[NCDXA] Minutes of December 7, 2019 Meeting of NCDXA

[Alfred Laun]

The National Capitol DX Association conducted its December 7, 2019 meeting
at the Fairview Park Marriott Hotel, Falls Church, VA
The meeting was called to order at 1:40 PM by President Fred Laun, K3ZO.

In attendance were:

Rick Murphy, K1MU
Everett Bollin, WA3DVO
Fred Laun, K3ZO
Phil Barsky, K3EW
John Kanode, N4MM
Jim Locke, W3NRJ
Terry Hines, N4ZH
Dick Maylott, W2YE
Rick Hambly, W2GPS

K3ZO solicited approval of the minutes of the last meeting, moved by N4MM
and seconded by K3ZO.

No other secretarial reports were filed or brought up for discussion

Treasurer report given by K3EW: $3565.33 in treasury with income for the
year $685 and outgo $1197.  Three recent checks were sent to Dxpeditions.
The issue of non payment of dues was brought up.  N4MM commented on what
the Shenandoah Valley Club does...two month window to pay dues after first
warning letter sent.   K3ZO will contact each member now in arrears as an
on-going work in progress.

The Swains Island Dxpedition that was discussed in the last meeting will be
3/10 – 3/25 2020 and will include 10 operators with a budget of $88,700.
NCDXA voted to contribute to the effort at our October meeting.

K3EW reported that request for funding by another DXpedition group had been
received since then.  He will investigate further and report back.

WA3DVO asked if NCDXA has any criteria for DXpedition support consideration
by the club.  The answer given was that we consider them on a case by case
basis.

W3 Buro:  K3ZO stated that it is up to each letter sorter to decide how
long unclaimed QSLs in their files can be held before they are discarded,
but that special tolerance should be given in the case of newer hams, which
at this point in time would be people with call signs beginning with KC3
and having three-letter suffixes.

ARRL report:  N4MM commented that the League's Club Affiliation Page is
very hard to read and that work needs to done on it, not to mention other
aspects of the League web site.  K3ZO reported that our information on the
affiliated club page is correct except for the fact that the last time
NCDXA submitted an annual report to the site was in 2012.  He asked K1MU to
advise how we can file an updated annual report, to be dated in the year
2020. Rick agreed to do so, with K3ZO thanking Rick for his efforts.

K3ZO mentioned that at one time affiliated clubs could aggregate their
members' QSL cards sent to the ARRL outgoing Bureau.  N4ZH
mentioned that indeed he had done this for the Vienna Wireless
Association.  Neither N4MM nor K3ZO knew the current status of this past
practice.

Regarding the Awards Desk, N4MM reported some awards are still not covered
by LoTW, such as the Worked All Continents (WAC) award.  K3ZO remarked that
LoTW activities were rumored to cost the League's expense budget well over
six figures in dollars per year.

Other topics discussed: W2YE commented that the same small group of active
members attend each meeting, but are a small percentage of the total club
membership and wondered if we should make efforts to try to grow the
membership.   K3ZO said he would be happy to continue to serve as President
and conduct meetings as long as the group desired and he is able.

A discussion ensued on the need for we active hams to help motivate new
hams to get on the air on HF with their new licenses.  K3EW reported on his
and W3NRJ's efforts with a local Montgomery County club (MARC) in this
respect, but there had been a lack of response to their efforts. W2GPS
observed that HAMSCI,  TAPR, and other similar cooperative scientific
efforts within the National Science Foundation might prove to be a spark to
generate active interest in pursuing amateur radio for new licensees.

Finally, K3ZO told of the challenges of getting six meters allocated for
amateur use in some SE Asian countries due to military use of that band by
military NBFM nets using backpack radios.

K3ZO, after consulting with the members present, announced that February
29, 2020 (yes, 2020 is a leap year!) will be the date of the next meeting,
which will likely take place at this same venue unless another is
suggested.

Respectfully Submitted
Jim Locke, W3NRJ, Secretary
December 9, 2019
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