NOTES FROM 10 NOV RAPPACKERS PVRC MEETING AT NR4M

The election meeting was held at the QTH of NR4M (Da Goat Farm) on 10 Nov 2018

The meeting was called to order by Larry k7SV at 10:30 AM.

Under new business:

The PVRC Officers election process was completed.

Larry described the Trustee election process and the fact that the current Board of Trustees voted no confidence in the process resulting in cancellation.

The Silver Olympic award was presented to Tom KG3B.

The Rappahannock Chapter Christmas dinner is planned at the General Quarters restaurant on 15 Dec. Steve NR4M will firm up plans for a buffet style dinner with the restaurant.

This was the second meeting for Ian W0IMD who was voted into our organization.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30.

Activities as described as we went around the room:

K4ZW Ken has been working on getting two towers up. There is 40 ft of the planned 95 ft in place. Ken got on for SSCW with wire antennas doing SO2R with his K3 and using a Yaesu FT450 as a second radio (receiver of the temporary 450 left a bit to be desired).  He was late in getting started as CW wouldn't key. Ken used Writelog and had recently done an upgrade. After trying numerous other things to no avail, he reverted to the older version of Writelog and that resolved the problem. (Note to self not to do a software upgrade before a contest without horoughly testing it! - Ed). Ken did a full 24 hrs and ended up with 1000 Qs missing VI. (There was some discussion regarding the PR/VI debacle this year - Ed).

K4QS Chuck did his first CWSS in 35 years working 651 Qs missing one multiplier. He feels fortunate to have purchased a set of Chevron paddles. He wanted to purchase a set several years ago but Kevin M0AGA hadn't built any for some time. On a whim Chuck contacted Kevin recently. He told Chuck he had completed another run of five and that four had been sold. Chuck said no, you have sold all five and is now the proud owner of one of these beautiful keys. (Reminds me of being enamored with Dan N3ND's N0SA built paddles when he and Jack W0UCE (SK) joined us at NR4M in 2012 for ARRL CW - I finally ended up getting a set of N0SA paddles, identical story to Chucks Chevrons).

KS4Q Skip has been chasing DX having put Ducie in the log on several bands. He says this was the best DXpedition he's ever worked in terms of operators and signals.He's having a problem with water getting into the connector for his Tail Twister at the top of the tower. He dried it out and sealed it once, but once again it's acting up. He's pondering going up again, but after hearing of the demise of Reverend Paul W0AIH is giving it a lot of thought. Skips really careful and follows all the safety precautions but at 80 yrs + he's concerned. Skip has automated all of his antenna selection.

KG3V Tom enjoyed SSCW but had to complete antenna repair prior to it. He worked 728 Qs and missed a few mults.

W6LWG Dick has been working on antennas. He's planning on two 50 ft tower, one which will support his TH6. He's giving consideration to several wire antennas as well.

KK4URZ Owen has taken his dipole down for the winter. He's looking at various wire antennas including a skyloop. He's been working UHF/VHF satellites.

N4CF Mike did SSCW working 518 Qs missing non other than VI! He's doing WAE RTTY this weekend and is looking forward to SS SSB the next weekend. Towards the end of the month it will be CQWWCW. He's still doing a lot of astronomy included automated imagery.

NR4M Steve who had a large collection of Rohn tower recent sold a bunch of 45 and 55 and a couple of Telrex rotators to hams or prospective hams from ME and NJ. He's been working on a new rotating 160 ft Rohn 55 tower. With all the rain he's had concrete woes. When it dries up a bit he plans to rent a mixer and have the necessary product delivered to put his own concrete together. In SSCW he once again found that the 20M antenna is simply too high but the Moxon at 70 ft on 40 worked well. He forgot to lengthen the 80M inverted vee so worked a few stations running low power. 500Qs, didn't do SO2R. He's getting ready for CQWWCW at the end of the month. Today (Sunday) he's heading down to NC to deliver the elements for an 80M 4sq to Mike N4GU.

K2WK Walt did 750 Qs in SSCW ending up with 123K and missing .......... VI (seems like there's a theme here). He's been very active in the CWTs on Wedsdays finding 80 and 40 to be lots of fun. He's been working JA/Asia long patch on 40.

KN4DEB Arnie or Gunner took his camper to WV for SSB NAQP and got on for 4 hours. He worked about 75 Qs having a great time. He needs to find a new mast to support his wires when using the camper. The fiberglass pole he got at Dayton just doesn't cut the mustard as it starts to fold over near the top. He's going to replace his off-center fed dipole with normal coax fed dipoles at 50 ft at home.  Steve (NR4M was telling the group how Arnie forgot the term Elmer and was telling folks at Dayton that Steve was his EMO).

N3ZV Whitney tale was all woe. His tower was struck by lightning during the summer. His rotator is hosed and it appears the antenna switch on the tower is a well. He's got some new equipment but because he has no antennas hadn't unboxed it yet. He trying to find someone who will ride the crane lifted bucket to the top of his 100 foot tower to replace things.

W0IMD Ian is a Brit who's been in the area for some time. He recent moved a short distance in VA and isn't back on the air yet. He'll be joining the Goat Farm Crew for CQWWCW. Ian was voted in as a member during this meeting.

K4IA Buck said he's been sucked in by FT8.  He says it's interesting in that it keeps drawing him back to watch QSOs accumulate but he doesn't get a lot of satisfaction out of it!

K7SV Larry recently replaced his TEE with 4 elevated radials on 160 with an inverted L over a folded counter-poise. It's used primarily for domestic contest but he's worked a number of Europeans with it as well as VP6D running low power. After a huge oak tree came down in a wind storm in June he just moved his NE/SW oriented 40M dipole into an area now available that is further away from the house. When the antenna was over the top of the house, RF from it would get into a motion activated porch light which would rectify it and re-radiate crud all over 20 meters. Since moving it there's no sign of crud on 20. He fed it with 1/2 wavelength of RG-58X and then 3/4 wavelength of 1/2 inch un-jacketed 75 ohm CATV hard-line.  The 50 ohm to 75 ohm feed results in almost flat SWR across the band. Larry did about 22 hours in SSCW garnering 969 Qs and 82 sections. Guess which section was missed? He heard KP3X but figured he was in PR so didn't waste time calling.

That's it, but one funny comment is that prior to the meeting Steve's 50lb Labradoodle pup Lucy came bounding into the room when she saw Larry sitting in a chair and leapt into his lap. Lap dog sure!

73 de Lar K7SV