November 2023

Metro DX Club November 2023 Meeting Minutes

November 17, 2023

We had an in person meeting this month as well as offering a ZOOM option for those unable to attend.

The meeting was called to order by our President Jim N9TK. In attendance besides Jim were  W9KM, W9KXT, NE9A, W9ILY, WT2P, W9PDS, K9CJ, K9DRS, K9LSH, KC9EOQ, K9GA, W9EWZ, N2BJ, K9EL, WA9LEY.  Some attending were via ZOOM.

MINUTES:  George K9GA motioned to accept the October minutes, it was seconded  and approved.

HEALTH AND WELFARE:  Carl K9CS’s wife Chris Schroeder passed away recently.

NEW MEMBER:  Joe WA0O has joined Metro.

OLD BUSINESS

TREASURER’S REPORT:  John W9ILY reports that the Club had dues income of $149.55 the previous month but incurred no expenses. Detailed Treasurer reports are filed on our groups.io site.

DUES: Club dues for next year remain at $15 and can be paid at a meeting, via PAYPAL, ( A payment of the $15.00 dues may be made by PayPal to w9ty@arrl.net. When paying by PayPal, please indicate the payment is being made to “friends or family”) , or by mail to the Club address on our website.

WUST: No WUST awards to report.

NEW BUSINESS

CONTESTS: ARRL SSB Sweepstakes is this weekend. Next weekend is CQWW CW.  CJ WT2P will be participating at K9CT.

ILQP: The log submission deadline is Nov 23rd.  Please send in your log even if you only made a few contacts. We are trying to win Club honors for the 3rd year in a row.

DX ON THE BANDS: Lots of DX has been reported. PR0T started up today and many others including VK9X, 4W, 7O8, TJ9, ZL7 have been active or are coming up.

WINTERFEST: The board decided to hold the event again this year at Papa Joe’s on Friday, January 19th.  More info to follow.

NOVEMBER BOARD ELECTIONS: Jim N9TK announced that he is resigning the position as President of the Metro DX Club which will be a big loss to the Club. Patrick W9PDS was nominated for Jim’s vacant position and we are happy to announce that Patrick has agreed to run for President. The remaining board members have agreed to stay on for another year. Because of this development, our election will be put off until our December meeting. 

FIELD DAY: Mel NE9A offered a possible site in Monee for the Club to consider next year.  Several members made a site visit and reported there’s plenty of room for antennas and inside the building, there’s plenty of room for operating positions. They noticed a loud physical buzz that needs to be looked into that might interfere with our operation.  The address is 2621 W. Offner Rd, Monee. More on this to follow.
FCC RULING:  We had discussions and questions about the latest FCC ruling on bandwidth

ROUNDTABLE

Lots of DX on the bands, especially on 160. 3D2’s and ZL’s have been worked on 6 meters. CJ and Patrick reported enjoying CQWW SSB at K9CT’s superstation making lots of contacts and also, the food was outstanding. With the flurry of DXpeditions, members have reported lots of new band/mode countries being worked. Some have had issues with their equipment they are trying to resolve.

CJ WT2P motioned to adjourn the meeting, it was seconded by Steve W9KXT and the meeting was adjourned.  

PROGRAM

We were pleased to have John W9ILY make a presentation on JT Alert which provides audio and visual alerts for WSJT-X and JTDX programs.  Please check the attached video link for all the details on John’s presentation.

Submitted by Lee WA9LEY

Metro Secretary