Metro DX Club Meeting Minutes

February 16, 2018

The meeting was called to order by Vice President Bob K9CJ, with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

In attendance, besides Bob, were John W9ILY, Lee WA9LEY, Mel NE9A, Jeff KA9APD, Jerry K9PY, Matt K9BBQ, Jerry K9LOT,George K9GA, Mike K9LSH, John K9DRS. Also present was a visitor, Mike K9ACM.

OLD BUSINESS

The MINUTES of the previous meeting were approved.

The TREASURERS REPORT was distributed by John, W9ILY. The report outlined the many donations our club made this past year. Our Winterfest dinner broke even.

WUST had 2 new awards, AC2G and KO6LU.

Contesting report Cal QSO Party - Metro placed 23 of 77 in non California club entries. Illinois QP - Metro placed 6 of 14 clubs. Metro had 7 members enter. NAQP - Metro entries were mentioned. Field Day - The club was advised that we could have access to our same location as last year. Our 2A garnered 1378 QSO's.

3Y0Z Update After a very disappointing cancellation of the Bouvet DXPedition, the group is returning at a slow pace to Capetown. They have been confined to the ship for over 30 days and expect to reach Capetown on 2/17. On a positive note, their /MM station has been activating some very rare grid squares along the way. Our President, Jim N9TK, who is on the ship, has had periodic contact with some of the members. We expect he will have some interesting things to share with us when he returns.

NEW BUSINESS

Groups.io John W9ILY, has moved the club to a new messaging service, groups.io. Our previous service had become unreliable, especially with files disappearing and then reappearing later. It was noted that many other clubs are moving to groups.io as well.

Overdue Club Dues We still have 3 members who have not paid their dues. John W9ILY, sent individual email reminders. He then sent another reminder listing those who hadn't paid. After some discussion, the club decided to drop those members who haven't paid by the end of February.

Field Day We have our site from last year available to us but our shelter arrangements are not firmed up. Also, Jerry K9LOT, suggested another location in Tinley Park that would allow the public to visit our operation. Bob K9CJ, said he would checkout the layout to see if it has the potential antenna supports we need. Although not firmed up yet, the 2A category worked out good last year as it allowed everyone time to operate, CW, Phone and VHF.

Metro Picnic We are in need of a new picnic location this year. Phil and Cindy are fantastic hosts but will not be able to host the picnic this year.

Donation We voted to donate $50 to the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure again this year.

Outgoing QSL Service Jerry K9PY, talked about a club benefit of pooling outgoing DX QSL's to the ARRL Bureau. A few members seemed interested and Jerry volunteered to facilitate the sorting and shipping to the ARRL. The idea is to reduce members cost. Pricing details not totally worked out. Bring your outgoing cards to the next meeting and we will discuss further.

John K9DRS, motioned to adjourn the meeting.

Program Mike K9LSH, made an interesting and informative presentation on his trip to Greewich, England. He had photos and commentary from the museum there.