November 2019 WVDXA Meeting

WOW, it was WAY TOO long since our last meeting!  You could certainly tell that by the fact that no one wanted to leave - Hi!  Of course, it might have been the food since we all know DX'ers travel on their stomachs! Note that in the photo of the 14 hams who attended (shown above), I had to add Jimmy, W8JA, as an insert because he was stuck downstairs when the photo was taken.

W8UZ  -  N4HT

Roger, KD8BZY, and Becky, KD8IZK, kindly offered their home for the second time as a location for this meeting.  In addition, they supplied the bulk of the food which included two spiral hams which Roger cooked.  There must have been at least a dozen positive comments about that ham.  WOWZER was it good!!  My biggest regret is that my wife refused to bring any of it home when it was offered - bummer!  (Sure wish I had known that!)  As I recollect, we enjoyed hot baked ham, potato salad, coleslaw, rolls, a shrimp cocktail platter, a veggie platter, deviled eggs, a Kentucky Bourbon cake, craft beer, Mary's Ellis' excellent cake, Evelyn Stewart's brownies, banana nut muffins and cookies, broccoli casserole, and probably some other items I forgot.  What a wonderful spread!

PowerPoint Presentation

We had 17 persons attending: W8JA, W8JA's mom (Oleta Aeiker), Oleta and Jimmy's Caretaker (Brenda Thornton), K4JWA, K8KT, WT8V, N8RR, W8IW, K8RRT, WA8WV, W8TN, W8TN's XYL (Evelyn Stewart), KD8BZY, KD8IZK, W8UZ, N4HT, and W8OI.  Unfortunately, Hal, W8HC, made a critical error with his calendar and just HAD to attend the WVU football game.  Boy, Hal, you would have had more fun here!  Those sharp-eyed among you will notice two calls for hams who have never attended a WVDXA gathering before.  Don, W8UZ, from Woodburn, INDIANA, and Harry, N4HT, from Lexington, KENTUCKY, made quite a long trip to attend!  Both have joined the WVDXA as our newest members and everyone at the meeting was pleased they came.  Their presence enhanced the camaraderie of the meeting immensely. You can see their photo on the right.  [Click on any photo for a larger image.]  And, one WVDXA member who lives in Delaware, telephoned and spoke with some of the group to tell us how he wished he could attend.  Phil, W8UV, your presence was indeed missed but we are SO glad you made a brief appearance anyway!

Discussions Abounded

W8TN, N8RR, and KD8BZY gave a PowerPoint presentation on "Small Station EME."  It is interesting to note that those three are the only known EME operators currently active from West Virginia and all three belong to the WVDXA.  DX is DX!  After the presentation there were many questions from several of those attending.

Karl, K8KT, collected donations for the upcoming W8S, Swains Island DX'pedition.  And, Dave, WA8WV, checked QSL Cards for the ARRL.

On the right is a photo taken by Garry, W8OI, of part of the multiple discussions which lasted all afternoon.  Even the rain did not dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

Now sometime in the near future, possibly January 2020, we will have a really exciting presentation.  Hal, W8UC, will be there to show us and tell us all about his recent DX'pedition to VP6R, Pitcairn Island.  That will be a real "barn burner" for sure!  DO NOT MISS this next meeting.  If you notice in the group photo at the top of this post, you will see Dave, WA8WV, was already sporting his VP6R tee-shirt.  Way to go, DAVE!