May 2010 Meeting of the WVDXA

Saturday, May 1st, 9 members of the WVDXA got together at the QTH of Bob, W8QHG, for a most enjoyable afternoon. As Bob is 93-1/2 years young, it is difficult for him to travel so we brought the meeting to him! Alan, W8OP, traveled the furthest in driving 3 hours each way from Fairmont, WV.

As usual, the food was sumptuous! Bob's daughter, Bonnie, fixed Penne pasta with meat sauce and home-made meatballs, Hal, W8HC, brought some home-made pizza (it was made at the home of Papa John's!), Dave, WA8WV, brought his famous lemon pound cake, Alan, W8OP, came with home-made Apple pie and sweet tea, Jim, K4JWA, brought garlic bread and a marvelous tossed salad with strawberries, Garry, W8OI, brought drinks and I brought chocolate chip cookies. We ate well - as always!

Bonnie graciously brought her laptop with an AirCard so we could access the Internet and Hal, W8HC, brought a projector and screen so everyone could see the presentations. First up we had a demonstration of the new WVDXA chat page and the DeskPins utility to keep any window "Always-on-Top" of other windows. Then, I showed the 2007 DX Forum presentation I gave at Jackson's Mill about "How to Work DX on a Dead Band (6-M.) That proved timely as the 6-M band opened up just 2 days later.

Above you can see a photo (taken by Bonnie) of those who attended. Click on the photo to make it larger and then hit your BACK button to return to this page. From left to right are: W8OI, WA8WV, WA8VPN, W8TN, W8HC, W8QHG (seated), N8RR, K4JWA, and W8OP.

Besides the presentations, several who attended were "schooled" by WA8VPN's single QSL DXCC submission. They then went home and began searching their QSL's for Deleted Entities! During "Show and Tell" I gave a brief demonstration of my new climbing belt on Bob's tower. Even with the new belt, climbing a tower with a cane can be difficult!

From all the good comments, we need to get together again before too much time has passed. It was certainly the best Saturday afternoon I've spent in quite some time.