It was great to have 40 people attend the SDXA Summer Picnic at Del (WA7AQH) & Diane Morissettes home in Nine Mile Falls, WA.
Everyone had a great time and the BBQ Ribs & Brisket were excellent. This year we had a “show and tell” on mobile and portable systems.
Here are a few photos from the event.
Michael AG7IG has earned two DXCC (Mixed and Digital)
Helping Michael achieve were Jeff NV2S who helped put up Michael’s antennas and John K7KB who has mentored Michael on logging software and WSJT-X.
The Spokane DEX Association held their 2023 ARRL Field Day in Hayden Lake, ID. There were 20 people who participated.
Friday afternoon was tower, antennas and station setup.
First up was the tower. The tower had a Cuscraft A3s and a 40/80 meter inverted V antenna.
Then the 4-band vertical with tape measure radials from Miker K7STO
Then the radios and computers:
Lastly the meal together=
We had nine people help with the Friday setup.
Saturday after a great breakfast by Jim N7ESU, everyone got ready for the contest.
19 people participated on Saturday. There were several demonstrations during the day: Satellite and mobile tower, plus lots of visiting.
Then a great time around the firepit for smores
Sunday was take down time. Nine people helped on the take down
Field Day leaders:
A great time was had by all. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s field day.
Great showing by the SDXA in the 7th QP contest
Gary K7GS – 1st place Spokane County, WA
Gary AD7XG – 1st place Lincoln County, WA
Jay AC7DC – 1st place Whitman County, WA
Jim N7ESU – 1st place Kootenai County, ID
Art K6XT (K7OX) – 1st place Idaho County, ID
Randy K7TQ & Jay WA0WWW won 6 Awards:
Congratulations to all of you!
Mike K7STO made a new controller for Chuck’s crank-up tower. It is beautiful workmanship.
Today Mike drove over to Okanagan and met Joe KF7PBM and they installed it.
Here are a couple of photos:
The May 2023 SDXA meeting was the first attempt at a hybrid meeting.
Brandon W7BKS did a great job of putting it all together and pulling it off.
The in-person crowd
Mike K7STO sharing hints for better operating
Randy K7TQ SDXA President leading the meeting. Some of the online participants can be seen on the edge of the screen.
The next hybrid meeting is scheduled for November
On April 27th we had a great work crew go over to Chuck’s KI7DG in Okanagan to work on his tower and antennas.
From left to right: Chuck KI7DG, Mel N7GCO, Joe KF7PBM, Mike K7STO, Bob N7AU, Scott N7SJM, Woody N7HCJ, Gary AD7XG, Diane KB7JPZ and Carol (Chuck’s XYL).
They were able to repair Chuck’s 160-meter inverted V, replace a VHF/UHF antenna, repair a multiband vertical, remove an unwanted mast, fix or replace some guy lines, and begin replacing the motor in his crank-up tower. The tower motor needed the switching system replaced and Mike K7STO and Woody N7HCJ took it home to build a new switch.
A huge thank you to all who gave the day to help get Chuck back on the air.
Here are the three amigos (Bob N7AU, Mike K7STO and Woody N7HCJ) with John Mertel at his SteppIR booth.
Also at the 2023 convention from the SDXA are Rob N7QT, Robbin WA7CPA, and Art K6XT.
I heard Rob’s “DXing with FT8” presentation was fantastic! He also did a presentation on “T88WA DXpedition To Palau”
We had a wonderful connection dinner at the Longhorn BBQ on April 6, 2023. There were 35 in attendance. Here are some photos from the evening.
Enjoying the meal.
Jeff & Peter showing their Power Boxes
PJ2T reports from Jay AC7DC & Gary AD7XG
Juaquetta Holcomb showing wool spinning
Diane Morissette sharing about Master Gardener & Garden Coaching
Also had interviews with David N7LL & Bob K7TM
Henry W7HTA just received his WAS for digital and mixed. Congratulations Henry.
Geoff PJ2DX reported that Randy arrived on schedule last night at PJ2T. Here he is this morning running some Europe DX pileups on 15 meters.
Del WA7AQH and Henry W7HTA both get their DXCC certificates.
In the SDXA we love when our members get their DXCC and other significant awards.
Congratulations Del and Henry
Here is a marked up copy of the proposed SDXA constitution Change.
It will be presented at the February 2023 meeting and voted on at the March 2023 meeting
The SDXA Million Point Club was established in October 2021 to recognize SDXA members who accomplished a combined score of at least one million points in the ten PNW Challenge Cup contests. The ten contests are a combination of three CW, three SSB, three RTTY, and one mixed CW and SSB DX contests. There were six club members who achieved this award in the inaugural year, thus, becoming Charter Members. Each of them received a plaque recognizing their accomplishment plus an “SDXA Million Points Club Member” tag to hang on their SDXA name badge. The six, in alphabetical order, are
The opportunity for other SDXA members to join the Million Points Club will continue for the 2022-23 PNW Challenge Cup season.
