MINUTES OF LIDXA INC. MEETING-May 28, 1999

Location: Polytechnic University, Farmingdale, N.Y.

The LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of May 28th to order at 8:07 PM. Marty welcomed the XYLs of members N2DXJ and K2ENT. Also welcomed at this meeting was ex-member of the LIDXA, Allen, N2KW, and his two children.

In terms of DX, some members reported that a number of Far East stations are usually on 15 meters in the late morning, including stations from Indonesia and VR2MY from Hong Kong. Specific DX activities mentioned:

The station E41/OK1DTP is back again and very active from the West Bank in Palestine.

A group from St. Paul Island as CY9RF are should be operating shortly.

Baldur, DJ6SI, was operating from Somaliland as 6O1Z. This area, which is part of Somalia, is a political entity; however, as of the present time, does not satisfy certain criteria to be considered a new DXCC country.

On August 8, the area known as East Timor (currently part of Indonesia) will be voting for independence. If independence is granted the country will probably count as a new DXCC country. The country of East Timor, formally Portuguese Timor (CR8, CR1Ø), was deleted back in 1976 when it became absorbed into Indonesia.

LIDXA member Bob, W2SF, is planning a trip to Iceland during the August 8-September 6 time frame. Presently he plans to use the callsign W2SF/TF8.

OLD BUSINESS

The minutes of the April 16th meeting were prepared in advance by the LIDXA Secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and included in this month's mailing to the membership. Thanks to the efforts of LIDXA Vice President, Pat, KE2LJ, these minutes also appear in the new LIDXA Web site: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa. Except for a minor change, these minutes were accepted as written. Ed informed Marty that he would probably make tonight's meeting, but may be arriving late. Marty, KA2NRR, the new Corresponding Secretary, offered to record tonight's minutes until Ed arrives.

Although the LIDXA Treasurer, Russ, W2RL, was present at tonight's meeting, a treasury statement was not recorded. As requested in last month's meeting Russ informed Marty that the four members out of the present membership roster of 36 have still not paid their 1999 dues: These delinquent members are as follows: K2CJP, Harvey; KG2T, Joe; N2FF, Frank; and W2LK, Les. Marty said he would attempt to contact these members and find out their intentions. It was suggested that perhaps the club offer an incentive for early payment of dues, or perhaps for payment of multiple years.

In terms of our repeater, although it is operational now, it is very noisy. Next week Pat, KE2LJ, our Repeater Chairman said he would look into this problem. When bench-tested, the repeater hardware appeared noise-free. In the meantime Marty added that the LIDXA has use of the Grumman repeater, on 146.745 MHz.

Thanks to the technical efforts of Pat and other contributors to the club's new Web site, the content of the site is expanding. Presently the club home page contains club activities, members' e-mail addresses, the LIDXA Constitution, the current meeting minutes, officer contacts, etc. Ed also arranged to have our site link listed on some of the local ARRL sites.

It was brought up that the club had not yet decided on the recipient for the 1998 "N2DTW Award." As Vice President of the LIDXA, Pat said he would pole the LIDXA Executive Board (Officers and Directors) over the next few weeks to arrive at a recipient of this award for 1998. In general each Executive Board member suggests three members of the LIDXA who, over the past year, best promoted the purposes of the LIDXA as mentioned in the club's constitution. The candidate who accumulates the most votes is the recipient of this award for the present year.

The club will hold a "Chinese Auction" or "Blind Auction" during the June 18th meeting. Members of the club would donate various items related to ham radio, computer software, electronics, test equipment, etc. to be "auctioned" off, sight unseen. Bids for these items would start 50 cents and higher. Marty said he would try to coordinate efforts so that the sufficient advertising could be generated. Recommended areas include packet radio, the Internet, local nets, etc.. Marty urged all members to look around for items that could be auctioned, and in turn, raise needed revenues for the club. Frank, N2FF, would conduct the "auction" as he had done previously.

NEW BUSINESS

A report on the HamVention at Dayton was given by several of the attendees. Marty explained his travel problems getting to Dayton this year. He also said that he was disappointed in the turnout. The arena was not crowded and attendance was down by about 6000 (to about 28,000 people) from its previous highs. The fact that many of the forums were held in different locations made traveling and scheduling difficult. In terms of equipment, he did observe the new Yaesu FT100, but he felt that the commercial vendors were not showing anything new.

Steve, K2WE, reported that the flea market did not sell out this year. Lack of adequate parking for these sellers were a primary problem. Also vendors were not allowed into the selling area during the scheduled set-up times. Although Steve was scheduled to talk on his Vietnam trip at the DX Forum, he left Dayton earlier than expected did not attend the forum. He did mention that Romeo Stepanenko, of XYØRR, 1SØRR, etc. fame, did show up at the NJDXA hospitality booth. Steve felt that the HamVention planners better listen to the disgruntled comments of many of the attendees-if they expect to host the convention in future years.

On a positive note Marty handed out some of the E44DX cards from the Palestine DXpedition, some ZL9CI QSLs from Campbell Island were shown and various maps, charts and documentation obtained at the Yaesu booth were given out to members.

Marv, W2FGD, mentioned that member John, N2JE, has a heart problem and could not be at tonight's meeting. Marv also added that as part of his efforts as Good and Welfare Chairman, he has been sending out occasion cards to members and/or their families at his own expense. The membership thanked Marv for these efforts and timely work.

Allen Singer, N2KW, who attended tonight's meeting was a very active long-time member of the LIDXA several years ago and also contact person with the Town of Huntington concerning our repeater at the Jane's Hill site. Apparently some other groups do not want the LIDXA to have this site on town property and have contacted local legislatures. The word got back to Allen that New York State (via Assemblyman James Conte) wants our antenna and equipment off the property. Presently the state will allow police, fire, ambulance, and other not-for-profit emergency use, etc. to use the tower. Allen did explain to the officials that our repeater is there for Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) purposes. He urged the officials to include us in the emergency services (non-commercial) clause. Assemblyman Conte accepted Allen's defense but wanted further definition of FCC regulations. Allen relayed this discussion over to Marty and requested that his name be removed as contact person for the site. Marty indicated that the Melville Fire Department is the only authority who has access to this site and it is secured through a locked fence. He knows that the Melville Fire Department wants us to stay, but unfortunately some people will always be gripping on the matter. Lou, N2TU, said he would forward the FCC Regulations, Part 97, to Assemblyman Conte's office.

Larry, K2LS, mentioned that we could now check into the packet cluster via an Internet connection. Members interested in this should contact him and he will arrange an account in advance. He also mentioned that the latest CD-ROM for the Buckmaster Callbook is now on-line.

The business portion of the meeting concluded at 9:05 PM. Two videos were then shown. One on the April 1998 DXpedition to Temotu Island as H4ØAA by OH2BH and group, and a commercial video on the new Kenwood TS870S HF transceiver. The meeting then concluded at 9:40 PM. Marty reminded all the members to obtain items to donate for the blind auction at the June 18th meeting.

______________________________________

Ed Whitman, K2MFY

LIDXA Secretary

(per notes taken by KA2NRR). These minutes were corrected and accepted at June 18, 1999 meeting.