 1772 points. Let me break that down and put it into perspective. Most of our points, 1,350, were bonus points. We had only 422 QSO points, and half of those were due to a power multiplier of 2. We won’t know how we did against other entrants until the official results come out in the December QST. Compared to last year, however, we were down slightly from our official score of 1818. Not much change there, but it is interesting to note that last year in our class (2A) we were FAR from last place. That honor went to a Minnesota club with two operators and 110 total points. Looking forward to next year, our strategy ought to be to get all the bonus points we can, and focus our operating on CW and digital, where QSO’s are worth 2 points, or 4 points with the power multiplier. …_._ de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com.
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENT STATION
From Vice President Bruce Perkins, K4ONC:
“I am in need of volunteers to join me at River Dunes on Saturday, August 10th to help set up/tear down and operate a Special Event Station from the Dragon Boat Race. I will supply all the radio equipment and the generator to operate. We will use the club’s canopy to provide shade but are in need of a portable table (large card table or the like) and some folding chairs. I would expect to set up around 0800 hrs and tear down between 1500 and 1600 hours on Saturday the 10th. Watch for next weeks PARSgram for more detailed information. Any member that is willing to participate in this PARS event, PLEASE contact me via email, K4ONC@aol.com. This will be a great way to get the PARS name in front of the public and make several contacts at the same time, both via radio and in person. All QSO’s will be confirmed via our club QSL cards.”
PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) July 27, 2019 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-six PARS members, visitors and guests attended the breakfast meeting chaired by President Bill Michne, WM3X, at Brantley’s Village Restaurant.
* Bill presented the treasurer’s report on behalf of Treasurer Wally Wallace, KK4ASP, and distributed copies of the club roster. The club made a $250 donation to the Pamlico Shrine Club for the use of their building for Field Day. It was enclosed with a letter of thanks describing PARS achievements during the event.
* Propagation Report: Solar activity continues to be very low; no Sunspots now, 136 days (65%) without this year. DX is still to be had on HF especially when using digital modes. 6 Meters has delivered surprisingly well with E layer skip this season.
* Mike Marsh, K4NLC, our ARES coordinator reported 9 sessions in May for 51.5 mh and 42.66 mh in June. Due to training sessions for AUXCOM, the monthly ARES training has been rescheduled to August 15 and the planned local SET to Aug 21. Participation in the national SET 5-6 October is being considered.
* President Bill delivered PARS Field Day results: 17 participants plus uncounted guests; no GOTA contacts due to poor propagation and few signals on 17 meters. 128 QSOs, 83 of those on CW. 1772 points claimed, most being bonus points. ARRL reported participation up in 2019 with 3070 entries submitted.
* Cycle NC is coming back to Oriental in April 2020. After lengthy discussion, the need for PARS services was questioned although requested by the Tourism Board. The event organizers now bring their own equipment and cell service in the county has improved. At the same time the APRS infrastructure used by PARS to support the event with location service last time has disappeared. A not-to-interfere parallel ARES exercises a possibility.
* The Bike MS organizers do welcome amateur radio support. A number of PARS members continue to assist each year. Expect more information as the 2019 event dates of September 7-8 get closer.
* As with the Cycle NC operation, although our help was requested by the local planners, the commercial Dragon Boat organization brings their own communications equipment. As PARS POC, Bruce, K4ONC, proposed a special event HF station instead. This would promote the event and also amateur radio on Saturday Aug 10th. Both the event planners and PARS members agreed. [See Bruce’s request elsewhere in this PARSgram.]
* Three lucky members took home the remaining door prizes donated by Jamie King, KJ4JK. Thanks, Jamie!
* The meeting was adjourned at 0950.
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. Activity will continue to be very low according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. On Sunday, the reported Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was 67. The index is predicted to stay at 67 today through Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average is 69.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. It is expected to be quiet today and Tuesday and then quiet to unsettled on Wednesday. The estimated Kp-index of 1 at 8 a.m. local this morning indicates we are currently experiencing quiet conditions.
We can expect fair daytime and good nighttime operating conditions on 80 and 40 meters for the next few days. Poor conditions will continue on the higher bands. For the six meter band, expect short openings (E layer skip) and then mostly in the afternoons. Last week was a quiet week with some single hop skip up to 1200 miles along a broad arc from Texas to Nova Scotia. DX contacts into Europe were few.
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**
– Ameritron ALS-606 600W Solid State Linear Amplifier with Power Supply. New, 2 months ago, I have 2 of them and only need one! Priced at $1,600. It can be seen and tried at my QTH in Comfort (Jones County), NC. Will deliver as far as New Bern. For more info contact Terry Brown, KE4ULF at terbrw@yahoo.com (20190520)
**For Sale**
– Kenwood TS-870SAT Transceiver. Works and looks as new. Has hand mic and power cable, no box. $650.
– Ameritron ATR-20 Antenna Tuner. Has new roller inductor, works perfectly. Condx is 9 out of 10! Asking $175.
Contact Don Smith, KJ4RB at kj4rb@embarqmail.com or 252-568-4011 (If no answer please leave message). (20190520)
PARS CALENDAR:
* Aug 10, Dragon Boat Festival–Special Event Station, Saturday, 8a-4p, River Dunes, Bruce Perkins. K4ONC, 252-249-6015 or k4onc@aol.com.
* Aug 15, THIS IS A DATE CHANGE from Aug 1, Emergency Communications Training for ARES, Thursday, 7-9 pm, Brinson Building Room 411, Pamlico Community College, Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or mike@marshconsulting.org
* Aug 21, Annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Pamlico Emergency Net/ARES members, Wednesday, 7:30 pm, Oriental Repeater, 147.210 + (PL151.4). Transmission of message using NBEMS is planned. See http://www.arrl.org/nbems For more info contact Mike Marsh, K4NLC, 252-636-1257 or mike@marshconsulting.org.
* Aug 31, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Sep 28, PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental PARS MONTHLY MEETING, Saturday, 9am, Brantley’s Village Restaurant, Oriental. For more info, contact 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.
73, Jim AI4WL
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