[OKDXA] Ham Holiday Report

[Jerry Chouinard]

For those of you who could not make Ham Holiday here is a briefing by K5YAA 
on the OKDXA get together and a few things before and after the meeting.

First a thanks to Dave Duskin NE5S for arranging the schedule to slot us in 
for the requested 30 minutes.  A second thanks to John WB5SYT for sliding 
his ARRL SM talk to 12:30 making room for us.

Before the OKDXA meeting:

Myself, Gene W5LE, Ed W5TM, Bert K2BA and Carmen K5ADI along with several 
other OKDXA members sat in on OKDXAer Tim Duffy's ( K3LR ) presentation 
about his mega contest station in Western Pennsylvania that he has been 
building and improving on for almost 20 years.  Tim showed slides of his 
operating positions and a number of very good ones pertaining to the 
construction of his antenna farm and I do mean farm.  Tim is energetically 
making the rounds to show what can be done with dedication of time and 
energy toward maximizing antenna installations.  He started right off with 
his presentation by warning the onlookers what they are about to see is a 
passion for perfection and rightfully he should, as some of his vertical 
arrays are a sight to see.  Tim has made his presentation at Dayton, HamCom 
and Visalia and now Ham Holiday.  In addition to slides he plays a video 
produced by ICOM that has audio and visuals of actual operating taking 
place.  Part of Tim's efforts also revolve around getting young people to 
join the ranks of Ham Radio.  He regularly invites young operators to come 
to his station, sit in and get their feet wet with contesting.  An 
unselfish move to share the excitement he and so many others get from the 
hobby.  And before anyone asks, Yes, I have invited Tim to come to the 
yearly OKDXA DX Dinner at Stroud and "Show us again".  He has gracefully 
said we should try and make that happen so myself and a few others will see 
his talk a second time but there are a number of OKDXAers who can have the 
pleasure of seeing probably the top multi-multi contest station and it's 
owner describe his efforts to maximize signals on every band.

Now for the OKDXA meeting:

The President ( K5YAA ) took the floor for an informal meeting of the 
OKDXA.  He pointed out how it has been a few years since the OKDXA has held 
a meeting at Ham Holiday and we wanted to make that effort this year.
He reported on the results of the 2007 Oklahoma QSO Party pointing out that 
224 logs were received and 135 individuals qualified for the Centennial 
Coffee Mug by spelling out OKLAHOMA using the 1x1 Oklahoma Amateur Radio 
Centennial Event call signs many Oklahoma and several out of state 
operators obtained and put on the air.  There were also a number of instate 
operators who qualified for the Mug by making over 100 QSOs during the QSO 
Party.

Plaques for the event are being prepared and will likely be delivered late 
August.  This year we are awarding 14 plaques and 8 of those were sponsored 
by individuals leaving 6 to be funded by the treasury.
Certificates for the Special Event will also be printed and mailed by late 
August.  He noted we set the bar higher for even some of the larger state 
QSO Parties.

The President also made a pre announcement about this year's DX 
Dinner.  Same location as last year!  A reservation has been called in for 
October 21 Saturday evening 6 - 9PM at the Ranch House Restaurant in the 
Best Western Inn located in Stroud, Oklahoma.  They provide a large meeting 
room, good services and a quite tasty buffet.  A formal announcement will 
follow in the next few weeks.  For now just mark your calendars.

A treasury report was also made along with stating items the OKDXA has 
sponsored in the past few months.  Those include the VU7 and BS7H 
expeditions and a check to the Lone Star DX Association in support of their 
W5DXCC program at HamCom.  Speaking of HamCom, your President won a Heil 
ProSet at the DX Dinner so he brought some of our donation back to Oklahoma!

The above occupied all of about ten minutes - The President talks fast - 
sort of like he's in a contest.

Ken Case kindly took time out of his busy schedule to come from Stillwater 
and give us a report on the tower opportunity he had been made aware 
of.  Ken took the floor and pointed out the various aspects of the tower 
offering, how he was contacted and what the offering consists of.  Bill 
Stacy N5TU had driven to the site and took a number of pictures of the 
tower, building and surrounding real estate.  Ken prepared and handed out 
sheets that had details of the offering, mainly the expectations of the 
site owner.  A sheet with Bill's photos was also in Ken's 
handout.  Essentially Ken stated "Here's the opportunity"  "Are we 
interested as a group of individuals in pursuing it?"  He made a point to 
say there are some things about the offering that have the word "potential" 
liability attached to them.  Mainly the requirement to meet certain 
installation criteria ( hardware, routing etc. ) and also to agree to hold 
harmless the owner of the tower for accidents to personnel and other tower 
occupant devices such as their antenna installations.  None appear to be 
unusually harsh requirements but do require consideration as to whether the 
OKDXA or just a group of individuals should pursue the opportunity.  There 
were a few questions about the site and tower mainly ones that would have 
to be answered by a visit and "eyeball" survey.  Bill's photos were quite 
good but he didn't have a key and didn't get to step right up as though he 
was about to start making contacts!  Ken closed by saying he would like to 
hear from any folks who might be interested in the project.

Meeting was adjourned.

Since the drawing for the BIG stuff was at 2:30 several of us went to lunch 
around 12:45.  W5TM, W5LE, K2BA, K5ADI and Loyd AB5I rode in the now famous 
Dodge Caravan ( the one purchased specifically to complete the 2007 
Oklahoma QSO Party run of K5YAA and K5YAB ) to a steakhouse ( name escapes 
me ) over in the Reno Ave. area.  Loyd knew what he was talking about when 
he pointed us in that direction.  Good food and we talked some fishing and 
even some radio stuff.  Bert even taught all of us a new word 
"Fantastic".  It was used mainly when Ed and I were telling our fish 
stories and Bert will probably tell you what the real meaning of the word 
is if you ask him.  Seems even though Bert has gone through a hip 
replacement procedure a ways back he was still able to make himself a great 
deal at the hamfest just as the doors opened on Friday.  A large amount of 
LMR600 was obtained at a basement price.  I accused him of being a hamfest 
junky but he proclaimed he just likes a bargain when he can get one.  I 
guess all of us claim that now and then.  Enjoyable lunch and if I had been 
alert and made the announcement as the meeting was ending we probably would 
have had more takers.  Well there's always next time.

There you go - a briefing on the Ham Holiday gathering of the OKDXA.  I was 
personally impressed with the space and layout of Ham Holiday.  The 
presentations and meetings were made away from traffic and the crowd.  The 
entire facility was nice and cool.  One other thing that might be 
influencing my observations is - when Gene ( W5LE ) and I pulled in to get 
a parking spot at 10 AM Saturday morning Gene said to me - "You just as 
well park out here because you ain't gonna find one close to the place".  I 
said well, I just want to kind of stroll through to get my bearings and 
then we can come back out here to park.  I said if I remember there is a 
circle you drive around then we can come back out here.  Well, as I started 
turning into that circle I noticed a vehicle kind of pulling away and paid 
little attention to it until I pulled forward just a bit and said to Gene - 
"Hey Gene what about this parking spot?"  It was almost exactly lined up 
with the front doors of the hamfest.  Checked for a handicap / police sign 
NONE - so we pulled right in and went on in to get signed up!  Gene was 
impressed.  Great start indeed.

73 - Jerry K5YAA
OKDXA President