[ADXA] "Catchin' Up Is Harder To Do"

[Joel Harrison]

Back in 1975, Neil Sedaka had a hit song "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do". If
that is true, "Catchin' Up" must be harder to do!

There  hasn't been a lot of news or chatter here ever since our convention
the first weekend in December although there has been a lot of things
happening but as we approach Christmas and the New Year attentions focus
on other things.

So, to start catching up, I want to thank everyone who attended our
convention. I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially
want to thank our sponsors, DX Engineering, The Daily DX & The Weekly DX
and especially ARRL. Our Section Manager J N5LKE, Delta Division Director
Dave K5UZ and ARRL President Rick K5UR's support was the key component to
success. So, a very special THANK YOU to J, Dave and Rick from all of us
at ADXA.

At the start of the new year we welcome a new member to the ADXA Board,
Roger N5QS assumes a Director position taking over from Frank N7FF. I want
to take this opportunity to personally and on behalf ADXA thank Frank for
his years of dedicated service to ADXA over many years, starting in 2011
as ADXA Vice President, President in 2013 and Past President & Director in
2016. Of course, he's not going anywhere so we still have the benefit of
his past knowledge and experience!! Thanks Frank!

We had a very early start to the fall/winter 2017/2018 DX season. Things
started off with a bang early on with a couple of premium DXPeditions then
kind of went POOF! for several weeks but is now back in full swing with
lots of DX on all bands up through 17 meters (15, 12 & 10 are pretty dead
obviously).

T5 Somalia - the 6O6O operation has just ended. This was a 2 person team
that was unable to fully implement all of their plans. They had everything
they needed however attempting an operation from a volatile location such
as Somalia proved to be very restrictive. There was routine vandalism to
some of their antenna systems each evening and a major security event
limited their movement around and just outside their hotel for a few days.
Even so, they were quite active and I hope you were able to work them if
you needed T5.

E31A Eritria - Zorro and team have just fired up. This is a seasoned group
of DX'ers and they had excellent signals on all bands yesterday.  Their 20
meter SSB signal was very loud and easily workable. They are scheduled to
be on through January 22. This DXPedition is dedicated to the memory of
Dave Collingham, K3LP. More about Dave down the page.

3Y0Z Bouvet Island - They are working their way to Bouvet but encountering
some minor delays. You can go to their website and see the latest press
release #11. There is excessive sea ice along the original route that has
necessitated a route change that will delay their arrival 24 to 36 hours.
Hey plan to extend their time on Bouvet to accommodate the delay but
frankly they aren't there yet!! Will update everyone as the trip
progresses.

As I said the bands are in very good shape. 20 meters has been very good
to EU in the mornings and to AS in the late afternoon/evening and of
course 40 has been hot.

FT-8 digital - We have had posts from N5ZM and AI5P about their success
with FT-8. I won't go into detail here other than to note there is
extensive DX activity on this mode on all the bands so give it a try.

Dave Collingham, K3LP - The tragic news of Dave's death was quite a shock.
If you aren't aware of the details you can search ARRLWeb for the story or
see it via other avenues. I had known Dave for several years and he was
super guy and a model ham! Dave and I were the same age so when a tragic
accident of this nature occurs I find I place myself in that situation
wondering how I would have reacted. This was a terrible loss to amateur
radio, a very sad loss!

Our first quarterly meeting of 2018 will be March 3 at the Russellville
hamfest. Our meeting schedule is as follows:
11:00 ADXA Technical Forum #1
12:00 Break for Lunch
1:00 PM ADXA Quarterly Business Meeting
1:30 PM ADXA Technical Forum #2
We will also have a table for our use in the exhibit hall next to the ARRL
table.

ARRL - If you keep up with amateur radio news you no doubt have seen the
uproar within the amateur radio community about internal actions of the
ARRL board with By-Laws changes and other things. If you have been
inclined to make a judgement on these matters already I want to caution
you in doing so. No, I don't have any specific details of the proposed
changes however I do have 22 years of experience in my service on the ARRL
Board up through President and I can tell you these Chicken Little
reactions are caused most times by folks who refuse to look at all of the
facts and are pushing some personal agenda.....shocking, isn't it! If you
have already jumped in this fray, or are inclined to do so, I simply want
to again caution you to restrain yourself until we know exactly what the
facts are. The main fact to know right now is that the ARRL Board has NOT,
repeat NOT, taken any action on any changes yet and unless the board
approves them there won't be any! I have seen the democratic process work
very well within the ARRL board and reasoned debate and common sense
usually prevails. If you believe it is a simple task to get 15 Directors
from all over the USA with varied backgrounds to agree on something you're
highly mistaken! They each bring a unique perspective representing the
members of the Division they represent, are free to openly and freely
debate whatever motion may be on the table in addition to the opportunity
to informally discuss and debate matters during the time the board is not
in formal session. ARRL Board decisions do not come on a whim or from
misinformation. So if you're concerned about some of the rubbish floating
around the internet, give our Director a call. I have talked to Dave, K5UZ
twice about a couple of items already during the past two weeks.

So, in summary, catchin' up wasn't as hard as I thought but it was long
overdue. Let's get on the air, bust some pileups and get some DX in your
log!!

73 Joel W5ZN
ADXA President