[DX] Austin Summerfest DX & Contest Forum Program

[Kenneth E. Harker]

Austin Summerfest DX and Contest Forum Program Announcement
===========================================================

     The Central Texas DX & Contest Club (CTDXCC) is proud to be the
continuing sponsor of the DX and Contest Forum at Austin Summerfest.
The 2005 Austin Summerfest is August 5th and 6th, at the Red Lion
Hotel, 6121 North IH-35 (@ US 290 East), Austin, Texas. The DX and
Contest Forum is tentatively scheduled from 10 AM to noon on Saturday,
with two program topics.

The VU4 DXPedition: Video and Presentation  [10:00 AM]

     Charly Harpole K4VUD will premier some of his personal video
     documentary of the 2004 VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition to the Andaman &
     Nicobar Islands at Summerfest 2005. A film studies professor at
     the University of Central Florida, Charly was filming a documentary
     of the first Amateur Radio operation from VU4 in over 17 years when
     the second-largest ever-recorded earthquake struck the islands and
     generated a tsunami that was among the deadliest natural disasters
     in modern history. Charly and the team of radio operators on the
     island all survived the catastrophe and the team immediately began
     handling emergency traffic.  You may have seen Charly speak at other
     conventions, but at Summerfest, Charly will be debuting some of his
     documentary video that has *never before been presented*.  You don't
     want to miss this! [70 minutes]

     (Note: This presentation has been scheduled so as not to conflict with 
     the ARES program at 11:00 AM.  If you're into Emergency Communications, 
     you can attend both the VU4 presentation and the ARES forum this year!)

Living Large on the Top Band  [~11:10 AM]

     John Battin K9DX has built one of the largest antenna systems ever
     used for Amateur Radio communications. His nine-element vertical
     array for 160 Meters covers 8 acres of land, and uses over a mile
     of 1 5/8" hardline, a mile and a half of guy lines, and over 24 miles
     of radial wires. An antenna this large could only have been designed
     by Texan John Brosnahan W0UN/5, who is planning to build an 80 Meter
     array much like this for himself in Bandera County.  Come hear K9DX
     explain how this antenna is designed to work, how he built this
     Texas-size antenna system on the Illinois plain, and learn about the
     challenges he faced in getting it to work up to its potential. If
     you have a passion for antennas, you don't want to miss this
     presentation! [50 minutes]

Austin Summerfest is supported by the Austin Amateur Radio Club and the
Austin Repeater Organization.  This year, Austin Summerfest is also the
ARRL Texas State Convention.  Advanced registration for Austin Summerfest
is open through July 27.  For more information, see:

  http://www.austinsummerfest.org/
  http://www.austinsummerfest.org/Files/OnePage.pdf

For more information about the Central Texas DX & Contest Club, and
the DX and Contest Forum at Summerfest, see:

  http://www.ctdxcc.org/
  http://www.ctdxcc.org/summerfest/2005/
  http://www.ctdxcc.org/summerfest/2005/flyer_2005.pdf

Austin is great place to visit, with many family-friendly activities
including the Texas State History Museum, the Zilker Botanical Gardens,
Barton Springs Pool, and the nightly emergence of as many as a million
Mexican free-tail bats from underneath the Congress Avenue bridge
downtown.  Austin is also the Live Music Capital of the World.  For
more information on Austin as a tourist destination, see:
http://www.austintexas.org/visitaustin.html

-- 
Kenneth E. Harker WM5R
kenharker at kenharker.com
http://www.kenharker.com/