RAPPACKERS Meeting

Pictures taken at the meeting can be found in this album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109502432606846562197/PVRCRappackMeetingSeptember102012

Hey folks,

We had a terrific turnout for Saturdays Rap Chapter meeting, 25 in
attendance. Meeting was called to order by K4ZW at 10AM. With no old or new
business to discuss we proceeded to go around the room learning what our
fellow contesters were up to. The meeting adjourned for scrumptious grilled
burgers, sausages and chicken. Great company, great food!

Here's a report on activities:

K4ZW Ken was playing an exasperating game with sound card voice keying using
Windows 7. Due to a delay in the recorded voice being played he decided to
go with Windows XP. As part of work related visits to Chad and Mali, Ken
spent a little time in Ethiopia. He visited with Sid ET3SID and some of the
students involved with the ET3AA club station. He got some of the students
involved running a pile up on 15M which brought broad smiles to their faces.
He is mentoring them in contesting. Ken left some equipment for them and
returned home with two nice Ethiopian shirts.

K4EU Steve participated in the IARU, YO DX and WAE CW contests. He talked up
N1MM doing QTCs. Steve has qualified for the Diamond DXCC award and made the
DXCC Triple Threat as well. He's been going through 40 years of qsls from
overseas operations such as GM5AXO and filing them alphabetically. He found
a 1972 card from WA0GQI to GM5AXO and presented it to K7SV (ex WA0GQI) at
the meeting.

WA4PGM Kyle and his new bride honeymooned in Bermuda for several weeks. His
wife enjoyed the beach while he spent a little time on the radio. He hasn't
been very active from home, doing a little six meter operating. He's
preparing for another trip to TI5N for ARRL SSB.

W4PK Sam dabbles some in contests. Licensed in 1959 Sam likes RTTY and is on
the honor roll. He's trying to do some EME work and finding a lot of details
that need attention in preparing for it. He worked the SARTG RTTY contest,
but had a few equipment problems.

W0CN Dan has been making use of his remote access to operate contests from
Hawaii. He worked the HI QSO party that way and is planning a trip back to
KH6 for the CQWW SSB contest with a multi group. Dan placed 7th world-wide
in a single band 15M effort in WW SSB last year.

NR4M Steve showed one of the Power Werx switching 25 amp continuous 30 amp
intermittent power supplies. It's really small and just weights 3 lbs. It
appears to be quiet RF noise-wise. Steve's making plans for a M/M effort i
the CQWW RTTY contest at the end of Sept and is looking for ops. He's having
problems with the direction indicator on the rotator ring swinging the
middle 15M yagi in the stack.

KA4RRU Mike said his last big thing in contesting other than RTTY contests
was a trip with WA4PGM & Co. to TI5N a few years ago. He talked about
finding it strange that they scheduled short (3 hour) operating stints, but
after running a pileup for 3 hours was ready for a break! Mike is gearing up
for the Jan RTTY contest. He just purchased one of the QRO amplifiers that
NR4M had for sale. He's retired but with two daughters in school and such it
doesn't seem like he's retired!

KT0P Scott just refurbished his 80M horizontal loop which was getting pretty
ratty. He said it seems to be working well in his stealth situation. He
operated in the WAE CW contest with the NR4M gang.

K1SE Bill has been very busy with some family issues, but expects to be
getting back into the swing of things shortly.

K4EC Frank talked about (literally) debugging the station at NR4M as some
positions are moved around and cabling is squared away. It seems that over
the nears a number of beetles, rolly polly bugs and spiders have met their
demise behind equipment and cable runs! He's looking at getting his 80M
horizontal loop back in the air.

N2QT Mark Likes RTTY and tried using 3 radios in the Slovenian and SARTG
contests. At the meeting he demonstrated an RTTY skimmer that is being
developed. He spoke about skimmer technology in general. He showed off his
plaque for winning low power CQWW RTTY contest last year (supplied by our
own George K4GM).

KC4D Bill has been quite active in the mini CWT contests. He's enjoying them
while polishing his skills. He and his wife just completed an extended trip
to the Pacific Northwest. He had a large tree fall across a guy wired on his
135 foot Rohn 45 tower. The top section of the tower was damaged. The Ring
Rotator slipped down the tower some. He has gotten the MonstIR back to the
ground. He had thought about making the tower a bit shorter, but peer
pressure convinced Bill to add another 3 feet to what he had! He's finding
the big antenna is too high for western Europe, so he's looking at putting a
4 el SteppIR further down the tower. He plans on being at the Goat Farm for
CQWW CW.

AK4SQ Dan is a new ham being mentored by KC4D, W4JAM and some of the other
Lynchburg crew. He's working phone and cw, chasing dx and new states. Dan
managed to earn his Extra class ticket before making his first QSO! He's
been working on his code for about two months and is at 15WPM!

W4JAM John got into RTTY a year ago with two countries confirmed. He is now
at 200 countries! He mentioned that BUDDY W4YE has a Tailtwister and 60 or
70 feet of Rohn 45 tower for sale.

K4GM George has been operating some contests from NR4M. He's also getting
into some from home using a k3 and wires in the trees. He also has a
collection of Drake C-Line equipment with the Sherwood modes that he's
getting ready to put back on the air. Plans on being at the Goat Farm for
CQWW RTTY.

K3TAM Tammy and her husband AB3IC from Southern MD attended the meeting. This
was Tammy's 2nd meeting and she had completed a PVRC application. She was
voted in.

AB3IC Tom is just getting back into ham radio and contesting after a 10 year
hiatus for various reasons. As he was looking for a power strip for Tammy he
ran across his TS-440 and pulled it out. That started the ball rolling and
now he has added a TS2000 and an IC7200. He's been playing with skimmer
some. Says he won't use skimmer in SS as he has vowed to make a sweep
without assistance! He's done some multi level operating with Way N1WR and
crew. He said the Southern MD group is small, green and very enthusiastic!

K4FJ Steve says that strangely everything seems to be working at his place.
He's getting ready for doing a M/S effort in CQWW RTTY.

K3ZM Peter discussed his 160M focus from the fabulous Chesapeake Bay
location. He spoke of his brother VY2ZM posting high world score in the CQ
160 cw contest last year while Peter posted the high USA score. Then VY2ZM's
son operating the CQWW SSB from VY2ZM posted world high with Peter once
again posting USA high. He thinks he may lose a mult and fall to number two
once the logs are adjudicated.

K4GMH Mike has been of the air for a number of months dues to family
matters. He spoke of setting NA records in 2010/2011 in several rtty
contests. K4FJ and K7SV helped get his bottom SteppIR direction to be in
agreement with the rotator and replaced his 80M inverted vee recently.

N3ZV Whitney has not been as active as he'd like, but is making progress
towards getting some big antennas in the air. He's got 27 yards in place the
self supporting tower that's about to support a couple of large yagis and
some wires. He pland to be at the Goat Farm for the CQWW RTTY.

N4NW Tom hasn't been doing a lot of contesting in recent months. He has been
doing some dxing and has worked the NH8S operation on 40, 20 and 17. He
attended the DXPO in Md. After seeing W3LPLs stack of six meter yagis, Tom
is building an an 8 el yagi on a 42 foot boom for 6. He plans on attending
the Virginia Beach hamfest which will feature Jim W4PRO speaking at the DX
dinner. He's trying to decide whether to operate the CQWW RTTY from home or
NR4M.

N4JOW Joe had a storm take down his 40M dipole. As he was looking to repair
it he became very well acquainted with chiggers. Both ankles and one arm are
loaded with bites. The ensuing discussion about chiggers would seem to
indicated widespread familiarity with them. K7SV says a product that has
provided him with relief is called "Chiggerex". Joes has ordered and
antennadyne antenna.

WK3W Rob appeared a bit late to the meeting dressed as a Jamaican
Rastafarian! Between work and problems with his new home, efforts in getting
the huge antenna from K5MR have been delayed, but Rob assures us it's in the
works!

N3UA Sejo who is from Bosnia has been in the US for 8 years. He's active
with the Central VA Contest club as well as the Rappahhanock PVRC chapter.
He operates cw contests from the Goat Farm.

K7SV Larry remains busy helping keep things going at the Goat Farm. In
addition to participating in multi operator events from there, he operates
in domestic contests such as NAQP and the Sprints from home.

73 de Lar K7SV