Show Menu

NORTH CAROLINA SECTION NEWS - June, 2013

Posted Jun 28, 2013

FIELD DAY - 57 clubs and individuals listed North Carolina sites on ARRL's national Field Day Locator webpage, and many more were on the air this past weekend. This year had unusually pleasant weather across the state, and those who operated Saturday night saw a rare "Super" full moon as a treat. Of the four states in the Roanoke Division, North Carolina had almost as many Field Day stations as the other three states of Virginia, West Virginia and South Carolina combined. Log submission deadline is July 23rd.

MAKERFAIRE - Also a rousing success was the sponsorship of Amateur Radio at NC MakerFaire held June 15th at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. About 5,000 people attended the event, with over 300 stopping by the Amateur Radio booth in the middle of the hall. 80 people filled out forms to find out more about Ham Radio. MakerFaire is a national hobbyist movement which caters to experimenters and kit builders. Many thanks to the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (RARS), Orange County Radio Association (OCRA), Carolina Flashers Photonics, and Triangle ATV as sponsors, and especially to section PIC Woody Woodward, K3VSA, and RARS president Karl Bowman, W4CHX, for their leadership in exposing the world of Ham Radio to electronics hobbyists.

MEDIA HITS - There was a bumper crop of media coverage for Field Day this year. An article in the Fayetteville Observer about FD for the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society began, "If the zombie apocalypse hits, you'll want a ham radio guy in your group of survivors." WTVD, the ABC affiliate in Durham, covered South Wake Amateur Radio Club's FD site in Fuquay-Varina. The Iredell County ARC got front page coverage in the Statesville Record & Landmark. Also getting newspaper coverage this year for Field Day were the Robeson County ARS in Lumberton's Robesonian, and the Outer Banks Repeater Association's Dare County FD site in Manteo was covered in The Coastland Times. Even some non-Field Day stories made NC media this past month. Ham Radio was part of the 5th annual free Emergency Services Camp for kids in Onslow County reported the Jacksonville Daily News. Paul Jones, K4VCF, of Mecklenburg Amateur Radio Society (MARS) and a Charlotte SKYWARN member was interviewed on WSOC-TV, Charlotte's ABC affiliate, about the dangers of chasing tornadoes.

HAM RADIO FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES IN JULY - Want to show kids or grandkids the magic of Ham Radio this summer? Two July events will spark their interest. From July 1 to July 6 will run the annual "Thirteen Colonies" series of special event stations. Each of the original 13 colonies will have at least two stations, and North Carolina has seven this year, all of which will operate as K2J/NC. The seven NC participating stations are W4MPS and KI4VBA in Clayton, N4MIO in Graham, W4MY in Zebulon, K4WES in Pittsboro, and N4YDU and W0UCE, both from Youngsville. Each state has a scenic QSL card depicting a unique colonial event. North Carolina's shows the Battle of Guilford Courthouse which took place in Greensboro. A fun activity for Independence Week. To find out more, visit: http://www.13colonies.info Then on July 15th kicks off the ten day quadrennial Boy Scout National Jamboree, now in its new permanent home at Bechtel Summit outside Prince, West Virginia. About 500 North Carolina Boy Scouts will be part of the 40,000 contingent, and Jamboree station K2BSA will have about 10,000 Scouts visitors. K2BSA will be on the air almost 24 hours each day. Not only will it be on almost all HF bands, but it can be reached on EchoLink: K2BSA-R Demonstration Station (node 4566), WV8BSA-R VHF Repeater (node 6544), W6BSA-R UHF Repeater (node 9877), Conference *JOTA-365* (node 480809) and on D-Star: WV8BSA and Reflector 033A. Details on working K2BSA July 15-24 can be found at http://www.k2bsa.net/jamboree-live Most of the K2BSA on air operators will be scouts so young people can talk to other young people.

CONTEST CORNER - The following are the High NC Scores in the 2012 ARRL 10 Meter Contest (Division and Region winners) in: Single Op High Mixed-WX4G; Single Op High CW-N4CW; Single Op High Phone-WK4P (Roanoke); Single Op Low Mixed-AA4NC (Southeastern); Single Op Low CW-AA4FU; Single Op Low Phone-WB2RHM; Single Op Mixed-; QRP-WX4RM (Roanoke); Single Op CW QRP- N4DSP; Single Op Phone QRP-KD4OFG (Roanoke); Multi Op High-N2TU; Multi OP Low-AA2R (Roanoke) High NC Scores 2013 January VHF Contest: Single Op High-N1GC; Single Op Low-N4DBR; Multi Op-K5EK. Contest Corner courtesy of Adam Lawler, WK4P.

ARES - Thirty NC ARES and MARS leaders completed a Dept. of Homeland Security's Auxiliary Emergency Communications (AEC) class offered in North Carolina the first weekend in June in Raleigh. The two day AEC course was rolled out last year by DHS's Office of Emergency Communications/Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program (OEC/ICTAP). Currently there are not enough certified instructors to teach the AEC course, but as more become qualified, more classes will become available. AEC training is a complement to NC AUXCOMM, which consists of ARES, MARS and unaffiliated Hams who have completed NIMS/ICS courses 100, 200, 700 and 800 (National Incident Management System/Incident Command Structure). In July, 2010, NC ARES formally endorsed North Carolina's 2005 proclamation that volunteers who work on state and county government assignments must have completed NIMS/ICS 100, 200, 700 and 800. All 60 NC county ARES ECs are ICS trained and are AUXCOMM members, and an additional 500 ARES members and unaffiliated Hams have completed NIMS/ICS training and similarly are in NC AUXCOMM. NIMS/ICS trained volunteers improve the professionalism of disaster response, are recognized and accepted by government agencies, and are a key component agencies use in determining eligibility for disaster grants.

PUBLIC SERVICE - June 29, Troutman Independence Day parade in Statesville. Contact the Iredell County ARS at www.w4snc.org; July 4, Firecracker 50K/100K Bike Race in Cary. Details www.rars.org/public-service ; July 13 - Hot Doggett 100 mile bike race through Blue Ridge Mountains, Madison Co. ARC. Details at www.hotdoggett.mhc.edu ; also July 13, Lake Norman Excursion 40, 68 and 100 mile bike race, Mooresville. Details: www.ridemaps.com ; July 20, Velo4Yellow 30, 60 and 100 mile bike ride start and finish in Wake Forest; July 24, Carolina Cycling Time Trials, Lowe's Speedway, Concord. Details at www.ridemaps.com ; July 27, Cup N Cone 30, 50 and 67 mile bike race in Cary. Details on these last two events at: www.rars.org/public-service

HAMFESTS - July 6, Firecracker Hamfest, Salisbury. Talk-In: 144.810/145.410 (PL 136.5) Details: www.rowanars.org/firecracker-hamfest ; July 20, Mid-Sumer Swapfest, Cary. Talk-In: 146.88 (No PL) Details: www.qsl.net/n4nc/swapfest.html ; July 27, WCARS Hamfest, Waynesville. Talk-In: 146.91 - (PL 91.5) & 147.390 - (PL 94.8). Details: wcars.org/hamfest.html

SPECIAL EVENTS - July 20, 17th Annual North Carolina Peach Festival, 1400Z-1800Z, NC4MC, Candor, NC. Montgomery Amateur Radio Society. 14.250 14.030 7.250 7.030.

LICENSE CLASSES - General Class Licensing class. July 14 and 21 (intensive two weekend class), Marble, NC. Sponsored by Cherokee Co. ARC. Contact Jim Howard W4SDJ, at howardje@earthlink.net To list an upcoming licensing class, register it at www.arrl.org/register-a-new-license-class To find licensing classes, go to www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class

NTS MAY SECTION TRAFFIC REPORT - QNI (Total Check-Ins) -2941. TOTAL MESSAGES PASSED - 599. STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS (SARs) W4DNA 160, K4IWW 242, W2EAG 191, WK4P 191, WK4WC 93, WB4Y 72, KC4PGN 66, AK4RJ 65, WB4ZIQ 59, KK4BVR 55, W4TTO 51, W3HL 48, KJ4JPE 45, KE4AHC 39, K4JUU 33, N2RTF 26, KA4IZN 16. PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL (PSHR) KK4BVR 215, W4DNA 175, WK4P 165, WB4ZIQ 160, KJ4JPE 150, K4IWW 130, WK4WC 120, AK4RJ 110, K4JUU 110, W2EAG 110, W4TTO 100, N2RTF 91, WB4Y 90.

SILENT KEYS - We regret to report the passing of Carl King, KU4HM, and Jerry Netterville, KQ4MS, both of Raleigh.

QUA* - This past Saturday night at 10:15 PM I pulled into Wilmington's Ogden Park, site of my hometown Field Day site. The "Super" full moon bathed three shelters in a wonderful low level light, a warm breeze blew softly and the humidity was thankfully low. The group running 40 meter phone was excited that its rhombic antenna was hitting the West Coast. At the next shelter the 40 meter CW op was methodically keying to the hum of a small portable generator. And at the third shelter was the ever patient N2WG overseeing three boys running 20 meter phone and racking up a QSO a minute as a GOTA station. This scenario was a very pleasant way to end the Saturday night of a weekend with 11 site visits and 735 miles of travel. Without hesitation I say Field Day is my favorite day of the year. It's like Christmas Day for Ham Radio. Not only is Field Day a time for camaraderie and to play with different equipment, antennas and modes, it's the best occasion each year to show the public how we are the "MacGyver's" of communications. Communications problem solving is what we excel at, and Field Day is the ultimate exercise to figure out how to get on the air effectively. As North Carolina Section Manager, I am very proud that almost 60 clubs and individuals formally listed their Field Day sites to announce to inactive Hams, unaffiliated Hams, served agencies, members of the media and to the just plain curious where they can find, witness and appreciate the resourcefulness of Amateur Radio. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, ARRL's Executive Director, once called Ham Radio a national resource and treasure. I couldn't agree more, and I saw it firsthand at 11 locations this past weekend. Thanks to all for making us look stellar.

73 de Bill Morine, N2COP ARRL North Carolina Section Manager

QUA* - CW Net procedural signal meaning "Do you have news for me?"