[OKDXA] Ham Holiday Report

Tue Jul 24 21:00:45 EDT 2007

Hi Doug and all.

Jerry hit right on the mark with his response to you.  I am happy to hear 
from anybody who would actually like to participate in designing and putting 
together some initial presence at the tower location.  At the moment, since 
the meeting, I have heard from Bill Stacy.  Doug, your quick offer to be 
involved has not been forgotten.  As of now, nobody else has stepped forward 
since the meeting in OKC.

I have requested an opportunity to meet with the owner when he gets down 
this way from MN.  If 2-3-4 of us can go meet with him and discuss antenna 
possibilities, see the operating space, and clarify other "required" items, 
we will know a lot more.  I'm in favor (and I think Jerry is, too) of 
leaving OKDXA out of this for now as an entity - strictly for liability 
reasons.  I did ask the owner if he would consider having a "small group" of 
individuals from OKDXA take advantage of the offer, instead of having it be 
an OKDXA thing.  He has not yet replied.

So, for now, anybody who is interested in participating in a low-level trial 
effort using donated or loaned equipment, antennas, feedlines, etc., let me 
know at k5kc at suddenlink.net .  At the moment, I'm counting Doug, Bill, and 
me as "in" on the group.  Others are most welcome.

Also, when a meeting gets scheduled with the owner, I'll let everybody know.

I'll be in 3W, 9M, and BV, not operating, from August 1-16 and may have 
trouble getting e-mail consistency.  Since I'll be gone, you can count on 
record sunspot highs and ideal operating conditions throughout the day and 
night on all bands.  It will all end on August 16 about noon.

73 Ken K5KC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Chouinard" <k5yaa at okdxa.org>
To: "Discussion of OKDXA" <okdxa at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 10:55 AM
Subject: RE: [OKDXA] Ham Holiday Report

> 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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