PRESIDENT’S SOAPBOX
At the PARS meeting on Saturday it was decided to greatly simplify our
Field Day operation. We won’t be putting out announcements or press
releases to interest the public in visiting our site. Over the past
several years that simply has not worked. We won’t be having a GOTA
station set up, either. Again, with one or two exceptions it simply was
not worth the effort. But we will have a Field Day operation, starting
with antenna set up on Friday morning. At 9:00 AM on Saturday morning
we will have a VE test session for students in my Technician course, and
any other PARS members who want to upgrade. We’ll follow that with
equipment setup and testing. We hope to put three HF stations on the
air, with an operating period of only about three hours. If we can get
enough operators to run these stations for the whole three hours we can
probably rack up some serious points. We’ll end the day with dinner.
The next morning we could operate for a couple of hours before shutting
down and cleaning up. And don’t forget that all PARS members can
operate from their home stations using their own call signs, and add
their scores to the club score. Finally, if you want to order Field Day
gear and have free shipping, place your order with me. I will submit
one large order on June 1, and PARS will pay the shipping. _…_
Congratulations to Paul, KO4MHM, on passing the Extra Class exam. …_._
de WM3X, Bill Michne, 252-249-1175, drmichne73@gmail.com.
PAMLICO AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY (PARS) May 29, 2021 MEETING NOTES
* Twenty-eight PARS members, visitors and guests attended the 9 am
breakfast meeting chaired by President Bill Michne, WM3X, at Brantley’s
Village Restaurant.
* Dick, K4JJW, reported he has worked over 500 grids on 6 meters. Lor,
W3QA, was happy to report his and Matt’s balloon, NC4ES-2, had made it
around the Earth 1 1/3 times. [The “Eastern Express had traveled for 20
days and many miles until its signal was lost over Central Iran-ed.]
Gary, NC3Z, was able to complete a single band (was it 10M?) FT8 DXCC in
4 weeks time. Bill, WM3X, talked about working a ham on 30M who was
using his new homebrew two tube two watt CW transmitter.
* Bill presented Wally’s treasurer’s report. The club is solvent.
* Propagation Report: Solar activity currently low BUT has shown
considerable activity since our last meeting. The solar flux jumped to
88 on May 26th and then popped to 94 the next day before working back to
our current 77. The 90 day average is 76. 6M has been active with
openings into Europe and double hop ES to the US west coast. Expect
slowly improving conditions, especially on higher HF bands.
* Gary, NC3Z, briefly answered questions about his dxpedition to the
BVI next week [See below for more-ed].
* Mike Marsh, K4NLC, our ARES coordinator, reported 4 net training
sessions in May for 13.5 mh. Check-ins are down to nine, not good with
our impending hurricane season. To maintain proficiency, Mike asked
members to check-in via WinLink and reported on improved WinLink
connectivity with the Vara mode. [Vara is a high performance HF software
modem-ed].
* Paul, K4MMB, reported the club web site (www.n4prs.org) this month
had 260 visitors who looked at 487 pages. This is a 60-70% visitor increase.
* Field Day. Bill updated the group and led a discussion on Field Day
plans. Bill will submit one order for Field Day items on June 1; club
will pay postage. Call/email Bill with items desired. No planned effort
for public exposure this year. Rules allow for pooling of home and
on-site logs. Tentative Schedule:
– Friday, 25 June, 0900 Antenna set up at the Shrine Building on NC-306
south, Grantsboro.
– Saturday, 26 June, 0900 VE Session.
– 1000- Set up and test equipment. Two SSB and one CW station.
OPERATORS/LOGGERS NEEDED-KEEP CHAIRS FILLED!
– 1400- Begin Operation
– 1730- Dinner
– Sunday, 1000-1400 Operating
– NLT, 1400 Shutdown and clean up.
* The meeting was adjourned at 0951.
SOLAR NUMBERS TODAY
NOAA reported solar activity was at a very low level during the 24 hour
period ending yesterday at 5 p.m. local. There are two numbered sunspot
regions on the Sun facing Earth this morning. One of them, new sunspot
region AR2827, has quadrupled in size since yesterday according to
spaceweather.com. Even so, the Prediction Center expects solar activity
to be very low through Wednesday. There is a chance for a C-class flare
each day. On Sunday the observed Solar Flux Index (SFI) at Penticton was
- (Last Sunday it was 79.) The index is predicted to drop to 72 today,
Tuesday and Wednesday. The SFI 90 day trailing average is up one to 77.
The Earth’s geomagnetic field was quiet yesterday. NOAA expects
conditions to be quiet today then quiet to active Tuesday and Wednesday.
The estimated Kp-index of 1 reported at 5 a.m. local this morning
reflects our current quiet geomagnetic conditions.
Currently we can expect fair daytime and good nighttime operating
conditions on 80 and 40 meters, fair on 30 and 20, poor on the higher
bands. Twenty has been open 24 hours a day with some surprisingly good
DX (on FT8) around breakfast time. Forty-meters continues to deliver
Asia contacts just before and after the morning gray line. Six-meters
has been open daily for a few hours, mostly single hop–up to about 1200
miles–either into the Caribbean or to our west or both.
And don’t forget to listen for our PARS member Gary Mitchelson as
VP2V/NC3Z from Tortola, British Virgin Islands (NA-023), between
Thursday, June 3rd and Monday, June 14th. He will be on 40-6 meters
using SSB and FT8/FT4; as propagation dictates. You can follow his
activity on ClubLog.
For an explanation of the 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
For listing in the PARSgram send me your amateur radio related items
that are for sale, trade, or wanted. PLEASE let me know when you have
have sold your item or your listing is no longer needed. Listings will
EXPIRE AFTER 90 DAYS unless I hear otherwise.–Jim.
* No new listings, send me one.
PARS CALENDAR:
* Jun 26-27, ARRL Field Day, Pamlico County Shrine Club, NC-306,
Grantsboro. For more info, contact Bill Michne, WM3X, 252-249-1175 or
drmichne73@gmail.com.
* Jul 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.
LOCAL NETS OF INTEREST TO PARS MEMBERS:
* 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/
Our Web Master is Paul Jodoin, K4MMB, 561-308-3456, PARSwebman@gmail.com
PARS YOUTUBE CHANNEL–N4PRS RADIO
Videos of recorded PARS Meetings, presentations, and club activities can
be viewed on on the N4PRS Radio YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEMfxc7PQixT0rr5xEKtyQ
On this Memorial Day, please take time to remember the brave men and
women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms we enjoy.
73, Jim AI4WL
——
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