[PVRCNC] 11/4 draft minutes

[Jim Price]

As usual, please let me know of any corrections -- I'll post the minutes
with any revisions to the main PVRC list in a few days.

PVRC/NC Meeting Minutes 
4 November 2003, Golden Corral, Dillard Drive, Cary 

Members Present:
WW4M Jim, NI4S Andy, K4HA Bob, K4WES Wes, WJ9B Will, K2AV Guy, N4CW
Bert, K4QPL Jim, K4CIA Bill, N4TL Tom
Regrets: NX9T, AD4L, W2CS

Club Business:
Jim WW4M forgot to mention at the meeting that the pvrcnc.org domain
name was renewed for 2 years (Jim's treat) and the web hosting was
renewed 1 year for $99.50 (discounted 2 months for moving to a new
server).  He'll try to remember to pass the hat at the next meeting.

Guy K2AV intends for the November meeting to be a joint affair with the
chapter members in Winston-Salem, to be held in Burlington on a Tuesday
or Thursday evening.  At this meeting we'll vote to grow/split into two
chapters: PVRC/NC-West and PVRC/NC-East.  Details about the meeting
plans will follow.

Member news:
Jeff NX9T (via email): "Sorry to say I will have to miss tomorrow nights
meeting.  I will be stuck in Kinston on work until around 8pm.   Enjoy! 
I was on a little during SS CW and hope to be on with a bigger splash
during SS phone."

Guy K2AV said he blew up an AL-1200 in SSCW (after experiencing problems
earlier in WPX).  He replaced the blown electrolytic cap with 25 mf
oil-filled caps and rearranged some diodes, but then started to melt the
plate choke and blow out the grid meter.  He has replacement parts on
order.  Guy relayed regrets from W2CS, who is experiencing an
intermittent noisy fence. He was disappointed by SSCW but is getting
ready for CQWW CW.  Also, N4AF is reported to be finished restoring the
antenna farm following Hurricane Isabel, and his scores have been
looking good. (He has also migrated to WriteLog.)

Will WJ9B had fun in SS CW.  Did better on 20m after changing out his
feedline and got 934 Qs LP.  Also was on for WAE, and experienced no
neighborhood TVI running HP in the Sprint.  He'll be at NY4A for CQWW
CW.

Wes K4WES has been working on hardline connectors and adjusting his
rotor on  his new tower.  He hoped to be on the air that weekend for
RTTY.

Andy NI4S was looking forward to SS Phone.  He's also slated to take
over the helm at the Raleigh ARS soon - congratulations Andy!

Jim WW4M will be operating SS Phone from W4ATC, the student club station
at NC State University. [ps: Pete AD4L will join him].  He reported that
the club's TR7 wasn't making power, and Bert N4CW volunteered to take a
look.  He also said Jeff N3NPQ had straightened out nearly all of his
aluminum following this year's storms and was looking forward to getting
back on the air.

Bob K4HA has been recovering from lightning damage, and he related a
good story about rescuing Chuck K4NYS's tower by removing a tree that
had fallen on the guy wires with a block and tackle and electric winch.

Tom N4TL had a hundred Qs in SSCW, plus another hundred in a contest the
weekend before.  He's been working on a 1938 rig his brother rescued
from their uncle's estate, and he was amused to see his coworkers'
reactions when they saw tubes for the first time.

Jim K4QPL had fun in SS CW; since he was using WJ9B's filters he stopped
at 907 Qs to "let" Will finish with the better score.  This was the
first time he had tried SO2R.  Nonetheless this was a personal best for
Jim in SS.

Bert N4CW remarked on the many loud QRP stations he heard in SS.  While
in Maine he experienced winds every bit as strong as those on Hatteras,
and the antennas on his tower got twisted.  He dabbled in CQWW Phone
S&P.  His 706 is working very well, and he's been enjoying using his
SCAF filter (switched capacity audio filter), which he built from a kit
from Idiom Press for $89.  He's been using Spectrascope software to
analyze his filters - the results are interesting but he's still
analyzing.  Bert will miss CQWW CW this year due to a wedding.  And a
recommendation from Bert - he is very happy with his $89 Code Warrior
Junior from Vibroplex.  Of all of the keys in his collection, this
little one ranks #2 on his satisfaction meter.

73, Jim WW4M