Spokane DX Association

Reflectors are a great source of information on selected topics. It’s sort of like the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” TV show where a stumped contestant can “ask the audience” for the answers. What they get back is a bar graph from people who are knowledgable about the subject and answers from those who don’t know anything about the subject. It’s up to the contestant to figure out if the bar graph gives them the right answer.

Same from Refectors. You ask a question on a topic, say tower installation, and you will get several answers back that may disagree among themselves. But often, there is more than only one correct answer in antenna construction, but several methods of installation providing that they safe. Here are some of my favorites:

TOWERTALK – about antennas and tower, etc. Join TowerTalk at this LINK.

WSJTgroup – about the Joe taylor Weak Signal digital modes. Join the Yahoo group at the YAHOO GROUP LINK.

N1MMloggerplus – a free contesting logging program. Most serious logging programs have their own reflectors such as DX4WIN, N3FJP, etc. Join the Yahoo group at YAHOO GROUP LINK.

FFMA – about the ARRL’s Fred Fish Memorial Award for working all 488 6-meter Maidenhead grids in the 48 contiguous United States. Join the Yahoo group at YAHOO GROUP LINK.

CQ-contest-request – about various contesting discussions. Join CQ-contest group at this LINK.

The website CONTESTING.COM gives you a larger list of reflectors under the headings of CONTEST LISTS and OTHER LISTS at the lower left side.

The program was a video on the 2016 DXpedition to Heard Island – VK0EK. Unfortunately, it was short on ham stuff and more on the penquins and terrain. When will a video of just DXpedition radio operation be made to show us, who work the DXpeditions, on what they hear or don’t hear from us?

Randy Foltz K7TQ gave an excellent summary, showing failed parts on what happens when an antenna rotor goes South.

The DX Support fund was recharged with Bob Lee N7AU giving the Treasurer’s report.

Bob N7AU spoke on his upcoming 3-element 80-meter Yagi project. Tower is finished, just waiting for the remainder of the antenna parts from JK Antennas.

Club now has an excellent referral regarding a skilled tree climber to help install your low band antennas. (forthcoming article soon)

Starting in December the DX net on 145.25 MHz will move to the 4th Thursday of each Month.

It is was also annual election time. See the next article.

November 16 check-ins:

W7TJ RANDY
K7AWB STEVE
WA0WWW JAY
W3AS DOUG
N7AU BOB

The December SDXA Net will be on the FOURTH Thursday (December 28), not on the usual third Thursday to see if we have an increase in check-ins.

Starting in January, we are going to document who checks in month by month. Maybe give a “Certificate of Congratulations” at the end of the year to those who checked in the most.

List furnished by Net Control – Bob Lee, N7AU

TIME TO PAY YOUR 2017 SDXA DUES

$20 per year for an individual
$10 for each family member after the individual pays
Youngsters less than 19 years old are free

The dues are due on January 1 or before. Any member not paying by March 1 will be dropped from the roster of the organization.

You can pay by check to the Association’s P.O. Box ( at the top of this page) or use the PayPal box below. Make sure you have told us who the dues are for.

To pay your membership dues via PayPal, we have a PayPal button for payment shown below called ADD TO CART. Above it is a drop down menu giving you a choice of paying for a Full Membership for one year ($20) or one concurrent Family Member membership for $10. If doing both, do the FULL MEMBERSHIP first. You can change the quantities later in the process to reflect your family totals.

FULL MEMBER action: Click on the FULL MEMBER $20 USD shown in the drop down box to make it blue-colored; then chose the orange-colored ADD TO CART button. It will then take you to your Shopping Cart where you should see SDXA MEMBERSHIP DUES and a quantity of one at $20. If you have two or more Full Memberships to purchase (not normal), merely change the quantity shown to the number you are paying for by correcting it up or down by using the minus (-) or plus (+) symbols surrounding the quantity. If you are done with your selection, just click the orange-colored PayPal Check Out button on the right (if you are paying from your PayPal account) or select the Check Out Pay Without A PayPal Account using your credit card. When the process is done, you should receive an email as a receipt.

FAMILY MEMBER ACTION:If you are paying for a Family Member in addition to your yourself as a Full member, while in the Shopping Cart, choose CONTINUE SHOPPING at the top right which will take you to the original SDXA Member PayPal Option page again.

Windows Internet Explorer note: If using IE as your browser, a pop up window may show and ask if you want to close this tab. Say YES and it will take you back to the first page where you continue your shopping for a Family membership.

Use the drop down box to select Family Member $10 and select the ADD TO CART button. If the page looks alright for the quantities and total cost and you are done with your selection, just click the orange-colored PayPal Check Out button on the right (if you are paying from your PayPal account) or select the Check Out Pay Without A PayPal Account using your credit card. When the process is done, you should receive an email as a receipt.

Once you have signed into PayPal to complete your transaction, you will notice a Special Instructions box where we would need you to enter the names & callsigns of those who are renewing their membership. And if one has no call, just enter their full name.

Just be aware that if you are a new member, you will still need to fill out and turn in the SDXA Membership Application Form at this page.

6-element 20-meter Yagi, topped by a 7-element 6-meter Yagi, at K7AWB during windstorm at beginning of November, 2017

According to the August 2017 issue of CQ Magazine (page 18), Bob N7AU got the highest SSB non-assisted SSB score in Zone 3 with 51,813 points from 394 QSOs with 51 W/VE multipliers and 6 countries. He also had the top score in that category from Washington State.

Gary K7OX had the highest Washington state score in the CW assisted category with 105,577 points from 517 QSOs, 54 W/VE multipliers, and 17 countries

sdxa_minutes_2017_11web[17852]

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.

These are the officers for 2018

PRESIDENT — Gary Bytnar AD7XG
ad7xgradio at gmail.com

VICE-PRESIDENT — Mel Ming N7GCO
teammel at gmail.com

SECRETARY — Jay Holcomb WA0WWW
wa0www at hotmail.com

TREASURER — Bob Lee N7AU
n7au at usa.com

SUPPORT STAFF:
Webmaster: Stephen Sala K7AWB
Past President: Chris Pritchard WX7B
Librarian: Jay Holcomb WA0WWW

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