July 2022

Metro DX Club JULY 2022 Meeting Minutes

July 22, 2022

We had an in person meeting this month as well as a ZOOM option for those who couldn’t attend. Thanks to John K9EL for his help.

The meeting was called to order by our President Jim N9TK. In attendance, besides Jim were  W9ILY, K9CJ,  NE9A, W9KXT, KC9RLE, WT2P, KD9SJC, K9PMV, K9DRS,  WA9LEY. 

Joining via ZOOM were K9EL, K9GA, N7US, KC9EOQ, W9EWZ, KJ5T. We welcomed those on the ZOOM call who were guests.

HEALTH AND WELFARE  No health issues reported.

OLD BUSINESS

MINUTES   CJ WT2P motioned to approve the June minutes, it was seconded by Steve W9KXT and passed.

TREASURER’S REPORT  John W9ILY reports that the Club had no income this month.  Our expenses included quarterly web costs, $64.10 to sponsor a CQ Marathon plaque, $200 for ARRL liability insurance, and $140 in Field Day expenses. Donations were also made to the W9DXCC coffee fund and to the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure. Detailed Treasurer reports are filed on our groups.io site.

WUST  No recent activity.

KING OF THE HILL  The next qualifying contest will be NAQP CW & SSB coming up in August.  100 watts max. In addition to individual efforts, members are encouraged to join a Metro team and compete against other members. More on team sign up will be announced as the events get closer.

CONTESTS

Congratulations to:

ARRL DX CW

K9ZO  SO HP 80 meters #2 NA

K9CJ  SO HP 40 meters   #4 NA

W9ILY SO HP 20 meters #4 NA

W9EWZ  SO HP 160 meters #3 NA

RTTY ROUNDUP

Congrats to K9NR for his #2 finish.

Metro as a club finished 8 of 12 clubs in our category. It should be noted that RTTY Roundup next year will be RTTY only since the ARRL has created a digital version.

NAQP RTTY 

This was held last weekend with six members signing up to be on a team. 

Metro Runners scored 527 Qs  63K points

Metro Chasers scored 489 Qs  37K points

FIELD DAY  Metro finished with 1164 CW Qs and 34 digital Qs for 5134 points. It was a pretty good showing since we didn’t have much overnight operating this year losing about 6 hours.  John W9ILY related some of our FD history as a comparison.

2018  5432 points

2019  5100 points

2020  17000 points but this was the COVID year with no Club get together. This was a compilation of individual member scores submitted.

2021  6300 points  

NEW BUSINESS

NEW MEMBER  We welcomed our newest member Mike KD9SJC

DX ON THE BANDS  Lots of DX has been reported but especially VKs coming through on 6 meters and some members getting through.

SPECIAL EVENT  John W9ILY has reserved W9C.  The event is September 3-5. See QRZ.com for more details.  Members operate from their home stations using the W9C call sign. As we get closer, a link will be available for members to use to sign up for operating time slots.

QUORUM BYLAWS  At the May meeting, some questions came up about how many attending members constituted a quorum for voting purposes.  John reported that our bylaws state that 25% of membership attending constitute a quorum.  Since many members attend via ZOOM these days, John has amended the bylaws to include in person and virtual attendance for voting purposes.

MORE AWARDS

ILQP We have finally received the traveling plaque we earned in last year’s ILQP.  John showed it off to those attending.

A motion was made by Steve W9KXT to close the meeting and seconded by Bob K9CJ and the meeting was adjourned.

The meeting was adjourned followed by a round table discussion of members’ current activities.

Lots of DX reported on all bands with 6 meters heating up.

Bob W9EWZ was #1 WI entry in the Indiana QSO party.

George K9GA reported some nice DX like /BW2, D2UY, 9M2 and lots of JAs and a 9M5 coming through on 15.

John K9EL reported working a rare JX station, VKs on 6 meters, FP on 6 meters, a ZL, and the 3A DXpedition active on a bunch of bands.  He also reports working 250 countries and all 40 zones so far this year in the CQ Marathon.

PROGRAM

CJ WT2P presented an excellent program on SO2R contesting during the IARU contest from Ralph’s K9ZO station and from his own home station.  Watch the video to see more.

Here’s the meeting link courtesy of John K9EL.      http://www.k9el.com/MetroDX/MetroDX-22July2022.mp4

Submitted by Lee WA9LEY