MINUTES OF LIDXA INC. MEETING—September 15, 2006

Location: Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.

The LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, welcomed us all back after the summer hiatus and called to order the meeting of September 15 at 8:20 PM. Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included K2MFY, NN2C, N2KA, N2FF, N2ZN, W2FGD, W2GW and XYL KC2MAU, N2DXJ and XYL.

OLD BUSINESS

In terms of DX, specific activities were highlighted:

• Several members reported that they had received their QSLs from the recent new countries of KH8SI (Swains Island) and YU6DZ in Montenegro. ARRL will count these cards effective October 1. Other QSLs from Montenegro stations (even after the effective date of June 28) are still questionable. The cards from the major Montenegro DXpedition of 4O3T are currently being printed. John, W2GW, one of the ARRL DXCC field checkers/LIDXA members present at tonight’s meeting, said he could accept these cards once he gets the OK from the ARRL DXCC desk
• Most members mentioned that DX conditions had been starting to improve. Several members reported good openings on 17 meters, and 20 meters was opened to Asia late in the evening. Fifteen meters is somewhat spotty, but 10 and 12 meters are just about dead for DX now. We should be going through the current cycle sunspot minimum this Fall.

Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the June 16 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 September meeting notice. Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa

The LIDXA Treasurer, John, W2GW, gave the latest treasurer’s report to the membership.

NEW BUSINESS

The club discussed the recent unexpected death of member Dan, W2NDP, at his home in Florida. Dan was active in the LIDXA, Grumman Club, and was the driving force of the new Mid-Florida DX Association (MFDXA) down in Florida (almost all the LIDXA members were named as honorary members of the MFDXA). Dan would enjoy going on his annual “DXpeditons” to Honeymoon Island (IOTA NA034), off the west coast of Florida. The new MFDXA club president is now Tony, N2MFT.

Some members mentioned that the DX packet cluster site of K2LS is gone. In addition, the cluster hosted by W2GSB has numerous problems.

Ed mentioned about a freeware CW program that he had recently installed on his computer, called MorseRunner. This program puts the User in a very realistic CW contest—complete with QRM, QSB, lids and multiple stations calling. The web site to get the program is http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/

Marty mentioned about the good service he has obtained with DX foreign stamp postage supplied by William Plum. Besides mint foreign stamps (to use on s.a.s.e Air-Mail envelopes back to the US), Bill also sells European airmail envelopes (with return envelopes that fit inside the outgoing mail). He also sells domestic envelopes and returns. Although Bill does not yet have a web site he can be reached directly at his home in NJ (908-788-1020), or via e-mail [email protected] for the latest prices and information. Ed said that he also has been using the services of Bill and has excellent success in receiving foreign QSLs directly.

The membership was reminded that the present IRCs have an expiration date of December 31, 2006, and will not be accepted by the UPU afterwards. The new style IRC, which apparently were issued over the summer, is valid until the end of 2009.

Frank, N2FF, the Hudson Division Director, spoke on the Division Awards dinner on November 11. Also the NLI Section Manager, George, N2GA will not be running again at the beginning of next year. Tom, KA2D, had earlier filed a petition for election as NLI SCM, and will be taking George’s place

Ed mentioned that the recent LOTW renewal certificates are now being renewed by the League for three years rather the present one year.

Pat stated that a planning meeting on 2007 Ham Radio University (HRU) was recently held. HRU 2007 is scheduled for Sunday, January 7, 2007 at the Briarcliffe College in Bethpage. A link, with full details about HRU 2007, can be found on the web at http://www.HamRadioUniversity.org, or contact HRU chairman, Neil Heft KC2KY. Once again, the club has offered to present our ever-popular “DX Program.”

Marty mentioned about an activities agenda that he would like club members to consider. John, W2GW, said that he was having a lot of fun building and operating QRP rigs, and he would not mind in presenting a lecture about QRP to the membership. Marty indicated that that would be a welcomed relief to the videos that are usually shown.

A video on the November 2002 DXpedition to America Samoa by K8O and K8T was readied. However due to the length of this video it was decided to postpone the presentation until a later date

This meeting concluded at around 9:30 PM after all the scheduled business had finished. The next LIDXA meeting would be held on Friday October 20, 2006.

______________________________________

Ed Whitman, K2MFY

LIDXA Secretary