Location: Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.
The LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of January 20 to order at 8:15 PM. Marty welcomed members back after the holiday season. Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included K2MFY, NN2C, KE2LJ, W2FGD, AG2A, AB2NT, NX2F, N2KA, W2VZQ, W2GW with 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 November 18, 2005 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 January meeting notice. Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, the minutes appear in the LIDXA web site at: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.
Club Treasurer, John, W2GW gave the monthly Treasurer’s report. Dues for the 2006 calendar year are now due. For the year 2006 the annual LIDXA dues is $20. John indicated that about fifteen members had already paid their dues.
Ed mentioned that he had received an e-mail from member Lou, N2TU that he had moved to Mooresville NC. He is in the process of the move and should be permanently settled in a few months. Lou will not be re-joining the LIDXA but will be in touch with members. He can be reached at his mail address at QRZ.com, or e-mail via [email protected].
It was also mentioned that LIDXA member Emil, KD1F, President of the Radio Central Amateur Radio Club, and also ARRL DXCC Card Checker for the Hudson Division, would be shortly moving up to Connecticut.
Marty mentioned that about twenty members and XYLs showed up at the Holiday Party meeting on December 7, 2005 at Mary’s Backyard restaurant in Bethpage. The food was excellent and all participants had a good time.
Pat spoke briefly about the success of this year’s Ham Radio University (HRU) 2006, held on Sunday, January 8, 2006 at the Briarcliffe College in Bethpage. It was reported that almost 500 people attended this years’ event–a record attendance. Featured were 25 different forums covering all areas of ham radio. A number of members of the club presented the following topics for our two-hour “DX Program” presentation, hosted by NN2C:
· Overview of DXing–What’s DX–––NN2C, Marty
· DX Propagation–Working DX at the Low Point of the Sunspot Cycle––K2MFY, Ed
· Operating Techniques––W2FGD, Marv
· QSL Checking & Criteria––AG2A, Tom
· Award Hunting–IOTAs, Lighthouses, Ships, Submarines––NN2C, Marty
· DX Aids on the Computer––AG2A, Tom
· LIDXA/General DX Information––W2FGD, Marv
Of special interest at HRU 2006 was guest speaker Gordon West, WB6NOA, noted ham radio and electronics expert, and author of numerous books on Amateur Radio including his famous license study manuals. Gordon is also a columnist for a number of Amateur Radio, boating and electronics magazines. Full details on the HRU 2006 events can be found on the Web at http://www.hudson.arrl.org/nli/hru2006.htm
It was announced that First Vice President Joel Harrison, ARRL of Judsonia, Arkansas, would be the League's president for the next two years. He'll succeed Jim Haynie, W5JBP, who chose not to run for a fourth term in the uncompensated, volunteer post.
Members were sad to hear that Jules Freundlich, W2JGR, had passed away on January 9, 2006 at the age of 88. Jules was a very active member of the LIDXA and served as President. In the early 1990s, he moved to Minneapolis, MN to be near his daughter. He managed to secure permission for a tower atop his apartment house, one of the largest condominiums in town, and remained active in ham radio–especially DX and RTTY. Jules was recently presented the ARRL Lifetime Service Award. For an interesting background on Jules, go to the site http://www.aa5au.com/w2jgr.html.
Members of the LIDXA then shared stories and memories that they had with Jules over the years–a fitting tribute to this fantastic man and dedicated ham radio operator.
The business portion of the meeting concluded at 9 PM. A DVD was then shown on the March 2005 FT5XO DXpedition to Kerguelen Island. This DVD covered the 10-day boat trip of the crew from Durban, South Africa to Kerguelen Island in the South Indian Ocean. Besides displaying the grandeur of this uninhabited island, we saw the dedication of the team as they set up the stations and then handled the hordes of pileups. As the meeting wound down, members all agreed that this was one of the best videos we have seen in some time.
This meeting concluded at around 10 PM after all the scheduled business and entertainment had finished. The next regularly scheduled meeting for the LIDXA is on Friday, February 17, 2006.
______________________________________
Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary