MINUTES OF LIDXA INC. MEETING— April 16, 2004

 

Location: Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.

 

The LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of April 16 to order at 8:07 PM.  Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included K2MFY, NN2C, KE2LJ, W2FGD, KD1F, AB2NT, NX2F, WA2RB, WA2AAW, W2VZQ, KB2HK, W2GW and XYL KC2MAU.  The club also welcomed guest Neil, KC2KY, Vice President of the Radio Central Club.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

In terms of DX, specific activities were highlighted:

 

Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the March 19 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 club’s January 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 a Treasurer’s report.  Present dues for club membership, in the amount of $25, are now overdue for the year 2004.  Members currently on the LIDXA roster who have not paid up will be dropped from the membership roles.  It was agreed to keep the un-paid members on the mailing list until June.

 

Marty again suggested since much of our previous expenses (especially those concerning the repeater) were now eliminated, it should be possible to reduce the annual dues for the year 2005 by $5 per member.  Based upon current expenses and membership numbers, Treasurer W2GW agreed with Marty’s recommendation.  Since this matter was brought up to the membership in the January meeting, it was felt a vote should be in order.  The club then voted unanimously to reduce the dues to $20 for the calendar year 2005.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

At least six to eight LIDXA members have made plans to attend the Dayton HamVention this year.  Since the HamVention occurs before the May meeting (over the May 14–16 weekend), it was decided that the May 21 meeting would be a summary of Dayton events and a distribution of various handouts picked up at the show.

 

            Marv, W2FGD, mentioned that he has been having SWR problems with his antennas and requested some information from the membership on personnel who would be able to get up to the antenna structure, 55 feet above ground, and do some trouble-shooting and repairs.  Several recommendations were given to Marv.

Ed commented that the popular Web site for electronic or “e-QSLs,” http://www.eqsl.cc/qslcard/, recently issued him an “eDX 100” walnut plaque for achieving DXCC with 100 “Authenticity Guaranteedcountries.  Ed passed around this plaque, which was sent to him at no cost.  Several members mentioned that this plaque looked better than the ones sent out (for a fee) by the ARRL and other organizations.  Ed commented that after the recent ARRL DX Contest, he uploaded and “sent out” almost 1000 e-QSLs in about one minute!

            On the subject of awards, Emil, KD1F, also passed around his new “5-Band DXCC Award,” which was now endorsed for eight (8) bands.

 

Ed, K2MFY, reported that for “real QSLing” he has gotten very good results with direct QSL card returns, using the special airmail return envelopes and foreign mint stamps obtained from William J. Plum in New Jersey.

 

The club’s Constitution states that elections for all officers of the club (even years—years 2004–2006) must occur at the May meeting, and that nominations for all positions must take place during the April meeting (or before).  Due to next month’s HamVention it was felt that nominations would be postponed until the May meeting.  The new officers of the club would then be elected at the June 18th meeting, and their terms would then become effective at this meeting.  All members were asked to think about eligible candidates for LIDXA President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.  In addition, at least three Directors must also be nominated during the May meeting.  The current slate of LIDXA officers are:

 

·                     President: Marty, NN2C

·                     Vice President: Pat, KE2LJ

·                     Secretary: Ed, K2MFY

·                     Treasurer: John, W2GW

·                     Directors: Lou, N2TU; John, N2QW; and Lew, W2BIE

 

With the business portion of this meeting brought to a conclusion at 9:00 PM, a video was then shown on the January 1999 multi-national DXpedition to the uninhabited Campbell Island as ZL9CI.  This excellent video detailed the history of this remote island up to the present time.  It also highlighted the diversified mammal life (sea lions) that resides on this island.

 

This meeting then concluded at around 9:50 PM after all the scheduled business had finished.  The next regularly scheduled meeting for the LIDXA is on Friday, May 21, 2004.  All members are urged to attend the May meeting to find out about the latest DX information from the HamVention, and enter their nominations for election of LIDXA officers in June.

 

 

                                                                        ______________________________________

Ed Whitman, K2MFY

LIDXA Secretary