[PVRCNC] NC-East and RARSfest meetings

[Jim Price]

RARSfest, April 4, 2004, Raleigh NC.

11am informal meeting - attendance: Pete AD4L, Ed AE4EC, Willy K3VW,
Bill K4CIA, Bob K4HA, Paul K4JA, Jim K4QPL, Henry K4TMC, Raja KB6MTH,
Jeff N3NPQ, Bert N4CW, Tom N4TL, Ron N4XD, Nate N4YDU, Andy NI4S, Jay
NT4D, Jeff NX9T, Jack W0UCE, Henry W2DZO, Joel W3RFC, David W4IDX, Keith
W4KAZ, Don WS4NC, Jim WW4M

===============

PVRC/NC East Meeting Minutes
1 April 2004, Golden Corral, Dillard Drive, Cary

Members Present:
Ed AE4EC, Jim WW4M, Jay NT4D, Bob K4HA, Chuck K4NYS, Jeff NX9T, Tom
N4TL, Bert N4CW, Bill K4CIA, Guy K2AV

Visitors: Keith W4KAZ, Rob KA1ARB

Regrets: Jim K4QPL (No news other than the new garage/hamshack is
consistent with normal construction reports--late and over budget! Still
need electrical and building final inspections), Wes K4WES (I did get
some time to op in the CQ 160m SSB, ARRL DX SSB, and CQ WPX SSB contests
this past month though.  :-)  I did work Germany and Morocco on my half
sloper on 160m, so it is getting out.  I just need to adjust it some
more to lower the SWR with some minor tweaking.  I can't hear the 3B9C
on 160m or 80m though.  :-(  I need to put up a beverage next.)

Chapter Business
This was the second meeting for Keith W4KAZ.  Someone moved that we
accept Keith's application for membership and it was seconded and
approved unanimously.  Welcome Keith!  We were also happy to meet Rob
KA1ARB, who had heard about PVRC on the air from Guy K2AV.

Member News

Jim WW4M will be giving a presentation on ham radio to elementary school
kids in Durham.  He also reported that the NC State College of
Engineering is making its relationship with W4ATC a little more formal,
which means the club won't have to worry about losing its shack when the
ECE moves to a new building in early 2005.

Tom N4TL made 125 contacts in this past weekends contest. He continues
to chase DX and is up to 1750 worked for the ARRL's Challenge award. He
needs chase the QSL cards. Tom also purchased a used 5 element 6 meter
beam and now needs a second tower to put under it.

Jeff NX9T operated in the CQ 160mSSB( 304 q's in 4 hours),  ARRL DX
contest(530 Q's in 8 hrs) and in the CQ WPX(1057 Q's in 16 hours).  He
reports that he has been focusing on being as productive as possible and
geing on with as high rate as possible for the limited time allowed by
family, work, and life in general. His own "contest within a contest".
Looking forward to going to Dayton again this year.  Hopes to be
improving 80 and 160m antennas(especially rx) soon.

Bill K4CIA dabbled a bit in the 160m contest.  He will be card checking
at the ARRL booth at RARSfest.  N1ND will also be in attendance.

Bert N4CW's arm is doing better after having surgery on the rotator
cuff.  He operated in the Russian DX contest and got on for the WPX SSB
contest for his son-in-law WA2JFK (who had a blast).  Bert was surprised
to work VQ9 recently and will be trying to operate digital with his
TS-2000.

Bob K4HA started a new job 3-4 weeks ago with the Highway Patrol working
on microwave paths, VoIP (JPS), etc. He also bought a 756-ProII at the
Charlotte Hamfest.  He is not happy about the mixed audio for crossband
but likes its digital filters.

Chuck pulled his Pegasus out of its box recently and will be bringing it
to RARSfest.

Jay NT4D will be trying to reorient his antennas towards Europe at 22
feet on his broken crankup.

Keith W4KAZ worked 370 Qs in WPX this past weekend and was also on for
NAQP-CW and tried his hand at ARRL DX CW.

Guy K2AV has been very busy at work.  He thought the joint meeting with
the folks from the NC-West chapter was a lot of fun.  Guy then started a
group discussion about W0UCE's "broken triangle" 160m wire antenna,
which is fed like two antennas with two match boxes. 

Rob KA1ARB has not been on the air for a while and often works weekends,
but recently did work multi-op with WB1ADRin New Hampshire for the ARRL
DX phone contest.  He has an A3 on a telescoping mast (can't have a
secondary structure in his neighborhood) but recently purchased a KT34XA
and is looking for tower or roof mount options.

Ed AE4EC stopped by to say hi but had to leave before dinner.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm

73, Jim WW4M