Welcome to the Spokane DX Association
Just a reminder that the 2012 Pacific Northwest DX Convention in Portland / Clackamas will be coming up soon! The convention this year runs from August 3-5, 2012 at the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center in Clackamas, OR. Sponsored by the Willamette Valley DX Club, you can visit the convention web site here.
I’ve also uploaded a convention flyer you can download that gives other details about the convention. The SDXA encourages everyone who can attend from this area to do so to support our fellow DX club. I’ve already registered and hope to see you there!
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Randy (K7TQ) posted the following on the SDXA reflector and I wanted to make sure it ended up on our web site as well:
“Hello, SDXA members.
Since the May meeting won’t be until after the 2012 running of the 7th Area QSO Party, I’ll remind everyone with this email.
The date is Saturday, May 5 from 6 am to midnight PDT. All of the non-WARC bands from 160 to 2 m are good for this contest. On 6 and 2 you have to make simplex contacts and on the HF bands you can use CW, SSB, and Digital (either RTTY or PSK31). For that matter you can use CW, SSB, and Digital on 6 and 2 as well.
Because this operating event was designed to be a “7 land works the world” rather than a “7 land works 7 land”, the mults for us in 7 land are the 50 states, 13 VE provinces, and up to 10 DX countries. Folks outside of 7 land count counties so they have a possibility of 259 county mults. Mults are per band and CW, SSB, and Digital are each separate bands.
The exchange is straight forward. First is the 2 letter state abbreviation followed by a 3 letter county abbreviation, so if you operate from home in Spokane Co, you will send or say WASPO. Well, if you are going to say it, I suggest you say Washington, Spokane.
The full rules are at http://www.codxc.com/new/Page.asp?Content=DRYLAND7S or if that doesn’t work, just Google Central Oregon DX Club.
If you can be on for the full 18 hours that is really great. If you can be on for 30 minutes, that is pretty good, too. Along with the Salmon Run, it is an opportunity for WA stations to be wanted on the air.
If you intend to get on for even a short time, send an email to to 7qpops@codxc.org and let Bill know what county or counties you plan to put on the air. Bob, AC7GP, and I have already done this. Bob will operate from ID Kootenai (IDKOO) and MT Mineral (MTMIN). I’ll be a mobile station and get 4 rather rare ID counties (Valley, Adams, Idaho, and Lewis) plus 1 rather rare WA one (Garfield). Be sure and work both Bob and me. Once again I’ll give a jar of raspberry jam to the station that makes the most contacts with me. It takes 3 QSOs to qualify. Look at the link to my schedule on the 2012 Planned Operations page of the 7th QSO Party site. As with any mobile station, you can work them again when they are in a different county or on a different band or mode.
Don’t forget that because Spokane is a hot bed of RTTY activity, the club is sponsoring a plaque in the high score Digital category. So with that and a possible jar of raspberry jam, there are two more good reasons to get on the air during the event.
If you’ve got any questions, just send me a note.
See you on the air Saturday, May 5th.
73,
Randy, K7TQ”
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There is always something going on in the DX world, but you might want to pay attention to a couple of DXpeditions coming up soon as they don’t come up that often. The first is Spratly Island, 9M0L that will be operating from April 10th – 24th. The other you might put on your calendar is XX9, Macau from the 17th to 23th of May. I hope to work this one so I don’t have to scold Geoff about being in Macau without a radio 
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National Contest Journal
SDXA member Jay Townsend, WS7I, recently published an article in the leading ham radio contest magazine called the National Contest Journal (NCJ), a publication of the ARRL. His article, in cooperation with the other members of the local BelchFire Team (Lynn N2HS and Wayne WA1PMA), was in the most recent March/April issue. It is reprinted here with permission of Jay WS7I and the NCJ. More information on the NCJ is available from their website:
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I just wanted to let everyone know that Dash, The Dog-Faced Ham, is back in college attending WSU!! Jeff, K1NSS, sent me the following press release this morning:
“Not many would-be electrical engineers choose spring break for a now-or-never return to college, but Dash! The Dog-Faced Ham is no ordinary sixty-something. Dashiell “Dash!” Hammutt is the webcomix creation of Jeff Murray, K1NSS and has appeared at www.dashtoons.com since late 2005.
K1NSS got the idea to send his character back to school after friend WT0G recently worked W7YH, Washington State University’s amateur radio club station. When his friend posted the W7YH QSL on Facebook, Murray noticed the club’s original proper name – Alpha Chapter, Rho Epsilon Radio Fraternity.
“The cool old school club name triggered all my sensors,” said the cartoonist. He immediately contacted the club and discovered that WSU’s Alpha Chapter is one of the oldest collegiate radio clubs in the country, established in 1911. When K1NSS learned more about WSU’s premier engineering school , he said “Everything fell into place”
“I never joined a fraternity and never followed my original plan to become an electrical engineer,” said K1NSS. “ And as I got older, I wondered how my life would have been different if I did those things, among others. Of course, as a 60-something ham radio cartoonist, I’m too dignified to take one last desperate swing at the cheap seats. But my cartoon character has no dignity whatsoever. And frankly, I’m the boss of him.”
Continuing episodes of Dash!2 Alpha Chapter, A Dog-Faced Ham Repeats College All Over Again, are now appearing at www.dashtoons.com.
I’m sure all of us in the SDXA are looking forward in keeping track of Dash’s escapades as he attends WSU!
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Steve, K7AWB, just submitted a nice article about two Salmon Run plaques. One that was sponsored by the SDXA and awarded to Rick Olsen (N6NR), and other awarded to members of the SDXA (Wayne – WA1PMA, Jay – WS7I, and Lynn – N2HS). You can read the full article HERE.
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Hi SDXA,
As most of you may have noticed the scores for these QSO Parties are all over the place. The National QSO Parties and the State QSO Parties are good places to get in and have fun. It’s a good chance to try out your station and antennas, and see just how things are going to work. If you would like to go for an award like WAS or DXCC to name a couple, this is a good place to get a good start. It also will show you the different propagation patterns that come with being on the radio for the duration of these Parties.
The main goal here is to have fun and not feel like you have to compete against the bigger stations. If you look at the pages of QST and CQ magazine there will always be scores all over the place just like in these QSO Parties. Generally QSO Parties are considered places to have fun.
Just as in sports, there are different classes or categories of contestants. Major Leagues, Minor leagues and people out just having fun with backyard games with friends and family. Usually these lines don’t cross, but in Ham radio there are none of these divisions so easily marked out.
The purpose of my writing this is to let all SDXA members know that there should be no embarrassment in posting a low score. Everyone has responsibilities that supersede our hobbies. Each of us should be encouraged to join in and have fun and the fact of getting on and just making a few QSOs should be rewarding in and of itself.
Some seem to think you need to do better than the last time in an outing, and others just want to enjoy the fun of it. Not all will want to enter any competitive type of activitiy and that is fine also. It’s important to remember we all don’t have the same goals or standards. DX, Contesting, rag chewing are all part of getting on the Amateur bands and having fun. This hobby has many different aspects to it, but if you don’t take an active part in some way, are you really enjoying the hobby?
With the diversity in Amateur Radio it is necessary to keep in mind we all have different wants and desires to enjoy the hobby.
Writing as your Club President I am just trying to say no matter how big or small a score you made, ( so far mine is the smallest team score posted! HI HI), the main goal from my perspective is to have fun first.
I’m interested to hear what others think about this.
–
73
Wayne WA1PMA President SDXA
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Gary just posted this on the reflector today and we thought it would be a good idea to post it here on the web site as well:
“The SDXA would like to encourage you to renew your ARRL membership through the club. If you do $2 of the normal fee is retained by the SDXA.
If you are joining the ARRL for the first time or your membership expired 2 years ago the SDXA will retain $15 of the normal fee.
It doesn’t cost you more. It is a benefit the ARRL offers affiliated clubs.
For us to take advantage of this benefit your application for ARRL membership or renewal must be made through the SDXA using these forms.
Planning on joining or renewing ARRL membership? Please fill out the appropriate form and get it to me with the normal fee. Send it and the normal fee to me at my home address (qrz.com) or the club’s PO Box. (or catch me or any officer at the meetings). Make out your check to SDXA.
This is a great opportunity for the SDXA and we urge you to take advantage of it.
Thank you and 73.
Gary K7GS”
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When Randy sent me the archive of all of the files used for the convention web site in 2009, I found a bunch of pictures of the convention I thought you might enjoy. This is not all of the pictures in the archive and I will be adding more to the gallery as I have time. Enjoy!
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Elvin (JA3CZY) sent these great pictures of his antenna array and I thought I should post them on our site. It can’t get much better than a stacked array on a tower located on a high rise It makes my little 3-element Steppir pale in comparison! Arigatou gozaimasu Elvin-san!
JA3CZY Antenna System
JA3CZY Antenna System
JA3CZY Antenna System
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TROPHY COMPETITION
This is the traveling trophy between 5 (yep a new one) NW DX clubs:
- BC DX Club http://www.bcdxc.org/
- Orca DXCC Club (new) http://www.orcadxcc.org/
- Spokane DX Association http://www.sdxa.org/
- Western Washington DX Club http://www.wwdxc.org/
- Willamette Valley DX Club http://wvdxc.org/dotnetnuke/
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1. CQWW DX RTTY – September 24-25, 2011 – Completed
2. CQWW DX SSB – October 29-30, 2011 – Completed
3. CQWW DX CW – November 26-27, 2011 – Completed
4. ARRL RTTY ROUNDUP – January 7-8, 2012 – Completed
5. CQ WPX RTTY – February 11-12, 2012 – Completed
6. ARRL DX CW – February 18-19, 2012 – Completed
7. ARRL DX SSB – March 3-4, 2012 – Completed
8. CQ WPX SSB – March 24-25, 2012 – Completed
9. CQ WPX CW – May 26-27, 2012
10. IARU – July 14-15, 2012
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Recent News
May 2012 Meeting Minutes
2012 Pacific Northwest DX Convention Just a reminder that the 2012 Pacific Northwest DX Convention in Portland / Clackamas will be coming up soon! The convention this year runs from August 3-5, 2012 at the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center in Clackamas, OR. Sponsored by the Willamette Valley DX Club, you can visit the convention [...]
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