Spokane DX Association

NEXT SDXA MEETING

April 6, 2023

APRIL SDXA Connection Dinner

See HOME page for details and to register.

2023 SDXA Programs

January — DXpedition to Palau (T88WA) With Rob Fanfant N7QT

The team includes N7QT Rob, WA7CPA Robin, N7JP Jack, N9ADG Brian and K5EM Justin. Rob and Robin are both also members of the SDXA.

February — Three mini-presentations

1-How to improve weak signal FT8 Reception with Rob Fanfant N7QT
2-Silent Key Estate Planning with Mel Ming N7GCO
3-Reflections on CW Ops with Dale AveryWU7X

March – Field Day 6A – Mike & Key Style with Michael Dinkelman

2022 SDXA Programs

• January — “Hot DX from Baker Island” with John Miller K6MM
• February — Everything You Need to Know About USB and Serial Interfaces with Bob Wilson N6TV
• March — “Planning Your First DXpedition” with Al Rovner K7AR
• April — “Rebuilding Your Ham Shack after a Fire” with Dave Ellison W7UUU
• May — Four Antenna Related Products/Recommendations by Mel Ming N7GCO & Del Morissette WA7AQH
• June — Receive Antennas by Mark Bauman KB7GF
• July — PNW DX Convention Preparation with Randy K7TQ & Mel N7GCO and
• DX Spotting Tool by Mel N7GCO
• August – PNW DX Convention
• September — Activating entities in the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) By Don Greenbaum N1DG
• October — Insights from the Idaho Renegades with Bob K7TM, Jim N7ESU & Pat N7UVH
• November — “Station Grounding” with Grant Saviers KZ1W
• December – Awards Program

2019 SDXA Programs

• January — “Station Audio” with Del Morissette WA7AQH
• February – “Antenna Modeling Orientation” with Bob Zavrel W7SX
• March 2019 — “Operation Salmon Run in the Field” with Mike Buettner K7STO & Woody Jacobson N7HCJ
• April 2019 — Home Brewing and Station Accessories
  • Gary Swartout (K7GS) Shared a number of his wonderful home Brewed equipment
  • Bob Lee (N7AU) Showed his designed and built Crank up Tower Pushing Tool
  • David Wilhelm (WA7TNT) Showed how to add the SDXA Logo to Your QRZ Page
  • Mel Ming (N7GCO) Showed a couple of Voice Keyers, Card to control your Rotators and PSTRotatorAZ, a  Rotator Control Program
• April 2019 Saturday Workshop – “Antenna Modeling: EZNEC” with Bob Zavrel W7SX
• May 2019 — Show and Tell
  • John Gager (K7KB) showed a “Serial rotor control box”
  • Mike Buettner (K7STO) showed his “NON-Tennis Ball Antenna Launcher”
  • Harold Hepner (AD7QJ) showed his “Tennis Ball Antenna Launcher”
  • Bob Hallock (K7TM) showed his “Antenna Launcher #3”
  • David Wilhelm (WA7TNT) showed his “Icom AH-4 Modification”
  • Mel Ming (N7GCO) showed an introduction to FT4
• June — “ARRL Sweepstakes from the Pacific Northwest” with Brian Moran N9ADG
• July– “Ducie Island 2018 DXpedition VP6D” with Rob Fanfant N7QT
• August – SDXA Summer Picnic
• September — “Using  and SDR To Identify Noise In The Shack” and “Behind the Curtain: Inside the ARRL Boardroom” with Mike Ritz W7VO
• October – Hints for DXing with Bob Hallock K7TM
• November — “Maximizing LoTW” with Bart Jahnke W9JJ
• December – SDXA Awards Dinner

2018 SDXA Programs

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  January – “low band transmitting antennas 40-80-160 using EZNEC” with Bob Zavrel W7SX
• February – “Mellish Reef DXpedition” with Rob Fanfant N7QT
• March – “Tools for DXing” with Mel Ming N7GCO
• April – “First Time DXpedition Experience” with Bengt-Erik Norum K7ADD
• May – “80 & 160 meter four square receive antennas” with Bob Zavrel W7SX
• Station Tour – Chris WX7B
• June – J5T DXpedition to Guinea Bissau in Africa.
• July – “Using FT8” with Rob Fanfant N7QT
• August – Summer Picnic at Shadle Park
• September – “RTTY Contesting” with Randy Foltz K7TQ
• October – “PJ2T station’s big anniversary” with Geoff Howard W0CG
• November – “Contesting” with Chris Hurlbut KL9A
• WRTC 2014 Gold Medalists N6MJ, KL9A
• December – Awards Dinner and Jim Fenstermaker K9JF  on ham radio in Kosovo

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2019

2018 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2017 Longhorn Barbecue in Spokane Valley

2016 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2015 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2014 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2013 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2012 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2011 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2010 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2009 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2008 Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights

2007 Perkins At The River in Spokane

2006 Shari’s in Spokane Valley

2005 Harvester Restaurant in Spangle

2004 Harvester Restaurant in Spangle

2003 China Best Restaurant in Spokane

2002 China Best Restaurant in Spokane

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2019 Home of Del WA7AQL in Nine Mile Falls

2018 Shadle Park

2017 Shadle Park

2016 Plante’s Ferry Sports Complex

2015 Home of Al W7AL in Sandpoint, ID

2014 Valley Mission Park

2013 Home of Al W7AL in Sandpoint, ID

2012 Franklin Park

2011 Home of Jay WS7I & Betsy WV7Y in Spokane

2010 Home of Kirk K7EKM in Spokane

2009 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2008 Home of Stephen K7AWB & Peggy W7PEG in Nine Mile Falls

2007 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2006 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2005 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2004 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2003 Home of Dale WU7X in Spokane

2002 Home of Mary AA7RT & Glenn N7VBW

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January —– Video of the 2005 Kerguelen FT5XO DXpedition

February —– Steve W7VI gave a presentation on the 30 meter band.

March —–Celebration of the SDXA’s 15th birthday (for March 16); DVD on vintage WWII radio assembly at a Hallicrafter plant; Dick W7BHP showed some of his WWII radios.

April —– Vice-President Steve W7VI gave a discussion called: How to begin the art of DXing and contesting. It was about how the set up and start an operational DX station and work it into a small contest station, in particular, he discussed the SOTA activity which allows new hams (or experienced) to work mainly QRP from mountains, using small antennas and battery power.

May —– Bob Zavrel W7SX gave a presentation on antenna apertures. Further information on the topic and other antenna theory topics can be found in his ARRL published book entitled “Antenna Physics: An Introduction.”

June —– Bob Zavrel W7SX gave part 2 of his presentation on antennas.

July —– Steve W7VI presented his SOTA Operation with Mike K6MW. SOTA is the Summits On The Air program.

August —– Annual Summer Picnic at Shadle Park; 3rd SDXA-sponsored PNW DX Convention at the Hotel RL.

September —– Randy Cruz W7TJ presented a state-of-the-club session with constructive ideas on improving the organization.

October —– A skype presentation from Tim Duffy K3LR on DX’ing on a Budget. Thank’s Tim for staying up so late in PA.

November —– A DVD on the VK0IR DXpedition.

December —– The Annual Awards Banquet at the Airway Heights Longhorn Barbecue; a live presentation by Lance W7GJ from Montana on his many 6 meter EME DXpeditions.

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January —- the program was Lynn N2HS showing what all it took to get his tower and antenna going.
designed and up.

February —- the program was Bob AC7GP and his wow trip to Z2 land (Zimbabwe).

March —- the program was by Dan N5AR who brought his hi‐pot tester for checking tubes, vacuum variables and vacuum relays. Kirk K7EKM also brought a service monitor to
check out member’s handhelds.

April —- Program: Lance Stafford of Leaf Communications headed an interesting discussion on towers and grounding techniques. Leaf Communications has shops in 4 west coast locations including Spokane. They specialize in the permitting and installation of communication towers and antennae including cellular. Often they have long runs of used hard‐line that they have been salvaging. It was suggested that it could be donated to the club who could hold an auction among its members. Mr. Stafford provided a positive reaction to the suggestion.

May —- Wilse WX7P gave an interesting presentation complete with photo’s of his recent trip to PJ2T. He joined a team of others to compete in the CQ WW WPX Phone contest.
Propagation was excellent. 10 M was open all night. Wilse brought home many fond memories along with a hot weather cold.

June —- TF4M Iceland video by SM7WT, presented by Lamar WA7LT.

July —- The program was by a guest speaker, K6OIK, Stephen Stearns, who was in town. Steve is a Technical Fellow of Northrop Grumman, and was here for an IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation. Steve came and spoke to us on HF Propagation and Predication.

August —- tonight was our 2nd special night in 2 months, with a guest speaker, K6EI, Jim Peterson, who was in town. The theme of the presentation was on how to get on the air and have fun on 160 meters and how to disregard many of the myths out there about Top Band. He also covered Top Band propagation and antennas. Jim typically runs QRP and works several of SDXA members each December during the ARRL 160 contest.

September —- The program was a video on the E4X Palestine DXpedition.

October —- The program was a video on the FT5GA DXpedition to Glorioso Island (in French).

November —- Mark KB7GF of the Wideband Loop Company gave his presentation on the Shared Apex Loop Antenna: “Introducing a New Compact Wideband Directional Receiving Antenna for HF.” Interference, both local & distant, continue to be a challenge on the HF bands. In this seminar, he introduced the “Shared Apex Loop”, a new type of compact receiving antenna. The antenna is a true time delay array that utilizes a pair of symmetrical right-triangle-shaped loops that are separated by only a few inches. The antenna provides good front-to-side & front-to-back rejection & wideband operation without adjustment. He described the theory & construction of the antenna, and showed this summer’s testing results using a 10 foot tall x 10 foot radius array on frequencies ranging from 500 KHz to 22 MHz. See http://www.widebandloop.com for more information.

December —- Annual Awards Banquet. The program was by Bob AC7GP and his updated program on his neat trip to Z2 land and his very tough
operating position.

These are the links to the topics and presenters at our past monthly meetings:

2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019

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January —President Chris WX7B explained about the N3FJP logging software which he and others in the SDXA use.

Chris WX7B

February — Video of February 2014 DXpedition to Amsterdam Island (FT5ZM); Show and Tell for favorite QSL cards.

March — Video of the Navassa Island DXpedition (K1N); Individual discussion of our first QSOs; discussion of upcoming Heard Island DXpedition (VK0EK).

April —Geoff Howard W0CG/PJ2DX discussed his contest station PJ2T in Curacao – “The Year of the shack at PJ2T – a Total Interior Station Rebuild.” Members discussed their worst fire occurring in equipment.

May —14th SDXA Birthday party at the South Hill Round Table pizza place – original meeting place back in 2002 for the first organizational meeting for the start of SDXA.

June —Commercial (and amateur radio) tower climber Jeremiah Puhek from JP Telecomm gave a presentation on safe tower climbing and standards in the industry such as lightning protection, etc.

July — Steve W7VI gave a presentation on hex beams including bring his 6-meter version he built himself. He has two hex beams himself for HF, one for SSB and the other for CW and digital.

August —Annual Summer Picnic at Plante’s Ferry Sports Complex

September —Video of the 5A7A Libya DXpedition put on by Rudi DK7PE in November of 2006; also included info on other Libya DXpeditions, 5A0A in 1987, the 1995 operation, and recently 5A1AL.

October —Craig Stevens KG7H of Clark Fork, ID presented an introduction to EME especially as it pertains to his quad array of 9-element 6-meter antennas.

November —upcoming 2018 Bouvet Island DXpedition – comparison to previous Bouvet Operations. DVD of the 3Y5X DXpedition of 1989/early 1990.

December —Annual Awards Banquet at the Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights.

January — Dan N5AR presented a discussion on a Force 12 antenna (20 meter- 6 meter yagi) showing patterns along with F/B specifications. Randy W7TJ discussed Solar Cycle 24 and its relation to previous cycles showing we are in a downward trend for good propagation.

February — Nothing formal this time although we went around the room asking what everyone has been doing with their stations.

March — Gary AD7XG shared ideas on a skimmer program he has picked up; Randy W7TJ presented some great ideas on programs we should consider for the future.

April —Video on the DXpedition to Rotuma Island in the South Pacific Ocean in September/October 2011 (3D2R).

May —Video by I2YSB on the DXpedition to Chad in October, 2012 (TT8TT).

June — Randy W7TJ gave a presentation called THINK LOUD, BE LOUD, 1ST CALL. The Title is a line taken from the big N5AU station. The show featured top DX, Contest Stations, and operators along with pictures of some really BIG Antennas and Amplifiers. There was even a picture of Lamar WA7LT in the mix when he was a younger operator.

July — Jay WS7I gave a presentation on RTTY Contesting, discussing the differences between WriteLog vs. N1MM, FSK vs. AFSK, and other hints on efficiency in the RTTY contests.

August — Summer Picnic at the home of Al W7AL in Sandpoint, ID; no presentation or meeting.

September — Dan N5AR gave a presentation on HF antenna performance.

October — Randy W7TJ gave a presentation on home owner insurance after the wildfires this year. Gary AD7XG gave a presentation on his antenna farm near Davenport, WA.

Force 12 5BA 15-element, 5 band antenna at QTH of Gary AD7XG

November —Video on the DXpedition to Heard island in 1997 (VK0IR).

December — Awards Banquet month at the Longhorn BBQ in Airway Heights; no presentation or meeting.

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January —– Dan N5AR presented “The 4-Square phased antenna”; Randy W7TJ presented “The Current Propagation Conditions”

Dan (N5AR) – No. 1 Honor Roll

February —– TN2T Republic of Congo 2012 DXpedition video (NCDXF #163)

March —– Jay WA0WWW presented a discussion on logging software and data computer interfaces

April —– John W7COI presented a program on QRP and showed many of his actual small-sized QRP rigs

May —– Gary AD7XG and Dave WA7TNT discussed the upcoming Field Day and the QTH of Gary’s

June —– Gary AD7XG discussed the upcoming Field Day at his QTH

July —– Geoff Howard (PJ2DX & W0CG) and owner of contest station PJ2T discussed updates to his Curacao station

August —– Summer picnic at Valley Mission Park

valley mission park

September —– Randy W7TJ discussed band propagation and the solar cycle

October —– Randy W7TJ presented how to work the DXpedition to rare Tromelin Island (#3 on the most wanted list) to be held in November

November —–Geoff Howard (PJ2DX & W0CG) and owner of contest station PJ2T shared some slides of the latest CQ WW SSB contest from that station in Curacao

December —–Annual Awards Banquet at the Longhorn BBQ in Airway Heights

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January —– Rockall 2011 MM0RAI/p DXpedition video (EU-189 located between Ireland and Iceland) – (NCDXF #166)

February —– Discussion on how the Club Log works by Wayne WA1PMA

March —– Discussion on DXing & contesting; some tricks from the more experienced members

April —–Video of the Super Multi-Multi station of Buzz Hazard Reeves N2AA and its contest crew

May —– Discussion of his new Pixel Technologies shortwave magnetic loop antenna (model RF PRO-1B) by Dan N5AR

June —–3D2R Rotuma Island 2011 DXpedition video (NCDXF #164)

July —– Topics on Yagi antenna chokes to prevent coax line radiation by Dan N5AR

August —– Summer picnic at the Sandpoint, ID home of Al W7AL

August convention —– SDXA hosted the 2013 PNW DX Convention at the Mirabeau, chaired by Randy K7TQ and co-hosted by Gary K7OX

September —– Portions of a video by Don Daso K4ZA on opinions of 50 of today’s best contesters

October —– VK0IR Heard Island 1997 DXpedition video by James Brooks 9V1YC (NCDXF #98)

November —– Presentation by Bob Lee N7AU on the installation of his new Rohn 65 tower

December —– Annual Awards Banquet at the Longhorn Barbecue in Airway Heights – Program by Lynn N2HS on his trip to the Antarctic

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January – Team Belchfire: Lynn N2HS presented the 3-element, 6-meter antenna project that Jay WS7I, Wayne WA1PMA, and he made last Summer.

February – Wayne WA1PMA and Jay WA0WWW presented logging programs; they also used the cluster with the programs, including the new chat feature for SDXA members.

March – Wayne WA1PMA and Steve K7AWB presented LOTW and how easy it really is.

April – A DVD on the VP8ORK (South Orkney) DXpedition produced by James Brooks.

May – A Field Day equipment setup was made at the meeting from Wayne WA1PMA, Randy K7TQ, and Jay WA0WWW for the upcoming June Field Day event.

June – Wayne WA1PMA gave a presentation on the logging program called N1MM to be used at the next SDXA Field Day event.

July -#1 – WA1PMA went over the new DXCC application on line; now as the cards come in to you, you can enter them into a ARRL database and not wait until the end to do them all. #2 – a 8mm film re-do for a DXpedition in the early 70s to Wallis Island, tube rigs, wire antennas, paper logs and pigs.

August – Summer Picnic at Franklin Park.

September – Wilse WX7P from Rice, WA presented his construction of a Beverage antenna.

October – Dan Knutsen PE from Avista talked about their RF Interference Elimination Program.

November – Randy W7TJ gave a program on propagation with excellent insights to the propagation we might see this coming period of years which he called The Winter. There was a handout with active web links to some sites to help you decide if you head for the shack or work on the honey-due list. H showed a video (one of the links on his sheet) on how the sun works and how it affects our propagation.

December – Annual Awards Banquet on December 6 at the Longhorn BBQ in Airway Heights.

The January SDXA program will be a video of the DXpedition to Rockall, MM0RAI/P, which is a rock between Ireland and Iceland. Four Belgian hams put it on the air in 2011.

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January —– Lamar WA7LT gave a presentation on the great multi-multi contest stations of the era when he was very younger. It was entitled: “When Giants Walked the Bands.” A big thanks to Lamar for the presentation on the biggest contest stations well before the stations now of K3LR and W3LPL

February —– Dan N5AR presented a program on AMPLIFIERS and what to look for in your purchase. Also, he covered a recent group purchase of ferrite cores and showed some of the multi-turns of small diameter coax around the circular cores for increased inductance.

March —– Chris WX7B presented a program on the installation of his tower and antennas.

April —–

May —–

June —–

July —– Summer Picnic at home of Kirk K7EKM

August —– The program was by W0CG, Geoff, on the WRTC 2010 event in Moscow, Russia in July. He was an
observer for the R36O station.

September —– the program was a video on the K4M Midway Atoll DXpedition.

October —– The program was WA1PMA, Wayne, doing a live demo on the VE7CC application to work the DX cluster and how it can be used in logging programs and more.

November —– The program was a 30 minute DVD on TY1MS, Mercy Ships to Benin (West Africa).

December —– Awards Banquet

January —– DXpedition Video: the 2000 Kingman Reef using the call K5K
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February —– “Do you think it is possible to find oil by studying leaves?” was a topic presented by Dan N5AR, an past engineer in oil research; he talked about the electronics used in oil research
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March —– Kirk K7EKM had a great presentation on tower climbing safety, with some focus on fall prevention systems, and how they are not the same as a positioning tower belt.
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April —– Wayne WA1PMA gave a demonstration on the VE7CC packet cluster; it can be accessed on 2-meters in the Spokane area or on the internet (for downloading the program) at this link: VE7CC
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May —– Gary K7OX had a great presentation on using WriteLog, which is the contest logging program that will be used at Field day
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June —– The program was a discussion of Field Day
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July —– Summer picnic held at the QTH of Steve K7AWB and Peggy W7PEG
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August —– Lecture by Dan N5AR on baluns
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September —– DXpedition video: Scarborough Reef
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October —– DVD of the 2008 J5C Guinea Bissau operation in Western Africa
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November —–WX7P, Wilse, did a great presentation on his 40m 4-square; after the hard work, expense, and paying attention to detail, it works and it works great
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December —–annual Awards Banquet at the Long Horn BBQ in Airway Heights

December —– Annual Awards Banquet with Al Rovner K7AR, guest speaker
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Copyright CQ Communications, Inc. Used with permission.
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(Betty photos supplied by Richard K5UJU)

November —– Wilse WX7P presented a video of installing separate antennas using a helicopter and a hot air balloon during the 1980’s; it’s nice to have friends in Alaska; one of his tower climbers was Betty Mallay KL7AP – his YL at the time (SK in 2007)
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October —– Lamar WA7LT presented a talk on low band antennas for 40, 80, and 160 meters
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September —– Presentation by Jay WS7I on his contesting in the Galapagos
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August —– Summary of Field Day; Logbook of the World (LOTA), Part 2 by Gary K7OX; a video by ICOM showing the contest station of Tim K3LR and an introduction to IOTA
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July —– Summer Picnic held at Dale’s WU7X on June 30
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June —– A final discussion on Field Day by Gary K7OX
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May —– A video on the Northern California DX Foundation; an introduction to the
Logbook of the World (LOTA) by Gary K7OX
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April —– The upcoming ARRL Field Day was the main program, presented by Gary K7OX; statistics from the last several years were presented by Randy K7TQ
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March —– Program was by Mike Alfonso, N7MCA – an interesting program on the use of Ham Radio while sailing around the country in the ship called the Mango; his crew includes First Mate & wife Gladys and other family members
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February —– Gary K7OX presented his recent trip to ARRL Headquarters in Newington
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January —– PVRC Contesting Seminar video featuring by Bob Cox, K3EST
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