PICTURES FROM AUGUST PICNIC
WARC held a picnic August 5 at Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Over 25 members and guests attended, and a good time was had by all.
WA4J PARTICIPATES IN 2024 NC QSO PARTY!
On Sunday, February 25, WARC participated (for the second time ever) in the North Carolina QSO party. A Group of enthusiastic Contesters assembled at the QTH of K2ODV, and operated from 10 AM till 8 PM. We used two stations in the Low-Power1 (100W) & Mixed (Cw/SSB) mode.
Operators included George-K2ODV, Corey-WB0RXQ, Eric-NI4E, and Rich-K1HE. Also, assisting were Mark-K4CK, Steve-N4SCM, and Dennis-KA4BOE.
BAND QSOs last year (2023)
80 116 30
40 407 170
20 265 0392
15 32 31
10 6 1
2 4 00
TOT 830 624
The final result had been published, and once again we took third place in our category. Our score was better than last year, and we think we can see a path to perhaps winning next year.
CALL COUNTY SCORE QSOs
K4MN CUMB 337,835 1053
W4MR JOH 289,375 907
WA4J WAT 253,160 829
NC Section Newsletter, November 22, 2024
GREETINGS FROM THE HIGH COUNTRY
Snow has fallen overnight on Thursday, about two inches worth here at 3850 ft above sea level. The temperature has been around 25 degrees, winds around 20 mph and the chill factor is around 12 degrees. Winter has certainly found its way to the High Country.
While the ski slopes are blowing snow and gearing up for the season, not everyone will be celebrating with great joy.. Please remember those whose homes were damaged or lost, whose possessions were washed away in the flood and whose Christmas likely will be unlike anything the kids are used to.
Special recognition should be given to the hundreds of volunteers who have worked in difficult conditions to help folks in the High Country and throughout Western North Carolina. Church groups, volunteers, as well as local fire departments, rescue squads, and Red Cross workers continue to help in so many ways.
To persons who are outside western North Carolina, for many, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene has begun to fade as something that happened a while back and didn’t personally affect them. However, with the advent of winter weather, think about those families who have been without electric power since September 26. There are areas in Avery, Mitchell, Yancey and Buncombe counties which are still without electric power. Look at https://poweroutage.us/area/state/north%20carolina for a real time update from the power companies and electric cooperatives on where and how many folks do not have power at any given time.
Amateur radio operators helped during the storm and now during the recovery in a number of ways. The Mount Mitchell repeater (145.190, -600 khz, no tone) was used extensively by local groups communicating about affected people and damage in a large number of areas in WNC. Auxcomm volunteers staffed the State EOC and the Western Regional Coordinating Center and relayed situation reports to and from NCEM and the counties using HF, SHARES Winlink, and DMR
VIPER, the state’s Voice Interoperability Program for Emergency Responders, a trunked radio system which operates on 700 and 800 MHz, held up well. One site had wind damage that affected a few downstream microwave sites (which remained operational in site-trunking) and perhaps eight sites were so difficult to reach that they went off the air when the generators ran out of fuel. VIPER technicians used ATV’s to reach those sites and hauled forty gallon fuel tanks to get the sites back on the air.
Lots of people did a tremendous amount of good work in very difficult and stressful conditions.
Thank you to each and every one who made a difference by helping strangers, neighbors and those in need. People and groups opened shelters, congregate feeding centers, emergency medical sites and donors brought firewood, generators, fuel, clothing, food, hay and feed for animals—each of these groups deserve mention and are among those who will be in my thoughts next week during Thanksgiving.
At 1:30 pm on November 22, NWS Blacksburg issued a Winter Weather Advisory for additional snow and winds up to 50 mph for Watauga and Ashe Counties until 7 a.m. Saturday.
Despite the massive amount of rain from Helene and the huge damage done by landslides and flooding, the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council report published each Thursday shows that all of North Carolina is abnormally dry or in a moderate drought. The report can be found at https://www.ncdrought.org/.
There is great concern that the very large volume of trees and branches that came down during Helene will produce a significant fire loading and elevated risks of wildfires.
Despite the severe hardships that many people are experiencing due to the storm, there are some activities that are more or less normal and need to be mentioned. NWS Greenville-Spartanburg issued a similar statement advising that up to three inches of snow and winds up to 50 mph are likely until 7 a.m. Saturday in Avery, Madison, Mitchell and Yancey Counties.
ARRL MATTERS
Many amateurs received emailed information this week about proposals to amend the ARRL Bylaws at the upcoming Board Meeting which will held in January in Connecticut.
Criticisms have been leveled at the Board and the Ethics and Elections Committee over handling of allegations of unfair decisions and/or inconsistent decisions in handling of allegations directed towards Board Members and candidates for election to the Board of Directors.
In January 2024 at the Annual Board meeting ARRL created a special committee to make recommendations for changes in the Bylaws concerning the handling of allegations of self-interest, breaches of confidentiality and the truthfulness of campaign statements. Some members feel that such allegations have not been properly handled by the Board.
Information from the Special Committee about proposed changes to the ARRL Bylaws can be found at http://arrl.org/news/committee-proposes-changes-to-arrl-by-laws-42-and-46.
ARRL IT SYSTEMS
Many of the IT systems used by ARRL remain unavailable six months after the ransomware attack. The Field Service database which lists persons holding various appointive positions in each Section cannot be accessed, added to or be changed. The normal bulk emails system which allowed me to send this newsletter out to 2280 NC ARRL members is not functional. The newsletter is being sent to club presidents for distribution to club members. An archive of all NC Section Newsletters from April 1, 2020 to the present can be found at ncarrl.org. Thanks go out to Susan Langley Jones, WA4AKB for her diligence in maintaining the NC ARRL Section webpage.
ARRL ANNUAL REPORT
Normally, at the July meeting of the ARRL Board, ARRL HQ releases an Annual Report for activities during the previous calendar year that ended on December 31. No such report has been issued for 2023, no doubt due to the ransomware attack that occurred on or about May 16, 2024. However, the audited financial statement prepared by an outside accounting firm can be found at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Annual%20Reports/AMERICAN%20RADIO%20RELAY%20LEAGUE%20INC__FINAL%20REPORT_FINAL%20AUDIT_2023.pdf
NC SECTION TRAFFIC REPORT
On the tenth of each month, Dave Roy, W4DNA, NC Section Traffic Manager, produces a report on the activities of the various traffic nets that operate in North Carolina. His full report is posted each month at ncarrl.org and can be viewed there. Set out below is a portion of his report for October 2024. Thanks go out to each of the traffic handlers, to the net managers and to Dave for their efforts.
| W4DNA – NC Section Net Report – OCTOBER 2024 | |||||||
| NET | NMGR | QNI | LISTED | PASSED | TIME | SESSIONS | TFC % |
| SECTION NETS | |||||||
| CN | AA4MP | 377 | 127 | 122 | 607 | 62 | 96.06% |
| CSN | KI4KZS | 164 | 25 | 25 | 720 | 31 | 100.00% |
| NCEN | WK4WC | 386 | 94 | 94 | 432 | 31 | 100.00% |
| NCMN | W3OJO | 269 | 85 | 86 | 363 | 31 | 101.18% |
| THEN | K4SEH | NO REPORT | N/A | ||||
| LOCAL TRAFFIC NETS | |||||||
| CWTN | N4CNX | 451 | 102 | 102 | 590 | 31 | 100.00% |
| ENCTN | W4DNA | 169 | 7 | 7 | 204 | 27 | 100.00% |
| PCTN | W4TTO | 172 | 53 | 53 | 241 | 31 | 100.00% |
| SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NETS | |||||||
| C-MNN | KI4FAQ | 457 | 0 | 0 | 364 | 31 | N/A |
| TOTAL | 2445 | 493 | 489 | 3521 | 275 | 99.19% | |
NEW HAMS
Congratulations go out to a couple dozen new hams who passed their Technician license tests as well as those who upgraded to General or Extra. Thanks go out to clubs and VE Teams for doing their part in arranging testing sessions and for welcoming the new hams into our shared hobby.
According to FCC data posted on November 21, 2024, the current number of active amateur license holders is:
Novice Tech General Advanced Extra Total
North Carolina 128 1,0495 5,948 909 5,259 22,739
TOTAL 5,151 36,8801 185,065 29,588 156,396 745,001
Due to the ransomware attack in mid-May 2024, ARRL has not update its data available about the number of ARRL members. Between April 2022 and April 2024, the number of members was reported to have decreased by approximately 11,000 and the last number made available shows the total at approximately 145,000.
HAMFESTS
Congratulations to the Johnston Amateur Radio Society for their successful JARSFEST held in Benson on November 17. I wish I could have attended but I know that Dave Price, K4KDP, Section Youth Coordinator, did a good job in representing NCARRL.
Mark your calendar for the Charlotte Hamfest to be held at the Cabarrus Event and Conference Center on March 7-8. Plans are being finalized to make this a great hamfest. Go to https://charlottehamfest.org/ for the latest information. Be sure to be there.
RARSFEST is set for April 5 at the Jim Graham Building at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. This is a great hamfest and you won’t want to miss it. Information can be found at https://www.rarsfest.org/ .
CLOSING COMMENT
Some of you have noticed that I produced one newsletter in October 2024. Tropical Storm Helene and other events kept me busy and I fell behind and got only one newsletter out between September 19 and November 22 despite my goal to produce two newsletters each month.
I very much appreciate the number of emails, text messages and face to face inquiries about how I fared during the storm. I am ok and hope to be able to resume more ham-related activities very soon.
Thanksgiving is next week. Pause and reflect on the ways in which our families and friends help us to be better people. If our situations are good, reflect on ways in which each of us can help those less fortunate than we are.
Marv, WA4NC
NC Section Manager
Boone