Spokane DX Association

As explained in the September meeting, the IDXA and SDXA has a difficult time competing with our DX brothers of Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland. We have always just “floundered” about trying to compete with those big guns but come home empty handed when it comes time for the PNW Challenge Cup presentation. So in the spirit of a friendly and fun competion, after having dinner with Rob Fanfant, and officers of IDXA/SDXA, The Flounder Cup was created by Randy Foltz – K7TQ as a local trophy that we can compete for.

The first presentation of the Flounder Cup was at the September 5th meeting of the SDXA with our club winning the trophy for this year. The IDXA won the “Per Participant” category and certificate.

Randy (K7TQ) created a nice .pdf file (Acrobat) about the Flounder Cup and the link is below:

Flounder Cup

So lets see who wins the award for next year!

These reports are provided by Randy (K7TQ) from the IDXA after each contest.

Here are the results after the fourth contest this year. FlounderCupJan January 2020

sdxa_minutes_2020_01web

The SDXA monthly meetings are held at various libraries in Spokane County. Some are in the Cities of Spokane Valley and Airway Heights. The meeting sites vary month to month to give our members, who live far from one library, to be closer to the next meeting’s site. Sometimes we are preempted by Library staff and cannot have a regular meeting at a designated site so we have other sites from which to choose. Our meetings are usually at 7:00pm on the first Thursday of the month except for a Summer Picnic and December Awards Banquet.

LOCATIONS:

North Spokane Library

44 E. Hawthorne Road
Spokane, WA 99218
phone: 509 893-8350
A Spokane County library

NORTH SPOKANE LIBRARY

To get to the site, from I-90, go north on Division/Ruby (US-395 & US-2) until the two highways split (just over 6 miles). Stay left on Division (US-395, left at the “Y” split) to the second traffic light (first Country Homes, then Hawthorne) and turn right (east) onto Hawthorne. The library is one block east of Division; the entrance is on the south side of the building.

LIBRARY LINK
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Spokane Valley Library

12004 E. Main Avenue
Spokane Valley, WA 99206 (behind Sprague Avenue Chase Bank)
phone: 509 893-8400
A Spokane County library

SPOKANE VALLEY LIBRARY
LIBRARY LINK

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Argonne Library

4322 N. Argonne Road
Spokane, WA 99212
phone: 509 893-8260
A Spokane County library

ARGONNE LIBRARY
LIBRARY LINK

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Otis Orchards Library

22324 E. Wellesley Avenue
Otis Orchards, WA 99027 (just east of Harvard and Wellesley)
Phone: 509 893‐8390
A Spokane County library

OTIS ORCHARDS LIBRARY
LIBRARY LINK

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Airway Heights library

1213 S Lundstron St
Airway Heights, WA 99001
phone: 509 893-8250
A Spokane County Library

AIRWAY HEIGHTS LIBRARY
LIBRARY LINK

“New to HF” Seminar

The SDXA offers a “Getting into HF” seminar after each General License Class in Spokane area. Del (WA7AQH) leads this program.

The Workshop covers:

1. Why Get into HF, at all?
2. How does HF differ from VHF/UHF?
3. Equipment needed for Getting into HF?
   1. Antenna options and recommendations
   2. Radios options and recommendations
   3. Power Supplies guidelines
   4. Computer Logging software examples
   5. Computer Spotting software examples
4. Sample Getting Started
5. Questions and Answers

An extensive handout is made available.

The Workshop is FREE.

Instructors: Del (WA7AQH) and Mel (N7GCO)

You can download the PowerPoint and handout used if you would like to see them.

Link to Powerpoint Getting Started in HF 6

Link to handout Getting into HF 6

Link to Mentors/Elmers Elmer Resource Page

We all have enjoyed and recognized the features of Club Log as a valuable resource.

For several years the SDXA Club Log Administrator has been Chuck Williams (KI7DG). Chuck has done a fantastic job of helping SDXA members become active on Club Log and provided monthly reports on our progress for club meetings. Chuck is also the author of a great article on the SDXA Website at this
ClubLog 101 LINK that I would encourage everyone to read.

Chuck (KI7DG) at his station

Chuck has felt now was time to pass the barton on the leadership of ClubLog. He will continue to serve as a second administrator, riding along as assistant to the new administrator.

Murf (N7UVH)

President Gary (AD7XG) has appointed Patrick Murphy “Murf” N7UVH as the new SDXA Club Log Administrator. Murf is a very active DXer and will do a great job leading the use of Club Log for the SDXA.

Hints:

1. Fill out one card for each upcoming DX Expedition.
2. Mark out all previously confirmed contacts
3. Add the frequencies they will be using beside band and mode

Link to download master you can use to print your own: DX Expedition CARD #3- 2 per page

Jeff Banke (NZ2S) got his tower and antenna up. The tower is Rohn 25 with a Hexbeam antenna.

UPDATE: In the November meeting the club voted to procure a new business quality projector for future presentations and conventions. I’m happy to report that we now have our new projector shown above. This is a commercial quality Panasonic PT-VZ580 projector with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 and a brightness of 5000 lumens. It also has two HDMI ports, 2 Computer RGB ports, Ethernet input, plus a few other audio inputs. Mel did a great job of finding a good buy that was under our budget we had allocated. To top it off, a anonymous donor added a waterproof Pelican 1610 case to keep it safe in transit. I don’t think we could have done better for our members and we hope you will enjoy the benefits of this new addtion for our club.

At this time, the specific link for the Projector donations are now closed. We managed to raise almost half of the total cost of the projector which really helped our treasury 🙂 So I want to extend a big THANK YOU to all of those who donated to make our club great and progressive.

List Of Donators:

Del Morissette WA7AQH
John Gager K7KB
Mel Ming N7GCO
Gary Swartout K7GS
Pat Murphy N7UVH
Bob Hallock K7TM
Bob Rosie W7GSV
Mike Buettner K7STO
Chris Pritchard WX7B
Gary Bytnar AD7XG
Jay Holcomb WA0WWW
Chuck Williams KI7DG
Bob Zavrel W7SX

Thanks so much for your donations!

2019 SDXA AWARDS DINNER

Mel (N7GCO) received the DXer of the Year Award

John (K7KB) received the President’s Award

Jay (WA0WWW) and Steve (K7AWB) received the Service Award

SDXA CONTEST AWARDS

Jay (WA0WWW) Presented the Flounders Cup Trophy to President Gary (AD7XG)

Gary (K7GS) received the PNWDX Challenge Cup Award for SDXA High Score.

Gary (K7GS) also received the Salmon Run Plaque

GREAT CROWD

We had 36 people attended this years Awards Dinner.

(All Photos by Jeff Banke)