[SADXA] Visalia 2012 - AA7A perspective

[Richard Solomon]

When are we ordering our 2K-FA Amps ??

73, Dick, W1KSZ

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 5:28 AM, W6XI <w6xi at cox.net> wrote:
> Here is an observation by Ned of what one can expect by attending the
> annual Visalia DX convention. You might consider putting it on your
> bucket list for next year.
>
> Jerry
>
> Summary of Visalia 2012
>
> The attendance was estimate at 800, which is an upswing from the past
> few years.
>
> DX University
> A first-time event was held at Visalia this year. Wayne, N7NG, and
> Roger, G3SXW, hosted a day-long program of relevant topics for new DXers
> and seasoned veterans. The line up of professors was full of notables
> and the sessions were very well received. This concept is planned to be
> held at other conventions year.
>
> DX Forum
> The principle focus of this year's forum was a debate on how and why to
> consider raising funds from the QSLing process for DXpeditions. There
> have been recent changes to QSLing practices that have cause a clamor on
> the DX scene. What is at the core of this appears to be the fact that
> DXpeditions are costing more and the traditional sources of donations is
> simply not increasing to cover the gap. There will be some hard data
> forthcoming in an analysis by N1DG that will be presented at Dayton and
> later posted on the NCDXF website. Hopefully, when more information is
> out there for all to see, it will help people make sense of what is
> going on. Stay tuned.
>
> Contest Forum
> Ward, N0AX, hosted the contest forum this year. It was a panel
> discussion about the impact of digital technology, such as skimmers and
> reverse beacon networks, on the art of contesting. A majority of the
> panel consisted of unassisted ops, so there was quite a bit of
> discussion about how to operate in contests without the new technology.
> An interesting comment was made by one panelist that the Sprint Contests
> with the QSY rules renders the value of the skimmer in contests to
> zilch. In fact, there was even discussion about how to send CQ in a
> contest without being spotted by a skimmer.
>
> Banquet Presentation
> The ST0R team gave the program on their visit to Southern Sudan to put
> the new DXCC on the air. Essentially, a Spanish team and the US-based
> Intrepid DX team joined forces and put together a big effort to kick off
> the new counter. The team hauled an impressive pile of equipment into
> Juba and put out an impressive effort. It was interesting to see six
> stations operating Voice, CW and RTTY all at the same time all in one
> room. The team won a new award this year, the Northern California
> DXpedition of the Year award for 2012.
>
> Sunday Breakfast Presentation
> Bob Alphin, K4UEE, gave a captivating program on the recent HK0NA
> DXpedition to Malpelo Island. The video clips and fantastic photographs
> gave a fascinating view of the effort of this DXpedition team. The
> effort to climb to the top of the peak of the rock to provide an
> opportunity to the West Coast and Asia to work this DXCC was simply
> amazing. How they got the gear up there and how the operators climbed to
> that site is simply something to see. If you get a chance to see this
> program at Dayton, I suggest that you do so. K4UEE will be producing a
> video on the project which is likely to be out later this year.
>
> New products
> Elecraft has a K3/0 which looks to be a box that will support remote
> operations with your K3.
> Elecraft has a VGA board for the P3 which will permit you to display the
> view of the P3 display on a larger computer monitor. Maybe your
> significant other can see what you are doing in another room.
> Alpha's 4KW tuner is out and looks like a piece of art.
> A new UK-based antenna company called InnovAntennas has some impressive
> new yagi designs.
> Sierra Radio has an interesting line of microcontroller project
> platforms and development tools for those who want to roll their own.
> A group called CYTORQ has an interesting looking new rotor that should
> fit in any tower and turn any antenna.
> Another new solid state amplifier is on the scene from a group called
> Expert Amps with pretty impressive flexibility and full 2 kw power from
> 160 thru 6 meters.
>
> General Impressions
> This convention never ceases to amaze me. While it seems, at times, that
> the members of this hobby are getting older and slower, it does not show
> at this convention. I saw a number of presentations that gave me some
> great ideas for new things to. And, I got so much encouragement from so
> many people to continue to do all the things that I like to do that I am
> recharged and ready to go again. If you have never been to Visalia, you
> should give it a try.
>
> Favorite presentation
> Chip Margelli did it again. He gave a talk on how to install easy-up
> antennas for weekend contests or DXpeditions. I found myself taking more
> notes than I ever took for College Physics. He has a great idea on how
> to put up a very credible multiband gain antenna that can fit an pretty
> much anyone's existing tower to provide a bog boost to your
> competitiveness in a contest or for filling a hole in your antenna
> collection to work DXpeditions on more bands. Hopefully he will make his
> presentation public and you can see it for yourself. I will be ordering
> some new stuff from Amazon. com here pretty soon to try out some of this
> ideas.
>
> 73,
> Ned
> AA7A
>
>
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