SOUTHERN ARIZONA DX ASSOCIATION
TUCSON - WS7DX
2010 ARCHIVES

<click pictures to enlarge>

September Program
16 September 2010 - 5:30 PM

Editor's Comment:  Excellent meeting!

The meeting was opened by our President Keith - KR7RK  and  introductions all around were initiated. Bob - K7BHM  said to remember 10/10/10, the day that the Netherlands Antillies are breaking into four new call zones and to watch for PJ7E.  W6XI - Jerrry announced that he is going to attend  th W6JKV - K5AND Annual 6 Meter BBQ in Austin, TX.  The BBQ is to be the 1st and 2nd of October.   Ned - AA7A said he had worked his 999th EME stations and had 700 grid squares. Wow!  Our VP Doug - KE7GYQ said he is still waiting for his DXCC confirmation and is only checking about 8 times a day.  There was some discussion as to whether might be better thatn QLS cards for this very reason.  It was noted that the fall OPRC Fall Ham Fest is scheduled for 16 October and that the Southwest ARRL Convention is this weekend.  After some discussion, the meeting was called into recess and we prepared for our presentations.
Our first presentation was by AA7A - Ned Stearns . Ned gave us a very interesting presentation of "Antenna Matching Methods".  He shared his own experiences as to how you can't necessarily trust matching methods you might find in the books,  your friends or on the internet.  He explained that you might use calculations, source data from manufacturer publications to determine component values, construct your matching network and then find that it's not even close, maybe not even in the band!  Test equipment such as the MFJ-259 or more appropriate, an N2PK Vector Network Analyzer, is the way to go.  Most of us would agree that a 40 hour course in this subject matter by Ned would be great.     

Mike - W0LTL introduced the next guest speaker, David W Jourdan, Ex-submariner, Deep Sea Explorer and author of "The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart".    Dave, founder of the deep-sea exploration company Nauticos, and Elgen Long, famed aviator and author of the book Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved (Simon and Schuster, 1999), have teamed with engineers, analysts, researchers, sponsors, and investors to begin the most extensive high-resolution mapping of the deep-ocean floor in history.  During the course of this work, Jourdan and his team launched two seven-week expeditions, in 2002 and 2006, in a quest to find Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra and put this mystery to rest.  He gave us a most interesting slide presentation of one of many search senarios that his group has been using,  with assistance from Collins Radio, to locate the long lost aircraft of Amelia Earheart in 18,000 feet of Pacific Ocean.  For show and tell, Dave had a full size styrofoam cup that had been lowered to over 5000 meters and brought back up to the surface. As you can see, without the air between the cells, it had shrunk significantly.  Also, he had some rust recovered from part of the Titanic.

Sorry you missed this one.  You should know better next time.  ;-) 

August Program
19 August 2010 - 5:30 PM

Keith - KR7RK opened the business portion of the meeting with member introductions.  We were honored to have as guests Bill and Pam Leahy - K0MP &W0NF. We had a short discussion about the Amelia Earhart search expedition and Mike Z - W0LTL told us about their efforts to find her airplane wreck.  The head of the search expedition will give a talk at the Pima Air Museum Thursday Sept. 16^th from 1:00PM to 2:00PM.  All are welcome.

After a short break the video "Top 7 DXPeditions by Bob Allphin K4UEE" was shown.  It was a different view of some of the many DXPeditions Bob has been a part of.  At the end of the video the members adjourned to the parking lot to admire Dick - W1KSZ's hot new red Mercedes sports car.  All he needs now is a good looking blonde with long flowing hair!

Thanks - Mr. VP for the synopsis of the meeting.
de WD7F

July Program
15 July 2010 - 5:30 PM

The meeting was called to order by our President, KR7RK - Keith, who has returned after some absences. The meeting began with introductions all around and we welcomed W7SWL - Bob who has finally sold his California residence and is living here in Tucson.  Also, we have a new member KE7YTE - Tom .  Welcome to SADXA, Tom !  As members introduced themselves and told of their DX exploits, K6WSC - Bill told of the saga of his California  QSO Party t-shirt that had finally made it to him via at least four hams, including N6XT, unknown6call,  W6XI and WD7F.  It had been on the road since last fall.

Richard - W1KSZ told a good story about an old DXer, W1GKK (SK) -  George de Grenier.  W1GKK had been in high competition with W6AM - Don Wallace and both had been trying to "work them all".  For about two days after WW2 had ended, Portuguese GOA was on the air and George snagged the final country.  Don was out of town and had missed out on that one and couldn't get it. Thereafter, Portuguese GOA reverted back to India, never to be heard from again!  You win some, you lose some.

And our Secretary/Treasurer (Hmm, wonder what the event was here!) KE7GYQ - Doug has DXCC and he's looking for a card checker!  Congratulations Doug!  Also, Doug and Gail worked with the Central Arizona Credit union and was finally able to get the bank account for SADXA changed and all is well.  See the SADXA e-mail reflector for the full story.  In addition, he received SADXA's Arizona Trade Name Certificate . 

Keith said that SADXA was going to sponsor a plaque to the highest Arizona scorer in the upcoming Arizona QSO party. Sometime in the next few months four new Carribean countries will be added.  Also, folks should start thinking about the Christmas Party coming up before you know it. What already?  Chuck - N7UQ said he had worked a couple hundred QSO's using WS7DX.

Finally, we looked at the K4M Midway Island video DXpedition.  It was a very good site for DX and although it was on a remote pacific island that has only 74 or so permanent resident caretakers, the facilities were pretty comfortable with satellite TV, provided cafeteria style meals and the added attraction of a beautiful Pacific ocean beach view and all the US Fish and Wildlife protected birds and waterfowl to watch.

       
          Easy for you to say...                                            

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.