NC ARRL Section News

June 23, 2025

 

GREETINGS FROM THE HIGH COUNTRY

It is a beautiful early summer morning in the High Country but temperatures are on the rise, as is true of much of North Carolina.  At 11:00 am on Monday morning, the temperature is 80 degrees and it is possible that there will be a popup shower each day this week.

FIELD DAY

Field Day will be held this coming weekend (July 28-29) which is only a few days away.  In the past two weeks there has been a considerable increase (from 32 up to 57 at the present time) of the number of NC groups planning to be on the air during Field Day.

An email that I sent out to NC ARRL members inquiring about their local plans for Field Day may have led to the increase in entries on the ARRL Field Day Locator page (found at https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator). Some groups have not posted information with the ARRL about Field Day. Emails sent to me indicate that some groups plan to operate only on Saturday and will shut down before dark.

I will be visiting several Field Day sites in Western North Carolina while Dave Price (K4KDP, Section Youth Coordinator) will visit some sites in Eastern North Carolina.

North Carolina is a large state; last year I visited Thomasville, Burlington, Pittsboro, Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington and Calabash.  This year I will make focus my visits near Asheville and as far east as Charlotte before heading back to the High Country.

Be sure to stay hydrated.   Weather forecasts suggest that it will be quite warm across the entire state.

THIRTEEN ORIGINAL COLONIES

Each year amateur radio celebrates our nation’s founding and Independence by participating in a unique contest in which ham operators attempt to contact designated special event stations in each of the 13 original colonies as well as additional stations at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as well as other bonus stations.  The contest runs from July 1 to July 7.

Certificates are issued for “clean sweeps” in which all thirteen colonies are contacted.

This contest is more challenging than it might seem.  First, each of the designated special event stations in the 13 colonies have varying hours of operation.  Second, some small states may have only have one or two stations operating during the contest week. Third, propagation may not favor reaching a nearby station that is operating on 20 meters, for example.  Fourth, pileups may make it hard to break through to get a needed special event colony that you can hear but dozen of others are also trying to reach that station. Fifth, there is no way to assure that band conditions will favor reaching all 13 colonies.  Finally, some of the special event stations may be using temporary antennas (perhaps Independence Hall) which may not give excellent coverage.  

All of these factors pose challenges to reaching all 13 colonies plus the bonus stations.

Information about the contest can be found at http://www.13colonies.us  .  Good luck.

NC SECTION TRAFFIC REPORT

Thanks go out to Dave Roy (W4DNA, SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER) for preparing a monthly report covering the various traffic nets.  Gratitude also goes to the various Net Managers and the traffic handlers whose efforts support the National Traffic System.

 

UPCOMING HAMFESTS

·         July 12, the Rowan County Amateur Radio Society will hold its Firecracker Hamfest  at the Salisbury Civic Center, 315 Martin Luther King Avenue. Information can be obtained from rmowery42@charter.net.

·         July 19 is the date for the Cary Amateur Radio Club annual Swapfest.  Information can be found at http://caryarc.org.

·         July 26 will find me representing ARRL at the Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society hamfest which will be held at Smokey Mountain Event Center, 758 Crabtree Road, Waynesville, NC 28785.  Information can be found at http://wcars-club.org/ .

·         August 9, Fayetteville, 25th Annual  Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society Swapfest held at the  Cumberland County Shrine Club, 7040 Ramsey Street (US 421 North).  Information can be found at  http://cfarsnc.org/ .

·         August 29-30, Shelby Hamfest, known far and wide as the Granddaddy of them All.  This is the 69^th Annual Hamfest and will be held at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds just before Labor Day.  Information can be found at  http://shelbyhamfest.com. While you are at Shelby stop by Bridges Barbecue which a few days ago was inducted into the NC Barbecue Hall of Fame.

UPCOMING ARRL BOARD MEETING

The ARRL Board of Directors will meet in Connecticut on July 18-19.  Your representative s at that meeting are Roanoke Division Director Jim Boehner ( N2ZZ ) and Vice Director Bill Morine (N2COP). 

The agenda for the meeting can be found at https://www.arrl.org/board-meetings.

Members wanting to know about pending Board actions at times have expressed surprise over the limited detail in the agendas.  Some members apparently feel limited in their ability to give the representatives on the board information on how they and other members feel about proposals coming before the board.

Reference is made in the agenda  to Committee reports that make recommendations to the Board but the Committee reports typically are not made public until the minutes of the meeting are released which often occurs a month after the Board Meeting.

Reference is also made to proposals to amend the Articles of Association and Bylaws.  Motions to amend these documents have not been released publicly. 

A review of the January 2025 minutes and the May 2025 Executive Committee minutes indicate that recent controversies involving dissatisfaction over the how disputes over Director Elections were handled. Debate at the July meeting will likely involve taking up matters tabled in January followed by possible action at the July 2025 Board Meeting on changes to the Bylaws.

You may read more about these topics in information accessible in the link included earlier in this section.

OCTOBER 18 HIGH COUNTRY EVENTS

Mark your calendar and consider if this date is the best time to head up here.   Several simultaneous events will add to the normal traffic congestion, crowding at restaurants and difficulty is securing lodging.  Among the events on October 18 are:

·         AppState home football game with Coastal Carolina in Boone.

·         Leaf lookers who hope to get to see leaves that may be at their most colorful during this particular weekend. 

·         The Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk where thousands of people will be coming to look at the arts and crafts produced by locals as well as urging their favorite woolly worm to move faster up a vertical string.

·         Valle Country Fair in Valle Crucis which includes crafts, food, music and activities for kids of all ages.

·         People heading down to the High Country from Pennsylvania or West Virginia (I know some of them)  may well get caught up and be delayed for several hours near Fayetteville West Virginia.  This is due to the activities on Bridge Day during which time the New River Gorge Bridge is closed to traffic to allow at bungee jumpers to jump off the bridge which is 876 feet above the New River . There are also a number of street vendors who operate on the bridge while it is closed.  The New River begins near Boone and is one of a few rivers that flows northward.

HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON UPDATE

Matt McMahon (WU2V) reported on Facebook about his group’s success with a long-traveling high altitude balloon that was launched from near Greenville NC . 

A few days ago he reported:

“Tracking Update: One rig still alive and flying strong! Currently cruising above 46,000 feet, it passed near White Sands, NM last night. We’re now 133 days into flight and have logged over 141,000 miles — though let’s be honest, we lost count a bit during the Arctic detour.

Based on current tracking, we’re likely on lap 9 around the globe. You can check out the full flight paths on the map.

Winds over Texas are behaving strangely right now. Not sure yet if we’ll continue east or divert south to dodge the massive storm system. South means towering cloud tops — not ideal, but we’ll see how it plays out. Next update in two weeks.”

DMR TUTORIAL

As owner of one of the DMR repeaters that operates on the PRN system, I have noticed a significant increase in new call signs on the system.  Some of the new users appear to have trouble and I see that the CBridge (server) that manages the system rejects some attempts to transmit over the system. 

I hope the following advice proves to be helpful to those persons who have recently begun using the PRN system.

a.      Go to https://ncprn.net/?page_id=12 and you will find a listing of the PRN repeaters in NC, SC and a few in Virginia.  The frequency of each PRN repeater is listed which includes a couple of new additions in the last few weeks.

b.      Only the talkgroups listed for each repeater on the page will work on that particular repeater.  Brandmeister talkgroups do not work on the PRN system.

c.      Be sure to use the correct time slot for each talkgroup listed.  If you enter a talkgroup that is listed as a timeslot 1 talkgroup but mistakenly enter timeslot 2 in the programming software, the CBridge will reject the transmission and you will get bonked.

d.      APRS is never carried over the PRN system and only adds unnecessary use to the repeater as well as being an annoyance to users hearing the data bursts. Please do not setup any of your mobiles or portables to transmit APRS data over a PRN repeater .

e.      The Chat 1 and Chat 2 talkgroups allow distant persons to talk without tying up all 60 repeaters in the PRN system.  So if someone in Lenoir wanted to talk to someone in Wilmington, once they made contact on the PRN talkgroup, each should switch to Chat 1 and kerchunk their repeater.  A temporary virtual connection will be created between Lenoir and Wilmington but their conversation will not be carried over the other 58 other repeaters.  The clear timeslot talkgroup can be used to break that connection after the conversation is completed or the CBridge will shut it down after five minutes of inactivity.

f.        The WNC network based around Asheville is separate from the PRN system. It has different talkgroups than those carried over the PRN system so the you need to get a listing of the WNC talkgroups before programming your radio to carry the WNC repeaters (Morganton, Marion, Asheville, Hendersonville, Waynesville and Franklin). 

CLOSING COMMENTS

We will soon celebrate Independence Day which is a time to celebrate but we should also reflect on the numerous sacrifices made by our military, both in combat and in readiness for a call to duty.  The sacrifices have ranged from time away from home and family, to bodily injuries and disabilities, as well as veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to protect our freedom.

In the days ahead, we may face serious challenges but I hope that each of us remembers that there is more to the coming weeks than just cookouts and fireworks.  Thanks go out to the men and women who are serving in uniform and taking care of all of us.

Marv, WA4NC

NC Section Manager

Boone