The regularly scheduled meeting of the Paducah Amateur Radio Association was held Monday, February 11, 2019 at the WKCTC Emerging Technology Center, Room 140, in Paducah, KY. There were 23 members and guests present. The meeting was opened by PARA President, Jeff Wielgos. Jeff welcomed us and asked each attendee around the room to give their name and amateur call. Two came for FCC VE testing, see pictures below.
Club Business Items Discussed
- Secretary Ron Cowherd reviewed business items from the November meeting. Those items included: KY QSO Party planning. Dates for party will be June 1st and 2nd. Secretary Cowherd requested seasonal selfie pictures to be used as a banner for future Monthly Meeting web site web page posts. Send medium size pix to roncowherd@aol.com.
- Treasurer Bruce Huyck reported the club’s current financial status. He reminded us that 2019 club dues ($20) are now payable. Bruce told us that the club treasurer position is still open for the year 2019.
- Ed Pflueger (AB4IQ) gave us an excellent demo of the Elecraft K2 Transceiver Kit that he had recently constructed. The radio covers 160-10 meters, 5, 10 or 15 watts. Ed explained that he was looking for a project to do during the cold days of winter. Also, it was a nostalgic experience that reminded him of previous Heathkit projects that he had completed in past years. The kit is a challenge in that it is not a modular build as today’s kits offer but employ a 20 year old point- to-point construction technology. He even wound the coils that were needed. The K2 followed the KX1 and preceded the K3, KX3, KX2 and K3s in that order. All of these radios enjoy excellent Sherwood ratings. The Elecraft company has the reputation of offering superior products as well as outstanding customer support.
- Jason Brambach (KY9I) continued the “show and tell” evening with a demo of the Flex Maestro, an SDR control interface for his 6000 series Flex transceiver at home. Please see: flex maestro presentation
Net Control Operators for Late February/Early March
Sunday night nets are at 9:00 PM on 147.060 Mhz. PL 179.9
February 17 Jeff KB9BVL 11 PARA ck-ins
February 24 Jeff KB9BVL 9 PARA ck-ins
March 3 Jason KY9I 8 PARA ck-ins
March 3 Logan KG4VKB 9 ARES ck-ins
March 10 Ken KW4DI 18 PARA ck-ins
New License Successes
We are happy to report that Robert Calhoun left. pic. has successfully passed the Technician class FCC exam. Stewart Strickland (KE4RUP) rt. pic. has successfully upgraded to the General level. Congratulations to both of you. We cordially invite you to enjoy your new licenses and join us at future monthly meetings.
Remember:
- PARA meets at Emerging Technology Center, WKCTC on 2nd Monday, 7 pm, each month except December. Prospective hams in search of general info concerning the hobby may Google ARRL.com and click on relevant headings.
- New License and upgrades exams are offered at the close of each meeting night throughout the year. See W4NJA web site at w4nja.org. For info click button at the top of the page: About Us, then VE License Testing.
- The Sunday Night Net meets each Sunday night at 9 PM. All amateur radio operators are invited to check in. 147.060 PL 179.9 The ARES monthly net convenes immediately following PARA net on first Sunday nights.
- CW round table for on-the-air operating practice, 7:00 pm Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Meet on W4NJA 147.060 repeater at 7:00 to get instructions.
- Amateur Radio Emergency Services meetings are held at 7:00 pm on 3rd Thursdays, 3700 Coleman Road EOC building in the Jack Johnston meeting room.
For Sale:
- For sale by John Hudson KO4XJ: 10 element Cushcraft 2m beam $40.
- For Sale by Bruce Huyck KS4V: Kenwood TS590SG HF rig with built in antenna tuner, hand microphone, fused power cord, and everything else that came new with the radio. Two accessories are installed in the radio. The SO-3 is a temperature controlled oscillator for frequency stability and the VGS-1 is a voice synthesizer module for recording voice messages. Rig is in mint shape with absolutely no issues. Asking $850.