2 0 1 8 C L U B

O F F I C E R S

President

David Russ, K4DWR

Vice President

Adam Shirley, WJ4X

Secretary

George Crane, W3RXF

Treasurer

Tedd Davison, AI4WN

Repeater Trustee

Buddy Willis, W4DEW

Activities Manager

Kevan Nason, N4XL

Editor in Chief

Michael Wills, KA4CSM

The W4GWD

Repeater Network

147.165+ t107.2

Echolink: 584003

443.900+ t107.2

W4GWM/R

145.420- DV

W4DEW/R

146.910- t123.0

WJ4X/R

442.600+ t107.2 / DV

The Signal Report J U L Y 2 0 1 8 V O L U M E 1 4 I S S U E 7

H T T P : / / W W W . W 4 G W D . O R G W 4 G W D @ A R R L . N E T

A Publication of the Greenwood Amateur Radio Society

Infrastructure Update Analog Repeaters are up. DMR and D-Star is up. Fusion is up. Echolink is down, maybe for an extended time. APRS iGate is up. Packet Node is down when up it is connected to the Carolinas Packet System 145.010

Downtown Digi is up and operational Repeater Linking Project—Linked now (undergoing testing)

July Meeting Our Club meets at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, located at 2330

Cokesbury Rd, Greenwood, SC. We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month

which will be the 10th of this month. Meeting starts at 7:30 Sharp.

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Chat ‘N’ Chew

Every Friday at 11:30am the members of the Greenwood Amateur Radio society meet at a local restaurant. Please check in to our Thursday radio net weekly, as lo-cations change. Everyone is welcome to have lunch or sip your favorite beverage

Weekly Nets

The Greenwood Amateur Radio Society holds our weekly 2 meter net each Thursday night at 9 p.m. on 147.165 with a plus .6 mhz offset Our UHF net is on 443.900 with a + 5 mhz offset is held Mondays at 8pm Help spread the word for everyone to check-in to our net. If you would like to fill in or be a backup net control please contact Tedd Davison ai4wn@arrl.net

Happy Birthday!

Karla Cox WB3LNX 7-4

Stephen Lyda KA4PQA 7-4

Betty Jean Powell family mbr 7-15

Mitchell Litwer KJ4JGP 7-24

Jennifer Lyda family mbr. 7-27

Jeremy Manning KI4CCZ 7-28

John Penman KC0CBD 7-30

Happy Anniversary!

David & Brenda McCall

7-7

George & Betty Crane

7-11

Joe & Wendy Suddeth

7-12

Stephen & Jennifer Lyda

7-16

Fred & Mary Pinson

7-18

Carlis & Judy Myers

7-20

Greenwood Amateur Society Events:

Phil’s Corner:

Hamisms #364

The new Technician Class Ques-tion pool is effective July 1, 2018 and will be valid through June 30, 2022

facebook.com/GreenwoodARS

VE Exam Session The GARS ARRL Volunteer Examiners (VE) Team will have an exam session 7:00pm Tuesday, August 7th at the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The address is 2330 Cokesbury Rd Greenwood SC 29649-9515 We hope to see you there. Please contact Buddy Willis W4DEW w4dew@arrl.net

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I'm a relatively new ham in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to take a minute to reach out to the entire community about some things I've read here. I guess to sum up how I feel: IT'S ALL AMATEUR RADIO. FT8, DMR, 80m, EchoLink, CW, assisting in EMCOM, ragchew on 2m/70cm analog re-peaters (linked or otherwise), etc: These are all cool things I can do on amateur radio. Full stop. Do they all require a 70ft tower, a $10k radio, and a degree in RF theory? No. But they're all amateur radio. It's fun to try new things. Some people like to see how good they can get at QRP. Some like to ragchew on the local 2m repeaters and don't give a lick about DX. Some like to see how far they can transmit with a shoestring and coat hanger. Some like to pick up a digital HT and talk around the world on an internet-connected pi hotspot. Some like amateur radio so they can talk between their jeeps on an offroad trail. Some like to make QSOs from a mountaintop. Some like straight key, some like iambic paddles. Some like to homebrew rigs like uBitX, some like to spend the cash on ICOM IC-7851, some can only afford a Baofeng (AND THAT'S OK!). Some like SDRs like Flex, others like to play with knobs and tubes on old rigs. IT'S ALL AMATEUR RADIO. This is SUCH a wide hobby with SO many things to do! But if we keep saying things like "X isn't REAL ham radio," we're going to drive people away. And while that might be great and well and good for some of you elmers, not to be blunt, but you'll be gone someday and the rest of us need to keep the hobby alive. Some people like to experiment, and that's ok! "But you can't pass NTS messages over FT8!" So what? It's still amateur radio. "But if the internet goes down, you won't have your precious DMR!" So what? it's still ama-teur radio. "But of course you're able to make DX contacts, you have a 100ft tower and 1kw of pow-er!" So what? it's still amateur radio. "But your vanity callsign cheapens the calls the rest of us let the FCC pick for us, and con-fuses the rest of us because you're not in the right region!" So what? It's still legally within the rules of amateur radio. "But it's cheating that you're talking on a cell phone app, even though your voice is being transmitted over a 2m repeater on the other side of the world!" So what? It's still amateur radio. "But by buying that Baofeng, you're helping to saturate the market with cheap Chinese crap!" So what? It's still amateur radio. (And might be the only rig a new ham can afford!) If it transmits over amateur bands, for 4000 miles or 4 inches, it's still amateur radio. If it requires a license and a callsign, it's still amateur radio. So take a minute to relax, have a cold beer, and sit back and watch a hobby grow by ex-perimenting in all the cool things we can do together. "Back in my day" doesn't have a place in ham radio anymore.

I ran across this post online and thought I would share it with the authors permission. Thanks to Alex, N3RDO

For those of you that hadn't heard, Fred K4RM’s son Ben had a cardiac event on June 18th. He was transported and subsequently admitted to Greenville Memorial hospital. While ad-mitted to the hospital he had several successful procedures. I am happy to report that Ben was released from the hospital June 23rd and he is now at home continuing his recupera-tion and doing much better.

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The Greenwood Amateur Radio Society (GARS) held our annual Field Day on June 23 at the Coronaca Baptist Church. It started with Adam WJ4X giving a very thorough class on the setup and use of the club’s radio trailer. We then set about erecting a 40 meter dipole which would be used later in the day for making contacts. George W3RXF, talked us through building and setting up a 2m Moxon Antenna which he fab-ricated himself. It was mounted on a stand and placed on a piece of Pvc pipe perhaps 4 feet in the air inside the building. He had no trouble hitting our repeaters with it. Adam WJ4X gave a very informative class on trauma first aid. Piece by piece he went through and described the use of each piece in his trauma bag. Dave K4DWR, gave an interest-ing class on the assembly and use of a Arborist Sling Shot (giant slingshot). He was followed by Adam WJ4X who gave a demonstration on the use of a pneumatic one. Lunch was provided by the club. Adam grilled the hotdogs and Marsha KD4AYF made the excellent chili, while Elizabeth Meadows W2LIZ , assisted by others set up the “chow” line. The club had one rig, an Icom 7100, set up and operating. Anyone inter-ested in operating it was given the opportunity to do so. Tommy K4XB set up his kit built UBitx HF rig and strung a dipole inside the building about 5 1/2’ off the floor with the ends anchored by a stack of chairs. The center was resting on the top of another stack of chairs. Hey, isn't this what ham radio is all about, experimentation. Tommy had it set up for FT8, he did see stations on the waterfall and even received one. When I left he was considering changing antennas. George McKinney, the Greenwood County Emergency Management Coordinator, stopped in for a visit introducing himself to many of those present. At 2:45 we had 26 attendees signed in on the roster that Kin KJ4BAK maintained. Although we did not have as elaborate event as some I saw a lot of peo-ple having a good time sharing experiences, talking Ham Radio, just generally convers-

ing and many opportunities to learn. Mike KA4CSM

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Early Precursos of Cycle 25 Intensity Progress to solar minimum and early precursors of Cycle 25 intensity Solar precursors correlating solar physical phenomena with the level of future solar activity are much better indicators of progress towards solar minimum -- a broad phase of the solar cycle -- than forecasting a specific event such as the bottom of a broad solar minimum by observing the statistics of numeric values such as solar flux. They're also useful estimators of the future strength of Cycle 25.

Here's an example of how one solar precursor -- spotless days -- can be used to assess progress towards solar minimum.

We entered the Cycle 24 solar cycle minimum with the onset of eight spotless days in June 2016. We had only 32 spotless days in 2016.

We had 15 spotless days in a row in March 2017, followed by relatively infrequent spotless days for the next seven months. The frequency of occurrence of spotless days accelerated in early November 2017 when we had 13 spotless days in a row followed by many more spotless days over the next five months. We had 104 spotless days during 2017. The frequency of spotless accelerated again last month when we had 25 spotless days. We've already had 54 spotless days during the first 25% of 2018. So where are we in our progress to solar minimum?

This chart shows the number of spotless days -- in red -- since the tenth spotless day of the onset of solar minimum in July 2016. Shown in blue are the average numbers of spotless days during sunspot minimums following weak sunspot cycles similar to Cycle 24. This data suggests that we may have just begun a period of very frequent spotless days for approximately the next two years.

Frank Donovan W3LPL, commented on the end of Sunspot Cycle 24 and beginning of Cycle 25. His comments are available from several locations on the internet. Below is text from https://dxnews.com/forum/forum/propagation-aa/9510-early-precursos-of-cycle-25-intensity Another good source with further amplifying information beyond what is included below is the Yankee Clipper Contest Club May 2018 newsletter. You can find it at http://www.pvrc.org/Newsletters/2018_05.pdf Kevan N4XL

I'll Be Done in a "Jiffy" Dating to at least 1785, the term "jiffy" is used informally to refer to any unspecified short period of time, often the brief moment it will take to finish a task. Certain fields of science use the word technically to denote a specific unit of time—typically a fraction of a second. In electronics, for example, a jiffy is defined as the time between alternating current power cycles. In computing, a jiffy is the duration of one tick of the system timer interrupt. From The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com Courtesy of Kevan, N4XL

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The next solar precursor is frequent long periods of spot-free days. We had a 14 spotless days in a row in 2016, 15 in a row in March 2017, 13 in a row in November 2017, and 14 in a row early last month. Long periods of spotless days will become even more frequent as we go deeper into solar minimum. We'll see another important solar precursor after long periods of spotless days become more frequent. New high latitude, opposite polarity Cycle 25 sunspots will then begin to appear more frequently, perhaps by late next year. More frequent Cycle 25 sunspots will signal that we're approaching the bottom of the solar minimum phase of the solar cycle.

So what about the intensity of solar cycle 25? An ongoing solar precursor of the future strength of Cycle 25 is the intensity of the solar polar magnetic fields prior to our current solar minimum. The good news is that the solar polar magnetic field strength is already slightly stronger than it was prior to the last solar minimum which suggests that Cycle 25 will be somewhat stronger than Cycle 24.

If the long periods of spotless days ends in about a year, it will be a solar precursor of a stronger Cycle 25. If it ends in more than two years it will be a precursor of a weaker Cycle 25.

Early Precursos of Cycle 25 Intensity Progress to solar minimum and early precursors of Cycle 25 intensity (Cont’d)

"What Hath God Wrought" (1844)

Samuel F.B. Morse was originally a painter, and a good one. His portraits still rank among the finest produced in the US. However, he is best remembered for having developed the telegraph and the code of dots and dashes that bears his name. In 1844, Morse demonstrated the practicability of his instrument to Congress by transmitting the famous message "What hath God wrought" over a wire from Washington, DC, to Baltimore

From The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ This Day In History - May 24, 1844

Courtesy of Kevan, N4XL

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SOUTH CAROLINA NETS NET NAME FREQ TONE DAYS TIME Anderson ARC 2M Net 146.790 - Daily 8:30PM Beaufort County ARES Net 145.130 88.5 Thursday 7:00PM Blue Ridge ARS 2M Net 146.610 - Daily 9:00PM Carolina State Line Net 146.730 - Sun 9:00PM Carolinas Net 3.571 CW Daily 7:00PM Carolinas Slow Net 3.571 CW Daily 8:00PM Charleston ARS 145.250 - Thu 8:00PM Coastal ARA 2M Net 146.910 - Thu 9:00PM Columbia ARC 2M Net 147.330 + 156.7 Sun / Wed 8:30PM Coastal Carolina Emerg. Net 3.907 LSB Daily 7:00PM Edisto ARS 2M Net 147.090 + 156.7 Thu 8:00PM Florence ARC 2M Net 146.850 - Mon 8:30PM Grand Strand Net 145.110 - 85.4 Sun 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 444.675 + 85.4 Tue 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 146.805 - 85.4 Thu 8:00PM Grand Strand Net 147.120 85.4 Sat 8:00PM Greater PeeDee 2M Net 146.745 - 82.5 Daily 9:00PM Greenwood ARS 2M Net 147.165 + 107.2 Thu 9:00PM GSARC 2M Simplex Net 146.540 Sat 10:30AM GSARC 6M Net 51.800 1st Sat 2:30PM GSARC 10M Net 28.450 2nd Sat 2:30PM Horry County SKYWARN (Primary) 147.120 + 123.0 - When Needed Horry County SKYWARN (Secondary) 146.655 + 123.0 - When Needed Kershaw County ARC 146.775 - 156.7 Mon 8:30PM Kershaw / Richland Dist.3 ARES Net 147.000 + 123.0 Thu 8:00PM Lancaster County 2M Net 146.700 123.0 Sun 8:00PM Lexington County ARES Net 147.000 + 123.0 Thu 8:30PM Midland Emergency Response Net 146.775 156.7 Sun Newcomers Net (Charleston Area) 146.940 – and 147.790- 123.0 Thu 8:00PM Oconee 2M Net 147.270 + Mon / Wed / Fri 8:00PM Oconee 2M Net 147.030 + Tue / Thu 8:00PM PALSNET-------------------Greeleyville 145.230 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-------------------------Mullins 145.470 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET------------------------Cheraw 145.490 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET----------------------Pageland 146.895 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET--------------------Bishopville 146.925 - 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-----------------------Florence 147.195 + 123.0 Daily

South Carolina Nets that are listed with our Section Manager

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9:30PM PALSNET-----------------------Florence 442.050 + 123.0 Daily 9:30PM PALSNET-------------------Greeleyville 444.750 + 123.0 Daily 9:30PM Pickens County ARES Net 146.700 - 107.2 Mon 8:00PM QCWA Chapter 89 SSB net 3.930 LSB Sat 9:00AM QCWA Chapter 89 VHF net SC Heart Repeaters Saturdays 9:00AM Saluda County ARES Net 146.910 123.0 2nd,4th Sun 7:30PM SC Sandlapper 6M Net 50.250 USB Tue 8:00PM South Carolina HF ARES Net 3.9935 or 3.990LSB 1st, 3rd Mon 6:00PM South Carolina VHF / UHF ARES Net See www.SCHEART.us for Freq & Tone Sun 8:00PM Statewide SKYWARN See www.SCHEART.us for Freq. & Tone Tue 9:00PM

South Carolina SSB Net 3.915 LSB Daily 7:00PM Spartanburg 2M Net 147.315 + 123.0 M / F 8:30PM Spartanburg 70cm Net 442.075 + 1st, 3rd, 5th Thu 8:30PM Sun City Carolina Lakes Ham Radio Club 443.475 + 110.9 Thu 7:00PM Trident ARC 2M CW Net 147.270 123.0 Tue 7:30PM Trident ARC 2M Phone Net 147.270 123.0 Tue 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Long Mt. 442.775 127.3 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Long Mt. 147.030 123.0 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Glassy Mt. 444.350 127.3 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Elberton, GA 444.700 118.8 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Elberton, GA 145,210 118.8 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Anderson 442.825 127.3 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS Honea Path 443.775 127.3 M / W / F 8:00PM Upstate Carolina ARS StumphouseMt 443.700 91.5 M / W / F 8:00PM York County ARS 2M Net 147.030 - 88.5 Daily 8:30PM York County Hoodlum Net 28.340 Sat 10:00PM

South Carolina Nets Cont’d

If you are interested in ARES contact Tedd, AI4WN for information. Big local exercise coming up in September. Lots of good current information for all you ARES/RACES hams on the below link: SC Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service Auxiliary Communications Tactical Communication Guide , dated March 1, 2018.

SC ARES & RACES link then scroll to 2018 ARES/RACES tactical plan then click on

SC ARES Tactical plan V4.4A

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Classifieds:

Hope you have enjoyed reading our newsletter. Please contact me with any ideas/

suggestions etc. Submit articles, including where you got it, for inclusion in future

editions to me at Mike31406@gmail.com

Mike

The American Radio Relay League protects our rights as Amateur Radio Operators http://www.arrl.org Support for SERA supports proper coordination! http://www.sera.org

Remember your local and regional interest clubs!

Southeast DX Club http://.sedxc.org

Spread The Word! 147.165 2m Net Thurs. 9pm

Callsign info http://www.ae7q.com

Track us on APRS: http://aprs.fi * South Carolina DX Association http://scdxa.org/ * Swamp Fox Contest Group http://swampfoxcontestgroup.com

Hy-Gain TH7DX 10-15-20 M beam. Verified SWR 1.5 to 2.5 on all bands at 13’ off ground. New plastic parts i.e. end caps and trap covers. Including an Alliance Rotor (has pitted bearings but races are smooth) Can be mounted inside tower or attached to mast . The connector and controller need to be replaced. Retail $900, asking $300.00 Teddy AE4TJ myemail122060@yahoo.com

HAMFESTS and EVENTS:

Price reduced & component added

Large black power supply, belonged to my Dad. Unmarked as to type, model,

watts etc. Very heavy box of QST magazines. Best offer. Stephen Lyda,

KA4PQA, stephenlyda@yahoo.com

CQWW VHF Contest July 21 www.cqww-vhf.com/

Ashville, NC. July 28, 2018 http://www.wcars.org/docs/wcarshamfestflyer.pdf