Category Archives: Have Another Meal (HAM)

Is this what HAM really stands for?

It was the night before Christmas and….

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It was the night before Christmas and ….

Oh, No, No, No!!!!

It was Saturday morning before Christmas, 2019, and seven local hams were gathered at the rear round table of Virlie’s Grill, Pittsboro, NC. Just the week before, John Mitchell, KK4VUR had distributed early Christmas gifts of nice surplus utility enclosures. BIG THANKS to John, KK4VUR !

As part of the lively discussion this morning, Herb Allred, N4HA, revealed what he has already done with his utility box. Attached are photos of his “to go” station, with carrying handle attached to the top, containing his 20 meter CW QRP transceiver, antenna wire, iambic paddle, headphones and battery pack. The first photo shows Herb Alred, N4HA, on the left and Jim Davis, W4CFO, on the right. Note the use of popsicle sticks to secure the key paddle inside the lid of the box.

Very creative and ready to put on the air, maybe at a state park. Add a sandwich, drink and a few snacks in the box, (note the ketchup and maple syrup in the photo), and he is in for a good time.

Good luck Herb with many contacts and some DX. 20 meters has been better lately.

Don’t forget, Saturday mornings, 8:30 am (or earlier) at Virlie’s Grill, Pittsboro, NC (round table in the back of the room).

Best 73 and very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR !

John, KX4P

Annual Ham Migration

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While the crew at Virlie’s Grill took their annual vacation, the ham conclave met at the Root Cellar in Pittsboro for an enjoyableSaturday breakfast.

Pete, K4PHS, appeared wearing a tee shirt which advised us that there were “two types of people: 1) Those who extrapolate conclusions based on insufficient data.” (Some paraphrasing may have occurred.)

Bill, N8BR, is now selling his supply of RG400 coax in 10 foot lots. Cheap.

Terry, KK4JGT, our Chatham CERT organizer, announced a request for CERT support for a Haw River rescue exercise. He now has over a hundred on his mailing list and there are 21 hams.

Hank, K3YDX, participated in Field Day with a Snow Camp group. Casual and fun.

Herb, N4HA, enjoyed a 20 meter CW stint with the DFMA/OCRA team at W4EZ. Thanks to them.

John, KX4P, worked the Baker dxpedition on 40 meters 11 minutes before they closed up shop. That’s cutting it close, John.

SHOW & TELL TIME! John, KK4VUR, brought his newly constructed antenna amplifier for his satellite work. He added a T-bias to supply power. Does anyone remember what the Lagrangian point is?   

Nick, KA1HPM, brought his duplexer on which he repaired a broken coax center conductor with some electronic brain surgery.  

Hope you will join us and add your ham radio input to our next Saturday breakfast at Virlie’s Grill in Pittsboro. Photos by John, KX4P.

73, Herb, N4HA

Hams & Eggs at Virlie’s

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An octet of hungry hams conclaved at Virlie’s in Pittsboro for the last breakfast gathering of the year this past Saturday morning.

John, KX4P, brought in a broken main frequency dial digital encoder for the group’s examination. It was from a Collins KWM-380 from the 1979-83 era that he recently repaired.

Dave, W4INN, determined to get on the air one way or another, is toying with the idea of just running anantenna wire out the window. Dave likes bees because he likes honey. His daughter-in-law gave him a whole jug of the stuff for Christmas.

Terry, KK4JGT, agrees. He has four hives now and a gardener neighbor who gives him produce in appreciation for his quadrupled yields since Terry became a beekeeper. With perhaps the best eyes in the group, he made several good observations regarding the shapes and orientation of the slots in the rotating disk assembly of John’s encoder.

Nick, KA1HPM, described working back-in-the-day with, and the workings of, the coordinateograph, a beautiful machine which is basically a highly precise Etch-a-Sketch. He is still puzzling out his mysterious loss of power on FT8.

Roy, WA2JLW, commented on the Bouvet Island DXpedition as well as CW and digital operations. He is now getting out of his back yard on 160 with his improved antenna which sports a pair of 30 foot radials.

John, KK4VUR, reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX will attempt to put a car into heliocentric orbit on its next test launch. Maybe a Tesla? John confessed that he has been listening to HF on his SDR. (Ah, the HF siren beckons.)

Bill, N8BR, suggested that John try a vertical antenna for his HF SWLing. Bill is bracing for Bouvet.

Herb, N4HA, kept busy trying to remember what was being said so he could compose this. Thanks to KX4P for mnemonic assistance and the photo.

We hope you will join us in the new year for some stimulating conversation, friendship, and breakfast. We still meet around 8:30 AM.

Happy New Year to all.

and thanks to Herb, N4HA and John, KX4P for the always interesting reports and photo.


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Virlies August 5th Ham Breakfast in Pittsboro, Eggs, Chickens and Bridges

			
						

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Been a while since I’ve joined the Pittsboro gang at Virlie’s Grill instead of the usual trip to the Egg & I in Chapel Hill on NC 54 East for my Saturday morning breakfast HAM activity .  Time to get off autopilot and venture to some of the other favorite places hams are known to congregate on Saturday mornings.


After suitable and effective arm twisting by Nick, KA1HPM,  I found myself heading down the delightful back roads, passing scenic farm land and places like the Chicken Bridge (there’s a story to that name)  for breakfast and splendid conversation with KX4P, John, WA2JLW, Roy, N8BR, Bill, KK4JGT, Terry, N4HA, Herb, and Nick, KA1HPM. It made for a very pleasant journey and morning.


The food at Virlies is always delightful and the staff very accommodating.  I mean where else when asking our waitress to take a group photo, would she take time to find something to stand on (can’t say what…that might be an OSHA violation) and take this wonderful picture from high above..


After having two delightful eggs for breakfast, chicken seemed to stick on my mind, or was it driving over the Chicken Bridge, which I had not done for some time.  Knowing the inquisitive mind hams have, strict ham breakfast protocol now requires explanation of the aforesaid bridge name. If you missed it, back up to above aforesaid link.


After exhaustive research and effort of typing “Chicken Bridge” in Google and pressing the “Enter” key, I learned not only more about the history of the name but also that the bridge itself was used as a target for mock bombing runs in the 70’s and into the early ’80s.


I already knew, or more correctly should say had heard these runs, fearing loss of the roof on the house or worse and, also had heard about terrain following radar for low level flight and hoped that stuff kept terra-firma (and QTH) well protected from said flying objects as they passed directly overhead.  The QTH is north of the bridge as the crow flies, or perhaps I should say as the A-4 Skyhawk or an F-4 Phantoms of the era flew. Somewhere around here in my extensive collection of detritus, I still have the sectional aeronautical chart I obtained to learn more about this whole business.  There it was on the chart… the red line emanating from Cherry Point, complete with warning to airmen to check the NOTAMs (NOtice To All airMen) for when the area would be in use, right over the house and down to the Chicken Bridge.


Did you hear about?… no that will have to wait till the next breakfast! Everything of interest is covered with lots of camaraderie to be had.


Come on out!


Dan, KR4UB

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Geezerfest at Virlie’s, goings on, on going adventures

			
						

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This Saturday, five diehards, defying the infernal temperatures, met for the weekly Saturday morning ham breakfast at Virlie’s restaurant in Pittsboro.


John, KX4P, who has rebuilt a homebrew crystal-controlled AM transmitter, described his impressive feat of raising the frequency of an FT-243 crystal by hand grinding the quartz crystal with some VERY fine sandpaper, raising the frequency about 20 KHz. It took him only 18 tries to sneak up on it.


Bill, N8BR, has been cutting firewood, probably training for a transcendental antenna effort.


Roy, WA2JLW, remarked that his Vibroplex paddle needs occasional adjustment. Obviously a case of hypermorse activity. He also observed that 4 out of five of the breakfast attendees were 75 years old. His birthday is Sunday.


Nick, KA1HPM, the youngster of the group at only 73, brought a show-and-tell of an adapter for his headset/ mic to his radio. Nice job. He does a lot of that.


Herb, N4HA, reminisced about a sideswiper key he built as a young ham from a hacksaw blade. Thank goodness for iambic paddles.


Where are the youngbloods? Please join us and inspire us every Saturday morning.


posted by KR4UB for Herb N4HA

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
2016  Brrrr…. eakfast at Virlie’s

			
						

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Another delightful report on the Virlie’s goings on by Herb, N4HA


Despite the coldest temperatures of the season thus far, six hearty hams sated their hunger for eggs, coffee, and radio this Saturday morning at Virlie’s in Pittsboro.


Nick, KA1HPM, a newly ordained VEC, had to leave early to administer tests for some lucky amateurs-to-be. But not before relating a story of his being mistaken for Santa Claus by a young child in a store.


John, KX4P, is inching up on his digital DXCC goal at 96 confirmed. His quest to separate a length of 1 1/2″ copper pipe from its union with a union continues. A friend has offered the services of their tractor, winch, and a sturdy tree. Failing this, Nick will press his weedburner into service.


Terry, KK4JGT, continues to organize the Chatham County CERT program, despite its likening to herding cats.


Bill, N8BR, shared his knowledge of ice cream and old age. (The best ice cream is Graeter’s, coincidentally made in Cincinnati, Bill’s hometown. Also, don’t expect to live past 127; beyond that, the body falls completely apart.)


Roy, WA2JLW, extolled the empirical virtues of the G5RV antenna ( it works pretty good).


Herb, N4HA, has hit another snag in the postponement of the erection of his 30 meter switched Vee antenna due to the recent acquisition of some antenna wire and a crimp-on pl-259.

Now the only thing left is to put the darn thing up and see if it works.


note: please overlook any misspellings, incorrect statements and/or hyperbole. It’s hard enough remembering how old I am.

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
CQ Breakfast from Pittsboro

			
						

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by Herb N4HA


 Chatham hams assembled for the ritual breaking of eggs at Verlie’s Grill this past Saturday morning. Seven and a half amateurs attended the breakfast.


    Terry, KK4JGT, reported that he has had a dozen people respond to his Chatlist posting concerning starting a CERT team in Chatham County. The state authorities have been contacted and the process is under way. Good job, Terry.


    Nick, KA1HPM (a.k.a. “Hiram Percy”) had a premonition that he should back up his hard drive about two weeks before his un-backed-up hard drive crashed. He says retrieving the data from his old drive will be very expensive, if even possible. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m backing up mine NOW.


    John, KX4P, brought in the chassis of the AM modulator for the radio he is rebuilding. He asked for advice on how to clean the smoke and debris deposits from the chassis, the result of an expired power supply transformer. Nick suggested oven cleaner or putting it in the dishwasher. Nick also brought in adapter plates he had fashioned for the replacement transformer and  mic connector.


    Bill, N8BR, enjoyed the North American QSO Party, making around 1300 QSO’s for the team of 4 at N1LN’s super station. He is having some trouble getting his new logging software, XMlog, to do right.


    Roy, WA2JLW, was able to get a few licks in during the NAQP also. At some point in the conversation – can’t remember where – he reminded the group,”never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity… but don’t rule out malice.”(This is known as Heinlein’s or Hanlon’s Razor).


    Pete, K4PHS, has gotten the radio unpacked after his move into his new digs. He has made a contribution of several antique radio pieces to an antique radio museum.


    Herb, N4HA, saw two meteors during the recent Perseids shower.


    John, KK4VUR, made a brief cameo appearance while breakfasting with another group.


    Hope you all will join the fun some Saturday morning.