MINUTES OF LIDXA INC. MEETING—February 16, 2007

 

Location: Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.

 

John, W2GW, the LIDXA Treasurer, called to order the meeting of February 16th at 8:15 PM.  Pat, KE2LJ, the LIDXA Vice President who has been filling in as LIDXA President, was not available for tonight’s meeting.  Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included W2GW, K2MFY, KC2OPX, W2VZQ, N2KA, W2FGD, KC2MAU, N2DXJ and XYL.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

In terms of DX, specific activities were highlighted:

 

  • The station 7Z1UG, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is very active most mornings on 20 meters CW.  He was also heard on 17 meters CW.  He is very QRQ at about 35 wpm.
  • It appears that Serbia is arguing against the split off of Kosovo for autonomy or independence.  Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since 1999.  The current prefix for Kosovo is YU8–which counts as Yugoslavia.
  • A new DXpedition to Scarborough Reef as BS7H is expected in late April.  Scarborough is one of the top countries needed on the DXCC list.  They have a web site at www.bs7h.com/.
  • Plans have been finalized for a new DXpedition to Swains Island in early to mid-April.  The call is expected to be N8S.  Swains Island is also one of the top countries needed on the DXCC list.  TheDXpedition team will then operate in Tokelau Island and Western Samoa.
  • Two stations have been very active from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Both 9Q1D and 9Q1EK have been reported mostly on CW and some SSB.

 

Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the January 19th meeting minutes.  These minutes were accepted as presented.  In addition, the minutes were prepared in advance by the club’s secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and sent out to the membership with the February 2007 meeting notice.  Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.

 

Club Treasurer, John, W2GW gave the monthly Treasurer’s report.  Annual dues for the 2007 calendar year are now due in the amount of $20.  John indicated that about thirteen members had already paid their dues.  John mentioned that in order to stay an ARRL-affiliated club, at least 25 members must be part of the club.  Ed indicated that the next LIDXA update to the ARRL for club status is required in early 2008.

 

NEW BUSINESS

           

John said he would preside over a limited number of LIDXA meetings while Pat is down in Florida; however, John suggested that since Pat is leaving the NYC area for a Florida retirement in the late Spring, we must quickly elect a new club President, along with a Vice President.

 

John announced that Karen, KC2OPX had just joined the LIDXA as a new member.  The club welcomed in our new member and offered our support in any DX matters.

 

It was reported that ex-member Larry, K2LS, had relocated down to North Carolina.  Larry is still running his DX cluster but now from the new QTH.

 

Ed indicated that this weekend was the ARRL DX Contest—CW mode.  The SSB portion of this contest is over the weekend of March 3–4.

 

Ed mentioned that early this year he had to contact the LIPA Interference Division, Special Services investigator, Mike Malinowski, regarding some line noise Ed was hearing on all HF bands since late 2006.  It turns out that Mike is a ham (N2QOY), and was most cooperative to eliminate the reported QRN source, and stated that he would shortly be doing an investigation in the area.  As of tonight’s meeting, Ed said that Mike had made a number of sweeps of the area.  Although minor noise sources were found, they did not appear to be objectionable.  Mike said he would try to have repairs made shortly but continue his investigations.  Ed said he would keep members aware of progress on this QRN problem.

Art, N2KA, said he had dealings with Mike a number of years ago that resolved some interference problems.  Mike even visited Art’s shack in his search for the QRN source(s).

 

A discussion arose about the entertainment program for the club.  Although Pat did obtain a number of DVDs and VCRs that Marty, NN2C, had purchased over the years, the club had already seen most of them.  An amount of $100 was approved to purchase any new DX-related DVDs at the 2007 Dayton HamVention.

John suggested that with all the DX talent in the club, we put on our own programs regarding member’s “areas of specialization.”  He said he would offer to lead off with a presentation on his QRP activities.  Other members should think of areas where they feel a presentation of their knowledge would benefit the club.

 

Marv, W2FGD, reminded the membership to check-in at the LIDXA weekly nets on Sunday night at 9 PM local time on the Grumman Hauppauge repeater at 145.330/144.730 MHz (with 136.5 Hz PL), to get the latest information on club matters and events.  This year daylight savings time has been moved up to March 11 and extended to end in the Fall on November 4; however the net always meets at 9 PM local time.

 

A video was then shown on the October 2000 multi-national DXpedition to Kingman Reef (as K5K).  The 15 operators amassed over 70,000 contacts from the reef.  John said he would bring his portable DVD player to future meetings as a backup in case the school loans us the VCR-only unit.

 

This meeting concluded at around 9:30 PM after all the scheduled business and entertainment had finished.  The next LIDXA meeting will be held on Friday March 16, 2007.

 

 

                                                                        ______________________________________

Ed Whitman, K2MFY

LIDXA Secretary