[PVRCNC] NC-East Minutes 7/1/04

[Jim Price]

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

Members Present:
Guy K2AV, Bob K4HA, Wes, K4WES; Bob, N2NFG; Jay NT4D, Jeff, NX9T; Keith,
W4KAZ; and Jim WW4M. 

Regrets: Ed AE4EC (recovering from sunstroke - get well soon!), Brad
K0BHC, Jim K4QPL.

Club News
K2AV banged the gavel at 6:25.  Reminder about IARU (July 10) and the
Cary Swapfest (July 17).

Member News
Guy K2AV reported on the config file error at NY4A that resulted in the
logs numbering QSOs in multi/single mode instead of multi/multi, which
knocked the breath out of other multi/multis that were listening to the
exchanges they were giving.  He noted there was a big score gap between
the top 2 or 3 North  American M/Ms and all the rest.  Perhaps the low
QRN on the 40m monster loop helped their score.

Bob K4HA described is recent Homeland Security work for the State Police
and the interference they've been experiencing when multiple services
are located close together frequency-wise on the same tower.  He has
plans to change around his antennas at home in time for the next contest
season and had another great Field Day at Meadows of Dan, Virginia. 
He's also heard that KI7WX will be heading into town on July 10 with a
trailer to pick up his tower pieces.

Wes K4WES and Jim WW4M operated Field Day together with a bunch of other
folks on a farm in Chatham County.  We probably worked more bratwurst
than stations.

Jeff NX9T went back to Indiana to operate Field Day with his old club. 
He'll miss IARU but is looking forward to NAQP.

Keith W4KAZ spent Field Day with Jay NT4D putting up antennas at a
friend's house.  Keith will miss NAQP SSB because of a vacation so will
try to practice CW to be ready for the code portion.  Jay will be
operating in NAQP.  He also has plans to remove the antennas from his
crank-up tower, tilt it over, untangle the cables, then re-erect it at
55-feet as a fixed tower.

Bob N2NFG is patiently waiting for NAQP.  He was not happy about all of
the rain for Field Day and still can't believe how fast things grow in
the North  Carolina summer.

Email News
>From Brad K0BHC: "Much as I would love to be there, especially since I
am on leave for a couple of weeks and have "plenty" of time, I must send
my  regrets. We are leaving Thursday for the weekend in Marietta, GA,
with my in-laws. They are celebrating their anniversary, AND I am taking
down 90 ft of Rohn 25G with a TH7-DX.

"In other news: I have also "contracted" for 110 +/- ft of AB-105, and
another 80 ft of Rohn 25G. I was given a 2L 40M beam for taking it down
(old  Hygain, short boom). I'm going to rebuild it into a "super XM240"
(my wording), using air-core coils and heavy-duty elements, etc. I am
also in the middle of building a pair of remote antenna switches,
automatic band decoders, stackmatches, K9AY 4-way receive antenna loops,
preamps, and an 80M 4-square. Since I just can't get everything done in
one short summer, I'm (fo)cussing on the money bands - 80 (since the
4-square masts were given to me and I'm getting the Comtek box cheap),
40 (similar reasons) and 20 (Going to get one - or *maybe* a pair - of
M2 4L 20's (the M20DX, UPS'able beam)). Or I may build a 4 or 5 element
beam from the Antenna Book dimensions.

"Had a great FD with CFARS here in Fayetteville. We ended up down about
250 Q's and ~600 pts from last year, mostly due to lack of leadership on
the SSB station (2A). Gene, N4ANV, is on vacation with his family. He's
an old DX'er and sometimes Contester who gets into that. I spent my time
at the CW station and trying to motivate the SSB, VHF and GOTA stations
to get with it, as I am "in training" to be the FD coordinator next
year."

>From K4QPL: "Field Day with the W4S gang in eastern Wake County. Did not
produce the signals we expected after a near-disastrous jam and cable
break on the 80' crankup left us with a tribander and the center support
for the low band antennas at about 30'. Fair amount of rain but
fortunately no lightning. The cw station had just over 900 qso's from
about 20 hours. Phone was similar plus a contribution from the GOTA
station."

Meeting concluded at 7:00 pm.  Submitted by WW4M