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Metro
DX Club Meeting Minutes In attendance, besides Jim,
were John W9ILY, Carl K9CS with XYL Christine W9LIZ, Lee WA9LEY, Matt KA9BBQ,
Bob K9CJ, Jerry K9PY, Bob N9ORD, Thomas N9IHZ, Mark K9TP, Mike K9LSH, Wayne
AC9EF, Zig KM9M and Tony N9VVO. We all welcomed Tony, N9VVO, as being our newest
member. Health
and Welfare: Thomas, N9IHZ, was in attendance to report that his health continues to
improve. He has returned to work and has lost 60 pounds. OLD
BUSINESS: As there was no January
meeting no minutes were discussed. The TREASURERS REPORT was distributed by John, W9ILY. $436.11 is
available for donations. Income of $1,289.40 was from dues, Winterfest Dinner,
six WUST awards and one endorsement, 50/50 proceeds, a sale from the W9YYG
estate, donations from AC9EF and from Delores, the XYL of K9BWQ in Frank’s
memory. At Delores’ request the K9BWQ memorial donation will be reserved for
club activities. Expenses of $863.32 were for the WEB page, December pizza
dinner, a donation to the Tinley Park EOC, Winterfest Dinner, raffle tickets,
the Most Improved DXer plaque, Special Event station food and certificates, QSL
cards and postage. A motion to approve the treasurer’s report was made by K9TP
and seconded by N9ORD. WUST
awards: We issued six awards and one endorsement. All of the new award
applicants indicated they had learned of the award from the K5P web page. Our
logo was on the main K5P page. EOC Antennas: It
is believed that the antennas have been reinstalled. N9TK and W9ILY brought test
equipment to verify they are working. WINTERFEST
DINNER was
enjoyed on January 15 at Papa Joe's in Orland Park. Lee WA9LEY obtained numerous
prizes from vendors. All who wished to attend were able to with no problem. The
room size was good, food was good and all 25 members and guests enjoyed the
dinner. The plaque for the Most Improved DXer for 2015 was presented to Matt,
KA9BBQ for his 88 all-time new DXCC contacts. SPECIAL
EVENT activation for W9TY
recognizing the Diamond Illinois Mine
Disaster of 1883 was held on Saturday February 6 from the QTH of W9ILY in
Morris, IL. Certificates and QSL cards were issued for verification. Our nine
members attending made 273 contacts on 20M and 40M SSB and, to date, we have
issued 26 email and 17 postal certificates. The club provided pizza and members
brought various snacks and sweets. For more information about the disaster go
to: http://hinton-gen.com/coal/grundy_diamond.html#disaster Dues
for 2016 are current or pending for all. NEW
BUSINESS: K9ILX
Estate: We
were contacted by the family of K9ILX (SK) in the hope that we could find a good
home for his equipment. N9TK, N9LAH and W9ILY visited the family and obtained a
wide array of equipment, both large and small, that will be available for club
members or for sale. A partial list of equipment was distributed by W9ILY. The
full list will be available when the items are ready for disposition. With the
proceeds we plan to buy a brick at ARRL HQ in K9ILX's memory and donate to
DXpeditions. We discussed the items and KM9M added that he has some tubes that
could be sold. N9ORD volunteered to help with Hamfest sales. DAYTON Hamvention:
N9ORD and N9LAH will again be selling in the flea market area at the Dayton
Hamvention. Their location will be four spaces with FE4218 being the main one. SDR Kit:
N9TK purchased and assembled a little SDR kit that was passed around. For those
who might be interested in building one there could be a cost reduction for
multiple orders. N9TK will check on this. FUTURE
MEETING:
W9NU, our guest from NIDXA, will make a presentation on G5RV antennas and
feed lines at the March 18 meeting. FIELD DAY: Bob
K9CJ will contact Pat Carr of the EOC to confirm that the location and trailer
will be available again this year. GENERAL DISCUSSION:
Matt KA9BBQ is making progress on learning CW. He is using an app on his
Smartphone. Jim N9TK described his new
Flex 6500 transceiver. It is quite a unit! K9CT used the prototype for 2015
CQWW-CW. In the Illinois QSO Party
2015, Metro finished #6 with 87,996 points from the four members reporting. A
total of 20 clubs entered the ILQP. Following a motion to adjourn
by KA9BBQ and seconded by K9CJ, the meeting was called to a CLOSE
at approximately 20:15. Following the meeting we
checked the SDR unit and the EOC antennas were analyzed. The HF antenna is not
yet connected and the resonant point for the 2M antenna is way above the band.
K9CJ will report this to Pat Carr as Pat had thought that the HF antenna had
been reconnected. Respectfully submitted: John Holmes W9ILY |