OCTOBER MONTHLY MEETING

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, October 08, 2018 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 23 present.  Two came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.

The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos.  Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name and amateur call.

Club Business Items Discussed

  • Treasurer Bruce Huyck reported on the club’s current financial status followed by the Secretary’s report.  Both reports were moved, seconded and approved.
  • Ken Wontor announced that he had spoken with the director of the Emerging Technologies Center and found that our  meeting room, #104, or another room could be used  for the “grass-roots” CW class.  We should choose the date and time and let him know.  Prospective participants should tune in to the PARA CW roundtable which meets Tuesday & Thursday evenings, 7:00 pm on the W4NJA 147.060 repeater for info concerning the day and time of the new class.
  • Quite a bit of time was spent discussing the fact that apparently the KYQSO Party plaque awards construction and shipping had not been finished.  It was not clear who was was in charge of the final construction of the plaques regarding use of engraving or brass plate attachment.  It was felt that the slowness of this presentation would subtract from the overall success of the event.
  • The question was asked about a date and place for the PARA annual Christmas dinner.  Ed Pflueger will check with Casa Mexicana to see if the reservation was made last year and if not make the reservation for this year’s date:  Monday, December 10th.
  • It was announced that a Mayfield group had put 3 new repeaters on the air:  frequency 441.875, +179.9, analog or Fusion digital; 145.110 -179.9, analog or Fusion digital and 224.820, -179.9, analog only.

Net Control Operators for Late October/Early November

Sunday night nets are at 9:00 PM on 147.060 Mhz. PL 179.9

October 14             Jeff KB9BVL      11 chk-ins

October 21             Roger KC4WPS 11 chk-ins

October 28             Frank KY4LDS    9 chk-ins

November 4           Jeff KM4LDP     12 PARA chk-ins

                                        Logan KG4VKB   9 ARES chk-ins

November 11        Ken KW4DI         11 chk-ins

ARRL International Grid Contest

ARRL Leaderboard Results shows KY position and Total Grid count as of  11/12/2018  6 club members in top 25.
1.  N4QS Dave Perry, 7802 grids;  12.  AI4EY Fred Carter, 2907 grids;  15. KS4V Bruce Huyck, 2504 grids;   17. KC4WPS Roger Good, 2369 grids;  24. K4GYD Ron Cowherd, 1782 grids;  26.  KO4XJ John Hudson, 1584 grids;  45. ND4X Paul Smith, 1020 grids;                  48. W4WWS Steve Parmley, 941 grids;    50. AB4IQ Ed Pflueger, 863 grids;  55. NU4N Dave Tucker 740 grids;  69. KB9BVL Jeff Wielgos, 565 grids;  77. N4FZ Gene Summers 488 grids;  84.  KW4DI Ken Wontor, 412 grids;  86. W4KU, Wallace Shankle, 428 grids;       94. 99.  KJ4CO John Chandler, 346 grids;  126.  W4NJA 343 grids.

New License Successes

We are happy to report that Glenn “Butch” Durrett and Carol Brown have both successfully passed the Technician class FCC exam.  Congratulations to both of you.  We cordially invite you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.

 

 

Remember:

  • PARA meets at Emerging Technology Center, WKCTC on 2nd Monday, 7 pm, each month except December.  Prospective hams in search of general info concerning the hobby may Google ARRL.com and click on relevant headings.
  • New License and upgrades exams are offered at the close of each meeting night throughout the year.  See W4NJA web site at w4nja.org.  For info click button at the top of the page:   About Us, then VE License Testing.
  • The Sunday Night Net meets each Sunday night at 9 PM. All amateur radio operators are invited to check in. 147.060 PL 179.9  The ARES monthly net convenes immediately following PARA net on first Sunday nights.
  • CW round table for on-the-air operating practice, 7:00 pm Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Meet on W4NJA 147.060 repeater at 8:00 to get instructions.  Stay tuned on these nights for info about a “Grass Roots” CW class to be organized in the near future.
  • Amateur Radio Emergency Services meetings are held at 7:00 pm on 3rd Thursdays, 3700 Coleman Road EOC building in the Jack Johnston meeting room.
  • The Annual PARA Christmas Dinner will be held at Casa Mexicana restaurant 6pm, Monday, December 10th.  The dinner will replace the December Monthly Meeting.

For Sale:

  • For sale by John Hudson KO4XJ:  10 element Cushcraft 2m beam  $40.
  • For Sale by Bruce Huyck KS4V:  Kenwood TS590SG HF rig with built in antenna tuner, hand microphone, fused power cord, and everything else that came new with the radio.  Two accessories are installed in the radio.  The SO-3 is a temperature controlled oscillator for frequency stability and the VGS-1 is a voice synthesizer module for recording voice messages.  Rig is in mint shape with absolutely no issues.  Asking $850.

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY MEETING

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, September 10, 2018 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 24 present.  Three came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.

The meeting was opened by PARA Vice President, Ken Wontor.  Ken welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name, amateur call and relate any interesting amateur radio activities that they may had in the last month.

Club Business Items Discussed

  • Treasurer Bruce Huyck reported on the club’s current financial status.
  • Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed last month’s major discussion items including news about the CW roundtable which meets Tues. & Thurs. 8:00 pm.  Participants first meet on the 147.060 repeater to choose the 40 mtr. freq. (+ or – 7.055 or so) and order of rotation before the roundtable begins.  We are still discussing a time and meeting place for a grass-roots CW class.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Jason KY9I, discussed his experiences with CW Academy and how the practice techniques he is learning can benefit our club.
  • Kyle Walker (K4KMW) led a discussion on the KY Fusion Digital Network, which meets at 7:00 CST, on the local 147.12 MH machine.  Kyle’s discussion was followed by a 15 min, Yaesu promotional Fusion video brought in by Ken Wontor KW4DI.

Net Control Operators for Late September/Early October

Sunday night nets are at 9:00 PM on 147.060 Mhz. PL 179.9

September 16   Eric K4YUS        10 Ck-ins

September 23   Jason KY9I         15 Ck-ins

September 30   Frank KY4LDS   18 Ck-ins

October 7           Ken KW4DI        14 Ck-ins

October 7           Logan KG4VKB  10 Ck-ins ARES

ARRL International Grid Contest

ARRL Leaderboard Results shows KY position and Total Grid count as of  10/8/2018  6 club members in top 25:

1.  N4QS Dave Perry, 6648 grids;  13.  AI4EY Fred Carter, 2459 grids;  16. KS4V Bruce Huyck, 2224 grids;    18. KC4WPS Roger Good, 1957 grids;  19. K4GYD Ron Cowherd, 1769 grids;  24.  KO4XJ John Hudson, 1547 grids;    46. W4WWS Steve Parmley, 941 grids;  48. ND4X Paul Smith, 899 grids;  50. AB4IQ Ed Pflueger, 830 grids; 66. KB9BVL Jeff Wielgos, 529 grids;  67. NU4N Dave Tucker 529 grids;  82. W4KU, Wallace Shankle, 428 grids; 83. N4FZ Gene Summers 418 grids;  84.  KW4DI Ken Wontor, 412 grids;      94. KJ4CO John Chandler, 346 grids;  96.  W4NJA 343.

Current grid contest results may be found at:  https://igc.arrl.org/leader-board.php

 New License Success

We are happy to report that Mark Wilson successfully passed the General class FCC exam.  Marton Wilson and Edward Paulk passed the Technician class exam.  Congratulations to all.  We cordially invite you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.

 

Remember:

  • PARA meets at Emerging Technology Center, WKCTC on 2nd Monday, 7 pm, each month except December.  Prospective hams in search of
  • New License and upgrades exams are offered at the close of each meeting night throughout the year.  See W4NJA web site at w4nja.org.  For info click button at the top of the page:   About Us, then VE License Testing.
  • The Sunday Night Net meets each Sunday night at 9 PM. All amateur radio operators are invited to check in. 147.060 PL 179.9
  • CW round table for on-the-air operating practice, 8:00 pm Tuesday and Thursday evenings.  Meet on W4NJA 147.060 repeater at 8:00 to get instructions.

 

For Sale

  • For sale by John Hudson KO4XJ:  SDRPLAY RSP2. I bought this last fall but decided I didn’t need it.  $125 plus shipping or P/U in Paducah area.
  • Also For sale by John Hudson KO4XJ:  10 element 2m beam Cushcraft $40.