PVRC RAPPAHANNOCK CHAPTER MEETING NOTES

18 JUNE 2016
 
Meeting at QTH of K7SV was called to order by Larry K7SV at 10:30AM. Larry discussed why recent efforts to revitalize the chapter did not come to fruition. Demographics precluded evening weekday meetings largely due to the work commute of the majority of working folks to northern Virginia or Washington DC. Weekday lunch meetings were poorly attended. Scheduling recurring weekend meetings doesn't work due to conflicts with contests, hamfests and other related happenings. While discussing this with W3LL, Bud let Larry know that “recurring scheduled” meetings was not necessary. Based on that, the 18 June 2016 meeting was the first of four non-regularly scheduled weekend meetings for the year to take place.
 
Old business, none.
 
New business:
 
1.    In regards to holding non-regularly scheduled meetings on weekends, the 12 individuals who made it to today's meeting spoke with their feet. The date for the next meeting has not been determined, but it will be held at the QTH of Mike K4GMH in southern Stafford county very near Fredericksburg.
2.    Tim N3QE presented the non-Florida club championship plaque from the 2015 Florida QSO Party and a letter detailing the award to Larry K7SV.
3.    In similar fashion Tim presented the club championship plaque from the 2012 CQ WW RTTY contest and a letter detailing it to Mike K4GMH.
4.    Tim N3QE was asked how the points from a mulitioperator effort were divided up among the individual operators. See the 10M award section on the web site.
5.    In response to other PVRC recent happenings, Tim N3QE briefed attendees on the “5M 20 for 20 award”.
6.    There was also discussion about listing the Rappahannock Chapter in the newsletter with appropriate information when provided for the non-regularly scheduled meetings. (Note – the lunch meeting the 1st Tuesday each month should be removed from the Rappahannock Chapter listing on the web site).
 
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15AM and discussion regarding members recent activities ensued:
 
KG3V Tom – has been working on a project to resolve problems with controlling his DX Doubler S02R box using a new computer without a parallel port. He is using OTRSP two radio protocol in N1MM to deliver the switching protocol to an Arduino board via a USB to serial cable. The Arduino is programmed to deliver the same data to the parallel port on the DX Doubler that was original done from the computer parallel port. Larry K7SV has been testing Tom's device for close to a month and can't tell the difference between it and using the parallel port on his old computer. Who says hams don't build stuff anymore?
 
K2GTS Gabby - has been accompanying her XYM (ex young-man) Bruce N7TY to various ham functions.
 
N7TY Bruce – Just got his K3 back from repair after an apparent nearby lightning strike. He said the service folks at Elecraft must be commissioned to suggest additional updates when equipment is repaired. He said his K3 came back nearly a K3S. Bruce has also improved his inverted-L so it tunes well 160 thru 10Mtrs.
 
K4GMH Mike – Still hasn't gotten anything up on his towers other than the 40M Moxon which he's really impressed with and has been having a lot of fun. He has also been doing quite a bit of tower climbing, helping get the replacement 40M rotator on the top OWA at NR4M up as well as getting one of the halyards for the 4 el 80M delta loop at NR4M replaced (both being 190 ft climbs). He also repaired a connection to one of the antennas on Whitney N3ZV's 100 foot tower.
 
N3ZV Whitney – As mentioned had some problems with one of the antennas on his 100ft self supporting tower that Mike K4GMH helped with. Whit recently uploaded logs to LOTW and is pleased to see his DXCC standing.
 
KS4Q Skip - Has to scoot up his 100ft of 45 to realign his multiband beam since recent winds knocked it off. He has gotten a 2 element Cushcraft 40M yagi up on his crank-up tower and is really pleased with the performance, as most owners of this fine antenna are. Skip also discussed his activities with the Culpepper Amateur Radio Association in relocating the clubs repeaters from one mountain to another, getting similar coverage.
 
N3QE Tim – Has pulled his six meter Moxon back out and is having fun working towards his 100 grids on that band.
 
K2WK Walt – Discussed how much fun he had a Dayton this years including the CWOPS Dinner at the Spaghetti Factory (organized by our very own KC4D, attended by 70 folks including a number of PVRCers). He said he's finding that he can't stay awake for the drive to and from Dayton, so he's looking to fly next year.
 
W0CN Dan – Spoke to his ARRL DX SSB contest efforts from 6Y6Y with WA4PGM and WZ8P garnering 4th place world finish multi-single high power. He commented on how well simple wire antennas work from a good location. He's doing FD with W3AO this year.
 
W0IMD Ian – First PVRC meeting. IAN has worked some recent contests from W4RM and is looking forward to working CW contests with the NR4M group. Ian, also G0FXQ is a professionally trained CW operator (don't ask any questions!) He has 3 FTDX-5000s that he is looking to sell after using W4RM's K3's on CW. He also has an ACOM 2000A for sale. He uses wire antennas at home.
 
K7SV Larry – With the meeting being held outside on a wonderful morning, he pointed out the rotatable 40M dipole at 73ft, the F12 C3S clone at 65 ft, the 80M dipole at about 70 ft, the 40M wire dipole at about 60 ft, the 30M dipole at 50 ft and the 160M inverted-l in the trees. He has been having a lot of fun playing in the three CWOPS CWT one hour mini CW contests on Weds as well as the NCCC NS half hour CW mini sprints on Thursday evenings. At the moment his plans are to work the IARU Radiosport and the NAQP RTTY Sprint from home.
 
K4EC Frank (our scribe) did the CQ WPX CW from NR4M once again. Frank has been somewhat under the weather, but hopes to get a wire up to become active again from home in the near future.
 
Things wrapped up shortly after noon after which the group headed to NR4M to enjoy ribs, burgers, brats and a nice spread of salads and deserts.
 
As a final comment, we were very pleased with Tim N3QE attending our meeting today. Tim said he enjoyed it a lot and wants to get out to other meetings including the NC gang.