OpenBCM V1.08-3-g9b42 (Linux)

Packet Radio Mailbox

HB9ON

[OpenBCM Lugano JN46LA]

 Login: GUEST





  
N5VLZ  > ALL      19.03.24 02:30z 315 Lines 11226 Bytes #190 (0) @ WW
BID : 4261_NS2B
Read: GUEST
Subj: PCL NET SCRIBE MAR 18 2024
Path: HB9ON<IW8PGT<LU4ECL<I0OJJ<N6RME<CX2SA<PE1RRR<KC3SMW<NS2B
Sent: 240319/0207Z 4261@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.24

PCL NET SCRIBE MAR 18 2024

N5VLZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control/Scribe)
KE4QCM, Tom, Georgia
K0WAV, Scott, Arkansas
NS2B, Bob, New York (Sysop)
KX4AC, Carl, Florida
KF5TVG, Bob, Oklahoma
WG3K, Eric, Pennsylvania
NT5R, Charley, Missouri

**

With Easter being a week from Sunday, on 
March 31, the PCL Net will take the night 
of April 1 OFF...and that's no April Fool 
(hi hi). I've also decided to cancel the 
March 31, 2024, QCWA Digital Net. Most folks 
are likely going to be with their families 
at church activities, then going out to eat 
in their "Sunday Best"...better be prepared 
for long waits at the food trough (hi hi).

But, the deadline for the monthly QCWA 
Journal is the next day, and with the 
"extended checkin window" that I have set 
up for the stragglers, the deadline for my 
monthly net summaries would be missed. As 
the QCWA VHF+ Net Manager, that is extra 
work and responsibility, but it does not 
take that much effort overall. A fellow ham 
in Arkansas is looking at trying to revive 
a former QCWA chapter, or create a new one, 
as there isn't one in Arkansas right now
(the closest chapter is in Shreveport). To 
qualify for membership, if you were first 
licensed as a ham radio operator anytime in 
1999 or earlier, and are currently licensed, 
you can join the QCWA. More details are at 
qcwa.org -- they will have several activities 
at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio, just under 2 
months from now. It sure will be different
without Bob Heil, K9EID, SK.

Severe weather affected Arkansas last Thursday
night, with a 1000 yard (10 football fields, 
just over a half mile) wide, EF-2 tornado in 
Hot Springs Village, about 30 miles southwest of 
Little Rock. It was on the ground for 8 1/2 miles, 
and while there was extensive damage, there were 
no injuries or deaths. Unfortunately, areas of 
Indiana and Ohio weren't as lucky. The parent 
storm spawned a tornado warning for the Little 
Rock Metro area, and many folks still have vivid,
horrifying memories of the near EF-4 tornado from 
March 31, 2023, that hit west Little Rock, still 
fresh in their minds. 

There were also several reports of 2 to 4 inch 
hailstones, and widespread flash flooding. We 
have another chance of storms later this week, 
as we get further into our tornado season. Before 
then, a statewide frost and freeze is expected 
overnight tonight. My lawn service guy is coming 
by just after sunrise in the morning, for the 
first lawn mowing since October (November through 
February, the grass is usually dormant for winter). 
The green grass was the only green I had for St. 
Patrick's Day.

I may end up having to get a new printer...but 
that must wait until next month, with the other 
bills. I also have to purchase a power supply for 
my Hamshack Hotline phone (the other phone quit 
working). I'd prefer a printer scanner combination, 
if I can get it. The ink cartridges are the most 
expensive, and both Canon and HP have it where it 
you don't buy their name brand cartridges, the 
printer will shut down (they won't work with the 
generic cartridges), and I wish that there was a 
workaround for that. I wish I could get the current 
printer working again, as I just bought a black and 
color ink cartridge, and a ream of paper.

My D-Rats node is down right now, as the ratflector
that I normally connect to, is offline at this time. 
I am trying to find an alternate ratflector to hang
out on. I have messages of the local area weather
conditions, and of the Excel Net List Spreadsheets
on my QRZ bio, once an hour on both, with several
files for download, but that's about it. I usually
leave it in "Unattended" mode, except during certain
nets.

I have no real plans for my 64th birthday on Friday,
but, I'm just not the partying kind, and never have
been. Besides, I had to quit eating most desserts, 
as they were so rich, and they made me ill...but, 
STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS (hi hi). I
do have one less stress thing...the Cologuard test
came back NEGATIVE. I have to order some groceries
soon, or I won't make it until April. I have lost
some weight with conserving food...need to lose a
good bit more, though (don't we all!!).

**

KE4QCM:

Hello Daryl and everyone. Fine thanks. I'll keep it 
short as I am trying to invite a local ham to this 
net also.

Good evening from the Atlanta area. Glad to be back 
on this net.

Thanks Daryl, enjoying this net.

Hope to work some 10m packet radio soon on 28.140 LSB.

Still promoting vhf packet radio in N. GA. 73 All. BTU >>>

**

K0WAV:

K0WAV  : GE all on the net... we got 1.2 inches of 
Rain and some Wind, thankfully that was all. No 
damage here, although some in town had lawn furniture 
displacement. :) 

The downturn in temp is odd feeling for sure, since 
just 2 days ago I was sweating out in lawn doing 
first mowing and weeding chores.

Radio has been at bottom of list of things to do, so 
nothing exciting to report on that front. I am still 
planning on Mt. Vernon hamfest on the 23rd, hope see 
some of you there. I will have my callsign cap on!

**

NS2B: 

GE All!

Yeah, snowing now! True, I was looking at the local wx 
service here and we're about 22 inches short for the 
season. Not that I really mind that actually!

Nothing much new happening on the radio front. Been 
revisiting my scanners and loading some new frequencies 
to listen to. By accident I discovered the NY state 
thruway authority to be an entertaining freq to listen 
to.  Especially during bad wx - you get all the scoop
on vehicles not doing well, etc.

In other news, I have and old Pennsylvania Long Rifle 
that's been needing some TLC. I've got it torn apart 
for a refinish. Built a new ramrod for it. It'll be 
nice when I'm done!

**

KX4AC:
 
GE All.  Yes, I enjoyed the local club meeting last week. 
There was a presentation on a hardware/software system 
that uses multiple antennas to locate signals. You mount 
it on your car, drive around, and it triangulates the 
source location.  Interesting, but somewhat expensive,
so I don't think it will be in my shack anytime soon.

My packet station has been down for almost a week, but I 
got it back up last weekend. Sunday before last I had the 
bright idea of updating the OS to the latest release and 
rebuilding everything so I was all up-to-date. The upgrade 
did not go well and I wound up just reinstalling everything 
from scratch. But that is all done now, and I am reasonably 
happy with the result.

Weather here has been rainy today, but last weekend was 
really nice and with good spring weather. I got out for a 
couple of long walks with my film camera and developed and 
scanned the pics Sunday afternoon.

**

KF5TVG: 

Quansheng uvk5 radios are the rage here on the prairie, so 
we had a club presentation about them last Saturday. It's 
supposedly much cleaner output compared to a Baofeng at 
similar price point of ~$25 from Amazon. There are 3rd party 
firmware updates to improve/expand functionality. There is
also a 3rd party tool called "quansheng dock" that allows 
programmatic control from a pc. We're looking at it to see 
if possible to control frequency for tuning up satellites 
and adjusting for the doppler effect as they travel across 
the sky. 

Received my "Century Club" certificate from Winlink Wednesday 
group today in the mail. Participated 100 weeks. Yea!

Happy birthday Daryl!

**

WG3K: 

GE all.

Been planning trips for the year and now I need to add one more.
The boy (KC3UJB) and his Destination Imagination team scored 
second place at the Maryland State competition last weekend so 
their next step is Global competition in Kansas City, MO in ~8 
weeks. Not sure what the packet connectivity looks like up that 
way. Looking for packet connectivity in northern Vermont and 
western North Carolina for other trips this year.

Happy B-day!

**

NT5R: 

ge everyone

good week here but cold ~28 f last night and likely colder 
tonite, carrots, etc plated not yet sprouted so hope survives 
-planted -- all cold weather stuff planted so far

Eric will check re your MO trip for rf access, I usually 
Telnet when on road, sometimes from cell phone app

Scott, will look for you at Mt Vernon, likely have my pink 
Panama cap and maybe red call sign badge

Have the Quansheng uvk5 and another will pick up at Mt Vernon, 
amazing the firmware mods and hacks for it, out of the box 
receives 50-600 MHz

Driving thru Tulsa OK area couple weeks ago and heard simplex 
net on 222 band on rubber duck so good sensitivity there even
MANY YouTube videos on mods etc, someone even soldered in a 
more powerful processor - hardware mod

Our Branson club just donated a comm trailer from Cox hospital, 
we been cleaning and organizing getting ready for any emergency 
and likely Field Day

Already several vhf/uhf radios ham and commercial and getting 
donated hf rig also 

So Happy Birthday Mr Daryl enjoy your special day 

Thank you and Bob for eveything, always fun to type at you ALL. 
Have an awesome week everyone

OH, Carl, I do lot of hiking and walking and some jogging/running. 
Often take ht and do "Foot Mobile" fun when someone comes back to 
me on radio

**

Replies from N5VLZ:

First, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!! Thunderstorms
might keep me QRT next week...and if so, Bob, NS2B, will do the
net for me...but we'll be QRT on April 1, for Easter week.

Tom, glad to have you with us. Sorry the other folks didn't make
it, but we're here most every Monday, except for the weeks of
Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and New Years. Let us know how you make out on 10m
packet.

Scott, glad the effects from the weather were minimal. The shock
on the temperatures is understandable. Have a good time at the
Mount Vernon Hamfest.

Bob (NY), that's amazing on the late season snowfall, and FB on
the scanner frequencies. Some hams are cleaning up their DMR
code plugs, to get rid of unused talk groups. FB on the long
rifle...keep us posted on the progress of rebuilding it.

Carl, FB on the club meeting and the presentation. It sounds
like something the FCC would use when DFing, and it'd be a bit
of an unfair advantage for those fox hunting. GL on getting the
packet station back up. Been there, done that, on the OS upgrade.
I've had to rebuild the registry on the Windows 11 laptop several
times in the last 6 months, but I think I finally have it working
the way I want it to. FB on the photography...Rick, KA2BSM, in the
Germantown, TN (Memphis) area...is also a photographer.

Bob (OK), FB on the UVK5 HT...amazing what all it can do.
Congratulations on the WLCC Certificate...but that was nearly
2 years of checkins!!

Eric, congratulations to your son's school science team. When
you travel, you may be able to get in via telnet...that's how
I get in. Hope you can get to take those other trips.

Charley, you get to have the carrots "plated" after you have
harvested and cooked them (hi hi). Enjoy the Mount Vernon MO
Hamfest. FB on the 222 Mhz Simplex Net, and on the Communications
Trailer. Hard to believe Field Day is just over 3 months away.
FB on the UVK5 rig and the mods.

**


Daryl, N5VLZ -- Little Rock, Arkansas
Please See My QRZ Bio For More Info


Read previous mail | Read next mail


 29.03.2024 07:10:45zGo back Go up