[PVRCNC] Historic NC Chapter Meeting 3/10/04

[Jim Price WW4M]

The NC Chapter has cloned itself!  Minutes and pictures at
http://pvrcnc.org/minutes/m.040310.html

---------------------------

Historic PVRC/NC Joint East/West Meeting 
10 March 2004, Golden Corral, Burlington, NC 

Members Present: 
Pete AD4L, Guy K2AV, Jim K4QPL, Melissa KD4VED, Dan KG4ECI, Robert KG4NEP (with
Alex), John N0KTY, Bert N4CW, Tom N4IOZ, Jeff NX9T, Jack W0UCE, Henry W2DZO,
Will WJ9B, Don WS4NC, Jim WW4M 

First Meeting: Brad K0BHC 

Regrets: Jack K4VV, Wes K4WES 

Contests coming up 
CQ WW WPX SSB March 27-28 
CQ WW WPX CW May 29-30 

Chapter Business 
Dinner was scheduled for 7:00 pm and Guy K2AV opened the meeting at 7:45.  This
was the first joint meeting of PVRCers from the Triangle (Raleigh/ Durham/
Chapel Hill) and Triad (Greensboro/ High Point/ Winston-Salem) areas.  We plan
to hold future joint meetings biannually near the equinoxes (March and
September).  Hopefully the September meeting will be a bigger affair and
include members from other regions as well as formal speakers. 

The first order of business was a proposal from all members present to split the
North Carolina chapter into North Carolina/East and North Carolina/West
chapters, with Henry W2DZO the chairman and Robert KG4NEP the secretary for the
West chapter and the East chapter retaining K2AV and WW4M as chairman and
secretary.  The proposal was approved by unanimous acclimation. K2AV applauded
the NC/West members for the moxie and mojo they have displayed in contesting
and encouraging operators to get active in contesting.  The NC/West chapter
comes into being with about 10 members, not including Will WJ9B who lives in
the Triad but has been making the long commute to meetings in the Triangle all
of these years. 

Tom N4IOZ remarked that it is well known that whenever 3 hams gather they
usually manage to split into 2 clubs, however this was the first time he'd ever
seen a split occur at a group's first gathering, not to mention that it was
scheduled as our first item on our agenda. 

Both chapters will continue to share the http://pvrcnc.org website and the
pvrcnc@mailman.qth.net email listserver.  Since a number of NC/East members
recently chipped in to cover renewal of the web hosting and domain name, W2DZO
suggested that NC/West members who wanted to contribute could help with
expenses for RARSfest tables.  Since the web expenses come due each fall we can
pass the hat at the joint September meetings.  Members of both chapters will
also be able to request the use of the PVRC/NC callsign NY4A (trustee N4AF). 

Henry W2DZO provided a short history of the core group of the NC/West
contesters.  They had been members of the Forsythe ARC (W4NC) and formed their
own Courteous Operators Club (W4WS). They operated CQWW M/S Field Day-style
(don't all contesters operate from the field?), not aware they could run a mult
station without becoming a M/M.  Next they contested from W4NC at the Red Cross
station, suffering through the QRN generated by the blood coolers.  Then they
started operating from W2DZO.s house, incorporating the swing set into the
antenna farm and appropriating the clothes dryer.s 220 VAC line for the
amplifier (suffering a 30V drop along the trip to the amp).  They currently are
operating M/S from KG4NEP.s .champagne station on a beer budget, having
recently erected 5 towers in 5 weeks.  They enjoy having a good time while
being competitive and look forward to being recognized by their new PVRC
affiliation by other contesters at this year.s Dayton Hamfest.

Henry unveiled (literally) the sacred W4WS scepter so the NC/East members could
gaze upon it. The scepter, which is actually a Bud Light Draft handle, was the
result of many years of pizza and cold beer at the W4WS favorite haunt, Princes
on the Park. "Several of us would go there after Forsyth ARC meetings to relax
and chat about contesting. Five years later the restaurant closed and the
fixtures went to auction. Don WS4NC went to the auction and convinced the
owner, Mike Prince, to give us the tap handle since we 'probably paid for it
about 200 times...' The scepter hangs at our
W4WS station and is uncovered during operating events as a reminder of the good
times at Prince's, the birthplace of our group. We "tap" new members of our
operating group during CQWW." 

Next we recognized Brad K0BHC, who was attending his first PVRC meeting.  Brad
is with the 82nd Airborne out of Fayetteville and is using his father's old
callsign.  

BPL report: Jeff NX9T reported on his field investigations into interference
from BPL trials in Wake County.  He recommended that everyone listen to the
wavfile samples on the internet so they'll recognize the noise when they hear
it on the air.  Everything he observed was on the 12m and 10m bands.  A story
about Wake County BPL and Chairman Powell's visit appeared on the ARRL website
at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/03/09/1/?nc=1. Since
Will AA4NC works for Progress Energy, we wondered at the conflicted position in
which he must be finding himself. 

RARSfest:. Jim has reserved 3 tables with an AC hookup (1 table for Pete AD4L
and 1/2 table for Henry K4TMC).  Pete will bring a computer for the
ever-popular RUFZ speed CW recognition contest.  We will hold an informal
meeting at 11AM.  Brad K0BHC gave a plug for the CFARS fest in Fayetteville in
August. 

Member News 

K2AV was pleased to announce that the PVRC ops at NY4A won the M/M division of
WPX CW 2003.  The station has experienced some damage in the recent wind storms
but nothing that can't be fixed.  The computer design of the 8-el 20m wire beam
within the 5-el 40m quad may finally have been tweaked a few too many times, so
it will be retired in favor of a shorter design.  Guy also reported that the
pulleys in the wire antenna system will be replaced with more reliable
stainless boat hardware. 

WJ9B did the ARRL DX contest at NY4A, and also operated in the CQWW and 160
contests.  He hopes to be back to NY4A for WPX. 

N4CW, whose right arm was in a sling following surgery on his rotator cuff,
operated one-handed in the ARRL phone contest and at one point was managing 3Qs
per minute.  So far in 2004 he's only blown up one laptop (bad onboard memory).
 He oprated NAQP CW at W0UCE (using Jack's name but Bert's call) and also
operated the 160 contest from Jack's. 

W2DZO ran NAQP CW, multi on SSB, both flavors of the 160 contest, and operated
the bonus station during the NC QSO Party (hosted by the Forsythe ARC).  He had
a heartbreaking story of operating multi for 39 hours and shorthanded in the
ARRL DX Phone contest, only to expreience dramatic antenna hardware failures at
5AM Sunday morning. 

WS4NC has recently begun using an FT-817 (QRP) and bug into a CB whip antenna
without a tuner in his truck.  

N4IOZ operated mobile in the NC QSO Party. 

KD4VED was on the air for the NC QSO Party during Sunday's storm. 

N0KTY operated the NC QSO Party with his antenna physically located directly
above the point where four counties came together.  He also contributed to the
history of the NC/West group by relating a Field Day story in which they
brought a 1947 weather balloon out of storage to lift a 160m diamond antenna
(with the bottom at 100' above ground), having Rural Hall, NC declared a no-fly
zone for the day.  Unfortunately the balloon ballooned beyond its aging
capabilities and everything came silently tumbling down. 

KG4ECI is operating 10m only at home but otherwise operates with W4WS.  He gave
credit to the contesting bug for inspiring him to upgrade to Amateur Extra. He
enjoys working on the W4WS antenna farm from ground level. 

W0UCE has been gone for four years, mostly in Japan.  He, Bert and Bob operated
in the ARRL and CQ contests.  He also operated for 9 hours and 275 Qs in the NC
QSP Party but lost his log while converting it to Cabrillo format. 

KG4NEP also upgraded to Extra as a result of contesting.  He hosts the W4WS
multi-multi station at his home.  He really enjoys operating with the group and
was happy to earn the title of 4-land Rookie of the Year. 

K0BHC was originally licensed in junior high but has only recently gotten back
into ham radio (but didn't operate while in Afghanistan).  He prefers CW and is
looking forward to building up his station. 

K4QPL operated with the 6-op crew at NY4A during ARRL DX CW and was tickled to
earn 5BDXCC in one weekend.  He has worked other recent contests (prefers CW)
and got on the air for the NC QSO Party.  Work on his new shack/garage is
nearly complete. 

WW4M reported that the club at NC State was recently informed by the College of
Engineering that it would not lose its space in Daniels Hall when the
Electrical Engineering department move to another part of campus (whew!). 

AD4L recognized the work of K2AV and K4VV to move the circle and patience and
enthusiasm of W2DZO and the other members in Winston-Salem.  Pete is scaling
back his ham activities in favor of time with the family and will send a
message to the list of the gear he's selling in advance of RARSfest.  He's
looking forward to getting his antennas back up and pointed at the BPL test
site. 

NX9T also has to work to squeeze in ham radio around family activities.  He
likes to run while on phone but operates S&P on CW.  Jeff manages to get on for
most contests. 

We ended the meeting around 9:45 and closed Golden Corral. 

73, Jim WW4M