[OKDXA] Ham Holiday Report

Tue Jul 24 11:55:30 EDT 2007

Hi Doug and all.

Well, from a club perspective nothing was committed to at this time.  Ken 
and I agreed if a group of folks want to do something with the opportunity 
then a ground swell might occur on it's own.  He kindly offered to be a 
contact for others who might be interested in doing something.   It was 
kind of left as a "Let's see what happens" item.  There have been a handful 
of folks that have expressed interest in such a project.  The ball is 
bouncing around on the court.  I realize that sounds non-committal on my 
part and to be quite honest it is - at least at this time.

Jerry - K5YAA

At 09:23 AM 7/24/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>Jerry, what you don't mention in this great report is what if anything
>was decided about the tower?  Was it a go, was it not, was it tabled for
>later discussion, are we doing nothing at all, have we already started
>putting up antenna's??  Inquiring minds want to know!!!
>
>Doug W5GA
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>[mailto:okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jerry Chouinard
>Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 10:28 PM
>To: okdxa at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: [OKDXA] Ham Holiday Report
>
>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
>
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