MINUTES OF LIDXA INC.
MEETING—January 19, 2001
Location:
Polytechnic University, Farmingdale, N.Y.
The
LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of January 19 to order at 8:15
PM. Marty welcomed the XYL of member
N2JE and guest, Roy, AD5Q, from Texas, who was visiting the NY area on
business. Due to the inclement weather
conditions, the membership turnout at tonight’s meeting was low. According to the club’s constitution, since
a quorum of the LIDXA membership were not present (one-third of the present
membership or more than twelve members), no business matters could be
transacted tonight.
In
terms of DX, specific activities mentioned:
·
At the present time it
appears that there will not be any major operation from North Korea in the near
future. However, a major DXpedition
from Conway Reef is still expected in April of 2001.
·
Another DXpedition to
Bhutan is expected soon. The operators
said that they expect to be running kilowatt rigs.
·
Marty indicated the
callsigns of some of the various IOTA stations that were presently in
operation.
Marty welcomed the membership back to a New Year of
continued excellent DX activities.
Although the peak of the sunspot cycle might have just been passed, good
conditions on the higher bands are still expected for a couple of more
years. The last meeting in the year
2000 was the club’s annual Holiday Party, held at the Spartan Diner in Farmingdale.
It was an informal meeting and no club business was transacted.
The
minutes of the November 17 meeting were prepared in advance by the LIDXA
Secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and included in this month’s mailing to the
membership. However they could not be
accepted tonight since a quorum of members were not present. In addition, thanks to the efforts of LIDXA
Vice President, Pat, KE2LJ, these unofficial minutes also appear in the LIDXA
Web site: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.
The
LIDXA Treasurer, Russ, W2RL, reported that the annual membership dues of $25
for the year 2001 are now due. Several
members turned their checks over to Russ at tonight’s meeting. A reminder was made to inform members not
present to get their dues to Russ as soon as possible.
The club thanked the Corresponding Secretary, Marty, KA2NRR, for putting together a very interesting and informative January club newsletter. Appreciation was also given to Lou, W2BIE, for furnishing the biographical article for this month’s newsletter. Other members were urged to put together a biographical sketch of themselves and their ham activities, and send the information to KA2NRR.
Marty commented that there was no new information
concerning the Millennium Tower
Corporation’s application for a tower construction permit with the Town of
Babylon. Pat did indicate that they are
still pursuing the possibility to get a rigger (for an inexpensive fee) to
climb the tower at Jane’s hill and try to access the problem with the club’s
repeater (hard-line transmission line feed or antenna). In the meantime the LIDXA has use of the Grumman repeater, on 146.745 MHz.
The second annual “Ham Radio Forum,” HRU-2001, will
be held in the Babylon Town Hall Annex in North Babylon on Sunday January
21. The admission cost for HRU-2001 is
a very reasonable $2.00. Over 18 clubs and organizations are expected to be
represented at this forum. There will be 22 one-hour forums scheduled
throughout the day, starting at 9AM.
These seminar topics range from DX, antennas, digital communications,
QRP operation, contesting, introduction to ham radio, etc. Marty will present the forum on “DXing” at
9AM in Room A. The LIDXA will also have
a table where information on DX and LIDXA activities will be available. Marty urged all members and interested
parties to attend. Further details can
be found on the HRU –2001 Web site http://www.arrlhudson.org/nli/hru20001.htm.
Marty announced that Norm, N2YEW, who is an expert on QRP operation, would be willing to give a presentation and demonstration of low-power transceivers at the LIDXA February meeting. However, it appears that Norm could only be available on Thursday February 15. Pat said he would check with the school on the availability of the meeting room for that Thursday night, instead of the regularly scheduled meeting date of February 16. The membership will be informed of any change via the Sunday night net, e-mail/packet, and of course, in the February meeting notice to the membership.
Marty
also indicated that he was trying to have a representative from “West Mountain
Radio,” manufacturer of the RIGblaster,
rig to sound card interface, to do a presentation at a future club
meeting. So far he has no success in
setting up a date.
It was reported that the Hudson Division ARRL
membership has elected Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML as new Vice Director over
incumbent J.P., W2XX. Steve was former
ARRL First Vice President and Hudson Division Director for many years. Hudson Director and LIDXA member Frank,
N2FF, was unopposed for re-election.
The
scheduled video on the Rowley Shoals DXpedition was finally shown at this
meeting. The membership was very
pleased with this video and the classroom’s new projection capability.
This
“unofficial” meeting concluded at concluded at 9:30PM. It is anticipated that the next meeting will
be held on Thursday, February 15 for the special QRP presentation and
demonstration.
______________________________________
Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary