Location: Briarcliffe
College, Bethpage, N.Y.
The LIDXA
President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of November 19 to order at
8:13 PM. Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included K2MFY, NN2C,
W2FGD, AG2A, W2VZQ, N2KA, KB2HK, WA2AAW, AB2NT, KG2T, W2GW and XYL, KC2MAU,
N2DXJ and XYL.
In terms of
DX, specific activities were highlighted:
Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting
was the approval of the October 15 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 November meeting notice.
Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web
site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.
The membership was reminded to attend the LIDXA
weekly nets on Sunday night at 9PM local time on the Grumman Hauppauge repeater at 145.333/144.730 MHz (with 136.5 Hz
PL).
Club
Treasurer, John, W2GW gave the monthly Treasurer’s report. A major expense the past month was the
annual club liability insurance premium.
The membership was reminded that dues for the 2005 calendar year would
be collected starting next month. For
the year 2005 the annual LIDXA dues is $20 (which was voted down $5 from
previous years!).
On the subject of Good and
Welfare, the membership was saddened to hear that long time LIDXA member and
outstanding DXer, Art Albert, K2ENT, had suddenly passed away. Art had been a member of the LIDXA for at
least 25 years and had been very active in club matters. He also achieved DXCC Honor Roll (worked ‘em
all!) for a number of modes. At the
request of Roz, Art’s wife, member Lou, N2TU, was handling Art’s radio
estate. Lou had prepared an extensive
list of equipment that was being distributed to club members. All interested parties were told to contact
Lou regarding prices. Art’s extensive
QSL collection was being forwarded to a member of the NJDXA, who planned to use
a number of his rare cards for DX QSL displays.
The
club was updated on the present health condition of long-time LIDXA member and
board member, Lew, W2BIE. Lew was
expected to return home shortly from the rehab center. The membership wished Lew the best of health
and hoped that he would be on the air shortly from his home shack.
A
final schedule was introduced for the next 2005 Ham Radio University
(HRU). HRU 2005 is scheduled for Sunday, January 9, 2005 at the Briarcliffe
College in Bethpage. Full details
on HRU 2005 can be found on the Web at http://www.hudson.arrl.org/nli/hru2005.htm. The club has been allotted additional time
for our “DX Program.” The time has now
been increased from one to approximately two hours. Our time slot has been scheduled from 2:30–4:20PM.
Based upon our new schedule, a few topics were added to the
original list determined at the October meeting. The following list and presenters were finalized:
·
Overview of
DXing—What’s DX——NN2C, Marty
·
DX Propagation——K2MFY,
Ed
·
Operating
Techniques——W2FGD, Marv
·
ARRL DXCC
Program——KD1F, Emil
·
Current DXCC
Entities——W2FGD, Marv
·
DX Aids on the
Computer——AG2A, Tom
·
LIDXA/General
DX Information——W2FGD, Marv
It was felt
that 10–15 minutes on each topic by the presenter, would fill up the allotted
time with provisions for questions at the end of each topic. It was noted that since we usually do not
have a December meeting, all materials and handouts should be generated by the
cognizant speakers prior to January 9.
Marty stated
that the club, in conjunction with other sponsors of HRU 2005, would be setting
up a table in the cafeteria of the College.
Attending club members would be able to hand out information regarding
the LIDXA and perhaps recruit some new members.
It was mentioned that besides
having Emil, KD1F, as an available ARRL official DXCC QSL card checker, the
ARRL has appointed member Tom, AG2A as an authorized DXCC card checker. Tom has replaced Lenny, KB2HK. The membership thanked Lenny for his
previous DXCC QSL card efforts and looked forward to working with the new
team. The LIDXA was reminded to inform
the local DX community that the club would usually have one or both members
present to verify QSL cards at our monthly meetings.
Ed
mentioned that he had contacted Carl Smith, N4AA, editor of “QRZ DX,” to
include mention of the LIDXA as a DX club in his weekly newsletters. Carl indicated that he would shortly update
his list.
A
reliable source of IRCs was given as QSL manager, KU9C. The current unit price requested is $1.30.
A brief discussion developed on the club’s annual
Holiday party. After some planning, it
was decided to hold the party on Tuesday, December 14 at 7 PM in Mary’s
Backyard restaurant in Bethpage.
Details and directions would be sent out to all members on the Sunday
night net and also by e-mail. Marty
said he would stop by Mary’s Backyard after tonight’s meeting to firm up
the date/time and make certain that we would get a “private” area in the
restaurant. He was also going to see if they are offering any price fixed
specials for that evening. By a show of hands, it appeared that about fifteen
members and or spouses would be attending this dinner.
This meeting then concluded at around 9:45 PM after all the scheduled
business had finished. Since we will be
having the Holiday Party in December there will be no regularly scheduled
meeting next month. A good holiday was
wished for those unable to attend this party.
The next regularly scheduled meeting for the LIDXA is on Friday, January
21, 2005. Members were also reminded to
attend the 2005 HRU in Briarcliffe
College on January 9, 2005.
______________________________________
Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary