Metro DX Club Meeting Minutes

June 16, 2017

 The meeting was called to order by Vice-President Bob K9CJ, with the Pledge of Allegiance at 19:30.

 In attendance, besides Bob were John W9ILY, Bob N9ORD, Jerry K9PY, Mike K9LSH, Mel NE9A, Lou ACØX, Bob K9MDO, Thomas N9IHZ, Gregg AB9MZ, Jim NV9X, Mike K9AJ, Sue K9XYL, Lee WA9LEY and Jerry K9PMV.

 OLD BUSINESS:

 Health and Welfare

 AB9MZ reported that he is healthy again!

Dot Truhlar, N9ALC, passed away on April 27. W9ILY noted her long membership with her OM Bob W9LNQ. Both Bob and Dot will be missed.

 The MINUTES of the previous meeting were moved to be approved by AB9MZ and seconded by K9PY. Motion passed.

 The TREASURER’S REPORT was distributed by John, W9ILY. $345.44 is available for donations. Income of $35 was from dues and a donation by AB9MZ. Expense of $100.00 was due to our donation to INDEXA. A motion to approve the treasurer’s report was made by N9IHZ and seconded by N9ORD. Motion passed.

 WUST: No activity for two months.

 Recent DX: Conditions have not been good but 6 Meters has been very good. Low band operation on the new LF bands was discussed.

CONTEST RESULTS:

In the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes, Metro finished  #20 out of 36 with 4 participants. Val, NV9L, finished in the top 10!

In the NAQP-CW, Metro fielded two teams and the Marauders finished #70 and the Mayhem finished #89. We need additional participation. Every NAQP contest can have multiple teams of up to five members and they are not restricted to our local geographic area.

In the CQWW contests Metro finished #48 out of 56 with 10 participants. In the SSB section Metro had four participants.

FIELD DAY: We will operate at the former Tinley Park Mental Health facility at 183^rd Street & Harlem Ave. in the 2A category using an FT-100 for VHF and a K-3 and Flex-6500 with a Maestro control unit for HF. We will not have a GOTA station due to lack of interest. A large commercial motorhome designed for an electronic repair company has been secured by N9TK from Luis Santini, the owner, who is interested in ham radio. He will drive the unit to our Field Day site and back to his home location in Joliet. N9TK and W9ILY visited the unit and W9ILY gave the details that included a good generator and three air conditioning units. N9ORD will be cooking both lunch and supper on Saturday. The night shift on Saturday night will begin approximately 2200 and there are three volunteer operators.

SPECIAL EVENT: We plan to operate W9C October 2-8. We are working on obtaining permission from the Cubs to use their material.

NEW BUSINESS

A good source of DX spotting is the NC9T repeater on 442.025 tone 100 Hz. Many guys hang out there and do DX spotting. Give it a listen!

Club liability insurance is due for renewal on August 1 at a cost of $200. A motion to approve this expense was made by NV9X and seconded by N9ORD. Motion passed.

A new idea for an award was made by Bob, K9CJ. Bob suggested a “Cook County Award” possibly for 20 contacts available to DXers on HF. This was discussed and will be revisited at a future meeting.

Our annual picnic will be on July 29 at N9LAH’s QTH in Chebanse as we have done for the past few years. We need a chairman and hope that Mark, K9TP, will be available. He will be contacted. Due to the date of the picnic we will not have a July meeting. Our August meeting will be on August 11 and will be combined with the NIDXA group at the Moran Athletic Club in Joliet as has been done for the past couple of years.

General Discussion:

Jim, NV9X, reported that he received an outstanding offer for a Dayton Hamvention ticket and was donating $25 to the club because of his good fortune. The Hamvention was very popular with Metro members, a good percentage of whom attended.

Following a motion to adjourn by N9IHZ and second by K9PY, the meeting was called to a close at 20:10.

After a short break, Gregg AB9MZ, gave us a brief “show and tell” of a recent project he is working on, a microprocessor and two TNC units and their connections. 

Our evening ended with an excellent presentation by Mike K9AJ on his IOTA activity. Mike explained the IOTA program, how to get started, the relation between IOTA and Clublog, etc. Mike also displayed a beautiful trophy he has earned by confirming 1,000 IOTA counters. He also has endorsements up to 1,100 counters, an outstanding achievement!