METRO DX CLUB MEETING MINUTES – April 20, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:35 by President Bob Jacobson, K9CJ. A meeting agenda had been distributed to all members prior to the meeting. As no new members were present at that time, it was not necessary to have introductions.

Health & Welfare: Jack, W9NJB, has both good and bad days. Al, W9YYG, had planned to attend the meeting but was unable due to his not feeling well and taking several diagnostic tests. 

Printed minutes of the March meeting were distributed. Secretary W9ILY noted that there had been an omission from the March minutes. Frank, K9BWQ, had received the book “A Year of DX” as an award for finishing #1 in the Metro DX Challenge. Passage of minutes was then moved and seconded. Motion passed.

W9ILY gave the Treasurer’s Report of $254.31 cash on hand and $904.25 in our checking account. The multiple expenditures and receipts were described to the members including new member dues from K9TP and the donation of $100 to the NH8S DXpedition. Printing of a WUST handout at Dayton was reviewed by the members and then given to N9ORD. Report was approved. 

New member George Armstrong, K9GA, was introduced to the membership.  

Current DXpeditions: The 9MØL operation was discussed at length. K9GA suggested that 30M LP around 1600 and 15M between 1030 and 1245 seemed to be good times. VK9X is QRT, TO3X is operating from St. Barts. DXpeditions to Swains, Somalia, ZL9 and the Comoros were discussed.  

Contest Report by Jim, NV9X, our Contest Chairman: Results for SS phone and CW were read. The club had 380 Qs and 42,128 points. Jim requested that all contest results be sent to W9ILY for posting on the WEB site. Upcoming are the FL QSO Party and SP RTTY contest. In May there will be several QSO parties including NE, IN and 7QP. N1MMLogger logs them all. Also upcoming will be CQWW-WPX-CW.

An application for club membership and $10 dues was received from George, K9GA.

A door prize drawing for a subscription to the DX Newsletter was won by N9ORD.

New Business: For our annual picnic in August, N9LAH has volunteered his QTH in Chebanse, just south of Kankakee off I-57. The date will be August 18. K9TP will be the coordinator.

An application for membership was received from W4REX from Tampa , FL. Morris, W4REX, will be a new member and a certificate will be mailed.

A request had been received for the D64K DXpedition and was discussed and dismissed.

Nominations for the DX QSL Manager of the Year were recorded.

Field Day was discussed. N9TK suggested using his home QTH, possibly with K9CJ if a Class 2D applies. N9TK will research.

N9ORD reported on Dayton . All is ready. There will be METRO DX Club banner and WUST handouts. Bob described the actual location of the spaces that have been reserved.

K9GA advised that the WR9L 6M beacon on 50076.76 can be used for tuning 6M beams.

A motion to close the meeting was made at 8:20 by N9TK with K9TP seconding. Motion passed.

The video STØR South Sudan was presented by N9LAH.

Members present: K9CJ, K9GA, K9PY, K9TP, KC9RNK, N9AKR, N9LAH, N9ORD, N9TK, NV9X, W9ILY, W9OA, and W9PDS.

Respectfully submitted by John Holmes, W9ILY, Secretary/Treasurer.