NASWA Notes, March 2000
In just a few days time, the 13th annual Winter SWL Festival will be held in Kulpsville. March 10 and 11 will be big days in the radio monitoring hobby as Rich Cuff, John Figliozzi and a pile of hobby folk bring together this annual tradition in the listening community. It’s never too late to register to attend this wonderful event. The program will offer a little something for everyone who attends and there will be a few surprises mixed in to keep everyone on their toes. If you have not registered, please do so now. Don’t miss out! Check out the Calendar of Events and the registration form, which is in this edition of the Journal.
March is a busy month with two special events. The first is the Winter SWL Festival mentioned in the opening. The second is the North American DX Championships (NADXC). If you can’t be in Kulpsville, then you should be competing in the NADXC organized by our own Harold Cones. Dr. DX promises another terrific opportunity for members to lose sleep and perform anti-social behaviors for the good of the shortwave listening hobby. Check prior issues of the Journal for complete contest rules and information. Let’s try to boost the number of NASWA members that participate in this event.
From Jon L. Williams we learn of a new group of DXers forming in Indiana: “A new DXers group has been formed in Indianapolis, Indiana. The name is CIRCL (Central Indiana Radio Communications League) and we would like to welcome participation by anyone interested in the various aspects of DXing. Our next meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, 2000, at the Cozy Restaurant, 20 N. Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. If interested, please contact Scott Newman (317) 327-5662.”
Harold Cones has replaced Kris Field as the club’s representative to the Association of North American Radio Clubs (ANARC). As many of you know, Harold is a member of ANARC’s Executive Board. Since he is already immersed in ANARC business, we thought a little more responsibility would help him fill up those idle moments. Thanks to Kris Field who filled this important slot for many years.
Congratulations to Bill Cantrell of the Longwave Club of America (“LWCA”) who is the winner of the “H. John Clements Memorial Award” for 1999 for the fine work he has done for the LWCA over the years.
DX Clube Paulista (“DXCP”), a DX club founded on October 17, 1981, announced that it is changed its name, effective February 1, 2000 to DX Clube do Brasil (“DXCB”). Despite the name “Paulista” (from the State of Sao Paulo), DXCP has always been a national club, with members and editors from all over Brazil. After 18 years of non-stop activities, the club has a monthly publication, a Web site, effective support to radio programs and meetings, and a high number of members making DXCP the most representative club of DXers in Brazil. The club’s profile will not be changed, but DXCB plans to increase its presence by means of a wider strategy within the national and international DX scene. The club can be contacted at DX CLUBE DO BRASIL, Caixa Postal 592, 13560-970 Sao Carlos SP, Brazil. The above information came direct from Samuel C. Martins Santos, Marcio R. F. Bertoldi and Carlos Felipe da Silva. — DXCB Coordinators.
Just another reminder that the club’s Country List and Awards Program booklet is still available from The Company Store (Bill Bergadano, Box 484, Colts Neck, NJ, 07722) or headquarters. The price is US$3.00 on North American and US$5.00 worldwide.
That’s it for this month. Enjoy this month’s special Winter SWL Festival edition of the JOURNAL; it’s another good one.
FRENDX: Twenty Five Years Ago
Dan Ferguson announced that the dues were increased from $10 to $12. Fergie also announced that Larry Yamron would be taking over editing Log Report B beginning in June and Mac Leonhardt would be assuming responsibilities for coordinating the Frendx editorial staff. Due to a problem with USPS, there was no QSL Report this month. The center section of the bulletin was devoted to the latest edition of the country list. In the Shortwave Center, Dan Henderson writes about “Shortwave Stations of Indonesia” while Neal Perdue reviews the Drake 2-C communications receiver. Listeners Notebook editor Dan Jamison was making available to members standard Chinese reception report forms.
Calendar Of Events
Mar’00 — Convention. The 13th Annual Winter SWL Festival, sponsored by NASWA, will be held at the Kulpsville Holiday Inn (Exit 31 on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike) in 10 and 11 March 2000. Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi co-chair the organizational committee. See registration form in this month’s Journal or last month’s Journal (page 52). See you there!
Mar’00 — Contest. 2000 North American DX Championships — 10 March through 12 March 2000. For further information about the championships see January’s Journal (page 20) or you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope to 2000 NADXC, c/o Dr. Harold Cones, 2 Whits Court, Newport News, VA 23606.
Mar 17 — Meeting. Philadelphia Area NASWA Chapter. Kulpsville Holiday Inn, Kulpsville, PA at 7:30 PM. For more information contact Dan Cashin at 215-446-7831.
Mar 17 — Meeting. Boston Area NASWA Chapter. The Lexington Club, Rts. 4 & 225, Lexington, MA at 7:30 PM. The location is 1/4 mile west of Rt. 128, Exit 31. For more information contact Paul Graveline at 508-470-1971 or Internet: 74007.3434@compuserve.com. The URL for the BADX guys is http://www.naswa.net/badx/.
Mar 21 — Meeting. The Central Indiana Radio Communications League will meet at 5:30 PM at the Cozy Restaurant, 20 N. Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. If interested, please contact Scott Newman (317) 327-5662.
Apr 14 — Meeting. The Tidewater SWLs meet at 6:30 PM. For more information plus meeting location contact Joe Buch at 804-721-2782 or Internet: joseph.buch@dol.net.
Apr 14 — Meeting. The Cincinnati/Dayton Monitoring Exchange (MONIX) meet at the Lebanon Citizens National Bank on U.S. Route 42 in Mason at 7:00 PM. For more information contact Mark Meece at 513-777-5296 or e-mail at mmeece@siscom.net. For additional information about MONIX, check out their web site at http://w3.one.net/~mmeece/monix.html
May’00 — Annual General Meeting. The Danish Shortwave Club International will hold its AGM and DX Camp at Vejers Beach, Western Jutland, Denmark from May 12-14, 2000. Contact Bent Nielsen (Egekrogen 14, DK-3500 Vaerloese, Denmark) for further details.
Aug’00 — DX Meeting. The 6th National Mexican DX Meeting will be held in Oaxaca, Mexico from August 4-6, 2000. For details contact the organizers at Miraizos@gnp.com.mx.
Sep’00 — AWR Contest. Number of different QSL stamps in the listener’s collection. More details to follow.
Oct’00 — Conference. The annual EDXC Conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain from October 12-15, 2000 (temporary date until further notice). Details to follow.
Members are invited to submit items to be included in this calendar to Rich D’Angelo (Internet: rdangelo3@aol.com).
Musings
Jerry Klinck, 11943 Big Tree Road, East Aurora, NY 14052
Just thought I’d let you all know how much I enjoyed the series on ANARC. It certainly brought back some interesting memories of my early years as a DXer. When it looked as if the ASWLC was going to fold, in the early ’60s, I was only 19 years old. The mainstay of the club at the time was C.M. Stanbury. His severe case of M.D. did not lend itself to his editing and publishing the bulletin but my admiration for and proximity to him made me the natural choice. So, with encouragement and support from some wonderful member DXers, I did what I could. I still have a few of those old ASWLC bulletins, but not much about the early ANARC years. And, until I read your material, I had almost forgotten that I ran for the office of Executive Secretary.
I do remember, however, scraping together what few funds the club had to purchase a new Sears mimeograph machine. That would be the one with a one-year warranty that lasted, you guessed it, 13 months! It literally came apart at the seams … ink everywhere! I remember Mr. August Balbi, a great supporter and contributor. He taught me how important a few kind words of encouragement can be. Solid gold! “Chuck” Stanbury, DXing and typing with his toes better and faster than I could with my hands. Bill Sparks — Mr. DX. His loggings never ceased to amaze me. Stewart MacKenzie — Hats off to him for all the years he kept ASWLC afloat.
I guess, having the insight of one who has been an editor/Publisher of a DX club bulletin, I can truly appreciate all that is involved and the fine job that all the folks at NASWA have done over the years. Bill Oliver, Bill Eddings — simply amazing! The entire editorial staff: Rich, Sheryl, Fred, Jerry, etc. Sam Barto — simply the best, most complete comprehensive QSL column anywhere, ever. I just hope that our general membership realize what a fine organization NASWA really is. If you were to belong to just one DX/SWL club, it would have to be NASWA.
Thanks again for the ANARC series. As you can see, it cleared some cobwebs and jarred some nostalgic memories loose from the clutches of father time. Jerry
Richard D’Angelo rdangelo3@aol.com, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610
Our third and final DXpedition of the season, and sixth overall, to French Creek State Park is now history. This DXpedition was another traditional Thursday through Sunday affair. Fred Kohlbrenner, Bob “Mr. Coffee” Montgomery, Ed Mauger and George Zeller rounded out the group. We were treated to about two inches of fresh snow while we erected antennas and unloaded equipment on Thursday. Combined with over a foot of leftover snow, running long wire antennas was an adventure. Hiking up antenna ridge in knee high snow was a challenge. I returned to the cabin tired and wet from the new and the old snow. Later, George Zeller and Ed Mauger made similar snowy antenna treks up the hill.
The snow covered roads made entering and exiting the park interesting. After George strung his antenna, he adventured to the nearest grocery store. Unfortunately, while backing out the long winding driveway, he got caught in a snow bank. Mr. Coffee was able to free him and George was able to go along his merry way. We thought Ed Mauger was a “goner” when he set out to unravel his 300-meter long wire up snow covered antenna ridge. A real game day player to the end, Ed returned snow crusted, perspiration drenched, and tired. This was probably the most difficult set-up day I can recall after all these many DXpeditions. We were treated to small amounts of additional snow on Friday but things began to warm up a little by Saturday.
We did get some time to DX. For a while it seemed all we would do on Thursday would be to set-up the cabin for the weekend. Slowly, we managed to get to the dials and do some listening. Conditions appeared pretty good with a monster signal from RRI Jambi around 2230 until it faded sharply just after the Song of the Coconut Islands at 2258. However, as time marched on it became clear we would be struggling with propagation conditions the entire weekend. Sometimes conditions would be good and sometimes conditions were far from good. A mixed bag but there were some nice Europirate openings and I logged a new Indonesian so things were too bad.
The food department constantly improves. This trip Fred was busy serving shrimp cocktail prior to the traditional Friday evening pasta meal. The meal included meatballs and a nice French loaf courtesy of Ed Mauger. Things keep changing for the better although early Sunday morning Fred found a cheesecake buried in the freezer, which went uneaten.
From the interesting insights department are the adventures of Uncle Fred Kohlbrenner. It seems ol’uncle Fred had to go into work to do the payroll Thursday evening. Because of the weather, he departed almost as soon as he had his listening post set-up complete. It took over three hours for him to make it home as the snow made the roads and traffic conditions awful. After a long night shift, Fred returned late the following morning after another hazardous drive to the cabin. At this point he was functioning with little or no sleep for 48 hours. Last seen, Fred was resting comfortably. Unfortunately, I’m not sure he had an opportunity to DX at all on this DXpedition.
The final highlight belongs to a confused, bewildered George Zeller. Because of his long drive back to Ohio, George decided a get a jump on the trip home by being the first to tackle dismantling his antenna. Keep in mind that George slept for about 10 hours prior to his adventure. He waltzed out of the cabin to return about 20-25 minutes later with a huge pile of yellow wire rolled into a ball. George couldn’t believe someone stole his reel for the antenna, which he left at the end of his 500-foot installation. As he shared his adventure, he began to realize that he might have torn down the wrong antenna. Sure enough, our buddy George dragged in Ed Mauger’s 984-foot monster antenna, which also happen to be yellow. As George was heard saying, all yellow antennas and trees look a like to me. Incidentally, Ed managed a nice log of Nepal while George was doing the damage. Last seen, a confused and bewildered George was driving down the highway on his way back to Ohio quite proud that he was the first DXer to tear down the wrong antenna.
73 – RAD
Membership Questions?
If you have any questions concerning your membership, renewals, change of address, etc please contact Bill Oliver by postal mail (45 Wildflower Road, Levittown, PA 19057) or e-mail (boliver@bboard.com).