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ARRL North Carolina Section (NC)Section Manager
Timothy B. Slay, N4IB 141 Queens Cove Rd Mooresville, NC 28117-9609 704-382-4646 n4ib@arrl.org |
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News last updated: Wed, June 18, 2008 at 6:39 PM ET
MAY NORTH CAROLINA SECTION NEWS and FIELD DAY UPDATE
GOVERNOR DECLARES "AMATEUR RADIO RECOGNITION AND APPRECIATION WEEK"
Governor Easley has declared the last week in June 22-28 "Amateur Radio Recognition and Appreciation Week" as part of our celebration of the 76th annual ARRL Field Day. An image of the signed proclamation will be posted at www.ncarrl.org and I encourage you to exhibit a copy at your field day site.
TRAFFIC HANDLERS NEEDED FOR FIELD DAY
Our Section Traffic Manager Dave Roy, W4DNA, is looking for experienced Official Relay Stations (ORS) to handle NTS traffic during Field Day. Stations will be assigned a specific time (every 2 hours on the hour for 30 minutes starting at 1400L Saturday until 1200L Sunday, on or about 3923 kHz) to receive NTS traffic generated by Field Day sites. They will then bring this traffic to the North Carolina Evening Net (NCEN) Saturday evening, NC Morning Net (NCMN) Sunday morning, and again to the NCEN Sunday evening. This will give Field Day operators an opportunity to bring NTS traffic to the system and allow them to earn bonus points for passing NTS traffic. Stations acting as NTS ORS's will a get credit by handling additional traffic during the event. The Field Day rules allow 10 points for each formal NTS style message, up to a maximum of 100 points. If you are interested in participating, contact Dave Roy, W4DNA at 919-778-8316 or w4dna@nc.rr.com for additional information. He will need to know the callsign being used and the time desired. Field Day stations originating traffic can use a regularly schedule NTS net or can try 3923kHz at the top of an even numbered hour.
EASY WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR FIELD DAY SCORE
CW contacts count twice as much as SSB contacts. If some of your prospective operators are a little intimidated by the CW speed of many contest stations, it won't hurt to get a little technological assistance. I've been playing with CW Skimmer, a CW decoder designed for contests. It's no substitute for the ability to copy Morse code (it's not that good), but it can be a good backup for you if the other station is running just a little too fast.
You can earn an easy 100 points by originating a radiogram to your Section Manager (me)! I will be available to receive this traffic via SSB on the North Carolina Evening Net on 3.923MHz at 6:30pm on Saturday, then again on the North Carolina Morning Net on 3.927Mhz at 7:45am on Sunday morning. You can also send messages to my packet station (N4IB-1) on 145.01MHz in Mooresville. I'm looking forward to visiting Field Day sites in the Western Branch this year.
Hold your event in a public location and earn 100 points. Send a press release inviting your local media outlets and earn another 100 points. A public information table at your site gets you another 100 points. Invite visitors to your site to help you originate NTS radiogram traffic and earn 10 points per message, up to 100 points. A formal educational activity at your site earns 100 points. There's also bonus points for visitation by public officials and served agencies. Youth participation also can add to your score. Check out the Field Day rules on www.arrl.org for other ideas.
FIELD DAY LOCATOR ON WWW.ARRL.ORG
A new feature of ARRL's Field Day efforts this year is a "Field Day Locator" on arrl.org. The web site includes a database of field day locations and these are plotted on a map. This makes it much easier for visitors (like me!) to find your field day locations, so be sure your Field Day operation is registered!
MEDIA HITS
The Winston Salem Hamfest received good coverage in the Winston-Salem Journal on June 15. The Museum Ships special event weekend operation from the Battleship North Carolina was a feature on WWAY-TV in Wilmington. Congratulations to our Bill Morine, N2COP, our Section Public Information Coordinator for his brief discussion and photo op with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Martin was in Wilmington to discuss the city's early transition to digital TV. Bill spent about three minutes talking one-on-one with Chairman Martin and had time to thank him for the opportunity to be an amateur radio operator, and reminded him of the many hours of community service that hams donate for public events and emergencies. Amateur Radio also received good exposure during Hurrican Expo events in Wilmington and Elizabeth City.
The Charlotte Observer published an excellent article about one of our newest hams, Cameron Hasson.KJ4EDF. As far as I know, Cameron is currently the youngest radio amateur in North Carolina at age 6. Cameron and his parents Eric, KJ4DLJ and Beverly, KJ4EDE attended a licensing class sponsored by the Gastonia Area Amateur Radio Club and received their licenses in May. Congratulations to Cameron and the Hasson family!
UPCOMING EVENTS
MAY TRAFFIC
N3BW 243, W4DNA 206, K4IWW 195, KI4YV 144, W2EAG 142, WA4OBR 76, W4TTO 59, W4FAL 50, KE4AHC 32, KC4PGN 23, KD4WAX 23, WA2YBM 23, KJ4WY 19, W3HL 17, W4EHF 14, WX4MMM 13, KD4SM 6, KD4ZPS 5.
MAY PSHR
W4DNA 145, W4FAL 130, K4IWW 120, W2EAG 110, W4TTO 105, KI4YV 90, W1REP 85, WA2YBM 60.
MAY ARES MEMBERS: 1,829 (continuing to rise!!)
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