MINUTES
OF LIDXA INC. MEETING— June 20, 2003
Location:
Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, N.Y.
The LIDXA President, Marty, NN2C, called the meeting of June 20 to order at 8:20 PM. Members present (per sign-in on the blackboard) included K2MFY, NN2C, KE2LJ, W2FGD, KD1F, N2KA, N2TU, KG2T, and AB2NT.
In terms of DX, specific activities were highlighted:
·
A recent DXpedition to
the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste by JA1BK and JR2KDN, as 4W1BK and 4W2DN
respectively, has concluded. The ITU
has reassigned 4WA-4WZ to this possible new entity. Stu, WA2MOE, the QSL manager for 4W1BK has sent in a request to
the ARRL that the UN is no longer in control of the former East Timor (UN
Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNAET)) country, and the new
Democratic Republic of Timor Leste was created effective April 23, 2003. Stu is requesting that the ARRL delete the
4W (UNTAET) and introduce this new entity.
A ruling is expected shortly.
Thor, 4W3DX (ex-4W1MM, 4W6MM, also TF3MM), who is stationed in Timor, is
still presently active, primarily on CW.
·
DJ6SI has been
reported operating from Somalia as T5X.
·
T21MY, and his XYL,
T2YL, were reported operating a mini-DXpedition from Tuvalu. QSL via OM2SA.
·
Conditions on the HF
bands have continued to be very poor and disturbed. Besides the solar flux dropping as the sunspot cycle declines,
the A and K indices have remained high.
Starting the business portion of tonight’s meeting
was the approval of the May 23, 2003 meeting minutes. Except for a minor correction, these minutes were accepted as
presented. In addition, these minutes
were prepared in advance by the club’s secretary, Ed, K2MFY, and sent out to
the membership with the June meeting notice.
Thanks to the efforts of KE2LJ, Pat, these minutes also appear
(unapproved) in the LIDXA Web site: http://www.qsl.net/lidxa.
Several members indicated that they had uploaded
some logs to the new beta release of the ARRL’s, “Logbook of the World”
(LoTW). This version is now available
for the next 60 days–to around mid-July.
Only QSOs effective Jan. 1, 1998 to the present are considered for this
trial release. Details and downloads
can be found at http://www.arrl.org/lotw/
Pat announced that the votes from the Board of
Directors were finally tabulated for the twelfth annual “N2DTW Award.” It was recalled that past member Lenny
Albergo, N2DTW, met an untimely death in an accident in 1990. Out of memory for this active DXer, Lenny’s
friends purchased a plaque, which has provisions for about two-dozen
small-engraved entries. It was decided
that the plaque should be awarded yearly on a revolving basis to one member of
the club who best promotes the purposes of the LIDXA as mentioned in the club’s
constitution. The club’s Board of
Directors would make selection in closed ballot, generally in December or
January. Past recipients of this plaque
were: 1990—Lenny, N2DTW; 1991—Bob, K2MT; 1992—Bob, W2SF; 1993—Bob, K2EYJ;
1994—Marv, W2FGD; 1995—Rich, AC2P; 1996—no award was made; 1997—Larry, K2LS;
1998—Pat, KE2LJ; 1999—Marty, NN2C; 2000—Marty, NN2C; 2001—Ed, K2MFY; and in
2002—no award was made.
At this time the 2003 winner of the plaque is John, W2GW. The plaque was primarily given to John for all his help in handling the club’s financial records as Treasurer, recruiting new members, and updating the club’s roster of members. Since John was not present at tonight’s meeting, the present plaque owner, K2MFY, who had John’s name added to the award, said he would contact John when he returns from vacation to make sure that he receives this well-deserved award.
As mentioned in last month’s meeting, Ed noticed that the LIDXA’s two-meter frequency allocation on 147.30 MHZ for our repeater, W2LDX, was omitted from the latest ARRL Repeater Directory. Ed then sent MetroCor an e-mail concerning this situation. At tonight’s meeting, Ed read the response from Metrocor.
Last year Metrocor attempted to bring up our W2LDX repeater. When they were unable to do so, they sent a technical team to the Jane’s Hill site. Although they physically verified the location, they noticed approximately 500 feet of antenna cable coiled up on the ground into a VHF base antenna–also on the ground. They could only achieve a marginal signal response to the repeater. Metrocor concluded that they could not issue coordination of the W2LDX repeater system until this situation is corrected. At that time the LIDXA should immediately notify MetroCor of the remedy, and they will then assign the papers to their Technical Committee for a follow-up visit.
Members of the LIDXA then discussed these issues. Due to the present condition of the repeater at Jane’s Hill and the uncertain situation of the of Millennium Tower Corporation’s application for a tower construction permit with the Town of Babylon, the membership unanimously decided not to respond to the recent decision by Metrocor. If and when the club decides to pursue the present repeater situation, then MetroCor will be contacted to find W2LDX a new (or possibly the same) two-meter repeater frequency.
It was
brought up that effective July 3, a new five-channel 60-meter amateur
allocation would become available to US amateurs. However due to the restrictions on this band specified by the FCC
(five discrete 2.8 kHz channels (5.332, 5.348, 5.368, 5.373, 5.405 MHz); USB
transmission (emission 2K8J3E); 50-watts ERP, etc.), it was felt that these
tight constraints would limit the casual operator. Lou, N2TU mentioned that some of the newer transceivers could
easily download the software needed to access this new band (at least for
reception).
Pat mentioned that the Grumman Amateur Radio Club would be setting up at least four stations for the annual ARRL Field Day contest (June 28–29). The Field Day site is on the Grumman property just off Hazel Street in Bethpage. All interested parties are invited—just let Pat know of your attendance plans so that schedules can be arranged in advance.
The
business portion of the meeting then concluded at 9 PM.
Since today was NN2C’s birthday, cold drinks and “munchkins” were brought into the meeting. The membership wished Marty a happy birthday, and Lou took several digital pictures of the occasion. Pat said he would try to put these photos on our Web site. Marty thanked the members for their best wishes.
A video was then shown on the October 2000 multi-national DXpedition to Kingman Reef (as K5K).
This meeting then concluded at around 9:45 PM after all the scheduled business and entertainment had finished. Marty wished the membership a good summer and reminded the club that there would be no meetings over the summer. The next meeting of the LIDXA is scheduled for September 19.
______________________________________
Ed Whitman, K2MFY
LIDXA Secretary