[PVRCNC] PVRCNC- West March meeting minutes

[Henry Heidtmann]

PVRC/NC West MINUTES- March 22, 2004

The NC-West Chapter of the Potomac Valley Radio Club held its regular
monthly meeting on March 22,2004 at Cobalts Eats and Drinks.
Attendees:
W2DZO/Henry Heidtmann (Chairman)
KG4NEP/Robert Whitaker (Secretary)
N0KTY/John Kippe
KD4VED/Melissa Hall
N4IOZ/Tom Gallagher
KG4CZU/Chris Plumbee
WX1NCC/Raymond Tabor
W4UW/Dick Genaille (visitor)
KG4ECI/Dan O'Leary
WS4NC/Don Edwards
W5RQ/John McColly(special quest)

The meeting was brought to order at 7:20pm by W2DZO. The business part
of the meeting was cut in order to have our special guest John McColly,
W5RQ give his presentation on his DXPedition to Taongi Atoll. John and 
N5UR activated V73T for the first time ever during August 2003. John
went into great detail about preparation and necessary requirements to
receive permission for a venture of this magnitude.          Taongi
Atoll is part of the Marshall Islands which covers approximately 250,000
square miles in the Central Pacific, 34 deg. Lat.168 deg. Lon. north of
Hawaii. John's presentation was complete with a powerpoint presentation
displayed on Cobalts big screen TV. (very cool) 
The V73T expedition required a flight from Hawaii to Kwajalein Atoll
(The main island in the group) and a charter to Taongi's reef, plus a 3
mile ride across the bay in a 16' aluminum boat. The Charter only goes
to Taongi every 3 years.and only 10 people are allowed per charter. The
primary reason most people go to the island is to recover very valuable
hand blown glass fishing net floats, which John  passed  around for
everyone to see!(John said the floats migrate to the island from
fisherman's nets since Taongi is the northern most island of the group.) 
Some of the equipment used on the dxpedition included the Yaesu FT100,
Kenwood TS450, memory keyer,and a Stepper  & Force 12 vertical. The
operation was done field day style with a tent to operate in and another
for sleeping quarters. The temperature was a constant 92 degrees and
very humid. Both Operators took  6 hour shifts to allow each other to
rest and relax. The 2 man team was on the air from Noon Monday until
1:00pm Thursday except for a few severe lightning storms & a 6 hr. solar
flare that completely closed down propagation on all bands. Frequent QSB
and interference from a pirate RTTY station caused some problems, but
nighttime propagation was excellent.
In closing John wished to thank the sponsors V73GT, V73US, NT5C, IOTA
and others for their help with planning and logistics. Preparation and
planning took about 6months from start to finish.  Fortunately there
were no bugs or mosquitos to contend with and support from the charter
ship was excellent. Approximately 2700 contacts, all CW were made from
this very rare IOTA DXPEDITION/OCEANIA 263.
Only 100 or so persons have visited Taongi Atoll, and it may be sometime
before Taongi will be activated again. For more info: about IOTA go to:
http://www.islandradio.com

Meeting moved to questions and finishing remaining pitchers.

Respectably submitted,
Robert L Whitaker Jr. KG4NEP
Secretary,PVRCNC-West Chapter
Winston-Salem, NC