June Program

17 June 2010 - 5:30 PM

At approximately 6:20 PM, the Vice-President Michael Casey - KC9ORD called the meeting to order followed by introductions all around with discussions of DX conditions and activities on the bands. Doug - KE7GYQ said he is getting very close to DXCC with 95 confirmed and that he has built a couple of home brew devices recently. Mike - W0LTL had managed to get over 2000 contacts uploaded to Logbook of the World and he said it took a call to the ARRL to sort it out. Sounds like LOTW is not for the faint of heart. Good luck with that. ;-)

We had a guest, Tom - KE7YTE We'll be looking forward to seeing you at future meetings.

Our presentation was a video of the K5D DXPedition to Desecheo Island off of the West coast of Puerto Rico in February 2009.

A great deal of coordination was required to get permission from the government of Puerto Rico and environmental agencies since the island had been closed. The island had been gunnery range with possibly unexploded ordinance everywhere. Since there was a possibility of drug runners and human trafficing operations, security was required. A person from the US Fish and Wildlife, an "Environmental Monitor", was on premises to make sure that nobody contaminated this worthless piece of rock with an abandoned soda can, beer bottle, etc. or stepped on a lizard. Helicopters were required to move the operators and equipment to the island since there are no piers or docks on the treacherous beaches and craggy, slick rocks surrounding the island. It took 39 helicopter round trips on the first day alone. At the end of the successful 14 day DXpedition, they had made over 115,000 contacts. This is an interesting video.

Notes from the VP:

Later in the summer we are working on getting a representative from the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club as well as our long time friend Ned Sterns to talk with us about their recent accomplishments. We are tentatively planning a class called "Contesting 101" for our October or November meeting.

It is a possibility that we may have a very special meeting in September. Mike, W0LTL is in contact with a group of people that are searching for Amelia Earhart's lost plane wreckage. They have taken a unique methodology and are searching in a very different place than it is popularly believed she crashed. Mike will ask them to speak to us in September and he will also check to see if his HOA's Recreation Center (the same place we have held past Christmas Parties) will be available for our use. Check back, we'll post the latest info here as soon as we have it.

May Program

15 May 2010 - 5:30 PM

At 1820 the Vice-President Michael Casey - KC9ORD, called the meeting to order. After a moment of silence for Bernie - W7KQ (SK) election for Secretary - Treasurer was held and Douglas Todd - KE7GYQ was unanimously elected to fill the position through the end of the normal term in December. There was no Old Business, but under New Business, Gary Keck - KE7DX invited all SADXA members to join the Catalina Radio Club's Field Day activities for this year's Field Day June 26th & 27th on Mt Bigelow. (http://www.w7sa.org/). Further information on a memorial service for Bernie will be posted on the SADXA web site as well as the reflector very soon.

The May meeting program was presented by Jerry, W6XI on his trip to Visalia, CA to attend the 61st Annual International DX Convention. Jerry outlined a little history of the Visalia convention and showed a number of photos

of the activities at the convention. There were approximately 15 different presentations made during the weekend as well as the presence of many vendors showing their wares of amateur interest. He mentioned that this years convention set a new record for attendance with over 1000 registered attendees. There were many high-end prizes given away in the raffle, an event taken very seriously by many at the convention. He outlined that this convention is an excellent place to see and meet those big names in amateur radio that we all read about and hear on the bands.

The second part of his presentation of the erection of a giant 3-element 80 meter Yagi antenna at the QTH of Larry Pace - N7DD. There were many photos of the hardware before it was assembled, piece by piece, on the tower. A lift bucket was used to install the boom which is 60 feet long followed by each of he three elements which are approximately 120 feet long. The antenna is up approximately 70 feet, however, this is with the tower cranked down for the installation. When extended, the antenna is at 100 feet. The group agreed that it involved some very serious hardware.

April Program

15 April 2010 - 5:30 PM

Our President, Keith - KR7RK, opened the meeting as usual, with introductions all around. We had one guest, Bob - W1HJT. We hope to see more of him in the future. Keith mentioned the upcoming CADXA BBQ, and hoping that SADXA will be represented at the event: See link at top of this page. There was discussion of IRCs (International Repayment Coupons) with Mike _KC9ORD mentioning that IRCs can be purchased on-line, and here is the URL: http://tinyurl.com/y6yvbq3 Richard - W1KSZ said that IRCs can be purchased from QSL managers, and here are some tips concerning IRCs: http://www.ac6v.com/irc.htm Chuck - N7UQ commented that he had received eight 10-10 numbers on 10 meters using the club call. Of course, 10 contacts are required in order for SADXA to receive its own 10-10 number. W6ZQ - Ron showed a circuit board which is part of a kit that converts the analog meter of a Bird wattmeter to a digital display. Contact Ron for further details. Our feature speaker, Gary Bruins - KD7AYQ, was then introduced by our VP, Mike - KC9ORD. Gary gave an interesting presentation with slides showing some of the equipment he uses to locate the noise sources that are a ham's worst enemy and passed around, for our inspection, a couple pieces of equipment and some examples of hardware that generates interference. It was fun. See you next month.

March Program
18 March 2010 - 5:30 PM

As usual, the meeting was opened by the President - KR7RK with introductions all around with discussion of recent DX activities, especially 10 and 17 meters. W6ZQ - Ron Cade has been designated as SADXA's official "QSL Card Counter". There was discussion concerning a 10-10 number for WS7DX, and Keith is looking into obtaining a number. The use of WS7DX club call was discussed as well. We had a guest, an aspiring DXer and relatively new ham who's been very active on 10 meters, W7DXW - Joe . He recently upgraded to Extra. Everyone is advised to apply arm twisting pressure to recruit Joe into SADXA. The meeting was then turned over to the two guest speakers.

Lyle Johnson - KK7P of told us all about their new P3 Panadapter which should be available in three to four weeks. After the meeting, Lyle set up the P3 with the K3 Transceiver and demonstrated the unit to interested folks.

The highlight speaker for the evening was Leon Byerley, from Lightning protection Technology of Tucson, who gave an excellent presentation as to how he would build his radio station. Leon is not a ham radio operator, but the information provided was very
"enlightening" (no pun intended). If you haven't seen one of Leon's presentations, don't miss the next opportunity. See you next month!

February Program
18 February 2010 - 5:30 PM

Subject: VooDoo Contest Group

The meeting was opened by the President - KR7RK with introductions all around and there was some discussion about recent DX activities and the Log Book of the World. The program was then turned over to AA7A.

VooDudes during the TZ5A Mali DXpedition - 2006

We had a great presentation by Ned Stearns AA7A, telling his story of the 2009 Sierra Leon DXpedition and the VooDoo group. If you get a chance to hear one of his presentations, don't miss it! Ned's self-deprecating humor with lots of slides and a short video clip made it well worth attending. You can find more info about Ned here: http://members.cox.net/aa7a/

We also have a new member of SADXA ,
K6WSC - Bill. Welcome to SADXA. Treasurer Bernie Sasek - W7KQ reported that the treasury is now in an account in his name. Ned - AA7A described a possible intra-state year long DX competition between Arizona DX clubs. A good time was had by all. Sorry you missed it.
For those of you that missed the January presentation by W7YRV and his "Antenna Farm", there's a link to the page on the left. See you next month.

January Program
21 January 2010 - 5:30 PM

Subject: My Antenna Farm

We had a great meeting. Mike - KC9ORD was elected vice president and acting Secretary/Treasurer, Bernie - W7KQ, was officially elected to the position. Congratulations guys. The photo presentation by W7YRV - Roy was fantastic and is documented on the website. Just click on his picture above when you're ready You know how you have dreams about doing something...big? Well, Roy did it. This guy built some SERIOUS antennas, single handedly! The club also received three new members: AE7CI - Dave Paul, AJ7EF - Jeff Jaster and N7UQ - Chuck Dockery. Welcome to SADXA! See you next month.

Checkout the HamThreads link where you can see some cool new SADXA gear to wear.