Spokane DX Association

Gimmie AL7LB at the Spokane Hamfest in September. I think she is making notes on field dressing a Moose.
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Wilse WX7P learning about the FM mode from Mike KE7PG at the Spokane Hamfest in September.

SDXA FIELD DAY 2008

Kirk K7EKM operating at the SDXA Field Day site at the home of Dan N5AR near Deer Park, WA

Dan, N5AR, graciously hosted the Spokane DX Association Field Day this year. This was our first attempt at 2D, two transmitters operating from a permanent installation using commercial mains for power. Club members and two guests made 1,065 QSOs on CW, SSB, and RTTY. We worked 75 sections missing only Maine, Northern New York, Virgin Islands, Maritime Province, and Newfoundland. Including bonus points, we had a score of 4,050 points. More important than just points, all those who attended had a great time. Dan has said he is willing to host it again next year.

Dan had two rooms available for our use. One was his usual shack while the other was Virginia’s project room. Both rooms had Icom 761s with networked computers running WriteLog. We used one room for CW and one for SSB and RTTY. When the noise from the SSB room became too great, we just closed the door. Dan’s DX collecting antennas played great throughout the Field Day operation. Club operators who kept the two transmitters on the air around the clock were Gary, K7OX, Wayne, WA1PMA, Jay, WA0WWW, George, W6AEA, and Kirk, K7EKM. Our operation drew a Montana guest Chris, KD7DBL, who after some mentoring on how to use the radios and how to work contest-type RTTY contacts made several RTTY and SSB contacts late Saturday night under the watchful eye of club call trustee K7OX. As in the five previous years, CW QSOs outnumbered SSB ones with RTTY garnering almost 100 QSOs. This year the SSB gang closed the gap on the CW operators. Maybe next year, fellas.

George W6AEA making Field Day points.

The bonus points this year were for Media Publicity (an article in the Spokane Review), for copying the W1AW Field Day Message, for sending a formal National Traffic System (NTS) message to our Section Communication Manager (SCM), for a site visit by a served agency (the Fire Department), for an educational activity (taught RTTY operating and logging with WriteLog and with MMTTY), and for submitting our results via the web. 2D stations are not eligible for all the bonus points, so we did well.

All who attended had an enjoyable time. We’ll be operating Field Day again next year, so mark your calendar now for the last full weekend in June.

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DATE: Thursday evening, December 4th, 2008

TIME: ….. 6PM social hour
…………. 7 PM dinner

RESTAURANT: Longhorn BBQ in Airway Heights.

LOCATION: East end of airway Heights at 7611 W. Sunset Highway (Highway 2). GOOGLE MAP LINK:

COST: $22 per person PAYABLE IN ADVANCE to cover room rental and food; mail check to SDXA address below (made out to SDXA; denote that it is for the Banquet) or bring either cash or check to the November meeting. The private room will seat up to 65 people and has a large fireplace along one wall.

K7SDX
SPOKANE DX ASSOCIATION
PO Box 19358
Spokane WA 99219
USA

MENU: a buffet with three meats (BBQ Beef, smoked Turkey and the BBQ Zesty Pork), salad and condiments, rolls and BBQ beans, potato salad and a potatoe dish. Dessert and a non-alcoholic beverage included also.

EXTRAS: If you want an alcoholic beverage the bar is right outside our private room and you can purchase your drink and bring it into the room.

PROGRAM: A video of the Dxpedition to N8S Swains Island by K6SRZ. Great for the non-ham spouse. More information about the Dxpedition can be found at:

http://www.yt1ad.info/n8s/

PAST BANQUET PHOTOS:

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SDXA Secretary Jay WA0WWW at his operating position

The outside view

Wilse WX7P at the start of the 2008 Salmon Run contest from Rice, WA
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Is that an ALPHA behind Wilse WX7P?

Spokane DX Association
K7SDX – Spokane, Washington

SDXA – 02 october 2008
the meeting was called to order by President K7OX, Gary, at 19:05 local time.

secretary’s report by WA0WWW, jay:
minutes for september are on the club’s web page: https://sdxa.org/?p=337
WA1PMA moved and AC7GP 2nd’d to approve as posted. motion passed.

treasurer’s report by K7EKM, Kirk:
total: $_Kirk was not available__ (not including Brackemyer Fund)

old business:
= the annual Spokane Hamfest was a great success and over 500 were in attendance. thanks to all from the SDXA who came to help and man the registration table. it went very smooth. initial reports showed a nice profit and SDXA will get its share of the profits soon.

= SDXA to host the 54th 2009 Pacific NW DX Convention, @ the Mirabeau Park, 7-9 august 2009.
our initial organization meeting had been set for saturday morning 11 october at K7OX’s qth. contact one of the officers if you have some input for the convention. initial plans are to have a registration form and basic information on our web site by the end of the month, along with the countdown clock that is there now (thanks Steve!). a full report will be discussed at the november club meeting.

= promotional flyers for the PNW DX convention are available for anyone to take to other amateur club meetings, etc. you can get them K7OX or WA0WWW.

= the annual Pacific Northwest VHF Conference was in Moses Lake. see www.pnwvhfs.org for more details. K7AWB, Steve, is planning on being there.

= the annual december banquet planning is continuing. finding a place has been challenging. the Holiday Inn at the airport is a possibility. discussion at the meeting was suggesting going back to Perkins like last year. it was tight, but the food was good, Perkins did a nice job and the price was great. watch for more info on the banquet coming. we are trying for the usual night which is 04 december.

= the Salmon Run had a few SDXA’rs. and there is an excellent chance our sponsored plaque, low power mixed, is coming back to the club. WX7P, had over a 1000 Qs. Thanks Wilse!

new business:
= elections next month. please let any of the club officers know if your interested in running or would like to make a nomination.

= we had a quest tonight, W0CG (PJ2T) Geoff Howard. we all know of PJ2T. Geoff is moving to C d’A, though will still be spending most of year (i assume the contest season) down south. hopefully we all will get a few points from him this year.

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DX coming up:– not much of note, a little on Glorioso, islands SE of Africa in the Indian Ocean
“No date is fixed to date, but I’m doing all my best to lead Gloriosos 2008 before the end of this year.”
Didier Senmartin, F5OGL http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2008/glorioso.htm
what will be the prefix? the web shows: FR——/G Glorioso Is

contest calendar, just a few:
North American Sprint, RTTY, 0000Z-0400Z, Oct 12 (5-9pm local)
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB, 0000Z, Oct 25 to 2400Z, Oct 26 (5pm- 5pm local)

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW, 2100Z, Nov 1 to 0300Z, Nov 3 (2pm sat – 7pm sun local)
ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB, 2100Z, Nov 15 to 0300Z, Nov 17 (1pm sat – 7pm sun local)
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW, 0000Z, Nov 29 to 2400Z, Nov 30 (4pm – 4pm local)

program:
= we watched a DVD of the 2008 J5C Guinea Bissau operation. Guinea Bissau is a small country in western Africa. (thanks Randy, again!)

= next month’s meeting will be 06 november, 2008 at the North Spokane Library (at the 2 & 395 Y). the program may be WX7P’s 4-square, tbd.

respectfully submitted by wa0www, jay holcomb, secretary.
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guests at the meeting – 1
call nameW0CG / PJ2T Geoff Howard (C d’A / Curacao)

regular members present: – 7
call name present
AC7GP Bob Meenach x
K7HRT Patrick O’Dea x
K7OX Gary Elliott Pres x
K7TQ Randy Foltz VP x
W3AS Doug Brede x
WA0WWW Jay Holcomb Sec x
WA1PMA Wayne Millican x

I bought several yagi antennas at the W7BUD (SK) sale. All of the elements had tape wrappings over the hose clamps on the element joints. I assumed that Bud did that to prevent moisture from entering the joints.

I recently lowered my Mosely 2el 40 which was mounted over my 6 el 20. The 20 uses Dacron rope horizontal and vertical trusses. The 40m elements snagged repeatedly on the 20 trusses. Thinking about this later I concluded that Bud did the tape wrap to smooth the contour at the hose clamps to prevent snagging on other beams in his stacks or on guy wires. I mentioned this on the Tower Talk reflector and it seemed that many did not know about this tip, but planned to use it in the future. I also plan to do this.

THANKS BUD FOR A GREAT IDEA.

73, Dan, N5AR