Metro DX Club Meeting Minutes

September 22, 2017

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, Matt K9BBQ, Mike K9LSH, Mel NE9A, Bob K9CJ, Nick K9NB, John K9EL, Jerry K9LOT, Ron WB9JYZ, Tom N9IHZ and Steve K9SGB.

OLD BUSINESS:

Health and Welfare: Nothing to report

The MINUTES of the previous meeting in June were moved approved by K9BBQ and seconded by K9CJ.

The TREASURERS REPORT was distributed by John, W9ILY indicating $345.44 is available for donations. Income of $7.58 was from WUST awards. Expenses of $504.18 were incurred for postage, Quarterly Web Cost, ARRL Liability Insurance, Field Day and Picnic supplies.

WUST was active with two awards presented to AC0X and JA7QVI.

DX activity of stations worked and soon to be on the air was discussed.

CONTEST RESULTS:

NAQP RTTY: Metro finished #28 of 42.

CQWW 160: Metro placed in the lower quarter with eight members participating.

WPX 2017 RTTY: We participated but placed last.

DX Marathon 2016: We were #14 in the top third.

FIELD DAY REPORT

We finished with 1,008 CW and 370 SSB QSOs for 4,772 Points plus 450 bonus points. Our total score was 5,222 points in class 2A with 16 participants.

Photos from the Picnic are on the web page.

Reminder the N9CT repeater at 442.025 (100Hz PL, up 5 MHz) is available for DX spots.

NEW BUSINESS

SPECIAL EVENT operation this October will be the "First Anniversary of the Cubs World Series 2016 Victory". The call will be W9C from October 2 to 8, 2017. We discussed participants and activity. Several members plan to be active with possible activity on 2 Meters.

W9DXCC: A report was made by members of some of the many prizes won. There were over 225 participants.

Election: Nominations will occur at our November club meeting.

Donations to DXpeditions were considered. The Baker/Howland Island DXpedition will qualify as it is a WUST Award location. Further details will be researched.

A motion to sponsor a DX Marathon plaque in 2017 for the North American winner was approved. W9ILY showed the club a plaque received for the 10 Meter RTTY contest last year from FS and the Marathon plaque for 2017 will probably be similar.

An update on 3YØZ Team preparations was made by N9TK.

General Discussion

Happy Birthday to N9IHZ.

A "MISSION STATEMENT" was presented for review.

K9EL noted that operating a special event call is good pileup training.

An INRAD discount is available for 25% off on purchases through end of year was mentioned by W9ILY.

Following a motion to adjourn by K9CJ and second by K9LSH the meeting was called to a CLOSE at 20:21.

After a short break there was an excellent presentation by John K9EL comparing contacts made from Saint Martin (FS) over the past from 2013 through 2017 comparing contacts to the sunspots. Do reduced sunspots reduce the fun and excitement on a DXpedition?

John showed us pictures of the fantastic operating environment in FS before and after the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.

Respectfully submitted: John Raiger K9DRS