[EIDXA] DXpedition support (e.g. VP6DX, etc.)
Nelson Moyer
ku0a at mchsi.com
Thu Feb 7 13:17:46 EST 2008
Esteemed EIDXA Members,
There have been two changes to club operations in the past few years that
Rick seems to have forgotten. First, the club dropped the contest
participation requirement during a constitution and bylaws revision, since
contesting interest seemed to be waning except among a small core group of
avid contesters. Second, the picnic is now a social event, not a formal
quarterly meeting. A fourth meeting was added to meet the requirement for
quarterly meetings.
Re dues increase, I favor passing the hat to support DXpeditions so that
those in need can contribute but those not in need are not compelled to
support operations of little interest to them. Personally, I send my
contribution with my QSL for those I work, and the amount is proportional to
the number of new bands and modes I worked.
As one of the membership about to enter the fixed income category, I'm not
too happy about supporting a dues increase for the sole purpose of
supporting DXpeditions. I'm for keeping the dues at the level necessary to
support the web site, newsletter, repeater, picnic, and that's about all we
do. I have a local club if I want to participate in Field Day.
There is another question that remains unanswered. How many of the
membership actively work DXpeditions? It's my perception that there is a
small core group that is very active, while the majority are semi-active or
hardly active at all. If most of the membership don't give a rip whether
they work a DXpedition or not, how does that translate into support for a
dues increase solely to support mega-DXpeditions? EIDXA has rarely
contributed enough to be listed on a DXpedition QSL, so why bother with a
token gift from passing the hat, supplemented from the club treasury? Put
your money in the QSL request, or if you have really deep pockets, do a bank
transfer directly to the DXpedition. Don't encumber the club.
Now that the dues issue has been kicked around on the listserver, perhaps
it's time to submit a motion for consideration at the next meeting, and let
the membership vote it up or down.
For me, one of the best features of EIDXA is the lack of onerous formal
requirements and the nominal dues. I'd be disappointed to loose these
incentives for membership.
Nelson, KU0A
-----Original Message-----
From: eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of reheinri at rockwellcollins.com
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 8:42 AM
To: Dave Jaksa; 'Jim Spencer'
Cc: eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net; eidxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [EIDXA] DXpedition support (e.g. VP6DX, etc.)
Interesting thread, but I have a question for the historians.
I realize that DX is a core element of the club. I also realize that
there has been some discussion related to contesting and its impact and
value. When I read the club's constitution I find reference to DX
contests but not others. I was under the impression that, at one time,
there was more of a contest thread in the club as well. (I seem to recall
that there was a "requirement" to participate in some mix of Sweepstakes,
ARRL DX, CQWW DX, etc.) Am I losing touch with my memory?
No - I'm not trying to overthrow any move for an increase in dues - I've
advocated that for quite a while. But with some of the discussion of
changes to bylaws and other "governing" issues, I think we ought to
re-think several issues.
For example, annually we have our summer meeting as a picnic. It is
informal and in many respects is not a full meeting. But what if our
summer "meeting" were part of Field Day. This is an operating event (I'm
sensitive to those that don't want to refer to Field Day as a contest) but
it would be a great opportunity for a club sponsored activity, expand some
of the camaraderie, provide a picnic like activity, etc.
I know that I have proposed some level of club contest incentives in the
past and that Steve, N0SM is considering a similar concept.
I think an increase in dues is very appropriate if it helps stimulate our
club. In the past we needed a minimal amount of income to handle the
newsletter, postage, certain annual fees, etc. DXing is a key element and
expedition sponsorship is a great idea. But if we are going to adjust our
dues structure, I would recommend that we consider other items that may
help stimulate our club into a more active body.
A DX-pedition Standing Committee would be a great idea. Are there other
events that we should consider? I'm looking for a way to bring more
participation into the club. To stimulate our club into being more
"active" in some way.
As we consider a dues increase, we should also consider what the
"threshold of pain" is for our membership. Is $25 a challenge for those
on a fixed income? Should we have some level of tiering? What I would
not want to happen is for us to drive existing members away if we
increased the dues because of the "value" of the dues to the benefit of
being a member.
Just some more fodder for the discussion.
But for the record - I support a dues increase - I just want to know the
plan for distribution of the "revenue".
Rick N0YY
"Dave Jaksa" <w0vx at verizon.net>
Sent by: eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net
02/06/2008 11:39 AM
To
"'Jim Spencer'" <jlscr at mchsi.com>, "'David J. Schmocker'"
<kj9i at netins.net>
cc
eidxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject
RE: [EIDXA] DXpedition support (e.g. VP6DX, etc.)
Here is my 2 cents as a former president and now ex-pat EIDXA'er, for what
it is worth. Being one of the founding members I still feel an allegiance
to EIDXA. However, I am not going to be presumptuous and suggest what the
EIDXA dues should be but here are some thoughts on the issue.
When we formed the organization in the early/mid 70's, $2 was adequate to
print and mail a quarterly newsletter. There were only a few of us back
then and we were able to contribute to a few big DXpeditions by passing
the
hat at meetings. Of course in 1975 a first class stamp was only 10 cents.
There has been more than a bit of inflation since then.
Dues in the Lone Star DX Association (LSDXA) here in the Dallas area is
$25
per year. XYL Judi, W0JJ, becomes a family member for an extra $10.
Virtually all member communication is by reflector, direct email, and a
donated web site http://dxer.org/. As a result, the club has very little
in
the way of expenses so most of the ~$2,500 annual dues goes to directly
support DXpeditions.
Ham radio can be an expensive hobby. Just add up all the bucks you have
tied up in rigs, computers, accessories, and antennas. Even a modest
DXer's
station can quickly add up to over $10K. Heck, getting a DX QSL direct
with
only a $2 IRC and 90 cent air mail stamp costs over $3 when you add in the
nested envelopes and cost of your QSL card. And of course, most of us
will
put an extra 10 or 20 or more in the envelope to help with DXpedition
costs
to a rare place.
In my opinion $25 is not an unreasonable annual dues for a viable DX
organization.
73, Dave, W0VX
-----Original Message-----
From: eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:eidxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Jim Spencer
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:20 AM
To: David J. Schmocker
Cc: eidxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [EIDXA] DXpedition support (e.g. VP6DX, etc.)
Dave makes a very good point and I think this would be worth discussing.
The EIDXA has few expenses but at $5 a year we are not in a position of
doing much to support DXpeitions. We should consider increasing the dues
and have a good discussion of the idea. Having a committee is a good
idea.
73, Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "David J. Schmocker" <kj9i at netins.net>
To: <rhaendel1030 at inabc.net>
Cc: <eidxa at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 7:55 AM
Subject: [EIDXA] DXpedition support (e.g. VP6DX, etc.)
> Rich and everyone:
> I agree with the idea of supporting worthy DXpeditions. A primary
> purpose of a DX club is to help fund and support worthy DXpeditions such
> as VP6DX.
>
> I have seen this arrangement work well in several DX clubs just like
EIDXA
> where dues are allocated per a budget earmarking a substantial portion
of
> the operating budget to support DXpeditions toward helping us all work
new
> one(s).
>
> Typically, there would be an EIDXA committee of two or three (A
DXpedition
> funding pre-selection committee, named the DX committee) which would
> pre-filter and recommend "worthy" expeditions (on their merits) to the
> overall membership for a yes/no vote at a recommended funding level
which
> would take into account the total yearly EIDXA available DXpedition
> support funds. Of course the input on which prospective expeditions
> warrant EIDXA support could/would come from any EIDXA member through the
> DX committee. Because our EIDXA meetings are quarterly, we'd need to
use
> an electronic communication vehicle such as this reflector to have
> discussions and authorized and get funding to appropriate groups in a
> timely manner (before waiting until the next quarterly meeting).
>
> I believe EIDXA dues should be approx. $25/year per member with over
half
> of that earmarked to support DXpeditions as EIDXA is a DX club.
> Just my $0.02 worth.. or maybe with the current dollar devaluation, it's
> now $0.05 worth? :-)
>
> 73,
>
> Dave KJ9I
>
> rhaendel1030 at inabc.net wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> The Ducie Island expedition beginning 6 or 7 Feb, 2008 is soliciting
>> funds
>> to help cover the shortfall they have. They have planned a significant
>> expedition with many operators and many bands to cover in several
modes.
>>
>> Some of us may wish to support this expedition by making individual
>> contributions or possibly EIDXA may wish to make a group contribution.
>> The expenses appear to be about $330,000 US.
>>
>> For individuals the URL is
>> http://ducie2008.dl1mgb.com/howtohelp/paypal/index.php
>>
>> I made my own contribution already
>>
>> Rich W3ACO
>>
>>
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>>
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