Location: Town of Oyster Ice Skating Center, Community Room 1, Bethpage, N.Y.
John, W2GW, the LIDXA President, called to order the meeting of February 16, 2011 at 8:30 PM. Members present included John, W2GW and XYL Louise, K2MAU; Ed, K2MFY; Steve, N2AJ; Bob, N2DXJ and XYL Tanis; Andy, W2VZQ and XYL Marilyn; Tom, KA2D, and Marv, W2FGD.
Due to a scheduling conflict at the Center for our regular Tuesday night meeting, tonight’s meeting was held on a Wednesday.
Several members reported that although the solar flux has been getting higher, conditions are not that better than January.
Through a recent vote in the country, the Northern part of Sudan will be claiming independence from the South Sudan. A name for the new country has not yet been determined; however, a DXpedition is already planned for July 2011 once DXCC status has been assured by the ARRL.
Several members reported working stations from the following DXpeditions: TJ9PF, Cameroon, and S9DX in Sao Tome & Principe.
A station from West Kiribati, T3ØOU, has been very active on the bands.
A group has been quite active from Burkina Faso as XT2RJA. The station expects to be operational until mid-February.
It was expected that the ARRL would shortly start accepting QSL cards and/or LOTW contacts from the new PJ countries.
Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the January 18 meeting minutes. These minutes were accepted as presented. In addition, the minutes were prepared in advance by LIDXA Secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and sent out to the membership with the February meeting notice. Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa
John, W2GW, LIDXA Treasurer, presented the Treasurer’s report. Members were reminded that dues (in the amount of $20) for the year 2011 are expected. John suggested that members give or mail him their dues at the earliest convenience. At the present time about ¾ of the club’s membership were paid up for 2011.
NEW BUSINESS
Ed mentioned that past member of our club and recent presenter, Ron Tomo, KE2UK, was awarded the ARRL 2010 International Humanitarian award for his outstanding communication work down in earthquake ravaged Haiti in January 2010.
With much sadness it was reported that George Gluck, WA2WKV, active member of LIMARC and 2008 recipient of the “Grand Ol’ Ham award had suddenly past away in late January.
Ed reported on the status of the A/V projection system in the room. The Phono Inputs plate was removed and a new faceplate with modules was placed on order from the Town of Oyster Ice Skating Center. Although our external DVD player could not be recognized, thanks to the efforts of Steve, N2AJ, the club was able to watch the scheduled DVD through the PC input on the panel. Ed said he would keep the club informed on the status of the competed repair.
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. Marv mentioned his concern that only a few “regulars” attend the Sunday night net. A discussion ensued which highlighted the fact that much DX happenings, bulletin details, QSL information, etc. could also be obtained on the internet or on-line bulletins. Several members presented their viewpoints and it was generally agreed that when radio conditions improve there may be more attendance to the net.
With the business portion of the membership concluded a DVD was then shown on the November 2002 DXpedition to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as XT2DX. The group operated mainly in the CW portion of the CQ WorldWide contest.
The membership was reminded that the ARRL International DX Contest will be held the weekend of February 19–20 (CW) and March 5–6 (SSB).
This meeting concluded at around 9:30 PM after all the scheduled business had finished. The next LIDXA meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. At the March meeting, Tom, KA2D, will be giving a presentation on the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) and techniques for good contest operations.
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Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary