Spokane DX Association

59 YEARS IN THE ACHIEVING

Actually, I have been seriously pursuing DX for only 14 years. The rest of the time was leisurely. I got my 330th contact from Libya, but it took about 4 months to get the confirmation once he got a USA QSL manager. Otherwise, the response was that the mail was slow out of Libya. The picture is of me in front of my Rohn 45 foot tower holding the 6-element 20-meter Force 12 MAG620 beam and with a 7-element 6-meter M2 6M7 beam above it. Nine more entities to go.

The results of the Western Washington based Salmon Run contest (held on September 17-18, 2016) are in. Let’s see how our SDXA members did and who won the SDXA-sponsored plaque.

• HIGH SCORE – SPOKANE COUNTY: Gary K7GS 94,244 points
• HIGH SCORE – LINCOLN COUNTY: Gary AD7XG 12,540 points
• HIGH SCORE – OKANOGAN COUNTY: Chuck KI7DG 207,488 points
• HIGH SCORE – YAKIMA COUNTY: Mark KB7HDX 68,204 points (Honorary member, our ARRL SM)
• CLUB SCORES: SDXA 3 entries, 314,272 points (third place)

There was a very close race for the SDXA-sponsored plaque between the usual winner (mostly) Gene W7WMO in Grant County and SDXA member Gary
K7GS in Spokane County. Gene won again, for the 7th time besting Gary by only 3,186 points. This is Gene’s 7th win of the SDXA plaque. Here is the tally:

• Gene W7WMO 97,430 points 372 contacts, 90 multipliers (333 CW, 39 SSB)
• Gary K7GS 94,244 points 505 contacts, 72 multipliers (296 CW, 212 SSB

Gene Bye W7WMO
LINK to Gene W7WMO’s wall of SDXA=sponsored plaques
LINK to review of previous Salmon Run SDXA-plaque winners
LINK to Western Washington DX Club Salmon Run complete totals

Mark has a SteppIR antenna on top of a Rohn 45 tower. Future additions are 2 meter and 6 meter antennas for weak signal work. The installation consisted of Mark K7HPT, Gary AD7XG, and Steve K7AWB.

His tower, his house, and my orange-colored Inferno 1 Toyota (k7awb)

Gary AD7XG does the tower climbing on this project

Mark asking Gary to move the antenna slightly to the right

The SteppIR antenna wih a tree branch at no extra cost

Mike’s SteppIR antenna and Rohn 25 tower on the South Hill came down during the November, 2015 windstorm. Here is a before and after set of pictures.
Congratulations to Mike on getting back up and running again.

What the wind can do – converting vertical to horizontal

Back on the air

Craig KG7H discussed his 6-meter EME quad array using four M2 6M9KHW 9-element yagis and M2 positioners for both azimuth and elevation. He explained about using the popular digital mode JT65A software authored by Nobel Prize in Physics winner (1993) Joe H.Taylor K1JT. JT65A can decode EME signals below the noise floor. Here is the WSJT LINK to the WSJT home page of which JT65A is a part. He also mentioned that the leading EME expert in the world is Lance Collister W7GJ in Frenchtown, MT (this side of Missoula). Lance has a lot of information on EME on his home page at W7GJ LINK. Lance was one of the presenters at the SDXA-sponsored PNW DX Convention in Spokane Valley in 2013.

Here is Craig KG7H sitting in the middle discussing with Al W7AL standing on the left side at the October meeting.
Clark’s QTH is in Clark Fork, ID (DN18).

Gordon now has a Cushcraft A-3S Yagi to supplement his G5RV and 80/40 dipole array.

The new Cushcraft tribander on the house roof

Mark K7HPT helps Steve K7AWB with the installation (Steve has the camera)

Gordon AA6TQ manages the installation from the ground level

The antenna on a Glen Martin RT-424 rooftop tower

Well, this years Salmon Run is over. I thought I would review the local previous winners of our SDXA-sponsored plaque. There are also bits of smoked salmon given as prizes too from the WWDXC guys. Thanks to the 2016 Washington Salmon Run Committee and Jim Hadlock K7WA.

Here are the winners of the SDXA-sponsored plaque since the beginning:

2003-2004-2007-2010-2013-2015-2016 W7WMO Gene Bye from Ephrata

2005-2006-2009 K7OX Gary Elliott from Spokane County (SDXA member)

2008 WX7P Wilse Morgan (SK) from Rice (SDXA member)

2011 N6NR Rick Olsen from Tieton, WA, operating from station W7YKM

2012 K7UK Rick Werner from Walla Walla

2014 WA7LT Lamar Ray from Spokane County (SDXA member)

Bob N7AU and his new plaque

The Plaque!

We met at the Plante’s Ferry Park in the Spokane Valley for our annual Summer Picnic. As I drove in, an official asked for $5 for parking. It actually was for the soccer tournament parking so we got in free to our designated area for the picnic. But there was no where to park! I drove around a couple of times including out of the park to see if there was street parking areas – there were none. I went back in to the park and the nice lady parking agent took a “do not park here” cone away from a close parking space to the picnic area and gave it to us. Thanks! Here are some pictures from the event.

SDXA Secretary Jay WA0WWW, SDXA President Chris WX7B, and 2017 SDXA Convention Chairman Randy K7TQ

President Chris chats with the group

David won the plaque in 2016 and that was his second time doing it. It’s for the highest digital score. He recently sent a picture of the new plaque and says thanks!
Here is a picture of him with his 2015 plaque too.

I worked AP2MQ Mansoor Qureshi in Pakistan in March of 1979. I was using a Swan TB4H (4 element tribander) at 85 feet with my Drake 4A line from my Spokane Valley home. Pakistan, being a rare DX for me then (and even now), I sent him a QSL card and probably $2 for return postage, but never heard from him. Many years later in 2002, when I went from manual logging to a computer logging program called WIN-EQF, I started to put my manually logged contacts into the new logging program, but in reverse order from 2002 backwards. I went through all my hand written logs and found that I had never received a card in return from AP2MQ and I needed that entity for my DXCC. There was a Japanese QSL manager listed for him so I sent another card and another $$ to him with no results.

On August 5 of this year (2016), I received a letter addressed from Mansoor Qureshi in Overland Park, KS with two QSL cards for the original contact. Wow! His QRZ.com information still shows he is in Pakistan, so I do not know any more details. Incidentally, the card confirms Pakistan both for SSB and Ten Meters which I need!!! I worked another Pakistan on CW later in life to give me that country for general DXCC purposes.

Have you got a story like this?

Steve K7AWB

The crew

Randy W7TJ points to a flying antenna

The owner of WA7LT Lamar Ray, one of the original founders of the SDXA and long time DXer

It was an all day event on Tuesday, July 26 at Lamar’s QTH located South of the city. The project consisted of three towers (two Rohn 25 and one Rohn 45) and lots of antennas.

Everything including the inside station equipment is for sale as Lamar retires to an assisted living QTH in Spokane Valley. Jim Fenstermaker K9JF is handing the sale and should be contacted if you are interested in any of the items. Reach him at [email protected]

This tower came down as one piece using the 120 foot crane.

Tower climber Jeremiah Puhek KD7DMP, owner and engineer of JP Telecomm

He spoke at a recent SDXA meeting and welcomes solicitations from hams that need a professional climber to complete their antenna/ tower installations or removals. He can be reached at [email protected]

Attention ground crew: stand by. . . !

This is NOT a case of one person screwing in the light bulb and the rest holding the ladder! It’s a case of the mast preventing the antenna from reaching the ground.

Jim Fenstermaker K9JF and Lamar Ray WA7LT in 2012 at a convention

-ORCA DX AND CONTEST CLUB WINS CHALLENGE CUP TROPHY AGAIN
-2017 CONVENTION IN SPOKANE IN AUGUST

SDXA Secretary Jay WA0WWW and past President Randy K7TQ occupy their time between presentations at the convention

Randy K7TQ, Chairperson for the next PNW DX convention in Spokane, welcomes convention members to attend the Spokane convention in August 2017, the third one that the SDXA will have sponsored

The ORCA DX and Contest Club from British Columbia won the Challenge Cup trophy again. The 10-contest event starts again for the 2016-2017 season with the CQ WW DX RTTY Contest on September 24-25.

How did each of the clubs do in the 2015-2016 season? go to this LINK.

The dates of the 2017 Spokane-based convention are August 4, 5, and 6 at the Red Lion at the Park Hotel in downtown Spokane. The convention website is at 2017 CONVENTION SITE and will be updated as more information is available.

pictures courtesy of Michael Dinkelman N7WA

These members delegate which rare DXpeditions get donations from the SDXA. Present are: Mike K6MW, Stephen W7VI, Jay WA0WWW, Chris WX7B, and Randy W7TJ.