Spokane DX Association

The Spokane DX Association November 3^rd elected a new club president, Randy Foltz K7TQ. Randy has served as president previously and as chair or co-chair for four PNW DX Conventions. He is also a frequent contributor to the Spokane DX YouTube channel.

The other three SDXA Officers were returned to office on a unanimous vote:

• Mel Ming N7GCO as Vice President and program planner.
• John Gager K7KB as treasurer.
• Jay Holcomb WA0WW as secretary.

The club is fortunate to have a large group of additional leaders and activity teams as well:

• Club Log – Pat Murphy (N7UVH)
• Contesting – Jay Holcomb (WA0WWW)
• DXing Emphasis –Bob Hallock (K7TM), Mike Buettner (K7STO), & Mel Ming (N7GCO)
• DX Awards – (100 Country Club & Challenge Award) — Mike Buettner (K7STO)
• DX Net – Pat Murphy (N7UVH)
• Field Day – Jim Monroe (N7ESU), Bob Hallock (K7TM), & Pat Murphy (N7UVH)
• Finance Investment Team – John Gager (K7KB), Gary Swartout (K7GS), Del Morissette (WA7AQH)
• Health and Welfare of Members – Gary Swartout (K7GS)
• Historian – Steve Sala (K7AWB)
• Hybrid Meetings – Brandon Childs (W7BKS)
• K7SDX Trustee – Mike Buettner (K7STO)
• Membership – John Gager (K7KB)
• Million Point Club – Randy Foltz (K7TQ)
• New HF Mentoring – Del Morissette (WA7AQH)
• Pre-Zoom meeting hosts –– Pat Murphy (N7UVH), Del
• Morissette (WA7AQH), & Jeff Banke (NZ2S)
• QSL Card Checker — Gary Bytnar (AD7XG)
• Spokane Hamfest – Jay Halcomb (WA0WWW)
• Spokane DX YouTube Channel – Mel Ming (N7GCO)
• Technical – Gary Swartout (K7GS), Jeff Banke (NZ2S) & Bob Zavrel (W7SX)
• Webmasters – John Gager (K7KB), Mel Ming (N7GCO), & Del Morissette (WA7AQH)

The Spokane Hamfest resumed after a two-year break for Covid in 2022. There was a great crowd. SDXA members were very active in registration, setup, workshops and selling.

Here is a photo of the crowd by Joe Somday KF7PBM

Murf (N7UVH) and I (N7GCO) were busy selling the last of Janet’s equipment. (Photo by Joe Somday KF7PBM)

Peter K0NG received his DXCC Certificate for confirmed contacts with 100  countries. He is here with Mel N7GCO who was his mentor (Elmer).

Bob N7AU and Tom KC7UG installed Bob’s new crank-up tower September 2, 2022. This is the monster crank-up he bought and brought back from the south.

Thanks to Tom KC7UG and his helper they came over with a boom truck today and in about 2 hours we the tower out of the trailer and mounted.

This is a massive tower.

August 5-7, 2022 the SDXA hosted the Pacific NW DX Convention. It was the first in-person convention in three years due to Covid. It was help at the Davenport Centennial Hotel on the Spokane River. The speakers were outstanding and everyone enjoyed being together again.

(Photos by Meg Foltz)

Ed Hare W1RFI speaking on “Radio Frequency Interference and the Radio Amateur” 

Our own Peter KJ7IEA won the grand prize of the complete Icom 705 package

August 29 & 30 a team from the SDXA took down Janet’s towers and antennas.

Work team included: Bob N7AU, Brandon W7BKS, Gary AD7XG, Jay N7ZUF, Jim N7ESU, Mel N7GCO, Mike K7STO, Murf N7UVH, Peter KJ7IEA and Woody N7HCJ.

(Photos from Bob, Murf, Jim and Brandon)

The group gathered today to put up Del’s WA7AQH High Tower antenna.

Del WA7AQH, Peter K0NG and Ted NA7TP making adjistments

Jeff NZ2S, Gary AD7XG, Del WA7AQH, Dale WU7X, Peter K0NG and Ted NA7TP adjusting the top stinger

Antenna Up

Fine tuning the vertical adjustment

We were sorry to hear that SDXA member Janet Lowery WX7P became a silent key on Thursday, May 26th. Janet was in the process of developing a contest station in Benton City, WA.  A service celebrating her life will be held in California, where most of her family lives. We extend our sympathy to her partner Sarah KQ7C for the loss of Janet.

Last fall the wind destroyed Bob’s N7AU Trylon tower. Thankfully it missed his 5th wheel RV.

This week they took it down and are getting ready to replace it with an 89′ heavy duty crank up.

In this photo Bob is cutting the bend portion off and the boom truck is lifting it away.

Mark McMillian W7MEM has received his  40 year ARRL Certificate. Congratulations to Mark on this milestone.

Bob N7AU & Tom KC7UG Towers have new towers. The towers are US Towers HDX 589. 92 feet cranked up but 24′ 6″ cranked down and then they have the layover wench also to lay them in the horizontal position. They have an electric motor to crank up and down. These are very heavy duty towers.

Bob went down to Alabama to pick them up. In the photo you can see them on the trailer Bob picked up in Oklahoma.

Notice the wall thinkness.

Hopefully, Bob will be able to get his tower that blew over this winter taken down and his SteppIR antenna and 6-meter antennas repaired/replaced and all put back up this Spring/Summer. He is also working on his 80- meter antenna for his tall tower.

Congratulations to Stephen Sala K7AWB for 60 years as an ARRL member.

Congratulations to Mark W7MEM

Mark is only the 17th person to receive the ARRL Fref Fish Memorial Award.

The Fred Fish Memorial Award was created in honor of Fred Fish W5FF (SK)m who was the first amateur to have worked and confirmed all 488 Maidenhead grid squares in the 48 contiguous United States on 6 meters. The award is given to any amateur who can duplicate W5FF’s accomplishments. Thinks about it – confirmed contacts on 6 meters with every grid square in the continental US.

Here are some pictures of the flagpole antenna Jon Kimball KL2A gave the SDXA.

Jeff NZ2S has been doing some testing of the antenna and reported his findings on the SDXA user group.

This is Jeff NZ2S standing beside the antenna where he has been testing it.

Here is the link to the website describing this antenna.

https://greylineperformance.com/collections/frontpage/products/20-foot-flagpole-antenna

Jeff drove a pipe in the ground and mounted the antenna on it.

The is the external antenna tuner barrowed from Mike K7STO for testing.

If you are a SDXA members and live in a HOA area or a place with limited yard and want to try it, you can barrow it for a few months. You will want an external antenna tuner. This is the 20’ model flagpole which is permissible in just about all HOA developments.

Jon’s company also makes a 24’ and 28’ model if your HOA allows that size that your can talk to Jon about them. He is a regular contributor here on the user group if you have any questions (jon.kl2a@gmail.com)

Is it a Yagi on a 60’ tower, no. But it will get you on the air in a location that will not allow towers. It looks nice and well made.

• This year we had 21 members participate in at least one contest. That is wonderful! That is the most I remember participating since being part of the SDXA.
• As a club, we almost doubled our total score from the previous year: 7,405,971 in 2020-2021 up from 4.003.973 in 2019-2020. Way to go everyone! This is the highest score we have had since I became a member.
• We had four members participate in all ten contests (Gary AD7XG; Gary K7GS, Pat N7UVH, and Jay WA0WWW)
• We had nine members participate in the CW only contests: Gary AD7XG, Gary K7GS, John K7KB, Bob K7TM, Jim N7ESU, Pat N7UVH, Bob W7GSV, Ron W7GTF, Jay WA0WWW.
• We had two members score over a million points: Gary K7GS 1,944,570 and Par N7UVH 1,250,358. This is an awesome accomplishment Gary and Pat!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to every person who participated this year. You help make it a record and fun year! I especially want to congratulate those who participated in one or more contests for the first time.