MINUTES OF LIDXA INC. MEETING—November 17, 2006

 

Location: Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.

 

The LIDXA Vice President, Marty, KE2LJ, called to order the meeting of October 20 at 8:20 PM.  Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included KE2LJ, K2MFY, N2ZN, N2KA, W2FGD, NA2P, AB2NT, N2DXJ and XYL.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

In terms of DX, specific activities were highlighted:

 

  • A group of Indian amateurs plan to operate from the Lakshadweep Islands (formerly the Laccadives, VU7L), during the month of December.
  • The special event station A7ØRRY, celebrating the Asian Games in Qatar, was reported recently worked.  QSL to EA7FTR.
  • Several members reported contacting 3XD2Z from Guinea.  QSL via UA6JR.
  • Quite a few members had multiple QSOs with the 5A7A DXpedition from Libya.  Several stations are on simultaneously on different band/modes.  The signals are quite good.  This operation will continue to through the end on November
  • Members were reminded that the last weekend of November will feature the annual CQ World Wide Contest (CW mode).  The contest will run the full 48 hours.
  • Most members mentioned that DX conditions had been starting to drop in the last few weeks.  Fifteen meters and 17 meters were somewhat spotty and noisy, while 10 and 12 meters are just about dead for DX now.  The only consistently fair to good bands are 20, 30, 40 and 80 meters.

 

Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting was the approval of the October 20th 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 October meeting notice.  Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

           

            Pat opened the meeting with a discussion on the nomination of a new President of the LIDXA, to replace Marty, until the June 2008 elections.  Last month Pat requested that Ken, N2ZN canvass the membership and look for candidates to run for the office of President.  Unfortunately, per Ken’s summary, some of the members solicited could not serve in this capacity, or held other positions within the LIDXA organization.  Ken added that in January he would be leaving the NY area for Rochester.

 

Pat said he would preside over a limited number of future meetings; however, he reminded the membership that he is leaving the NYC area for a Florida retirement in the late Spring.  The club must also consider a replacement in the next few months for the office of Vice President!  Members must take an active interest in the LIDXA if it is to survive!

 

Pat mentioned that he would shortly contact Marty’s family to see if the club could obtain the large collection of videos and DVD that Marty had accumulated over the years.  This was one of the primary sources of entertainment at club meetings.  In a similar note, Marv, W2FGD, was requested to contact the ARRL to see if they still had available for loan, VHS tapes from their large media collection.

 

            Since there will be no formal LIDXA meeting in December (Holiday party), the members discussed the forthcoming 2007 Ham Radio University (HRU).  HRU 2007 is scheduled for Sunday, January 7, 2007 at the Briarcliffe College in Bethpage.  Preliminary information on HRU 2007 can be found on the Web at http://www.hamradiouniversity.org/.  Our own Frank Fallon, N2FF, Hudson Division Director, will be the keynote speaker.

            The club has been allotted about 2 hours for our “DX Program” –from 10:00 to 11:50AM. Based upon our schedule, members modified a few of the topics from last year’s presentation:

 

·           Overview of DXing--What’s DX?--KE2LJ, Pat

·           DX Propagation--Using Propagation Information for Better DXing--K2MFY, Ed

·           Operating Techniques--W2FGD, Marv

·           QSL Checking & Criteria--AG2A, Tom & W2GW, John

·           Award Hunting--Pete, NA2P

·           DX Aids on the Computer--AG2A, Tom

·           LIDXA/General DX Information--W2FGD, Marv

 

It was felt that 10 to 15 minutes on each topic by the presenter would fill up the allotted time, and allow for questions at the end of each topic.  The club is scheduled for Room E (Great Hall in the North Hempstead hall).  Members were urged to come out and support the club and learn a few things at the Forum

 

Ed discussed the club’s annual Holiday party.  It is scheduled for Thursday, December 14 at 6:30 PM, in Mary’s Backyard restaurant in Bethpage.  As done in previous years by Marty, Ed said he would contact the restaurant to validate the date, and that they would be offering us a number of complete price-fixed specials for the evening.  He would also make certain that the club could get a “private” area in the restaurant.  Ed said he would provide summary details shortly in an announcement on the net and also send an e-mail to the membership.

 

Marv, W2FGD, reminded the membership to check-in at the LIDXA weekly nets on Sunday night at 9 PM local time on the Grumman Hauppauge repeater at 145.330/144.730 MHz (with 136.5 Hz PL), to get the latest information on club matters and events.

 

This meeting concluded at around 9:15 PM after all the scheduled business had finished.  Since the Holiday party is scheduled for December 14, the next LIDXA meeting would be held on Friday January 19, 2007.

 

 

                                                                        ______________________________________

Ed Whitman, K2MFY

LIDXA Secretary