SOUTHERN ARIZONA DX ASSOCIATION
TUCSON - WS7DX
ARCHIVES

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Our President, W1KSZ - Richard opened the meeting, as usual, with introductions and DXploits all around.   NO7P - Don  said that he had been having a good time working the JT-65 digital mode.  From that discussion, it was suggested by N7BXX - Gail that the digital modes might be a good subject for a presentation at a future meeting.  KB7AZ - Karl said that he had worked 24 countries since the last meeting.  Then KW7CD - Cornell was working CW and improving his speed.  W7XI - Jerry said he had worked XR0YG on 160, 80, 40, 12 and 10 along with 5W0M on 160 plus a few others. KC0ORD - Mike worked 50 band slots and 9 new countries since the last meeting.  Great job, I think you're getting serious about the DX stuff.  Our president, Richard, said that he had worked 98 countries on 160.  W7LB - Larry said that his tower episode with   may be resolved and that W1GHF - Rick's tower was back as well. Rick was setting up for the Pima County Fair old motors exhibit and wasn't present for tonight's meeting. Larry  reported $2000 in account with about $180 in cash on-hand.  We had a guest, Phil, an SWLer , who says he likes to listen to the meeting activities and see the presentations.

In the course of the business phase of the meeting, W1KSZ - Richard suggested that the club might make a donation to the Amsterdam Island DX-pedition    scheduled for early next year.  It was dicussed that the donation be made to them directly as opposed to donating to the because a direct donation would result in the SADXA being noted as a contributor on their QSL.  It was then moved, seconded and voted to contribute $250 to that effort.  W6XI - Jerry also discussed the fact that our man KD7ATQ - Gary is now a retired TEP RFI troubleshooter and to expect the company to try and let the position be unfilled.  He said that it would be in our best interests to call, write or e-mail TEP if we have RFI issues and if they do not respond, to let them know that there would be no other choice other than to officially inform the FCC of the problem.

With that, the business portion of the meeting was closed and  short break was taken for the Vice President - N7WS to set up for the evening's presentation.

The presentation for the evening was the Midway Island 2009 DXpedition. It was very entertaining and interesting considering the fact that it's a U.S possision with limited access to humans. Luckly, the environmental issues were resolved that even allowed the ham group to be on the island since it is now managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Services.  For example, they wouldn't approve the use of yagi antennas yet  allowed verticals.  They must have used 2000 feet of ribbons to tie on the antennas and guys to protect the birds.  The resident agent spoke and apparently amazed as to how cooperative the DX-petition team had been and had followed every rule and bureaucratic whim.  As remote as the island is, they were relatively comfortable and used services provided to the 60 or so Thai residents who work on the island.  Do you suppose they had to submit an ERP report?

Here's the newest member of SADXA, NR6M - Rex shown with a harmonic who looks like he's ready to contest.  Your editor had to use a picture provided by Rex since my camera elected to hiccup and start a new picture file and several pictures were lost.  Pictures from the recent RST hamfest and our archives were used where needed.  In any case, WELCOME TO SADXA, REX!

The meeting was opened by the President W1KSZ - Richard congratulating the RST for a very successful hamfest on the 16th of March.  During the introductiion a few members indicated that here had been some DX activity during the past month. W6XI - Jerry  had worked several on 160, the "Top Band".  Your editor WD7F - John said that he had revived his Johnson Valiant coupled with his recently restored Howard Mills Collins 75A-4 and worked 7 states on 15 meter AM in about an hour and a half.  Considering it was AM and those long QSOs, that was quite an accomplishment.  N7BXX - Gail mentioned that he worked the recent contest with limited results and then found that his antenna had a major malfunction, he had to tighten the coax connector on the antenna. That was good since he was considering buying a new antenna, right?   Maybe it was a missed opportunity.  KW7RS - Rolly  said he had a great time experiencing Meteor Scatter mode thanks to a demo by K7NX - Lloyd.   Our Secretary/Treasurer W7LB - Larry  gave his report and said that we have $1966 in account and $146 cash with 72 on the SADXA roster.  He also brought up the ongoing saga with his tower with comments by W1GHF - Rick and his Sky Needle being returned for revamping.  Congratulations to KC9ORD - Mike who has worked 216. He says the SteppIR is working great.  KW7CD- Cornell showed us his home brew directional RF Watt Meter.  Beautiful job, Cornell.  Pictures are below.  W1KSZ then dismissed the meeting for a break prior to the evening presentation.

The Peter the 1st  Island DXpetion was the subject of the movie presented for our viewing.  it had been previously scheduled, however, equipment malfunction caused it to be delayed.  That DXpedition was quite an undertaking, traveling to a remote Antartica island and operating under perilous extreme WX conditions on a piece of rock not fit for a penguin to survive.  And it must have cost dearly.

This was a well attended meeting and a great presentation.  Where were you?

We had a welcomed guest for the evening, a long time AM'er and boat anchor aficionado, K7CMS - Bill Beatty.  Bill has been on hiatus for the last couple years and I'm hoping that coming to the SADXA meeting will reawaken the need for the smell of dust cooking on vacuum tubes and operating real radios that glow in the dark.  If you want to see a Johnson Desk Killowatt or a Collins KW-1, ask Bill.

Here's a SADXA prodical son that's hasn't been to a meeting in a long time.  Welcome back Eric!

The packed February meeting was opened by our President W1KSZ - Richard , starting with the DX roll call of the attending members.  For the most part, it was apparant that DX was still limited with just a couple of bright spots by a few of our members.
KB7GAI - Wally anounced that the Airzona Antique Radio Club is having a swap meet at the at 3130 E Grant Road on Saturday, 23 Feb 2013 at 9:00 AM.  Should be interesting.
Our man Bill - K6WSC stayed up for 27 hours during the 2013 ARRL DX - CW: Feb 16-17 contest and worked 329 band countries, exceeding his last year record. He says he should win it. Don't forget that the phone contest is March 2nd and 3rd.

NQ7R - Tom and K7NX - Lloyd worked 17 contacts on 220 meteor scatter in DM32 and had quite a time of it.  Tom  and Lloyd said it was "different"!

Our president mentioned that there is a DX Marathon contest coming up but according to Tom, the Central Arizona DX Association is not interested.  If you want to participate, it will be done individually rather than using the club calls.  He also said that there are several DXpeditiions coming up such as , and . 

Our Secretary/Treasurer W7LB -  Larry said that we have 42 paid members, $1986 in account and $136 on hand.
KC9ORD - Mike reported that he worked 35 new countries on CQWW Phone this past weekend using his big Steppir.  Good job, Mike!  
W6XI - Jerry announced that the 64th Annual Visilia DX Convention  sponsored by the Northern California DX Association is  recruiting workers if anyone is interested in volunteering.  
KD7TMX - Cliff brought his ancient Heathkit single channel mobile CB for show & tell. You can see it below.

With that, Richard dismissed the group in preparation for the evening presentation.

We enjoyed an interesting presentation by WA7ZZE - Chuck Penson  who told us the history of HeathKit, primarily the timeline of their test equipment line from the beginning until their demise.  His slide presentation showed pictures of the entire line of popular test equipment. Heathkit was successful primarily because of their kit-marketing strategy which lowered to price to be withing the range of the ham radio community.  After the company was sold to Zenith, the test equipment side of the business was allowed to die. Chuck has put together a book of Heathkit radio equipment which he has not published.  CQ Magazine, however, has been publishing the book without his permission and he is in the process of changing that.  He is putting together a test equipment book for future publication.  

If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, if you missed this one, you missed a good one!

We have two new SADXA members, NG2Q - Matt and K7NX - Lloyd.
We're looking forward to your participation in our activities.  Welcome to SADXA!

The meeting was opened by our President, W1KSZ - Richard, with our usual introductions all around.  It was soon apparent that there was very little DX activity during the past couple of months. Richard and W6ZQ - Ron mentioned that they had worked long path but DX was limited.  KW7CD - Cornell said that he was going to host a seminar at the upcoming

on Saturday, Feb 16 at 11:40 AM and his subject will be Designing Competition Grade High Performance HF Transceivers. Click the logo and link for details.  Our Secretary/Treasurer W7LB - Larry said that SADXA now has 39 paid members.  He also discussed and the problems that several SADXA members had been having.  The bottom line was buyer beware.  The company has admitted their problems and it appears it they are doing everything they can to make it right for the customers.  Congratulations go to NQ7R - Tom  for 160 DXCC 100 watts.  Good job, Tom!  You can see in the pictures below that W7CS - Chuck brought in his home-brew EME antenna controller.  The editor will be adding it to the Member Projects Section soon. K0SBV - Carl noted that our TEP RFI Troubleshooter KD7AYQ - Gary is retiring very soon.  The problem is that TEP management doesn't seem to be interested in continuing the RFI program.  It may be necessary for the ham radio community to make it known to TEP management that the RFI service is a good thing for their customers.  If you're so inclined, drop an e-mail to Dave Thomas at TEP and express your concern.

As it was discussed at the last month's meeting, the elections for the Club Officers took place and the results are as follows.  Our current President W1KSZ - Richard was re-elected to a new term as was our Secretary/Treasurer W7LB - Larry Brown.  You might have noticed at the top of the page, we have a new Vice-President, N7WS - Wes   .  Thanks for serving, Wes.  The membership truly appreciates it.  After a short break we moved on to the evening's presentation.  

The presentation for the evening was a video on the Peter the 1st Island DXpedition in 2006, however, the computer used for the presentation was acting up and nobody had brought a spare to bail us out.  So the presentation was rescheduled for a future meeting.  None the less, a good time was had by all that attended.

How many times do I have to say this?   If you missed this one, you missed a good one!  You shoulda' been there!