Metro DX Club May Meeting Minutes
May 21, 2021
Hooray! Our first in-person Club meeting in over a year. Several members met for our pre meeting dinner at Baileys. Others also joined us via a ZOOM call hosted by John K9EL.
The meeting was called to order by our President Jim N9TK with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. In attendance, besides Jim were George K9GA, John K9DRS, Steve W9KXT, Mike K9LSH, George W9GJY, Mike W9MK, John W9ILY, Lee WA9LEY.
Our ZOOM attendees were K9EL, WT2P, W9EWZ, K9CJ, N2BJ, K9NU, K9PY, K9NB, K9LS, W9AP. My apologies if I missed anyone.
HEALTH AND WELFARE Jerry K9PY is recovering from heart bypass surgery and is doing well. Jerry was present on our ZOOM call.
ANNOUNCEMENTS We welcomed our newest member, George W9GJY.
OLD BUSINESS
The MINUTES of the previous meeting were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT John W9ILY reports that the Club had no income and no expenses for the previous month. Detailed Treasurer reports are filed on our groups.io site.
WUST No activity
KING OF THE HILL Our April winner was Lee WA9LEY with his entry in the Florida QSO party. The May qualifier is the Hamvention QSO party this weekend. You are urged to submit your score to 3830 and to John W9ILY.
NEW BUSINESS
DX 6 meters is starting to open up for the E season with some members already working DX on that band. We thank those that have been providing DX spots regularly on the groups.io reflector.
FIELD DAY Jim N9TK is hosting a 2E entry from his home, depending on how many ops are interested. He will have 2 HF stations and a 6 meter setup. Ops would need to be fully vaccinated with masks optional. Phone operators are asked to bring their own headsets. Please let Jim know via email if you will attend.
If you are attending, you will be sent a link to a Google calendar where you can plug in and reserve your preferred operating times and modes. We hope for a good turnout. Jim says there are a couple of 2E entries locally that he hopes we can compete against.
BOUVET A Bouvet donation has been tabled for now. 3Y0J is not scheduled till 2023. We will revisit a donation as the DXpedition nears.
W9DXCC Paul K9NU announced that registration has just opened. Many of the program presenters are in place with some exhibitors signed up. See the W9DXCC website for more details.
FUTURE MEETING PROGRAMS K3LR of DX Engineering has offered free ZOOM programs that he could present to our Club. We will follow up.
CONTESTING Congrats to K9ZO, K9CJ and K9EL who were certificate winners in CQWW SSB.
Club members have been active in contesting fielding 2 teams in NAQP CW, NAQP SSB and NAQP RTTY. Our members are active in nearly every major contest (and some lesser known ones) including State QSO parties.
Besides the Hamvention QSO party this weekend, the YOTA contest is on tap sponsored by DL and HA hams.
CQ WPX CW is next weekend.
SMC FEST CJ WT2P announced that registration is now open. It will be held in August at the Marriott in Naperville.
DIGITAL MAGAZINES John K9DRS let us know that if you are an ARRL member, you can get the QST, QEX, and NCJ magazines free digitally. You can also receive CQ magazine digitally much earlier before the magazine goes to press. Check with CQ for details.
The meeting was adjourned for refreshments
PROGRAM Video interviews conducted by Martti OH2BH with famed DXpeditioner W9WNV were shown. He talked about his experiences DXpeditioning in some very remote spots. It’s worth a listen on the recording.
Here’s the recording of the meeting courtesy of John K9EL. http://www.k9el.com/MetroDX/MetroDX-21May2021.mp4
Submitted by Lee WA9LEY