[PVRCNC] PVRC/NC Chapter- Minutes March 1st

[Keith Zeringue]

PVRCNC-EAST December Meeting Notes
March 1st, 2007, Manchester's, North Raleigh.

Turn out was good at the March meeting, and lots of good QRM was buzzing 
about the room. February contests large, medium, and small were the 
topics of discussion as well as the normal stories of Murphy rearing his 
ugly head.

Those in attendance around the table for March included K2AV, Guy; 
W0UCE, Jack; N4GU, Mike; K4WES, Wes; N4YDU, Nate; N1LN, Bruce; N1YXU, 
Laurie; K4QPL, Jim; K4CZ, Barry; W4KAZ, Keith; NT4Q, Jerry; NT4D, Jay; 
KE4GY, Frank; K1ZW, Larry; N4TL, Tom; K4CIA, Bill; and NX9T, Jeff;

K4QPL, Jim, allowed QRM to hold the floor before banging shut the doors 
to begin his evenings' work of cat herding.   K4QPL made a brief but 
unsuccessful mock attempt at foisting the chairmanship back upon K2AV, 
because Guy had "stolen the Chairman's chair".  Having been firmly run 
off the "good chair" Jim started the meeting member reports.

Around the Table:

K2AV, Guy: The score at Howie's multi station for ARRL DX CW (as NY4A) 
is looking good so far, despite an early run in with Murphy. NY4A was 
put on the air this year by N4AF, hosting K2AV, N1LN and K4QPL.   Backup 
computers were hastily brought online when a problem was encountered 
early.  The problems were later determined to be due to bad NIC cards 
causing networking problems.   N1LN, Bruce, had ongoing intermittent 
problems on the replacement computer at the beginning of the contest, 
which were quickly dismissed as "well--its working NOW", then soon 
correctly diagnosed(once K4QPL started transmitting) as software 
configuration problems and corrected.  Glances darted N1LN's way, and it 
was hinted that Bruce might possibly be a Murphy Magnet.

W0UCE, Jack: Hosted N3ND, Dan, and N4CW, Bert for ARRLDX CW. Jack's 
highlights for the month were beating NY4A to a desired multiplier and 
working an I2 off the back of his beam during the NC Road Kill Round 
Up(aka-"RKRU"). Jack also reports that poll results on the RKRU indicate 
there is interest in making the event two bands, and hold it twice a year.

N4GU, Mike: Mike was attending his second meeting with the PVRC/NC 
chapter, but is already a PVRC member. He's found a suitablle QTH in the 
area, and hopes to have his station ready for the fall contest season.

K4WES, Wes: Wes is looking forward to this weekends ARRL DX SSB and the 
CQ WPX at the end of the month. His other recent operating has been to 
chase DX.

N4YDU, Nate: Nate has moved to a new/old/different QTH, and is getting 
the station back into shape. He spun the dials quickly on ARRL DX CW, 
worked the Road Kill Round Up, and played a bit in the NC QSO Party. 
Repriorts the NCQP as being fun, with lots of activity.

N1LN, Bruce: Bruce had high praise for K2AV's ability to keep "Butt in 
Chair", and denies having brought a van load of Murphy with him upon his 
relocation from Texas. "Merely Coincidence!" Thanks from N1LN to W0UCE 
for giving him a chance at working EU from NC for the first time. Bruce 
verified that its more fun from here than from Texas. While operating at 
NY4A, he was shaken out of slumber by K2AV to catch the Sunday morning 
EU opening on 20. Bruce plopped in the chair, plopped on a frequency, 
and spent the rest of the day logging contacts. He's also now the proud 
owner of several holes in the yard, courtesy of K4QPL. Cement and tower 
planting soon to follow.

N1YXU, Laurie: Laurie reported that she and Bruce hosted several members 
of OCRA(Orange County Radio Amateurs) for a chance to try out HF contest 
operating. For many of their guests, it was a first experience operating 
on HF, and using logging software. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the 
visit.

K4QPL, Jim: Jim reported visting the Tar River ARC (along with W4KAZ) to 
give a meeting program on contesting to their group. Very interesting 
conversation with their group, ranging from Writelog to field day, to 
computer software for blind operators. It was a great opportunity to 
promote contesting. Jim was at NY4A, and had a good 15 meter run after 
K2AV finally fell asleep. Had fun working the RKRU, also thoiught there 
was a high level of activity for the NCQSO Party, and even went so far 
as to "diddle" in the WPX RTTY contest. Also the 2003 NY4A plaque had 
been received.

K4CZ, Barry: Barry is having lots of fun exercising his new antenna, and 
has been working on his CW skills, having reached a goal of a 60 Qso 
hour. He's been focusing on spending more time running stations when he 
operates. He also brought his band pass filter for the MFJ-259 series 
antenna analyzer.

W4KAZ, Keith:  Worked bits of ARRL DX CW, in several 20 minute segments 
to gather in some DX. Worked the RKRU, found the low rate to be a good 
match to my lack of prowess with CW, but even I had time to read between 
QSO's.

NT4Q, Jerry: Still slowly gathering components for completing the 
antenna projects at his QTH, hoping to get the low band antennas squared 
away at the least. Going to Multi-op ARRL DX SSB at NT4D.

NT4D, Jay:   Jay's been getting a lot of contest time in, spread out 
over many of the months contests. Had lots of fun in the NAQP RTTY, the 
RKRU, and the ARRL 160 SSB.

KE4GY, Frank: Frank has been pulling a lot of overtime at work, so has 
had very little down time. Despite the long work hours, the antenna farm 
is slowly progressing, and the trees are thinning out to make room for 
more antennas.

K1ZW, Larry: Been on the air some, but most of the recent activity has 
been towards improving the low band antennas.

N4TL, Tom: Tom put in more time than he expected into the ARRL DX CW 
contest, but has mostly been spending his time refurbishing some older 
gear, having had luck finding some needed parts.

K4CIA, Bill:  Bill operated ARRL DX CW as QRP, working 460 Q's. He also 
worked the RKRU and noted that the NC QSO party was once sponsored by 
RARS. For his finale, Bill passed around his very nice First Place 
plaque for 2006 ARRL DX.

NX9T, Jeff:  Jeff had no 'fancy plaque'(sniff) but was happy with 
improving his signal on 160, and had worked the ARRLDXCW mostly on the 
lower bands. He worked the RKRU, the NC QSO PArty, and had fun on the 
first night of the ARRL 160 SSB, but found the noise levels too high to 
enjoy the second night.

Reports via e-mail:

K4TMC, Henry: On the road again, unable to attend.

KA1ARB, Rob: Rob will be unable to attend for the next couple of months 
due to work scheduling. He plans to operate ARRL DX SSB with WB1ADR in 
New Hampshire, probably signing with their club call K1FD.

Paper Contest and Program:

The ever challenging W0UCE paper contest brought back a repeat victory 
by K4CIA, Bill.  Bill claims to be a DX'er, but he sure seems to be 
taking home a lot of paper contest prizes, which this month was a three 
stone sharpening set.

Frank, KE4GY, brought in his his CW computer input device. This gizmo is 
really slick, as it allows someone to type text by using CW.

Announcements

K4QPL announced the passing of N6ZZ, Phil Goetz, and noted that Goetz 
had the distinction of being only one of two radio amateurs to operate 
the CQ World Wide DX Contest from all 40 CQ zones

73, Keith W4KAZ

Scribe's DISCLAIMER!  The accuracy of these notations is suspect, and 
creative license has been applied where the scribe's memory is 
fragmented or when reality was just less interesting(i.e., often!). 
Perception IS Reality. Corrections will be made upon request.