November 2021

Metro DX Club November Meeting Minutes

November 19, 2021

We continued to meet via ZOOM for the November meeting. Thanks to John K9EL for his help.

The meeting was called to order by our President Jim N9TK. In attendance, besides Jim were  W9ILY,  K9EL, K9CJ, WT2P,  K9GA, K9DRS, KC9EOQ,  NE9A, K9LSH,  W9PDS, N7US, W9IXX, W9EWZ, W4QN, W0LEN, K9PY, N2BJ, WA9LEY.       

HEALTH AND WELFARE  No reports

OLD BUSINESS

The MINUTES of the previous  meeting were approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT  John W9ILY reports that the Club had income of $95 which was from dues payments.   John reports that the Club had no expenses for the month.  Detailed Treasurer reports are filed on our groups.io site.

WUST  No recent WUST activity.

CONTESTS

NAQP CW  Our team finished 78 of 107 teams.

NAQP SSB Our 2 teams finished 34th and 58th of 69 teams

NAQP RTTY Metro teams finished 32nd and 28th of 41 teams, about the middle of the pack.

CQWW CW Jim N9TK reports he will be one of the operators at K9CT next weekend.

KING OF THE HILL Jim N9TK was the winner last month for his California QSO Party entry.

160 and 10 meter contests are coming up this month.

TO9W  John K9EL reports that he will be leaving with his group on Tuesday, November 30th for St. Martin.  On Wednesday they will be setting up theantennas and stations and may be able to get on the air.  By Thursday, they should be totally set up.  They are planning Club Log real time uploads.

TO9W will be offering a certificate/certificates? for Metro members working them on the most bands and modes. You should be able to check your progress on their Club Log site. There will be a special certificate for the pilots W9ILY and K9NB.

K9PY   Jerry reports that his move to Oregon is complete and he has a station set up.  He also said he received a  letter from the Windy City Thunderbolts thanking us for holding a Club event at one of their games organized by Jerry.  Everyone had a good time and we may do it again next year.

NEW BUSINESS

METRO ELECTIONS  Current board members agreed to serve another term and with no other nominees, they were elected by acclamation.

THIS WEEKEND IN CONTESTING  Sweepstakes SSB is this weekend.

WINTERFEST  Save The Date.  Our annual event will be held on Jan 21, 2022 at Papa Joe’s in Orland Park.  Details will be sent out in early December.

DUES  Dues for next year remain at $15 and can be paid to W9TY via PayPal or via check to the Club address on our website.  John W9ILY reports that 17 members have paid so far, 24 not paid. 

SPECIAL EVENT The Club is interested in running another special event station next year.  We talked about a special event commemorating the 1st regularly scheduled broadcast from Chicago in 1922 from the Westinghouse building.  There were sporadic evening hours broadcasts in 1921 but regularly scheduled programming didn’t begin until 1922.  We are potentially looking at Labor Day to host the event.  More info will be announced.

CROZET  We talked about making an exception to our donation policy and because Crozet is so high on the need list, we agreed to donate $150 to this DXpedition.  It’s a single operator there for 3 months beginning in December.

The meeting was adjourned followed by a round table discussion of members’ current activities.

There has been plenty of DX available to work including a few welcome DXpeditions.  

Lots of antenna work preparing for the contest season.

There was some discussion about possible changes to the criteria for DXCC Honor Roll.

John K9EL was one of the operators at the VA2UR CQWW SSB multiop.  He talked about the big difference in propagation at VA2UR vs here in Illinois, especially on 160.

Members were reminded to due frequent uploads to Club Log.

PROGRAM  Jim N9TK presented a video of his DXpedition to Clipperton Island, FO0AAA.  Very interesting history of  the island with Jim being able to provide commentary on the ZOOM channel.

Submitted by Lee WA9LEY