[PVRCNC] Draft NC-East minutes 5/6/04

[Jim Price]

Please send me any corrections or amendments within the next several
days, then I'll post official minutes to the main reflector.

73, Jim WW4M

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

PVRC/NC East Meeting Minutes 
   6 May 2004, Golden Corral, Dillard Drive, Cary 

   Members Present: 
   Brian K3KO, Brad K0BHC, Jay NT4D, Keith W4KAZ, Chuck K4NYS, Bert
N4CW, Bill K4CIA, Jeff
   NX9T, Tom N4TL, Guy K2AV, Ed AE4EC, Will AA4NC, Bob N2NFG, Jim WW4M 

   Regrets: Jim K4QPL, Will WJ9B, Wes K4WES 

   Chapter Business 
   This was the second meeting for Brad K0BHC.  Bert moved that we
accept Brad's application for membership
   and it was seconded and approved unanimously.  Welcome Brad!   

   Guy reminded everyone that WPX CW is coming up (not to mention
Dayton).  Also that K4VV is looking for
   volunteers to look read the BPL responses (contact K4VV for details). 

   Member News 

   Jim K4QPL (via email): "Major construction and inspections completed
on new shack/garage last month.
   Limited spare time and lots of interior work needed before moving in
and abandoning the present 
   shack to the XYL. Looking forward to WPX-CW at NY4A and a world M/M
repeat victory. Guess 
   we'll have to work even harder with everyone gunning for us." 

   Will WJ9B (via email): "It is official.  I will start working at UF
in August of 2004... I'm going down to look for
   housing next week; it will be a bit challenging but there is a good
tower ordinance within the City of Gainesville,
   and the City limits are relatively small..." Per N4AF: "Will is going
to try to make it up to NY4A for some of the
   DXTests but I am sure we all wish him well in (Univ of Fl)
Gainesville (gotta be fun  
   in stateside contests to have a one hop into the NorthEast !!)." 

   Wes K4WES (via email): "I will be around for Field Day this year, so
I'm excited about that.  :-)  I 
   hope the wx will be nice for it." 

   K2AV has been doing some plotting with N4AF for WPX.  Not sure if
WJ9B will still be able to make this one
   for the multi-multi. Howie Keeps having to fix wires after strong
winds.  HBefore the ARRL contest the crew
   tried to tweak the 20m monster (introducing more problems) and plans
to do without for WPX (using the
   monobander instead).  The Monster will be restored in time for the
fall. Howie's planning on changing all of the
   contesting computers to Win2K and WriteLog.  Jay said this combo has
been working fine for him, and Bert
   says the key is to keep the patches current.  K2AV has otherwise been
buried with work. 

   AE4EC is trying to get up a 160m transmission line antenna and hopes
to be active on 160 for WPX. 

   N2NFG is looking forward to WPX and had fun in the phone portion but
realized he had forgotten to pay
   attention to working European stations for points.  He still needs a
backhoe to dig up the guy anchors that got
   whacked by the contractors. 

   WW4M and N3NPQ gave a presentation on ham radio to several classes of
Durham middle school students
   last month.  A new crop of radio contesters? 

   K3KO put up an 8-el 440 beam (antenna #17).  He's been using N1MM
logger on Win98 and has had no
   problems.  He's working on a 60m antenna (that won't be ready in time
for WPX) and is also working on 2
   multiband phasesd half slopers (also not for WPX).  He has also been
acquiring more beams and is still working
   on his amp. 

   W4KAZ has been playing with a broadband 80m folded dipole with open
sleeve feed. He'll be on the air for
   WPX. 

   K4NYS announced the arrival of a new grandson.  He (Chuck, not the
grandson) has been cleaning his TH7
   and put up a rocket launcher to help work on it (but doesn't want
K4HA to know about it).  He's also been
   playing with EZNEC. 

   NT4D has been limping along for the past month. He has verified that
his rotor is working, but his towe rmay
   have to be folded over in order to rewire and replace the hardware. 

   This will be the last NC meeting for N4CW until December (he'll be on
the air from Maine).  He sold his 706
   and bought a TS2000.  He had a wonderful experience sending it in for
service (no, really).  It had been
   experiencing a delay in achieving full TX power level in digital
mode. He dabbled in the FL and New England
   QSO parties and highly recommends the Russian DX contest (a 5M
contest) because they have free software,
   provide a great opportunity for working DX, and have great writeups
and certificates. 

   N4TL reminded everyone that Sunday is Mother's Day.  He sent an
envelope to the Bureau that will give him
   100 band-countries on 30m -- that's now DXCC on 8 bands.  He has
plans to put up a second tower for VHF
   and will start with a 6m beam.  Tom's going to Dayton. 

   NX9T played around in several QSO parties this past month and played
in WPX.  He added a new antenna
   switch and control cable to his shack.  He'll also be at Dayton and
is excited about LBOW. 

   K4CIA said there was a good turnout at RARSfest for card checking. 
He'll be in Dayton this year (missed last
   year).  His summer project will be a shunt-fed tower for 160m. 

   AA4NC said he's operated 96 hours in contests during the past 6
months - HC8N for CQWW m/m and
   8P9JA for ARRL CW.  He'll try to get on for WPX. 

   Adjourned at 7:40 pm with discussion on the topic of Dayton Booth
Babes. 

   73, Jim WW4M