Metro
DX Club Meeting Minutes
February 17, 2016
The meeting was called to order by President Jim N9TK, with the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag at 19:30.
In attendance, besides Jim were John W9ILY, John K9DRS, Bob N9ORD, Matt
KA9BBQ, Jerry K9PY, Mike K9LSH, Mel NE9A, Dennis KA9ZZT, Joe KA9QAT, Jeff
KD9APD, Carl K9CS, Mark K9TP and Lee
WA9LEY.
OLD BUSINESS:
Health and Welfare: W9ILY gave a brief update on Dot, N9ALC. Her current status is
satisfactory and she spends her time with her son and daughter.
New
member: We welcomed our newest member
Joe KA9QAT.
The MINUTES of the previous meeting were approved.
The TREASURERS REPORT was distributed by John, W9ILY. $946.18 is
currently available for donations. Income of $556.95 was from dues, donations,
WUST and Winterfest. Expenses of $142.47 were incurred for postage, special
event costs and donation in memory of Jack, W9NJB. A motion to approve the
treasurer’s report was made by KA9BBQ and seconded by N9ORD.
WUST:
Eight awards have been issued since
November. This was assisted by Italian amateurs after noting an article in an
Italian ham magazine “Radio Rivista”.
CONTEST
RESULTS:
NAQP SSB: results listed KA9BBQ.
CQ WPX: Metro finished 37th
of 51 clubs.
In the WPX RTTY February contest, NV9L logged over 2500 Qs and over six
million points. Participants included N9LAH, K9CS, NV9L, W9ILY and WB9Z. This is
possibly #1 in North America.
CQContest.ru offers near real time reports of contest status. NOTE: The
correct address is www.cqcontest.net
The ARRL CW contest began just before our meeting time.
Thanks to WA9LEY for organizing the WINTERFEST
dinner last month.
Our FACEBOOK page has 55 “likes”. If you are on FACEBOOK, please check
it out. See www.facebook.com/METRODXCLUB
NEW
BUSINESS
Dues
are due for 2017, so please renew if you have not already done so.
Our annual picnic will be on July 29 due to a conflict with NAQP-SSB in
August. Therefore, a July club meeting will not be held.
Our donation fund has $946.18 available. Clublog and NCDXF have received
donations in the past and $100 was decided to be our 2017 donation to each. This
was moved by K9CS and seconded by N9ORD.
Since two club members are going to Bouvet it was suggested that the club
donate $250. This was moved by N9TK and seconded by KA9BBQ. It was approved.
N9TK offered to provide matching dollars up to $125.00 from club members’
donations. Many members generously donated additional funds and by the end of
the meeting $738 was collected. (At the time of this writing the donations
exceed $1000 providing special recognition from the 3YŘZ DXpedition.)
The ARRL SSB contest is March 4-5, the Wisconsin QSO Party March 12, and
the BARTG RTTY contest is March 18.
Thoughts on having a Field Day operation on June 24-25 were presented.
Availability of ham licensing classes was mentioned to get new hams licensed in
time for Field Day. Mel NE9A, whose call was recently changed from K9ZAV, noted
that Downers Grove has “Tech in a Day” classes.
We are looking for ideas for a Special Event for this year. Wilbur
Wright’s birthday was mentioned and perhaps one celebrating the “First
Anniversary of the CUBS victory in the World Series?”
Honorary membership was bestowed upon Jan, WG9V following his relocation
to Wisconsin.
General
Discussion:
A request to help fund a youth ham adventure to Costa Rica will be under
consideration. N9TK will research this request.
A letter of appreciation from the National Navy/UDT Seal Museum for the
club’s contribution of $50 in memory of Jack W9NJB was read by W9ILY.
Following a motion to adjourn by KA9ZZT and second by K9TP, the meeting
was called to a CLOSE at 20:20.
Following a short break there was a presentation by Jeff, KD9APD on his
160 meter inverted V design. Afterwards, several short videos were shown, the
first being a video describing the new Dayton Hamvention location in Greene
County, produced by DX Engineering. This was followed by a short video from DX
Engineering with an interview of NV9L and WB9Z regarding the upcoming 3Y0Z
DXpedition to Bouvet. This included comments and photos from some of Jerry’s
previous DXpeditions. Lastly, Club president Jim, N9TK shared his beginnings in
Ham Radio in an interview with DX Engineering. He also shared additional
information on the forthcoming Bouvet trip.
These videos are on the DX Engineering site at: www.dxengineering.com/techarticles/videolibrary/interviewvideos
The concluding video was the SOUTHLAND TV interview made at our 2015 Field
Day operation featuring a description of the activity by W9ILY.
Respectfully
submitted:
John Raiger K9DRS
