Spokane DX Association

ATTENDED BY SEVERAL SDXA MEMBERS


photo by Barry Hansen K7BWH

The annual Pacific Northwest VHF Society’s conference was held in Moses Lake on October 14, 2017. It rotates between cities such as Moses Lake, Seaside OR, Seattle area, and Bend OR. In 2006, it was in Bellingham WA which has a neat radio museum founded in 1998. Here is a LINK to the museum’s site.

Conference attendees eating lunch

Bob W7SX from SDXA lecturing on his Chapter 10 from his ARRL-published book entitled Antenna Physics: An Introduction

Some of the SDXA crowd in attendance. Left to right, Bob W7GSV, Mark W7MEM, Bob N7AU (standing), N7JPG (non-member), and Bob K7TM. Also in attendance, but not shown, was Carl KE7KPO.

Randy W7TJ gave a presentation on the future of the organization. SDXA has about 44 members, but very few attend meetings or volunteer to help the organization grow. He suggested some changes to the Constitution which would make it mandatory for all members (there are exceptions) to help in one or more ways. A panel of volunteers was organized to meet later to suggest changes to the constitution.

If adopted, Active paid members will be REQUIRED to participate in one or several of these categories YEARLY along with attending at least 6 meetings per year and current with respect to dues (categories may be added):

1. Serve as an officer
2. Serve on a club event committee
3. Put on or contribute to putting on a club presentation
4. Host the Club DX Net
5. Host or participate in a Club member antenna party
6. Assist or serve as the Club Webmaster
7. Go on a DXpedition or operate from a unique remote QTH
8. Participate in a Club Event (Field Day etc.) [The Annual Picnic does not count unless hosted]
9. Host a Contest at your QTH
10. Contribute a contest score to the Club’s Efforts
11. Serve as a DX Chairman or Contest Chairman
12. Serve as an Awards Chairman (DX Card Checking)

Thanks Randy for the positive suggestions.

All SDXA members are asked to complete this survey which is being sent to all members via the SDXA Google Group email.
Responses should be completed and emailed within one week of receiving the email. We are counting on all members who value the organization to respond. In this manner, the 2018 year should be tremendous. This list mimics the email that you will receive. Thanks to Randy W7TJ for this listing.

Program Survey:

We want to obtain a consensus of what programs to host; we would like everyone to respond on the Google Group Page. Listed are choices – feel free to add your own preference.

• DX
• Contest
• Operating
• QSL
• Logging
• Computer
• DX Cluster
• Towers
• Technical
• Antennas
• Receivers
• Transmitters
• Amplifiers
• Propagation
• Your Own Idea(s)

The key point(s) that will be present with EVERY presentation is not only theory, but application and benefit to SDXA Members.

Randy
W7TJ

SDXA sponsors a plaque for the highest score in the following mixed category:

1. Single Operator
2. Operating in the EWA ARRL Section
3. Running Low Power of 100 or less watts
4. Mixed Mode (two or mode modes with a percentage specified in the Rules)

Here are some comments from the Notables:

HAROLD HEPPNER AD7QJ – SDXA MEMBER

Washington County Expedition
Single operator, Single transmitter (EXP-SOST)
Mode: Phone

I’m sitting on the SPO-STE county line. One end of the antenna is in a tree in Spokane county and the other attached to a temporary pole in Stevens county; the balun is hanging from the pole behind the pop-up.

20 counties and 6 states plus a bonus for working W7DX.

Conditions were bad, score is 4556

Harold AD7QJ

RANDY FOLTZ K7TQ & JAY HOLCOMB WA0WWW – BOTH SDXA MEMBERS

Jay, WA0WWW, and I successfully put 20 WA counties on the air. The good part was that we exceeded our 2015 QSO count of 500 Qs with a heafty 604 Qs. The not so good part of that was our mult count was way down so we came in with a final score less than in 2015. This time our score was 95,224.

Gary, K7GS, caught us in Stevens on 20 and 40 then again in Pend Oreille on 20. Jay was at the key and got Gary to QSY to 40 in Stevens. Great move, Gary. We didn’t hear any other SDXA calls. Thanks to all who tried to work us. 40 m during the day was a giant wasteland. We tried it almost every 15 to 25 minutes after the hour for at least a few minutes, but got nothing until the sun went down. By then 20 was nearly dead. It was a fun time for both Jay and I.
Full story and pictures at this RANDY & JAY LINK.

Randy F and Jay H

MICHAEL “DINK” DINKELMAN N7WA – WWDXC MEMBER
Call: W7DX
Operator(s): N7BV N7ZG W7UDH N7WA
Station: W7DX

left to right: Jim K7WA, Dink N7WA, & Daniel W7WA

Class: Unlimited HP

Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
—————————-
160: 0 0 0
80: 95 96 3
40: 220 104 10
20: 383 647 66
15: 27 8 0
10: 1 0 0
6: 0 0 0
2: 0 0 0
—————————-
Total: 726 855 79 Mults = 98 Total Score = 403,956

Club: Western Washington DX Club

Comments:

This was a three station Unlimited operation from three different counties (one for each mode). I hope you actually copied the county for each mode instead of using the log pre-fill. Sounds like some people got confused.

Conditions sucked, but I think too many people gave up on 15M. I went to 15M a lot (even 10M). Whenever I went there, there usually a few people and they were usually quite readable. They ranged from locals to the east coast. Sunday was like the Sweepstakes “Sunday Grind”. Just call into the wind and sometimes something came back to wake you up.

There were challenges in getting three stations networked together over the internet. Only the CW station was able to see the other two. SSB and RTTY couldn’t see each other’s logs or send Talk messages.

I really tried hard for the mobiles. Every time one was spotted, I would do a look-see. Weaker than well water if they could be heard at all. Fortunately, they did seem to be working others outside the state.

My thanks to my partners in this endeavor (N7BV and N7ZG). Sometimes it was really boring, but they stayed BIC. My thanks to W7UDH for coming over and sitting in my chair for a few hours.

cheers
dink, n7wa
__._,_.___

2017 SALMON RUN CONTEST RESULTS ANNOUNCED

Congratulations to Gary. It’s been a long time since a SDXA member won our plaque. Gary barely missed the plaque last year, coming in second in the plaque’s particular category behind Gene Bye W7WMO who has won it six times in the past. Gary also had the high score for Spokane County.

Gary’s statistics:

384 QSOs
58 multipliers
60,182 points

The plaque is given to the highest score satisfying these parameters:

• Single Operator operation
• using Low Power
• Operating in the ARRL EWA Section
• Mixed mode (two or more modes [phone, CW, & digital], at least 5% of score in the smallest one)

The plaque will be presented at the Annual Awards Banquet at the Argonne Road Longhorn BBQ on December 7.

Other SDXA member and their results:

Gary K7OX: 253 QSOs, 54 multipliers, 39,016 points in the Single Operator, All band, Low Power, Mixed Mode category

Harold AD7QJ: 78 QSOs, 26 multipliers, 4,556 points in the Expedition, Single Operator, Single Transmitter, SSB mode category

Mel N7GCO: 64 QSOs, 30 multipliers, 4,340 points in the Single Operator, All Band, High Power, SSB mode category

Mark KB7HDX: 262 QSOs, 71 multipliers, 37,704 points in the Single Operator All Band, low Power, SSB category (Honorary member)

Our dynamic duo of Randy K7TQ and Jay WA0WWW came in second in the general Washington Mobile category, but took first in the Mobile CW category with 604 QSOs, 52 multipliers, and 94,724 points (activating 20 Washington counties in their trip).

SDXA took 3rd in the club scores with a total of 198,262 points only bested by the Radio Club of Redmond and the South Hill Contest Club.

The entire Salmon Run scores for all entrants are at this 2017 WWDXC Salmon Run Winners LINK

Here are the past winners of the plaque:

2003 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (84,416 points)
2004 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (131,080 points)
2005 GARY ELLIOTT K7OX, SPOKANE (SDXA MEMBER) (170,154 points)
2006 GARY ELLIOTT K7OX, SPOKANE (SDXA MEMBER) (172,800 points)
2007 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (104,140 points)
2008 WILSE MORGAN WX7P, RICE (SDXA MEMBER – SK) (124,992 points)
2009 GARY ELLIOTT K7OX, SPOKANE (SDXA MEMBER) (261,236 points)
2010 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (172,264 points)
2011 RICK OLSEN N6NR, TIETON (245,096 points)
2012 RICK WERNER K7UK, WALLA WALLA (77,595 points)
2013 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (132,653 points)
2014 LAMAR RAY WA7LT, SPOKANE (SDXA MEMBER) (160,630 points)
2015 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (52,976 points)
2016 GENE BYE W7WMO, EPHRATA (97,430 points)

FOR CHAIRING THE ANNUAL SPOKANE HAMFEST IN SEPTEMBER –
AND A LOT OF THEM!
WE WILL MISS YOUR DIRECTION ON THIS GREAT EVENT


typical Spokane hamfest

WRTC 2018 e.V., organizer and host of the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) 2018, is proud to announce the 63 teams that will be invited to compete in Germany next July.

WRTC is a competition among two-operator teams. Team Leaders have now been selected for each qualifying region based on 2 years of qualifying contest scores. The Team Leaders were given the option to select any operator as a Team Mate to complete their team.

The team application and verification process was managed by Ulf Ehrlich, DL5AXX. Ulf pointed out: “This will be a very competitive field. The top three teams of WRTC 2014 in Boston will participate once again in the 2018 event!”

The five sponsored teams, all representing high level contesters, have already been announced some time ago. The selection of the Youth and Wild Card Teams required a more formal application process and, therefore, could only be completed recently.

WRTC 2018 e.V. has received seven applications from Youth Teams, representing contesters younger than 25. The selection was based on the number of qualification points, as defined in the rules. Team Leaders will be CE2MVF (9107 points), YO8TTT (7254 points) and HA8RT (5056 points). These results made it easy to decide in favor of the three Youth Teams invited to participate in the WRTC 2018 competition.

Issuing Wild Cards has been an entirely different process. Similar to the approach taken by the organizers of the WRTC 2014 in Boston we have selected UN9LW (with Team Mate UN7LZ), who missed the qualification criteria by just 24 points. Honoring the cleanest log of high scorers ZL3CW (with F6BEE) was offered another Wild Card. Because of the close competition in region EU#5 featuring outstanding results another Wild Card was offered to 9A7DX (with 9A3LG) to join WRTC 2018. We also invited YV1DIG, performing excellently behind the curtain of zone 9 DXpedition stations. Finally we unanimously selected K1DG, chairman of the WRTC 2014, well known top level contester, and champion of the first WRTC in 1990. Not only did he do an outstanding job in Boston. By offering a Wild Card to him we also wanted to express our appreciation and thanks to all of the many fine people making WRTC 2014 in Boston such a great success. His Team Mate will be N2NT – 2014 Competition Director and number five in NA#1 with 10.6 k points.

The complete list of competitors is available on our website: http://wrtc2018.de/index.php/en/competition/participants

When making the announcement, WRTC 2018 President Christian Janssen, DL1MGB, stated: “We are pleased to see a mix of veterans of previous WRTC events and first-time participants among the competitors. The teams represent over 35 countries and a wide range of personal backgrounds. While the focus will be on the competition, we are looking forward to hosting the teams and celebrating a week of ham spirit together with competitors, organizers, volunteers and sponsors during the WRTC week.”

Here is the LINK to the list of final participants. Notice that former SDXA member Chris KL9A is part of the defending champion team.

September 21, 2017

KI7DG CHUCK
K7GS GARY
W7TJ RANDY
K7AWB STEVE
N7AU BOB, NET CONTROL
AD7XG GARY
W7MEM MARK
W7GSV BOB

October 19, 2017

W7GSV BOB
W7TJ RANDY
K7AWB STEVE
WX7B CHRIS
K7GS GARY
AD7XG GARY
N7AU BOB
KG7UG TOM

Mark K7HPT had a problem with his SteppIR DB18 antenna so it was taken down and checked out. It may have been tarnished pins on some of the internal connections. Anyway, its up again and working. Mark can now continue to progress towards his first DXCC award. A previous article on taking down his antenna is in the Recent News section at the bottom of this page.

Tower climber Gary AD7XG ready to rock n’ roll up the tower

Gary on the tower

Mark holding the DB18 up with one finger or is it two?

GARY BYTNAR AD7XG

Gary can be reached at (provided by the ARRL):

Gary Bytnar, AD7XG
26450 Steret Road N.
Davenport WA 99122
Day Phone: (509) 725-0059
[email protected]

BRUCE WADE N7ZA BECOMES EWA CARD CHECKER

Both Gary and Bruce can check DXCC, WAS, VUCC, and WAC awards for the ARRL. 160 meter DXCC cards must be checked by a card checker who has gotten their own 160 meter DXCC award. Neither of these men have that yet.

The Clublog website gives you the ability to select various geographical areas to see their Most Wanted List. This is the one most closest to us. This is a listing of only the TOP 20 out of all the entities. Clublog has the complete listing for you.

1. SV/A MOUNT ATHOS
2. FT5/W CROZET ISLAND
3. P5 DPRK (NORTH KOREA)

4. 3Y/B BOUVET ISLAND BOUVET LINK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Release #7
August 22, 2017

This Press Release is meant to be an update to our many financial supporters in the DX community and others who may be considering supporting our efforts to activate the # 2 DXCC most wanted— BOUVET Island. Our fund-raising began about this time last year, so we have been at it for 12 months. We are extremely grateful for the excitement, encouragement and actual contributions that have come our way. It has truly been amazing to see how the DX community has stepped up to help “make this happen”.

We believe that we have negotiated a contract with our transportation partners that gives us a good idea of what our costs will ultimately be. This expense represents most of our overall costs. Regarding the remainder of our budget, cost control is a daily challenge and a priority for leadership and the team. We take it very seriously. However, recently we made a couple of changes affecting the expense side of our equation. This accounts for a small 3% increase in our overall costs, but will make life on Bouvet safer and more comfortable. We have decided to add a second Operating shelter (OP B) and a third sleeping shelter (Sleep C). This will allow us to have more room to place our 14 one-KW stations (12 HF and 2 EME) and to separate the operating modes. This will make our 14-16 estimated days of 24/7 operating more comfortable and less challenging. The bottom line is we have a small percentage increase in costs, but the on-island benefits are well worth the extra expense.

In summary, looking at our income from the Operating Team itself, the DX Foundations, DX Clubs and individual DXers worldwide and our estimates of what our costs will turn out to be, we feel we are in a good and enviable position…but we are still short over $100,000. With this in mind, we are continuing to ask for your financial support. You may visit our DXpedition website www.bouvetdx.org and click on a “donate” button.

Many thanks, CU in the pileups!

73,
Bob-K4UEE
Ralph-KØIR
Erling-LA6VM

5. FT/G GLORIOSO ISLAND
6. YK SYRIA
7. EZ TURKMENISTAN
8. ZS8 PRINCE EDWARD & MARION ISLANDS
9. FT5/X KERGUELEN ISLAND
10. T5 SOMALIA
11. BV9P PRATAS ISLAND
12. BS7H SCARBOROUGH REEF
13. 5A LIBYA
14. CE0X SAN FELIX ISLANDS
15. 3A MONACO
16. VK0M MACQUARIE ISLAND
17. PY0T TRINDADE & MARTIM VAZ ISLANDS
18. E4 PALESTINE
19. AP PAKISTAN

20. KH1 BAKER HOWLAND ISLANDS BAKER HOWLAND LINK

August 25, 2017

The Dateline DX Association is very pleased to announce significant progress in our planning to operate in 2018 from KH1, Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge, the 4th most wanted entity in the DXCC program. We have executed a charter agreement with a ship, the Nai’a out of Fiji with an anticipated arrival at the refuge during the 3rd week of June, 2018. We intend to be at the refuge a total of 12 days with 10 days of operations. This ship and dates were chosen in consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife service based on availability of their resource monitor, avoidance of the cyclone season, and Nai’a availability. Propagation forecasts look favorable for HF to Western Europe (a large target audience for us) during this time as well.

As with any DXpedition to the really rare ones, this will be another large budget operation. The 11 ham team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget of $400,000. You can help make this DXpedition happen by visiting our new website, http://www.baker2018.net/ and contributing today. We wish to thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their trust in our group to safely and responsibly activate this rare location.

Co-Leaders:
Don Greenbaum, N1DG
Tom Harrell, N4XP
Kevin Rowett, K6TD

THE 2016-2017 PNW CHALLENGE CUP TROPHY WAS WON BY THE WILLAMETTE DX CLUB OF PORTLAND

SEVERAL OF OUR SDXA MEMBERS WON SIGNIFICANT PRIZES

NEXT YEAR’S CONVENTION IS IN VANCOUVER, BC IN AUGUST

MANY THANKS TO THE IDAHO DX ASSOCIATION FOR THEIR CO-SPONSORSHIP OF THE CONVENTION

PICTURES FROM THE CONVENTION:

Chuck Williams KI7DG was MC and Announcer for the convention.

The A/V men: Mel Ming N7GCO and Del Morissette WA7AQH.

Rick Roderick K5UR, President of the ARRL, presenting “The DXCC Program.”

Jay Townsend WS7I presenting “Remote RTTY Contesting from W4AAW.”

The Willamette DX Club wins the Challenge Cup Traveling Trophy for the ten-contest event between PNW DX Clubs. IDXA President Emmett Mccormick NA7EM presents the trophy to WVDXC President Mike Ritz W7VO.

Super raffle ticket salesman Dale Avery WU7X sells multiple strips of raffle tickets. He was a “go-getter” in this endeavor.

SDXA President Chris Pritchard WX7B chats with Goeff Howard W0CG/PJ2DX/PJ2T. Geoff was one of the seminar presenters.

SDXA President Chris Pritchard WX7B presents a special plaque to Convention Chairman Randy Foltz K7TQ for thanks for the convention.

Gary AD7XG doing the climbing

BRINGING DOWN THE STEPPIR DB12 BEAM
AT MARK K7HPT’S QTH FOR A SWR PROBLEM

Here is Gary AD7XG on the way up the Rohn 45

The beam is down and a lonely tower

The crew, left to right: Mark K7HPT, Randy W7TJ, and Gary AD7XG. Photographer Steve K7AWB behind the camera.

He took his novice test from Al William Beck W7EQM in Page, Id. He received his KN7AWB license on July 29, 1957 in Osburn, ID. Al’s initials are AWB and that is lottery odds that Steve’s call contain Al’s initials, a long time before vanity licensing. Here are a couple of photos from that era.

An Allied Radio Knight Kit T-50 transmitter, a National SW-54 receiver, and a Heath Kit Q-multiplier. On top of the receiver is a grid modulator I built from the Handbook to get on AM phone. The wall proved incapable of holding all the QSL cards eventually.

A little later, He had upgraded to a Central electronics 20A SSB transmitter, converted his T-50 transmitter to a 50 watt amplifier for the 20A, and converted his Knight Kit VFO to a 9MHz output for the 20A. A Heath Kit Grid Dip Oscillator and phone patch were added along with the super Hallicrafters SX-99 receiver.

Gary AD7XG shows off his Yaseu FTDX1200 transceiver recently won at the 2017 PNW DX Convention in Spokane