PRC mtg Dec 4

ELECTION 2018 The 2018 elections went swiftly at our November business meeting.  Candidates for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer were each uncontested, resulting in the elections being decided by acclamation. Congratulations to the 2018 slate: President – Hal Rogers, K8CMD Vice President – Mike Marganski, KE8HBK Secretary – John Malloy, KA8VTV Treasurer – Jim … Continue reading “PRC mtg Dec 4”

ELECTION 2018

The 2018 elections went swiftly at our November business meeting.  Candidates for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer were each uncontested, resulting in the elections being decided by acclamation.

Congratulations to the 2018 slate:

President – Hal Rogers, K8CMD

Vice President – Mike Marganski, KE8HBK

Secretary – John Malloy, KA8VTV

Treasurer – Jim Bis, N8FND

While three candidates were incumbents, Mike Marganski is a new amateur who has been an energetic addition to our nets and meetings after joining the PRC this year. Please give the Officers your support and help us make 2018 a great year for the PRC.


Dues for 2018 now being collected

PRC Treasurer, Jim Bis, N8FND reminds us that members are invited to renew their dues at any meeting or mail it to the address on the application. We require a new application each year as a way of being certain our information for you is correct and current. Please use the application on this site.


Roll out 2018

Please join us for our “Roll out 2018” party on January 15.  While the location is not yet confirmed, members at the recent meeting decided to do something different this season. While December is full of holiday parties, the question is asked, “What about January”?  It seems to be forgotten. So a “Roll out 2018” seemed a great idea. While we will not have our regular meetings in January, this will be a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet fellow members and kick off the new year.

More information on “Roll out 2018” will be provided in coming weeks.


What in the world is a dB?

I will confess that one of my least understood electronic terms is decibel.  I hoping to turn that around after our December 4th meeting when Tom Bedocs, K8DMM will present his new program on this the ubiquitous decibel.  Yes, decibels are everywhere. I hear them every day. It even has its own nick name –  dB. There are even meters that read them. But what are they really?  Tom will explain the term and present helpful demonstrations that will help us all to understand the decibel and also explain why the B so big?


How multi-color LEDs work

I’ve been a fan of holiday lights since, as a youngster, I first saw those bubbling candles on our little tree.  I wondered then how they worked that when one met misfortune my mother was really upset. All I think was “What’s in those candles”?  I never did find out. But to this day it seems that the holidays are perfect for showing off new technology.  Which brings me to wonder about those curious LED lights that we see everywhere. You know, the lights that change colors. How do they do that?

The Kitronik Zip light changes colors in rotation.

After a bit of digging, I soon found a wealth of fascinating info on a site in the UK called Kitronik Ltd.  which says  “A colour changing LED isn’t one LED in a package but three LEDs along with a small computer to drive them. The LED is made up of red, green and blue LEDs each of which can be controlled by a microcontroller. Since the two legs on the LED that supply the power are connected to the microcontroller and not the LED elements a current limit resistor is not required. The microcontroller is able to turn each of the colours on or off, so if the red LED is turned on then the output from the colour changing LED is red. When the blue LED is turned on it is blue, if both the blue and red LEDs are turned on then the colour changing LED is a shade of purple (called magenta). Similarly combining red with green gives yellow and blue & green gives cyan.

Although the colour changing LED uses the six colours mentioned above, it slowly changes from one to another.”

To learn more on this topic, see https://www.kitronik.co.uk/blog/how-colour-changing-leds-work/

Not surprisingly, Kitronik offers many fascinating LED and other electronic kits.


Have a wonderful and safe holiday.

Hal Rogers, K8CMD, President and Communications Director