[PVRCNC] PVRCNC-East Chapter - January 2009 Minutes

[W4KAZ]

The following comprises the activities of the PVRC NC-East chapter 
meeting of 1/8/9, or as best they could be fabricated by el Escribano 
Inexacto.  To be logged to the NC website with maintenance on 2/6/9.

More CW practice, and you get the key in advance this time.

73 de el escribano inexacto/lid

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PVRCNC-East Chapter - January Meeting Notes
January 8th, 2009, Manchester's, Raleigh, NC, USA.

The first PVRC meeting of 2009, the January 8th meeting of the NC-East 
Chapter, kicked off amidst a raucus contester's EssEssBee pile-up style 
QRM. The look of glee on AA4NC's face was later discovered to be for 
cause. He brought the crowd to order by insisting the next round of 
807's be put on the tab of the last member to QRT. The near immediate 
silence was too difficult to fairly adjudicate, so Will welcomed our 
guest, K8AC. The meeting was thus begun, sans free 807's.

Around the Table:

AA4NC: Will: Will brought the gathered Lids to another immediate silence 
my noting that his term as chairman was at an end, and a new chairman 
would need to be found and duly elected by the group. He then changed 
the subject to his own operating tales of woe.

K4WES, Wes:   Wes operated the SS phone and was expecting to operate in 
the NAQP phone.

N4YDU, Nate: Nate operated as part of the N1LN krewe in CQ WW phone and 
really enjoyed the rx antennas for the low bands. CQ WW CW was from home.

W0UCE, Jack: Jack was glad to announce that he was back on the air, 
basking in CW once again. Thanking N4YDU for the assist, he has more 
wires going up soon. On 160m, he's so far snagged Cuba, and is on his 
way again to DXCC on 160m from a new qth.

NT4D, Jay: Jay has got the RTTY juices flowing again, and was also 
planning to be part of the multi op @ N1LN for NAQP phone.

W4KAZ, El Escribano Inexacto: Kaz presented N4YDU with the plaque from 
the 2007 IOTA expedition, which had been erroneously mailed to the W4KAZ 
qth, despite N4YDU logging the bulk of the expedition QSO's. Kaz is 
still somewhat impaired(i.e., more than normal impairment) from an 
“acute asthma attack” suffered over the holiday season. He's still 
expecting to operate at the N1LN NAQP phone multi, hoping for the 
hoarseness to subside.

N4GU, Mike: Mike has been able to operate for Sweeps, and for the ARRL 
160m. He's also uploaded log data to LOTW.

K4QPL, Mij: Jim has been Mr. Fix-it, making repairs to his SB-1000, 
after negotiating for the parts. He's also branched out into VW buggy 
repairs. He also found time for operating Sweeps and CQ WW CW at N4AF.

K4CZ, Barry: Barry operated the CQ WW CW as an 80m single band 
operation, and enjoyed the ARRL 160m contest. Also very happy with the 
very nice PVRC 5M plaque he received from the Home Office on the Potomac.

W4TMO, Jim: Jim operated for sweeps, and had most recently operated the 
RTY contest as a multi at N4CW. He was looking forward to the upcoming 
WPX contests.

K2AV, Guy: Guy operated both sweepstakes, and was happy about reaching 
an all time personal high score in the phone half, noting there were a 
lot of other PVRC ops who also made efforts in “unfamiliar territory”. 
The extra efforts in mode that are not normally operated are sure to 
have made a difference in our possible club win and possible all time 
high club score. He's been working on beta testing N1MM with the K3.

K4TMC, Henry: No operating since Sweeps.

KZ1X, Steve: Steve has been doing beta testing with WriteLog and the 
second receiver option on the K3. He emjoyed the time he was able to 
operate in the ARRL 160m.

KA1ARB, Rob: Rob had most recently received his repaired ts-850 back, 
and was looking forward to experimenting with SO2R operating. Rob was 
very happy with turning in a 'best ever' sweepstakes multi/single phone 
score, but was not so excited to see that everyone else in the category 
also seemed to have added to their scores in 2008. He also gave the 10m 
contest a try.

N1LN, Bruce: After suffering through a car accident, and being seriously 
injured, N1LN still rallied to the cause and hosted the CQWW ssb 
multi/two, and the contest went on. (ed note de w4kaz: The man is a 
contest animal!!!) Bruce operated the ARRL 160m with N4CW, and they 
turned in a good score. Looking forward to the NAQP multi's, a CQ160 CW 
multi, and finally being back to 100 percent ambulatory. Hard to do 
tower maintenance with a broken leg!

N1YXU, Laurie: Laurie operated during the CQWW phone multi, and will 
operate the NAQP phone multi.

AA4FU, Alan: Alan has a “Super antenna”, two element yagi, which he 
decided to try out in his limited space. He discovered that even a low 
two element yagi was more productive than his vertical during the 10m 
contest – unfortunately, few signals were heard on either antenna.

K8AC, Floyd: Floyd was attending his first meeting. Noting much of the 
K3 discussion earlier, he told the group that he had already sold his K3 
because his other rig better suited his own personal operating preferences.

K3KO, Brian: Brian has been in the fray for many of the recent contests. 
He mentioned that a problem with his ACOM amplifier was shipped, 
repaired, and returned in only nine days.

K4CIA, Bill: Seeking new challenges, Bill operated the 10m contest QRP. 
He also noted that he had received the first place plaque for 2008 ARRL 
DX phone in the QRP category.

N4CW, Bert: Bert has been “Mr. Multi”. He operated CQ WW CW at N4AF, 
then the ARRL 160m at N1LN. He hosted W4TMO for a RTTY contest and was 
scheduled to multi with N1LN and W0UCE for CQ 160 CW, then at N4AF for 
ARRL DX CW.

AA4NC, Will: Will has been participating in many contests. He was 
seeking accolades for logging one single QSO in each, both the Stew 
Perry and the 10m contest. (ed note de w4kaz: I suspect there may be a 
lot of cometition in the “single QSO category” for this past 10m 
contest). He noted that he had received a 40 meg endorsement for his 
PVRC 5M plaque. Beyond that, he has been spending a lot of time on the road.

Will also made the announcement that the “First Fest” in Winston Salem, 
land of PVRC-NC West, was only days away.

New Bid'ness:

Will then deftly turned the conversation to new business. He again 
welcomed K8Ac to his first chapter meeting, then revealed to the group 
there was indeed a volunteer willing to assume the role of NC/East 
chapter chairman. Rob, KA1ARB was put forth and shortly nominated as 
agreeable to assuming the role of “cat-herd in chief”. Rob's nomination 
was seconded and a voice vote soon explained the earlier look of glee 
upon the face of AA4NC.

Thanks to both the outgoing cat-herd and the new incoming cat-herd!

Paper Contest: Crafting the paper contest for January was the crafty 
N4CW. Our Dear Leader, AA4NC emerged victorious from a tie, edging out 
N4YDU by being first to turn in his log. N4GU was honorable mention in 
3rd. The prize was a “super pico keyer” kit.

Program: K3KO, Brian gave a short presentation on a home brew pic based 
signal generator project.

Next meeting of the NC-East chapter is February 5th.

73, Keith W4KAZ

Scribe's DISCLAIMER!  The accuracy of these notations is suspect, and 
creative license has been applied where the scribe's notes are 
incomplete, his memory is fragmented, or when reality was just less 
interesting. Perception IS Reality. Corrections to the permanent record 
will be made upon request.

Updated 02/04/2009, W4KAZ