The Illuminator 
The monthly newsletter of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
The Illuminator
The monthly newsletter of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
May Meeting
The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
will be held on Thursday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.
ARRL
Propagation Bulletin
Propagation Forecast
Bulletin 19 ARLP019
From Tad Cook, K7VVV
Seattle, WA May 4, 2001
To all radio amateurs
The report this week
will be a little slim due to computer problems at K7VVV. For anyone sending
email, your mail should be answered by early next week. [email protected] is still
a good address.
Sunspot activity and
solar flux were both up, with average sunspot numbers for the week increasing
by 30 points and average solar flux up by almost 7 points. Solar flux peaked on
Tuesday at 209.7. Saturday was the most disturbed day, with the planetary A
index at 28, and the Fairbanks, Alaska high-latitude College A index at 46.
This was from an
interplanetary shock wave produced by a flare on April 26. The energy from this
flare was expected to arrive Sunday, but showed up a day earlier. The peak in
solar flux, last week
expected to be on the
weekend, arrived two or three days later than expected.
Currently the solar disk
is covered with sunspots, although they are small, fairly non-complex regions,
not like the recent sunspot 9393 which caused so much excitement over the
previous two solar rotations. There is some possibility of flare activity from
sunspot 9445, which exhibits a complex magnetic field.
The latest forecast
shows solar flux declining over the next few days, 170 on Friday, 165 on
Saturday, 160 on Sunday and 155 on Monday. Flux is expected to reach a short
term minimum around 130 between May 13-15, then peak again from May 20-29. The
next peak is expected to be lower than recent activity, and not reach a flux
value of 200. This is assuming that no new large sunspot regions emerge, which
we really have no way of knowing. Geomagnetic indices should be unsettled to
active this weekend, with a planetary A index of 15 on Friday and Saturday, 12
on Sunday and 10 on Monday.
Sunspot numbers for
April 26 through May 2 were 193, 181, 173, 161, 178, 152 and 179 with a mean of
173.9. 10.7 cm flux was 196.2, 190.8, 187.8, 191.7, 187.8, 209.7 and 176.2,
with a mean of 191.5, and estimated planetary A indices were 7, 6, 28, 15, 5, 4
and 6 with a mean of 10.1.
Carbon Amateur
Radio Club
Regular
Meeting Minutes
April 19, 2001
Secretary,
Bob Schreibmaier, K3PH, called a regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio
Club to order at 7:43 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2001. Seven people attended. When President, Larry Lilly, N3CR, arrived,
he assumed the chairmanship of the meeting.
The
minutes were read by Bob, K3PH, and approved by the members in attendance.
John,
W3MF, read the treasurer’s report. At
the last meeting, we had a balance of $832.58.
We had receipts of $155.00 from dues and disbursements of $43.02 for
mailing the newsletter ($4.42), mailing the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
promotional post cards ($19.60), and post office box rent ($19.00), leaving a
total of $944.56. The members in
attendance approved the Treasurer’s report.
Goody,
K3NG, volunteered to be the Field Day coordinator this year. The Blue Mountain Ski Area was mentioned as
a possible site, if we can get it. It
was noted that Bruce, N3RXJ, has a contact there, so we will volunteer him to
try to get the site for us. It was also
noted that Bill, KA3UKL, has the generator, which we will need for Field Day
operations.
Larry,
N3CR, mentioned that he had contacted the 3rd call area QSL bureau about Jim,
K3II’s incoming DX QSLs and noted that the bureau prefers 6x9 envelopes with 2
stamps.
Larry,
N3CR, also noted that he contacted bus companies about our potential club trip
to American Radio Relay League headquarters, but they need more information
about the number of people and day of the week.
It
was mentioned that the WalkAmerica is scheduled for April 28, however, the
March of Dimes has not contacted us about providing communications. Larry, N3CR volunteered to contact the
people in charge of the Beltzville WalkAmerica.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:24 p.m. to view a videotape documentary about Father
Jozef Murgas, the radio pioneer.
ARRL DX Bulletin
DX Bulletin 18 ARLD018
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT May 3, 2001
To all radio amateurs
This week's bulletin was
made possible with information provided by Tedd, KB8NW, the OPDX Bulletin, QRZ
DX, 425DXnews, The Daily DX, W5STI, JT1KAA and Contest Corral from QST. Thanks to all.
AGALEGA AND ST. BRANDON,
3B6. Look for 3B6RF to be QRV from Agalega
beginning about May 6. Activity will be
on all bands and modes. QSL via HB9AGH.
BAHAMAS, C6. Bill, W4WX, will be QRV
from Treasure Cay from May 7 to 14 as W4WX/C6A. He will be active using RTTY and some SSB on the newer
bands. QSL to home call.
ETHIOPIA, ET. Claudio, ET3VSC, has been
QRV of late on 21260 kHz between 2030 and 2330z. QSL via K3IRV.
GUINEA-BISSAU, J5. DJ6SI and others are QRV
as J5X. They will be QRV until May 11
on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY, FSK and SSTV. QSL via operator's instructions.
JAPAN, JA. Special event station
8J3EAG is QRV until May 27 from the East Asian Games in Osaka. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters. QSL via JA3DBD.
MONGOLIA, JT. Special event station
JU1O will be QRV from May 5 to 13. QSL
via JR0CGJ.
FRANZ JOSEF LAND, R1FJ. R1FJL has been QRV on
24911 kHz from 0800 to 1230z. QSL via
UA3AGS.
POLAND, SP. Helmut, DL7VOX, is QRV as
SO1VOX from Wolin Island, IOTA EU-132, until May 15. Activity is on all HF bands, including the newer bands, using
mostly CW. QSL to home call.
EGYPT, SU. Said, SU1SK, has been QRV
on 21084 kHz just after 1200z.
CENTRAL AFRICA, TL. Charles, TL8CK, has been
QRV on 17 meters just prior to 2100z.
QSL via F6EWM.
UKRAINE, UR. The Ukrainian QRP Club
will hold its first QRP expedition to the mountain Ai-Petri in the Crimea. They will be QRV as EM5QRP. Activity will generally be on the
international QRP
frequencies using mostly
CW. Some SSB, RTTY and SSTV activity is
also planned. QSL via UR7IRL.
MONTSERRAT, VP2M. Look for VP2MR to be QRV
for the first two weeks in May on all HF bands. QSL via W5PB.
IRAQ, YI. Rodger is QRV from
YI1BGD. He has been active on 18150 kHz
just prior to 1400z and then on 14184 kHz just before 1600z.
ASCENSION ISLAND, ZD8. Jim, N6TJ, is expected to
be QRV as ZD8Z from May 7 to 17. QSL
via VE3HO.
CHATHAM ISLANDS, ZL7. Ed, K8VIR, is here on
business during the next few weeks. He
will be QRV as ZL7IR during his spare time. Activity will be on 20, 17 and 15
meters. QSL via W8WC.
THIS WEEKEND ON THE
RADIO. The MARAC County Hunters CW Contest, ARI
International DX Contest, Danish SSTV Contest, Indiana, Connecticut, and
Massachusetts QSO Parties, Ten-Ten International Net Spring CW QSO Party and
the VHF/UHF Spring Sprint will certainly keep
contesters busy this
weekend. Please see May QST, page 106
for details.
Check out
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/n0ujr for other cartoons and to purchase N0UJR’s
book, “N0UJR and His Friends.”
Heard Through the Grapevine…
The club
needs an EC/RO for the ARES and RACES activities. Contact Larry, N3CR, for details.
Carbon Amateur Radio Club – 2000-2001 Officers
President:
Larry Lilly, N3CR [email protected]
Vice
President: Glenn O’Donnell, K3PP
Secretary: Bob
Schreibmaier, K3PH
Treasurer: John
Schreibmaier, W3MF
W3HA Callsign
Trustee: Bill Dale, WY3K
W3HA Repeater
Trustee: John Bednar, K3CT
Public
Information Officer: Bill Kelley, KA3UKL
Skywarn
Coordinator: Mike, N3XYU
Directors
John Bednar, K3CT, Bruce Appleton, N3RXJ,
Bert Rex, W3OWP
Illuminator Staff
Editor: Bob,
K3PH [email protected]
Contesting:
Glenn, K3PP
DX: Bob, K3PH
Foxhunting:
open
Propagation
and Commentary: Larry, N3CR [email protected]
QRP: Lamar,
N3AT [email protected]
Technical:
John, K3CT [email protected]
Newsletter Printing,
Folding, and Mailing: Bob, K3PH
Services
W3HA Repeater:
147.255 Mhz + PL 131.8
CARC Website: http://www.cpals.com/~elitehom/carc/
Webmaster:
Rob, KB3BYT [email protected]
CARC Email
Reflector: see www.qth.net CarbonARC list for
details
CARC Membership Information
Regular
Membership is $15.00, which includes autopatch privileges.
All amateur radio operators are invited to join the CARC
ARES / RACES net held 21:00 local time every Wednesday on the W3HA repeater at
147.255 Mhz + offset, PL 131.8. Any
amateur radio operator or anyone with an interest in ham radio is welcome to
attend our monthly meetings which occur the third Thursday of each month at
7:30 PM at the Carbon County EMA Center on Route 93 in Nesquehoning.
