MINUTES OF LIDXA INC.
MEETING—May 25, 2001
Location:
Polytechnic University, Farmingdale, N.Y.
The
LIDXA Vice President, Pat, KE2LJ, called the meeting of May 25 to order at 8:15
PM. At the outset of tonight's meeting,
Pat announced that LIDXA President Marty, NN2C, would not be attending due to
an accident that occurred at last week's Dayton HamVention. Apparently,
Marty tripped over some cable enclosures in the flea market parking field. He fell down on the pavement and suffered
abrasions to his nose and head.
Although he is recovering fine at this time, he was advised not to go
out of the house for about one week.
The membership all wished Marty a speedy recovery. Marv, W2FGD, had already sent a get well
card to Marty from the club.
Pat then welcomed guest Hank, W2HAP to tonight’s meeting. Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included KE2LJ, K2MFY, KA2NRR (and XYL), KB2HK, N2DXJ (and XYL), W2RL, W2FGD, W2VZQ, and NP4L. In turn, members present introduced themselves to the attendees.
Pat said he would conduct this meeting informally,
and for the NEW BUSINESS portion would like to get members' comments and
recommendations on ways to improve the LIDXA weekly net and the monthly
meetings. He also said he would update
the club regarding activities during the recent Dayton HamVention.
In
terms of DX, specific activities mentioned:
Starting
the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the April 20
meeting minutes. These minutes were
prepared by the club’s secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and sent out to the membership
with the club’s May meeting notice. In
addition, thanks to the efforts of Pat, these minutes also appear in the LIDXA
web site: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.
Pat commented that although he had no definite
information concerning the status of Millennium Tower Corporation's
application for a tower construction permit with the Town of Babylon, he had
heard that the company had filed some necessary papers with the Town, and that
an application was pending. In the
meantime, the LIDXA has use of the Grumman
repeater, on 146.745 MHz.
Pat gave an overview of last week's Dayton HamVention. He indicated that there were tremendous thunderstorms the first day at Dayton, Friday May 18, which effectively cancelled the large outdoor flea market. This inclement weather brought all the attendees inside the Hara Arena and created a very crowded and uncomfortable environment to view the exhibits. On Saturday, the weather cleared up and Pat went to the outside flea market, but unfortunately missed many of the scheduled forums.
Pat reported that he did not notice any new or innovative equipment or products on display. The HamVention was very well attended, probably about 28,000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors. As usual the DX Dinner was very long and drawn out. Guest speaker was 3YŘC, who recently returned from a tour of duty down in Bouvet Island.
Pat was hoping that when Marty chairs the June LIDXA meeting he would bring along some goodies he had picked up at Dayton and supplement some of Pat's comments on the HamVention.
At this point in the meeting, Pat spoke about ideas on how to remedy the low turnout during the Sunday night net. He opened the floor to the membership for comments and recommendations. Several members indicated that with the Internet and the weekly DX bulletins, the weekly reading of DX bulletins over the air is not that useful to the net check-ins. After much discussion the following recommendations were proposed.
The net attendees would be polled at check-in time as to whether they have any traffic for the net. Those that do have input would subsequently be polled in a round-table fashion so that all comments could be made in a reasonable fashion. This traffic might include such topics as present DX activities, habits of DXpeditions, propagation considerations, etc. These inputs should mainly consist of relevant DX topics.
Several members who have specific ham radio interests to the membership would periodically announce current events. For example Lenny, KB2HK, might talk about activities on his daily net, or developments along the lines of being a DXCC checker. While Frank, N2FF, our ARRL Hudson Division Director, might discuss current developments in ham radio legislation or League affairs.
All inputs to the net would be informal, but should be related to the subject that Marv, the net control station, announces to all check-ins. This new format would be started in one of the Sunday night nets starting in June.
On the subject of improving attendance in the monthly club meetings, several members commented that the reason the February meeting (QRP Operation) and the April meeting (RIGblaster demonstration) were so well attended, were that we had guest speakers for the evening’s entertainment. In addition, because of these guests and their subjects, the club was able to advertise the meetings in advance. It was hoped that this type of format would be able to continue after the summer hiatus. When we do not have any live entertainment for the meeting, we should always have some video available.
Also mentioned was that the club try to hold some dinner/luncheon rather then a formal meeting. The last suggestion made to improve meeting attendance was that the club have field trips to ham-related or electronic sites; such as the ARRL headquarters in Newington, CT, the Keyspan/LIPA control center in Hicksville, participation in Field Day, etc.
As a final comment, it was recommended that Pat enter popular ham radio links on the LIDXA Web site; in addition, the latest Ohio/Penn DX Packet Cluster DX Bulletins should be downloaded to our site.
This
meeting concluded at around 9:30 PM after all the scheduled business had
finished. The next meeting of the
LIDXA, prior to the summer hiatus, will be held on Friday night, June 15 at 8
PM.
______________________________________
Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary