The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, April 8, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 28 members and guests present.  The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos.  Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name, amateur call and total contacts made since the last club meeting.  Two came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.

Club Business Items Discussed

• Secretary Ron Cowherd read the Treasurer’s Report in absence of Bruce Huyck.
• The Secretary’s report followed with a review of items covered at the March meeting.  Both reports were accepted by acclamation.
• A motion was made and passed to reimburse Dave Perry $227.06 for shipping expenses of the award plaques.  With all expenses paid, there was a surplus of $22 due to contributions to the project.  Dave told of several positive comments had been made to him to him concerning the quality of the plaques.
• Comments were made about the participation of some 19 local amateurs that monitored the W4NJA repeater giving visual reports during the tornado outbreak.  The net was not formally activated but our live comments demonstrated our valuable readiness.  One of the night’s attendees told us that our observations were 4 to 5 minutes ahead of the Massac Co. area where his wife was teaching.  The lead time gave the students time to get prepared.  It was later determined that the tornado went over their school, fortunately without harm or a touchdown.  Jeff explained why warnings may be delayed as the information is disseminated through the system.  Our observations are invaluable in that respect.
• Garry Wheatley announced that the next VOAD general meeting would be at the MSU campus, 6 pm, Thursday, May 9th.
• Field Day, Keiler Park, June 22-23,  preparations were discussed.  CW OPs needed.
• Club President Jeff showed us a detailed video of his well equipped station and new antenna installation.  The presentation was very well done, a great model for others to show off their stations too.  Thanks Jeff,
• Charlie Richey announced that the Massac area amateur radio group, 1st and 2nd of May, at the Metropolis fire department, is planning to have radio classes for new prospective hams.  Charlie also spoke of the new MHS radio club and the success that it is having.
• Ed Pflueger passed around the 10 most sought after DX QSL cards that he has proudly earned.

NET CONTROL OPERATORS

New License Successes

We are happy to report that Mauri Fiorentini has successfully passed the Technician class FCC exam left. pic. and Michael Burr,  rt. pic. has upgraded to General.  Congratulations to both of you.  We cordially invite you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.

Mauri Fiorentini, new Technician

Michael Durr, new General

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.  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 7:00 to get instructions.
• 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.
• 2019 KYQSO Party scheduled for Saturday, June 1, 2019.
• 2019 ARRL Field Day, June 22-23, 2019.  Set up 9:00 a.m. Saturday, 22nd.
• VOAD general meeting, MSU (Paducah campus), 6 pm, Thursday, May 9th.

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, March 11, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 21 members and guests present.  The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos.  Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name, amateur call and total contacts made since the last club meeting. Two came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.

Club Business Items Discussed

• Secretary Ron Cowherd read the Treasurer’s Report in absence of Bruce Huyck.
• The Secretary’s report followed with a review of items covered at the February meeting.  The February meeting featured two demonstrations the first of which was presented by Ed Pflueger and his new Elecraft K2 that was constructed during December and January.  Jason Brambach demonstrated the Flex Maestro, an SDR control interface for his 6000 series Flex transceiver.  In addition, Jason later prepared an excellent detailed synopsis of his presentation with text and pictures, now linked on the February Monthly Meeting web page or the following:  flex maestro presentation
• Garry Wheatley told about McCracken County VOAD, Volunteer Organizations Aiding in Disaster.  Ari Dinson from the Red Cross is trying to collaborate the various volunteer organizations in the area, e.g., churches, Salvation Army, etc.  VOAD is looking for more groups to get involved.  Garry spoke at a VOAD meeting recently explaining how amateur radio could serve in case of disaster.  He suggested that if each of the individual groups had two or three operators imbedded within their organizations it would be a great help to McCracken Co. ARES.  Garry said he got many questions about amateur licensing, testing, etc.
• Dave Perry brought ten KY QSO plaques with engraved brass plates that were ready to be mailed out to high scoring participants.  Two of the plaques were to be presented to 1st and 2nd place non-Kentuckians and eight plaques to high scoring in-state Kentuckians of different categories.  Paul Smith, with 84,548 points, took 1st place in Kentucky.  See picture at top.  Dave continued with ideas to fine tune the next KY QSO Party to be held 1st weekend in June.  Much discussion followed with suggestions for improvement from the  club.
• President Jeff Wielgos warned us of the possibility of high winds and possible damage that may occur later in the week.  In retrospect, Jeff’s prognostication was “spot on.”

Great Testimonial for KY QSO Party from David Smith (ND4Y):

“a proud pic of me and my KyQP plaque.  Thanks for PARA’s sponsorship.  Had a great time and looking forward to the 2019 KyQP.”

Net Control Operators for Late March/Early April

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

March 14            tornado event        19 observer rpts.

March 17            Jeff KB9BVL            10 PARA ck-ins

March 24            Roger KC4WPS       13 PARA ck-ins

March 31             Jason KY9I              13 PARA ck-ins

April 7                   Ken KW4DI           14 PARA ck-ins

New License Successes

We are happy to report that Roger Rives, left. pic. and Michael Burr, rt. pic. have 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.  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 7:00 to get instructions.
• 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.
• 2019 KYQSO Party scheduled for Saturday, June 1, 2019.
• 2019 ARRL Field Day, June 2019.

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, February 11, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 23 members and guests present.  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. Two came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.

Club Business Items Discussed

• Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed business items from the November meeting.  Those items included:  KY QSO Party planning.  Dates for party will be June 1st and 2nd.  Secretary Cowherd requested seasonal selfie pictures to be used as a banner for future Monthly Meeting web site web page posts.  Send medium size pix to roncowherd@aol.com.
• Treasurer Bruce Huyck reported the club’s current financial status.  He reminded us that 2019 club dues ($20) are now payable.  Bruce told us that the club treasurer position is still open for the year 2019.
• Ed Pflueger (AB4IQ) gave us an excellent demo of the Elecraft K2 Transceiver Kit that he had recently constructed.  The radio covers 160-10 meters, 5, 10 or 15 watts.  Ed explained that he was looking for a project to do during the cold days of winter.  Also, it was a nostalgic experience that reminded him of previous Heathkit projects that he had completed in past years.  The kit is a challenge in that it is not a modular build as today’s kits offer but employ a 20 year old point- to-point construction technology.  He even wound the coils that were needed.  The K2 followed the KX1 and preceded the K3, KX3, KX2 and K3s in that order.  All of these radios enjoy excellent Sherwood ratings.  The Elecraft company has the reputation of offering superior products as well as outstanding customer support.
• Jason Brambach (KY9I) continued the “show and tell” evening with a demo of the Flex Maestro, an SDR control interface for his 6000 series Flex  transceiver at home.   Please see:   flex maestro presentation

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

February 17             Jeff KB9BVL         11 PARA ck-ins

February 24             Jeff KB9BVL           9  PARA ck-ins

March 3                     Jason KY9I             8  PARA ck-ins

March 3                    Logan KG4VKB      9  ARES ck-ins

March  10                 Ken KW4DI            18 PARA ck-ins

New License Successes

We are happy to report that Robert Calhoun left. pic. has successfully passed the Technician class FCC exam.  Stewart Strickland (KE4RUP) rt. pic. has successfully upgraded to the General level.  Congratulations to both of you.  We cordially invite you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.

 

Robert Calhoun

Stewart Strickland

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 7:00 to get instructions.
• 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.

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.

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, January 14, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 34 members and guests present.  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

• Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed business items from the November meeting.  Also, pictures snapped at the Annual PARA Christmas Dinner held at Casa Mexicana restaurant, December 10th were projected for all to see.  The dinner replaced the December Monthly Meeting.  In addition, Secretary Cowherd presented statistics from both the 2018 club meetings and the WordPress W4NJA.org web site.  The numbers reveal that the club has steadily improved average meeting attendance, FCC exams, and Sunday night net checkins over the past 3 years.  In addition it was shown that the use of the W4NJA.org web site has also grown during the same period.  See the December Monthly Meeting web page for pictures and statistics.
• Treasurer Bruce Huyck  reported the club’s current financial status was in good shape.  He also reminded us that 2019 club dues ($20) are now payable.
• Dave Perry reported that ARRL is in the process of reassessing the scoring of the International Grid Contest that closed at the end of 2018.  The official announcement of final scores will be available at a later date.
• Dave Perry gave an update on the 2018 KY QSO Party awards concerning the criteria that was used for selection of the top scoring winners.  Dave reported that soon the brass plates were to be engraved, attached to the plaques and shipped to winners.  The winners are listed on the KY QSO Party web site.
• Following discussion of date selection for the coming 2019 QSO Party, June 1st and 2nd was approved by unanimous vote.  There was additional discussion of what we learned from the 2018 experience and how we can improve the next event.
• PARA club officers re-elected for 2019 are:  President, Jeff Wielgos; Vice President, Ken Wontor; and Secretary, Ron Cowherd.  The Treasurer’s office is still vacant due to Bruce Huyck’s request to retire from the office.  Anyone interested in the position, please speak up.

Remember:

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, November 12, 2018 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY.  There were 22 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

• Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed the club business from the October meeting followed by Treasurer Bruce Huyck’s  report on the club’s current financial status.  Both reports were moved, seconded and approved.
• It was announced that officers would be elected at the next regular club meeting, January 14th.  Bruce Huyck requested that he wanted to retire from the Treasure’s office.
• President Wielgos led a discussion concerning the KY QSO Party award plaques.  It appears that some progress is being made.
• Jeff Wielgos showed a video that was shot live as he constructed his new 100 ft. tower.  The video was followed by a spirited discussion of the do’s and don’t’s of tower erection.
• A CW “grass roots” class for prospective CW ops is still in future plans after the holidays.  The WKCTC meeting room can be available at a time of our choosing.
• We were reminded of the Annual PARA Christmas Dinner that will be held at Casa Mexicana restaurant 6pm, Monday, December 10th.  The dinner will replace the December Monthly Meeting.

Net Control Operators

New License Successes

We are happy to report that Brian Hodge and Eric Heuneman 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.

 

Michael Hicks, new Extra

Eric Heuneman, New Tech

Remember: