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.

The OCRA Christmas Dinner Monday, December 12^th will be $18.50 per person Paid at the door.  $18.00 if enough pre-register. If there is any change in price I will post after my next meeting with Kelly.

The location is the exchange club building in Hillsborough on Exchange Club Rd. The hall will be open at 6:00 pm with an expected serving time of 7:00pm. Going south in Hillsborough – to Sun Trust Bank (turn right). If going north – to Exxon Ctr turn left.  After turning on Orange Grove Rd, at the immediate right is Exchange Club Rd – turn right and in about 100 yards is the Exchange Club on the left.  If you have ever gone to the Sat morning gathering at Bojangles, the turn is the first stop light past Bojangles heading into Hillsborough. The other way in is to turn down the street that runs beside the Weaver Street  Grocery  parking lot (opposite side of the lot from the building) and proceed past the trestle to the Exchange Club on the right. Talk-in frequencies  145.450 & 147.225

Anyone needing more detailed directions may call me at 919-304-0796 or 919-455-3330

73 everyone,

Lad

This is a list of the items to date selected by the last number of votes:

Meats:

Salmon Broiled / Baked
Baked Ham
Roast Beef
Chicken Tenders

Vegetables:

Vegetarian Pinto Beans
New Potatoes
Cornwallis Yams
String Beans
Greens
Carrots
Vegetarian Lasagna

Salads:

House Salad
Beverages:

Iced Tea – Sweet and Unsweet
Water
Coffee

Desserts:

Apple Cobbler
Chocolate Chess Pie
Caramel  Iced Pound Cake
Peanut Butter Pie

Additions or substitutions are possible but I need early notice to let Kelly know. I also need to know if anyone needs any special dietary conditions or has food allergies.

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.

by Herb, N4HA; posted by Dan, KR4UB

Eggs all around were enjoyed by the attendees of the weekly Saturday morning breakfast at Verlie’s Grill in Pittsboro.

Bill, N8BR, is looking for a DB-25 chassis punch and a source for 5 pole 25 throw rotary switches to control his remote station. Nibblers, drills, Dremels, and everything short of hatchets were offered as alternatives to the $200 price of the chassis punch.

Ray, K2HYD, related his entanglement with volunteering to restore a 160 MHz antenna to its original height at the railroad where he volunteers. It seems any change to antenna height, ERP, direction, range, etc. requires a modification in the FCC permit.

Roy, WA2JLW, celebrated his birthday with us and was treated to the dissonant tones of “Happy Birthday” from members of the group. He enjoyed the up-tick in sunspots by having a nice CW ragchew on 30 meters with a Russian ham.

John, KK4VUR, after performing the almost unbelievable feat of singing “Happy Birthday” backwards, told us of his latest project: using a noise generator, a directional coupler, an SDR dongle, and computer, a sweep frequency report can be generated showing the efficacy of an antenna. (I may have the details screwed up; see John for those.)

John, KQ4P, described a clothesline dipole, a folded dipole which can be tuned to resonance by effectively changing the feedpoint. He also posed a mystery regarding the 80 meter tube transmitter he is rebuilding. There is a ‘tickler’ winding on the output of the oscillator which is connected to the doubler. A few possibilities were proffered, but nobody knew. John says have no fear, Wilson, W4BOH, is on the case.

Nick, KA1HPM, is sporting a new callsign license plate. He told of an acquaintance who erected two tilt-over towers; a shorter one to pull up the taller one.

Herb, N4HA, also basking in the sprinkling of sunspots, has been more active on 40 & 17.

Hope you all can join us on Saturday mornings around 8:30 or so.

by Herb, N4HA posted Dan, KR4UB

Eight plucky amateurs braved the parking hazards on Hillsborough Street in Pittsboro last Saturday morning to share a breakfast at Verlie’s Grill.

Nick, KA1HPM, saw two Hammerlund receivers at the Durham Hamfest, they were sold before he could get to his wallet. He is still in the process of replacing capacitors in his Super Pro baby.

Roy, WA2JLW, stopped by after his church men’s breakfast and confessed to making two contacts in the recent CQ WPX contest. His knee appears to be working much better.

Ray, K2HYD, shared his discovery of a suitable telephone interface connection for his emails in the restroom of his european hotel, back in the dark days of modems. He put the lid down.

Terry, KK4JGT, has been teaching women to shoot rifles. Get off the radio and go wash the dishes, men!

Bill, N8BR, discussed several alternatives for ninja antennas in restricted neighborhoods, including a green telescoping flagpole.

John, KX4P, gave us a condensed report of the Dayton hamfest. He also advised distinguishing between a length of RG-8 and a black snake. Ask him for details.

Rick, KI4GND, (is that a great call or what?) described is method of repair on a tailtwister rotator. He’s mounting a Cushcraft beam on his chimney.

Herb, N4HA, still has ringing in his ears from the previous weekend CQ WPX CW contest.

Other topics of discussion were upcoming field day, the Elecraft KX2, the Elecraft KX2, and the Elecraft KX2.

Hope to see you all next Saturday morning around 8:30 at Verlie’s Grill.

posted on the behalf of Herb N4HA by Dan, KR4UB

The breakfast group this morning welcomed a new face, Nick-KI4GND. He related his dealings with the homeowners committee where he lives and his success at convincing them that what the community needed was a nice three element yagi up a respectable distance.

Other topics covered were auto racing, model airplane flying, science fiction, reminiscences of working for the MAN, and scanning alternatives for video displays. A brief moment of reflection was observed for those who were at Dayton. (Other subjects may have been broached, but memory fails to serve.)

In attendance were: Roy, WA2JLC; Nick, KA1HPM; TOM, KJ4SIN; John, KK4VUR; Nick, KI4GND; and Herb, N4HA. Vlad, KK4MRE, made a cameo appearance as he was breakfasting with his kids.

73, hope to see you all soon.

Reminder:
The OCRA 442.150mhz Repeater (+) (PL 131.8) will be used for primary communications support this coming Saturday, August 9th for the BikeFest 2014 Event.  147.135mhz (+)(82.5) will be secondary.

As mentioned in the event summary below (from the RARS Public Service page), this is a large event in terms of participants, and routes extending through Cedar Grove, Leasburg, Roxboro, Efland, Hurdle Mills, Carr, and with the start/finish in Hillsborough.

Ham volunteers needed for SAGS, rest stops and shadows. You can sign up to support this event on the RARS Public  Service page http://rars.org/public-service.php

Net control ops the Saturday morning 9:30AM OCRA ARES net are requested run an abbreviated net to maximize repeater availability for event radio traffic.

Net control for the event will be John, AI4RT.

See you Saturday!

Dan, KR4UB
W4UNC Trustee

BIKEFEST 2014
August 9, 2014 – Saturday – Hillsborough, NC
The Bikefest tour begins at the Superior Courthouse in downtown Hillsborough, and offers a choice of several rides: a 35-mile half metric, a 62-mile metric century, and a 100-mile English century. The 35 and 62 routes will have 2 rest stops while the 100 mile route has 4 rest stops. Tarwheels donates all proceeds, in excess of expenses, to bicycling related activities in our community. Since 2006 we have donated over $50,000! Previous recipients include Rails to Trails, East Coast Greenways, Chapel Hill Greenways, Triangle Trips for Kids, Lewis Days (bike restoration for children of need) and 78 needy kids who received new bicycles which we distributed through New Hope Elementary School and Durham Social Services.

This is a large 800+ participants. Due to the size and number of routes, we will need about 15+ ham volunteers for SAGs, rest stop monitoring and shadows.

* Ham Coordinator: John (ai4rt)
* Location: Hillsborough Courthouse, 106 E. Margaret Ln., Hillsborough, NC 27278
* Time: 7:00 am – Rollout 7:30 am
* Event Website:Bikefest 2014