[IRCA] TP's for Thursday, March 13, 2014 Kalama, WA
Listened from 1341-1426 utc when the band starting fading out. One strange thing this morning, heard 11 Japanese stations, but no audio from powerhouse JOUB 774. Tuned in 774 around 4 times trying for audio, but just a het. This season 594 JOAK takes over the top spot for Japanese stations. 209 ALASKA, Yakataga, CYT 1341 very weak with weather forecast. NW ewe. 03/13/2014 567 JAPAN, Sapporo, JOIK NHK1 1343 weak signal with man in Japanese. // 594.Sky wire..03/13/2014 594 JAPAN, Tokyo, JOAK NHK1 1345 weak-fair signal with man in Japanese. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 603 REPUBLIC OF KOREA, Namyang, HLSA 1347 fair signal with music. Sky wire. 03//13/2014 693 JAPAN, Tokyo, JOBB NHK2 1348 weak signal with woman in Japanese. Moderate splatter. W-NW bog. 03/13/2014 738 TAHITI, Papeete, Radio Polynesie 1350 assuming the station with weak signal. Male speaker. Moderate splatter. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 828 JAPAN, Osaka, JOBB NHK2 1353 poor signal with bits of audio heard. Weak at 1354 with man in Japanese.Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1206 CHINA, Fujian 1357 weak signal with woman in Korean. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1224 JAPAN, Kanazawa,NHK1 1400 weak signal with man in Japanese. One long tone at TOH. Fair at 1410. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1242 JAPAN, Tokyo, JOLF NBS Nippon Hoso 1405 good signal with guitar music. Man in Japanese. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1287 JAPAN, Sapporo, HBC JOHR 1406 weak signal with man in Japanese. Moderate splatter. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1314 JAPAN, Osaka, JOUF Radio Osaka Obc 1412 good signal with woman in Japanese. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1332 JAPAN, Nagoya, JOSF Tokai Hoso 1413 fair woman in Japanese. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1386 JAPAN, Morioka? NHK2 1441 fair signal woman in Japanese. Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1422 JAPAN, Yokohama, JORF RF Radio Nippon 1418 fair signal with music.Sky wire. 03/13/2014 1503 JAPAN, Akita, JOUK NHK1 1419 fair signal with man in Japanese. Sky wire 03/13//2014 1566 REPUBLIC OF KOREA, Cheju, HLAZ FEBC 1420 fair signal with man in Chinese. NW ewe. 03/13/2014 1575 THAILAND, Rasom, VOA 1421 weak signal with man in Asian language. NW ewe. 03/13/2014 Best regards, Dennis Vroom, Kalama, WA JRC NRD 545 NW-ewe + Sky wire W-NW bog 358' ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] [WTFDA] CQ and CQ Plus Situation
Honestly, I think we (amateurs and DX'ers alike) should ease up a bit on CQ Magazine. My March/April issue arrived yesterday, and the Plus portion included a really nice article about mapping resources for the MW DX'er, a great article on building SVHF antennas at low cost, and the usual solid amateur coverage. I know that the situation with freelance writers for the publication was not handled well. And subscribers to Popular Communications and CQ VHF did not receive the proper communication about the situation. But as a former business owner, and current manager, I have some sympathy for that situation. The fact is that CQ has provided some great hobby publications for what, 40+ years? They offer the only effective counterpoint to the ARRL's stranglehold on the amateur press, and they actually stuck with Popular Communications a lot longer than most publishers would have. This is a niche market, and print is increasingly becoming something that is only affordable for mass market consumers. I'm pretty happy with them since the transition to electronic versions, and plan to subscribe for as long as they want to publish. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message:
[IRCA] Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 3-13
Hello All, This morning's TP-DXing session featured a potent sunrise enhancement boost on the low band here, raising up the signal from 603-HLSA to a huge level shortly after the 1400 TOH (along with its weaker Chinese co-channel). Low band Japanese and Asian mainland stations both benefited from the boost, something similar to a mid-October sunrise enhancement. The session started off in ordinary fashion just after 1300 with the typical low and high band Asians managing fair signals in and out-- 594-JOAK, 603-HLSA, 693-JOAB and 738-BEL2 on the low band, and 1566-HLAZ, 1575-VOA and 1593-CNR1 on the high band. These regulars rotated in and out without any special strength until around 1350, when 594-JOAK began to receive a potent boost with the first hint of daylight, reaching very good audio around 1355. The same boost also raised up the signal of 531-JOQG to a fair level, and brought 558-HLQH out of the noise as well. 603-HLSA had been in and out of the noise with fair audio for about an hour prior to 1400, but its signal received a dramatic boost at this time, so that the 1400 TOH (with the usual female KBS ID, but with an unusual, no-pip time signal ( http://www.mediafire.com/listen/20i9glqdvd01jq9/603-HLSA-1400z031314SWP.MP3 ) was at good strength. HLSA continued to get stronger yet, reaching an excellent level at 1405 with the! usual deep-voiced male Korean DJ at potent strength over the usual female Chinese co-channel. 639-CNR1, 648-Russia and 657-Pyongyang also received a decent daylight boost, with all of them reaching fair to good audio about the same time as 603-HLSA's romp (peaking around 1405). A brief check of the high band at the same time revealed some good audio on 1566-HLAZ and 1593-CNR1, along with fair audio from 1503-JOUK and 1575-VOA. The low band romp lasted until around 1420, when all of the signals except 594-JOAK started to dive into the noise. On the high band 1575-VOA stuck it out until about 1435 as the last Asian survivor of a pretty memorable session. Best signal of the morning was from 603-HLSA, reaching one of its strongest levels ever observed in 7 years of TP-DXing. 594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan Male-female Japanese speech at good level at 1356 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/28b5dwpc5wykydy/594-JOAK-1356z031314SWP.MP3 603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Strong Korean female pop music at 1403 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/hdkb0bgt9dbt98a/603-HLSA-1403z031314SWP.MP3 603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Deep-voiced male DJ at excellent level at 1405; weak Chinese female co-channel underneath http://www.mediafire.com/listen/7b7t03023gmg9pe/603-HLSA-1405z031314SWP.MP3 603 China (Hulun Buir?) Female Chinese speech almost at equal level with HLSA's deep-voiced Korean male at 1407 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/dbcihnpfld79wi9/603-China-HLSAmix-1407z031314SWP.MP3 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA) C.Crane SWP 7.5 Slider loopstick Ultralight + 12 Experimental FSL antenna ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] [WTFDA] CQ and CQ Plus Situation
I think Saul's comments make a lot of sense. Print/paper media of all kinds are suffering. Those who embraced the digital world early enough were able to adapt and survive. Many of the younger generations read about 95% in digital formats - they don't buy paper. More recently, the advent of readers has put a larger dent into print media. I also agree with Les that we have to acknowledge that these issues contribute to what we're seeing here. Finally, we have to also recognize that the entire spectrum of radio hobbyists is shrinking in addition to going more and more digital. I haven't personally bought - nor even read - any of the ham/radio hobbyist magazines in probably a decade or more, and similarly I've been taking my club bulletins in digital format for about as long as each club has made them available. Print media is being hit even harder than terrestrial radio is, and I'm not sold on the idea that the CQ publications are going to survive over the long haul as these consolidations are long overdue. Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com AM: Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot FM: Yamaha T-80 T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS Decoder; Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 2); modified Sony ICF2010 w/APS9B @ 15'; Grundig G8 w/whip; modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip On Thu, 3/13/14, Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com wrote: Subject: Re: [NRC-AM] [WTFDA] CQ and CQ Plus Situation To: wt...@googlegroups.com, a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org, irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 11:36 AM Honestly, I think we (amateurs and DX'ers alike) should ease up a bit on CQ Magazine. My March/April issue arrived yesterday, and the Plus portion included a really nice article about mapping resources for the MW DX'er, a great article on building SVHF antennas at low cost, and the usual solid amateur coverage. I know that the situation with freelance writers for the publication was not handled well. And subscribers to Popular Communications and CQ VHF did not receive the proper communication about the situation. But as a former business owner, and current manager, I have some sympathy for that situation. The fact is that CQ has provided some great hobby publications for what, 40+ years? They offer the only effective counterpoint to the ARRL's stranglehold on the amateur press, and they actually stuck with Popular Communications a lot longer than most publishers would have. This is a niche market, and print is increasingly becoming something that is only affordable for mass market consumers. I'm pretty happy with them since the transition to electronic versions, and plan to subscribe for as long as they want to publish. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector --
[IRCA] Mostly Mexican MW DX to Enid OK, March 7-13, 2014
These logs are excerpts from my daily all-band reports, mainly SWBC, also VHF/UHF, sometimes utility, ham, which may be found in several archives without much delay, such as http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser And compiled weekly along with extensive news from many other individuals and publications in DX LISTENING DIGEST: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html All my MW DX reports starting August 2011 are archived in this forum with open access: http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?6543-MW-DX-from-Enid-OK-by-Glenn-Hauser/page21 All times and dates strictly UT. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only; or Sony SRF-59 as specified; Nissan stock caradio as specified; FRG-7 with E-W longwire as specified Last week my single post showed up more than once on some lists. I don`t know why, and I am not doing it! ** MEXICO. 960, March 10 at 0502 UT during KGWA Enid Fox-hole of open carrier, mix of ABC News, which would be KGKL San Angelo TX and/or KMA Shenandoah IA, --- and a Mexican state anthem, the first few notes of which match the cadence of Chihuahua`s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvEBTc6U6hYindex=27list=PL6CA310CE18DB0E1E Therefore, presumed the only Chihuahuan on this frequency, XEFAMA, Ciudad Camargo, listed in IRCA as 1/100 watts, but surely not on night power to be heard thusly. WRTH and Cantú show night power 1000 watts, which is more like it. Previously have IDed XEK Nuevo Laredo, but this was not the Tamaulipas anthem. 0500 UT however would not be local midnite in Camargo which is still on MST of UT -7 unlike Juárez on UT -6 or -5 in N Laredo. Did not hear any Mexican NA before or after this. Sked may be skewed on local Sunday nights due to `La Hora Nacional` which airs originally at 0400-0500 UT Mondays = 10-11 pm CST/HCM (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Mostly Mexican MW DX to Enid OK, March 7-13, 2014
These logs are excerpts from my daily all-band reports, mainly SWBC, also VHF/UHF, sometimes utility, ham, which may be found in several archives without much delay, such as http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser And compiled weekly along with extensive news from many other individuals and publications in DX LISTENING DIGEST: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html All my MW DX reports starting August 2011 are archived in this forum with open access: http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?6543-MW-DX-from-Enid-OK-by-Glenn-Hauser/page21 All times and dates strictly UT. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only; or Sony SRF-59 as specified; Nissan stock caradio as specified; FRG-7 with E-W longwire as specified Last week my single post showed up more than once on some lists. I don`t know why, and I am not doing it! ** MEXICO. 960, March 10 at 0502 UT during KGWA Enid Fox-hole of open carrier, mix of ABC News, which would be KGKL San Angelo TX and/or KMA Shenandoah IA, --- and a Mexican state anthem, the first few notes of which match the cadence of Chihuahua`s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvEBTc6U6hYindex=27list=PL6CA310CE18DB0E1E Therefore, presumed the only Chihuahuan on this frequency, XEFAMA, Ciudad Camargo, listed in IRCA as 1/100 watts, but surely not on night power to be heard thusly. WRTH and Cantú show night power 1000 watts, which is more like it. Previously have IDed XEK Nuevo Laredo, but this was not the Tamaulipas anthem. 0500 UT however would not be local midnite in Camargo which is still on MST of UT -7 unlike Juárez on UT -6 or -5 in N Laredo. Did not hear any Mexican NA before or after this. Sked may be skewed on local Sunday nights due to `La Hora Nacional` which airs originally at 0400-0500 UT Mondays = 10-11 pm CST/HCM (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Domestic MWDX to Enid OK, March 7-13, 2014
All times and dates strictly UT [5 hours ahead of `ELT`]. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only; or Sony SRF-59 as specified; Nissan stock caradio as specified; FRG-7 with E/W longwire as specified These logs are excerpts from my daily all-band reports, mainly SWBC, also VHF/UHF, sometimes, utility, ham, which may be found in several archives without much delay, such as http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser And compiled weekly along with extensive news from many other individuals and publications in DX LISTENING DIGEST: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html All my MW DX reports starting August 2011 are archived in this forum with open access: http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?6543-MW-DX-from-Enid-OK-by-Glenn-Hauser/page21 These logs are in four sections, Canada [if any], Oklahoma [if any], rest of USA, unidentified, separated by === Within each, they are in frequency order Last week my single post showed up more than once on some lists. I don`t know why, and I am not doing it! ** OKLAHOMA. 530, March 7 at 2225 UT, `K530AM` Vance AFB, Enid, is clearly audible with usual loop of PSAs, 55 miles away on the north side of OKC via the caradio. Not bad for 10? Watts. Someone in Shawnee also reported programming like this but thought it was from Texas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1640, March 8 at 1418 UT, open carrier/dead air from KZLS Enid, instead of talk or `True Oldies`; but with some humbuzz, which is also audible when modulating. Ho hum, no one minding the store; who cares if 10 kW is going to waste? Left a receiver on here; finally a few words break thru at 1508 UT, back to DA, but resuming sometime before 1528 UT (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In OKC I also checked out the local FM translator situation, but unfortunately that`s off-topic here. I have a lot of Oklahoma Broadcasting News concerning VHF UHF FM TV, which I need to compile and post, tho it`s already been in DX Listening Digest and my daily log reports. = ** U S A. 770, March 10 at 1315 UT I am standing by for KKOB Albuquerque to cut on 50 kW ND day pattern, and so it does, right on time in mid-word, discussion of Democratic NM gubernatorial primary candidates; tho it or the Santa Fe fill-in repeater was weakly audible before. How long it lasts is steadily diminishing with earlier sunrises, but at Marchbegin was a good 60 minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 830, March 9 at 1348 UT music, then ``Family Life Radio`` ID, i.e. KFLT Tucson AZ, 50/1 kW U2, which is now officially on ND day pattern after 1330 UT in March. 770, KKOB Albuquerque also still in (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Hi All! Really interesting post. Relevant widely. Am posting this on couple of Asian FB Group of Radio Enthusiasts. With kind regards, Vy 73 Sudipta Ghose/ VU3TKG On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:44 PM, Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com wrote: Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com -- One of those ... ... ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] WDTM, 1150
Hi All: WDTM, 1150, Selmer, TN 3/13/14, 0900 EDT w/SID, on top briefly, may have heard them earlier w/gospel mx. I was actually trying to ID stn carrying the Rick Bubba show, which turns out to have been WGGH, but they faded just before top of hour WDTM popped up. Even w/CKOC nulled, 1150 is a difficult channel here. Barry's list has them as Silent? Unless my ears are going, I'd say they are on. 73 David Faulkner, Albany, OH ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen that. Folks are always welcome to belong to both clubs concurrently. Subscription rate for SDXM is only $10 worldwide for a year. That's a great bargain. As I say, both are terrific clubs with a rich history. In the corporate world we've seen many mergers in recent! decades and usually they lead to higher prices, less competition and creativity, job losses, etc Mike Sanburn KG6LJU Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:14:54 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I was a very active DXer when the NRC/IRCA split occurred, knew quite a few of the people on both sides quite well and, in general, (50 years is a long time ago) remember the reasons for the split. The split, itself, was extremely acrimonious and has caused many hard feelings on both sides for many years. I suspect there's still a very strong difference of opinion about the Club's structures that would inhibit any thought of a merge. As a side note, the joint convention in Minneapolis last year was a start for reconciliation. The joint convention idea was met with positive feelings from attendees from both clubs and hope was expressed that such joint conventions would continue. Evidently, for some reason, the joint convention concept fell by the wayside this year, which is too bad and which doesn't auger well. It will be interesting to see what happens but I'm not holding my breath. - John On Mar 13, 2014, at 12:14 PM, Les Rayburn wrote: Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I think the logic is pretty self-evident, unless someone is too close to the forest to see the trees. Both clubs serve a niche hobby audience, with declining memberships. Very few young people listen to AM radio at all...much less are interested in DXing it. That means that our membership is aging, dying, and otherwise shrinking. While at one time there might have been sufficient numbers to sustain both clubs, it's doubtful that can continue for much longer. While I've been a member of one or both clubs for well over two decades, I really have no idea what caused the split to begin with. Even less of idea of what could possibly be worthwhile enough to keep the groups apart today. I also disagree with Mike (who I respect a lot) that the two clubs have distinct personalities. If that's true, it's not reflected in their publications or their e-mail discussion forums. What I do see is a lot of duplication of information and the same names, largely. It's hardly a corporate merger. The annual budget of both clubs wouldn't pay for my company's digital media storage. Let's be honest about who we are, the state of our hobby, and start taking a hard look at what makes sense going forward. Grown men shouldn't bear grudges for half a century. The only benefit to growing older is that wisdom sometimes comes with age. I've learned that forgiveness is one gift that benefits the giver even more than the receiver. How many people actively pursue MW DXing as a hobby these days? 300, 500, maybe a thousand? Hard to see how a group that small can sustain two national clubs forever. Mike is correct that the discussion about this topic comes up every few years. What is never articulated in those discussions is pretty simple: 1.) What were the issues that caused the original split? 2.) Are those issues still relevant? Or look at it another way. If someone was starting national clubs for a niche hobby today, would they logically try to create two clubs or would they judge that one was sufficient? Either way, I respect the opinions of those who disagree. I'd just really like to see those questions answered, in a civil manner. The last thing we need to do now is reopen an old wound. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the NRC and IRCA. On 3/13/2014 12:51 PM, Mike Sanburn wrote: I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen that. Folks are always welcome to belong to both clubs concurrently. Subscription rate for SDXM is only $10 worldwide for a year. That's a great bargain. As I say, both are terrific clubs with a rich history. In the corporate world we've seen many mergers in recent decades and usually they lead to higher prices, less competition and creativity, job losses, etc Mike Sanburn KG6LJU Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:14:54 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
The joint convention in 2013 (which I supported by the way) was somewhat experimental for IRCA. It was not intended to mean that all conventions from that point on would be dual or triple. It is not out of the question that we might team up again in the future, however, each convention and the way it is structured is entirely up to the person(s) who bid for it and what they are willing handle. The logistics for having a extra large convention can be staggering (as can be the price). IRCA for instance likes to have radio station tours during their annual convention, but it seems that NRC conventions have strayed away from that concept. 2014 will be our 50th anniversary and the idea is to have our own unique IRCA convention this year. ms From: jnsamp...@earthlink.net Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:51:08 -0500 To: l...@highnoonfilm.com; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA I was a very active DXer when the NRC/IRCA split occurred, knew quite a few of the people on both sides quite well and, in general, (50 years is a long time ago) remember the reasons for the split. The split, itself, was extremely acrimonious and has caused many hard feelings on both sides for many years. I suspect there's still a very strong difference of opinion about the Club's structures that would inhibit any thought of a merge. As a side note, the joint convention in Minneapolis last year was a start for reconciliation. The joint convention idea was met with positive feelings from attendees from both clubs and hope was expressed that such joint conventions would continue. Evidently, for some reason, the joint convention concept fell by the wayside this year, which is too bad and which doesn't auger well. It will be interesting to see what happens but I'm not holding my breath. - John On Mar 13, 2014, at 12:14 PM, Les Rayburn wrote: Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com AM: Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot FM: Yamaha T-80 T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS Decoder; Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 2); modified Sony ICF2010 w/APS9B @ 15'; Grundig G8 w/whip; modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip On Thu, 3/13/14, John Sampson jnsamp...@earthlink.net wrote: Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA To: l...@highnoonfilm.com, Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 1:51 PM I was a very active DXer when the NRC/IRCA split occurred, knew quite a few of the people on both sides quite well and, in general, (50 years is a long time ago) remember the reasons for the split. The split, itself, was extremely acrimonious and has caused many hard feelings on both sides for many years. I suspect there's still a very strong difference of opinion about the Club's structures that would inhibit any thought of a merge. As a side note, the joint convention in Minneapolis last year was a start for reconciliation. The joint convention idea was met with positive feelings from attendees from both clubs and hope was expressed that such joint conventions would continue. Evidently, for some reason, the joint convention concept fell by the wayside this year, which is too bad and which doesn't auger well. It will be interesting to see what happens but I'm not holding my breath. - John On Mar 13, 2014, at 12:14 PM, Les Rayburn wrote: Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I was also, and I largely agree that in fact the same primary issues remain on each side, largely untouched by time and by the changes in the 'prime movers'. Ultimately, that question will be driven ( note I don't say decided ) by the lack of individuals who wish to put in the time to do columns or to publish even an e-zine. At that point it becomes a matter of efficiency and survival. Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com On Thu, 3/13/14, John Sampson jnsamp...@earthlink.net wrote: Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA To: l...@highnoonfilm.com, Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 1:51 PM I was a very active DXer when the NRC/IRCA split occurred, knew quite a few of the people on both sides quite well and, in general, (50 years is a long time ago) remember the reasons for the split. The split, itself, was extremely acrimonious and has caused many hard feelings on both sides for many years. I suspect there's still a very strong difference of opinion about the Club's structures that would inhibit any thought of a merge. As a side note, the joint convention in Minneapolis last year was a start for reconciliation. The joint convention idea was met with positive feelings from attendees from both clubs and hope was expressed that such joint conventions would continue. Evidently, for some reason, the joint convention concept fell by the wayside this year, which is too bad and which doesn't auger well. It will be interesting to see what happens but I'm not holding my breath. - John On Mar 13, 2014, at 12:14 PM, Les Rayburn wrote: Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge. Whatever happened in 1961 (a year before I was born) is ancient history--and I suspect has little or no bearing on how the organizations function today. With a shrinking pool of hobbyists, it only makes sense for the two clubs to strongly consider pooling their resources. For years, I served as the CPC Chairman for both clubs. During my tenure, representing both clubs was never an issue. Many of us have been members in both clubs for a long time, and I don't really detect any differences in how they approach the role. My personal request to the BoD of both clubs would be to explore and strongly consider the advantages of merging into a single club. Pooling resources, and better position our hobby for long-term survival. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
As one who was there at the time, I see no point to rehashing the issues beyond what Mike has already said. From my perspective, the same differences which caused the split in 1963 continue to be reflected today on each side, primarily in terms of how the clubs operate and what drives that. While all of the reasoning Les has provided is solid, as we see all over our world today, people and organizations are often driven by long-held philosophies which don't go away easily. Those exist and haven't really changed a whole lot. Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com On Thu, 3/13/14, Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com wrote: Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA To: Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com, a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org, irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 2:06 PM I think the logic is pretty self-evident, unless someone is too close to the forest to see the trees. Both clubs serve a niche hobby audience, with declining memberships. Very few young people listen to AM radio at all...much less are interested in DXing it. That means that our membership is aging, dying, and otherwise shrinking. While at one time there might have been sufficient numbers to sustain both clubs, it's doubtful that can continue for much longer. While I've been a member of one or both clubs for well over two decades, I really have no idea what caused the split to begin with. Even less of idea of what could possibly be worthwhile enough to keep the groups apart today. I also disagree with Mike (who I respect a lot) that the two clubs have distinct personalities. If that's true, it's not reflected in their publications or their e-mail discussion forums. What I do see is a lot of duplication of information and the same names, largely. It's hardly a corporate merger. The annual budget of both clubs wouldn't pay for my company's digital media storage. Let's be honest about who we are, the state of our hobby, and start taking a hard look at what makes sense going forward. Grown men shouldn't bear grudges for half a century. The only benefit to growing older is that wisdom sometimes comes with age. I've learned that forgiveness is one gift that benefits the giver even more than the receiver. How many people actively pursue MW DXing as a hobby these days? 300, 500, maybe a thousand? Hard to see how a group that small can sustain two national clubs forever. Mike is correct that the discussion about this topic comes up every few years. What is never articulated in those discussions is pretty simple: 1.) What were the issues that caused the original split? 2.) Are those issues still relevant? Or look at it another way. If someone was starting national clubs for a niche hobby today, would they logically try to create two clubs or would they judge that one was sufficient? Either way, I respect the opinions of those who disagree. I'd just really like to see those questions answered, in a civil manner. The last thing we need to do now is reopen an old wound. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the NRC and IRCA. On 3/13/2014 12:51 PM, Mike Sanburn wrote: I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen that. Folks are always welcome to belong to both clubs concurrently. Subscription rate for SDXM is only $10 worldwide for a year. That's a great bargain. As I say, both are terrific clubs with a rich history. In the corporate world we've seen many mergers in recent decades and usually they lead to higher prices, less competition and creativity, job losses, etc Mike Sanburn KG6LJU Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:14:54 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets, along with decisions to go all digital by organizations like the WTFDA, have also rekindled interest in the idea that it is long past time for the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of America to merge.
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Whatever the battle was between the two clubs way back during the Kennedy administration is now irrelevant. The fact is the split has occurred and out of it we have two different clubs. Even if all the original players have passed on or have shaken hands and made up, we have taken our separate pathways. While not by design, one seems to be a bit more East coast oriented and the other West...No it isn't a proposed merger on a corporate scale, and if both clubs are supposedly destined to die without merging, then it probably follows that they will die with the merger as well. I see nothing to gain (for IRCA and its members anyhow) by a merger. The new merged club (I imagine it would be called NRC) would certainly gain a few new members, while the IRCA, it's columns, and bookstore, and LOW subscription price would completely disappear. I wasn't around when the rift was happening but have heard a few bad attitudes towards IRCA at various NRC conventions I've attended in the pa! st. True that was just from an individual or two, but those things are tough to forget. I for one am happy with two clubs. In fact if someone were to try starting up a third major BCB club tomorrow, I'd likely support their cause. ms Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:06:03 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA I think the logic is pretty self-evident, unless someone is too close to the forest to see the trees. Both clubs serve a niche hobby audience, with declining memberships. Very few young people listen to AM radio at all...much less are interested in DXing it. That means that our membership is aging, dying, and otherwise shrinking. While at one time there might have been sufficient numbers to sustain both clubs, it's doubtful that can continue for much longer. While I've been a member of one or both clubs for well over two decades, I really have no idea what caused the split to begin with. Even less of idea of what could possibly be worthwhile enough to keep the groups apart today. I also disagree with Mike (who I respect a lot) that the two clubs have distinct personalities. If that's true, it's not reflected in their publications or their e-mail discussion forums. What I do see is a lot of duplication of information and the same names, largely. It's hardly a corporate merger. The annual budget of both clubs wouldn't pay for my company's digital media storage. Let's be honest about who we are, the state of our hobby, and start taking a hard look at what makes sense going forward. Grown men shouldn't bear grudges for half a century. The only benefit to growing older is that wisdom sometimes comes with age. I've learned that forgiveness is one gift that benefits the giver even more than the receiver. How many people actively pursue MW DXing as a hobby these days? 300, 500, maybe a thousand? Hard to see how a group that small can sustain two national clubs forever. Mike is correct that the discussion about this topic comes up every few years. What is never articulated in those discussions is pretty simple: 1.) What were the issues that caused the original split? 2.) Are those issues still relevant? Or look at it another way. If someone was starting national clubs for a niche hobby today, would they logically try to create two clubs or would they judge that one was sufficient? Either way, I respect the opinions of those who disagree. I'd just really like to see those questions answered, in a civil manner. The last thing we need to do now is reopen an old wound. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the NRC and IRCA. On 3/13/2014 12:51 PM, Mike Sanburn wrote: I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I wonder what the actual membership overlap is between the two clubs? Jim Renfrew, Clarendon NY On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 2:24 PM, Russ Edmunds wb2...@yahoo.com wrote: As one who was there at the time, I see no point to rehashing the issues beyond what Mike has already said. From my perspective, the same differences which caused the split in 1963 continue to be reflected today on each side, primarily in terms of how the clubs operate and what drives that. While all of the reasoning Les has provided is solid, as we see all over our world today, people and organizations are often driven by long-held philosophies which don't go away easily. Those exist and haven't really changed a whole lot. Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com On Thu, 3/13/14, Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com wrote: Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA To: Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com, a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org, irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 2:06 PM I think the logic is pretty self-evident, unless someone is too close to the forest to see the trees. Both clubs serve a niche hobby audience, with declining memberships. Very few young people listen to AM radio at all...much less are interested in DXing it. That means that our membership is aging, dying, and otherwise shrinking. While at one time there might have been sufficient numbers to sustain both clubs, it's doubtful that can continue for much longer. While I've been a member of one or both clubs for well over two decades, I really have no idea what caused the split to begin with. Even less of idea of what could possibly be worthwhile enough to keep the groups apart today. I also disagree with Mike (who I respect a lot) that the two clubs have distinct personalities. If that's true, it's not reflected in their publications or their e-mail discussion forums. What I do see is a lot of duplication of information and the same names, largely. It's hardly a corporate merger. The annual budget of both clubs wouldn't pay for my company's digital media storage. Let's be honest about who we are, the state of our hobby, and start taking a hard look at what makes sense going forward. Grown men shouldn't bear grudges for half a century. The only benefit to growing older is that wisdom sometimes comes with age. I've learned that forgiveness is one gift that benefits the giver even more than the receiver. How many people actively pursue MW DXing as a hobby these days? 300, 500, maybe a thousand? Hard to see how a group that small can sustain two national clubs forever. Mike is correct that the discussion about this topic comes up every few years. What is never articulated in those discussions is pretty simple: 1.) What were the issues that caused the original split? 2.) Are those issues still relevant? Or look at it another way. If someone was starting national clubs for a niche hobby today, would they logically try to create two clubs or would they judge that one was sufficient? Either way, I respect the opinions of those who disagree. I'd just really like to see those questions answered, in a civil manner. The last thing we need to do now is reopen an old wound. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the NRC and IRCA. On 3/13/2014 12:51 PM, Mike Sanburn wrote: I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen that. Folks are always welcome to belong to both clubs concurrently. Subscription rate for SDXM is only $10 worldwide for a year. That's a great bargain. As I say, both are terrific clubs with a rich history. In the corporate world we've seen many mergers in recent decades and usually they lead to higher prices, less competition and creativity, job losses, etc Mike Sanburn KG6LJU Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:14:54 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Discussions over the past few days regarding the demise of print media in niche hobby markets,
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
That is a good question. I myself haven't seen one of our membership lists in years, much less one depicting dual membership. And of course it isn't a given that just because a DXer is a member of BOTH clubs they are automatically pro-merger. ms Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:27:34 -0400 From: jim.renf...@gmail.com To: irca@hard-core-dx.com CC: a...@nrcdxas.org Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA I wonder what the actual membership overlap is between the two clubs? Jim Renfrew, Clarendon NY On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 2:24 PM, Russ Edmunds wb2...@yahoo.com wrote: As one who was there at the time, I see no point to rehashing the issues beyond what Mike has already said. From my perspective, the same differences which caused the split in 1963 continue to be reflected today on each side, primarily in terms of how the clubs operate and what drives that. While all of the reasoning Les has provided is solid, as we see all over our world today, people and organizations are often driven by long-held philosophies which don't go away easily. Those exist and haven't really changed a whole lot. Russ Edmunds 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia Grid FN20id wb2...@yahoo.com On Thu, 3/13/14, Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com wrote: Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA To: Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com, a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org, irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 2:06 PM I think the logic is pretty self-evident, unless someone is too close to the forest to see the trees. Both clubs serve a niche hobby audience, with declining memberships. Very few young people listen to AM radio at all...much less are interested in DXing it. That means that our membership is aging, dying, and otherwise shrinking. While at one time there might have been sufficient numbers to sustain both clubs, it's doubtful that can continue for much longer. While I've been a member of one or both clubs for well over two decades, I really have no idea what caused the split to begin with. Even less of idea of what could possibly be worthwhile enough to keep the groups apart today. I also disagree with Mike (who I respect a lot) that the two clubs have distinct personalities. If that's true, it's not reflected in their publications or their e-mail discussion forums. What I do see is a lot of duplication of information and the same names, largely. It's hardly a corporate merger. The annual budget of both clubs wouldn't pay for my company's digital media storage. Let's be honest about who we are, the state of our hobby, and start taking a hard look at what makes sense going forward. Grown men shouldn't bear grudges for half a century. The only benefit to growing older is that wisdom sometimes comes with age. I've learned that forgiveness is one gift that benefits the giver even more than the receiver. How many people actively pursue MW DXing as a hobby these days? 300, 500, maybe a thousand? Hard to see how a group that small can sustain two national clubs forever. Mike is correct that the discussion about this topic comes up every few years. What is never articulated in those discussions is pretty simple: 1.) What were the issues that caused the original split? 2.) Are those issues still relevant? Or look at it another way. If someone was starting national clubs for a niche hobby today, would they logically try to create two clubs or would they judge that one was sufficient? Either way, I respect the opinions of those who disagree. I'd just really like to see those questions answered, in a civil manner. The last thing we need to do now is reopen an old wound. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the NRC and IRCA. On 3/13/2014 12:51 PM, Mike Sanburn wrote: I'm not really sure by what logic that it is long past time for the N.R.C. and the I.R.C.A. to merge . While both are fine clubs in their own way, each has its own distinct personality. While it was sad to say goodbye to the printed DX Monitor, the I.R.C.A. is still a viable club with much to offer its members. Yes there are areas that we can have friendly interaction with other BCB DX clubs such as a common test committee chairman or even occasional dual conventions in the future, I see no great benefit in the two clubs merging at the present time. This topic seems to come up every few years. I for one would vote against a merger unless there was a massive push FOR it within our club, and I haven't really seen that. Folks are always welcome to belong to both clubs concurrently. Subscription rate for SDXM is only $10 worldwide for a year. That's a great bargain. As
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
I was honestly not aware that the IRCA focused on the West Coast, and the NRC focused on the East Coast. Again, this may have been more obvious at some point in the club's histories, but it's hardly the case today. The growth of the Internet for communications have all but removed any trace of regionalism from this hobby. True, I often ignore some of the more hardcore TA and TP loggings and information, but otherwise, I'm interested in what folks are hearing all over the country. I think that pooling resources would help to delay the erosion of the hobby in several significant ways: 1.) Volunteer pool: Where overlap does exist, a merged club would only need one volunteer to handle CPC duties, editorial column duties, Board of Director duties, etc. The pool of volunteers is shrinking along with our membership. Duplication of effort just doesn't make sense. 2.) Time: Think about how much time we all spend sending out duplicate log reports or DX tips to multiple e-mail lists. The same people are subscribed to all of them or at least most. It's unnecessary and a waste of time. 3.) One Stop Shopping: A unified club would be a much stronger voice to advocate our interests to broadcasters, the FCC, ARRL, and other organizations that make common-sense partnerships. It would allow those interested in the hobby to have a single source of information. 4.) Financial: As more members age, and begin to live on fixed incomes, we must all take a look at our hobby expenses. Club membership is not very expensive, but the costs are growing. Especially if you wish to continue to receive printed publications. At some point, many of us may be forced to choose which club we want to belong to. For such a small niche hobby, should that really be necessary? The hobby, like the band itself, may be destined to fade away into history--but I want to fight that battle as long as possible. What did Lincoln say, A house divided cannot stand? I think it's past time to put whatever the issues were behind us. Even now, I can't help but notice that no one has been willing or able to even articulate what these differences are. Here in the South there is a popular bumper sticker displaying the Confederate Flag with a circle/slash drawn over it. The text reads, We lost. Ya'll get over it. It's a simple statement against those who would continue to fight the long-forgotten Civil War, or embrace the symbols that for many also represent pain and oppression. Being proud of your history is one thing. Allowing it to define your future is not. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
As far as the financial point goes, it is better to have a club that offers the alternative of a $10 annual subscription for those who are on a severe budget. I'm not sure what the minimum subscription is these days for DX news, but I'm sure it is significantly higher. Perhaps by that logic, IRCA should become the parent club in the proposed merger! By the east/west comment, I don't mean to suggest that either club only focuses its attention on one region. Over the years the membership demographic has just fallen into place that way. I'm very interested in reading for instance, about the various receptions of the recent Kentucky DX test on 1450. While it is virtually impossible to log that here in CA, I still like to know that folks in many states back east did indeed pick it up. You may wish to try convincing other IRCA board members of your vision, but I believe we are all in solidarity on this. And for those who fly the Confederate flag, I support their pride in their heritage. ms Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:00:48 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA I was honestly not aware that the IRCA focused on the West Coast, and the NRC focused on the East Coast. Again, this may have been more obvious at some point in the club's histories, but it's hardly the case today. The growth of the Internet for communications have all but removed any trace of regionalism from this hobby. True, I often ignore some of the more hardcore TA and TP loggings and information, but otherwise, I'm interested in what folks are hearing all over the country. I think that pooling resources would help to delay the erosion of the hobby in several significant ways: 1.) Volunteer pool: Where overlap does exist, a merged club would only need one volunteer to handle CPC duties, editorial column duties, Board of Director duties, etc. The pool of volunteers is shrinking along with our membership. Duplication of effort just doesn't make sense. 2.) Time: Think about how much time we all spend sending out duplicate log reports or DX tips to multiple e-mail lists. The same people are subscribed to all of them or at least most. It's unnecessary and a waste of time. 3.) One Stop Shopping: A unified club would be a much stronger voice to advocate our interests to broadcasters, the FCC, ARRL, and other organizations that make common-sense partnerships. It would allow those interested in the hobby to have a single source of information. 4.) Financial: As more members age, and begin to live on fixed incomes, we must all take a look at our hobby expenses. Club membership is not very expensive, but the costs are growing. Especially if you wish to continue to receive printed publications. At some point, many of us may be forced to choose which club we want to belong to. For such a small niche hobby, should that really be necessary? The hobby, like the band itself, may be destined to fade away into history--but I want to fight that battle as long as possible. What did Lincoln say, A house divided cannot stand? I think it's past time to put whatever the issues were behind us. Even now, I can't help but notice that no one has been willing or able to even articulate what these differences are. Here in the South there is a popular bumper sticker displaying the Confederate Flag with a circle/slash drawn over it. The text reads, We lost. Ya'll get over it. It's a simple statement against those who would continue to fight the long-forgotten Civil War, or embrace the symbols that for many also represent pain and oppression. Being proud of your history is one thing. Allowing it to define your future is not. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Honestly, I need to terminate my participation in the discussion at this point. My perception is that a few hard-liners on the BoD on one or both clubs are the ones standing in the way of what is common sense to many members. We're up to about twenty e-mails on the topic so far, and still no one can or will state what the original issues were, or how they relate today. Frankly, Mike, I'm not interested in the feelings of the Board of Directors on this issue. I'm interested in someone presenting some facts that will help me understand what the problem was, and possibly still is. If those can be articulated, I might change my point of view. Otherwise, it just looks like an entrenched position situation. As for people who stand up for their heritage. I'm a Southerner, and proud of it. But I share no heritage with men who fought to protect an economic system that enslaved other human beings. History judged them wrong, and justly so. That the symbol of that rebellion causes people of color pain and outrage is no surprise to me. Anyone who displays it is ignorant at best, and racist at worst. And with that, I'll terminate my participation in this discussion. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud Member of both the IRCA and NRC. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Have a good day Les, thanks for your theories. Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:39:33 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Honestly, I need to terminate my participation in the discussion at this point. My perception is that a few hard-liners on the BoD on one or both clubs are the ones standing in the way of what is common sense to many members. We're up to about twenty e-mails on the topic so far, and still no one can or will state what the original issues were, or how they relate today. Frankly, Mike, I'm not interested in the feelings of the Board of Directors on this issue. I'm interested in someone presenting some facts that will help me understand what the problem was, and possibly still is. If those can be articulated, I might change my point of view. Otherwise, it just looks like an entrenched position situation. As for people who stand up for their heritage. I'm a Southerner, and proud of it. But I share no heritage with men who fought to protect an economic system that enslaved other human beings. History judged them wrong, and justly so. That the symbol of that rebellion causes people of color pain and outrage is no surprise to me. Anyone who displays it is ignorant at best, and racist at worst. And with that, I'll terminate my participation in this discussion. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud Member of both the IRCA and NRC. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] WWV Solar Report
:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt :Issued: 2014 Mar 13 1805 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # # Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 12 March follow. Solar flux 148 and estimated planetary A-index 6. The estimated planetary K-index at 1800 UTC on 13 March was 1. Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred. Radio blackouts reaching the R2 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Trends -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Date 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 UTC 0300 0600 0900 1200 1500 1800 2100 0300 0600 0900 1200 1500 1800 SFlx 165 165 165 165 165 165 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 A-in 44444456666666 K-in 21111123543221 Current Solar information available at http://www.am-dx.com/wwv.htm ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Les: First of all, there is no problem. Both clubs are rolling right along. Both offer different things to different people. Your idea sounds like this to me: Cincinnati and Cleveland are both in Ohio - let's merge them. Huh? Second: Both clubs have very long standing and different communities of people. Yes, some people belong to both. There's nothing wrong with that. Some don't. Third: There's a distinct difference in philosophies that has always given each club its own personality. IRCA is west. NRC is east. Even more so, IRCA has a very large group of people who handle all the club tasks in a democratic way. It characterizes itself as being very fair and forthright. I really can't speak about the NRC since I have never been a member. When I think of the NRC, I see it as centralized and more formally structured. Nothing bad about it - simply a different approach. All well and fine. Cool beans. These thoughts from a former President and Board member of the IRCA (myself.) Fourth: The clubs have their differences, but they have always gotten along with civility. I joined the IRCA in 1981 and at that time joint reciprocation deals were being cut to share resources (like guide books) and to get along better. I honestly think that having two clubs has always been better than one. More is being done to support our hobby. More points of view have been shared. More has been developed. More has been published. Brilliant people have met more brilliant people. Accentuate the positive. We may be old and dying but we are all still fascinated with medium wave propagation and programming. I believe that if there are only two of us left in North America we will still trade notes. People have talked about CW this way for decades. More people use it than ever. I've saved the best for last. AM isn't going anywhere. The bandwidth is not really applicable to other technologies and is not sought for digital transmission. It will always remain as a very simple and effective way to send a wireless signal for a thousand miles or more. You need nearly nothing to pick it up - especially compared to Internet 'radio' - the most un-wireless method of transmission ever established! No other medium has this ability. Many small stations may fold, but the big boys will find a way to keep making money at it. AM is like baseball. It is simple and perfect. Les, we like being autonomous. We like being different. Is there anything wrong with that? Respectfully, Karl Zuk N2KZ From: Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com To: Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 3:39 PM Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Honestly, I need to terminate my participation in the discussion at this point. My perception is that a few hard-liners on the BoD on one or both clubs are the ones standing in the way of what is common sense to many members. We're up to about twenty e-mails on the topic so far, and still no one can or will state what the original issues were, or how they relate today. Frankly, Mike, I'm not interested in the feelings of the Board of Directors on this issue. I'm interested in someone presenting some facts that will help me understand what the problem was, and possibly still is. If those can be articulated, I might change my point of view. Otherwise, it just looks like an entrenched position situation. As for people who stand up for their heritage. I'm a Southerner, and proud of it. But I share no heritage with men who fought to protect an economic system that enslaved other human beings. History judged them wrong, and justly so. That the symbol of that rebellion causes people of color pain and outrage is no surprise to me. Anyone who displays it is ignorant at best, and racist at worst. And with that, I'll terminate my participation in this discussion. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud Member of both the IRCA and NRC. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Karl, Since you addressed this to me, I'll answer directly, but don't want to prolong the discussion. You've stated your viewpoint, and obviously one shared by many others articulately. You make some very valid points. Looking at it from that perspective, I can certainly respect the logic of having two clubs. As you say, it may even provide some intangible benefits to all of us that are under-appreciated. I withdraw the suggestion. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud member of both the IRCA, NRC, and the MW Circle. Like Mike, if someone else wants to start a MW Club, I'll probably join that too. :-) On 3/13/2014 4:03 PM, Karl Zuk wrote: Les: First of all, there is no problem. Both clubs are rolling right along. Both offer different things to different people. Your idea sounds like this to me: Cincinnati and Cleveland are both in Ohio - let's merge them. Huh? Second: Both clubs have very long standing and different communities of people. Yes, some people belong to both. There's nothing wrong with that. Some don't. Third: There's a distinct difference in philosophies that has always given each club its own personality. IRCA is west. NRC is east. Even more so, IRCA has a very large group of people who handle all the club tasks in a democratic way. It characterizes itself as being very fair and forthright. I really can't speak about the NRC since I have never been a member. When I think of the NRC, I see it as centralized and more formally structured. Nothing bad about it - simply a different approach. All well and fine. Cool beans. These thoughts from a former President and Board member of the IRCA (myself.) Fourth: The clubs have their differences, but they have always gotten along with civility. I joined the IRCA in 1981 and at that time joint reciprocation deals were being cut to share resources (like guide books) and to get along better. I honestly think that having two clubs has always been better than one. More is being done to support our hobby. More points of view have been shared. More has been developed. More has been published. Brilliant people have met more brilliant people. Accentuate the positive. We may be old and dying but we are all still fascinated with medium wave propagation and programming. I believe that if there are only two of us left in North America we will still trade notes. People have talked about CW this way for decades. More people use it than ever. I've saved the best for last. AM isn't going anywhere. The bandwidth is not really applicable to other technologies and is not sought for digital transmission. It will always remain as a very simple and effective way to send a wireless signal for a thousand miles or more. You need nearly nothing to pick it up - especially compared to Internet 'radio' - the most un-wireless method of transmission ever established! No other medium has this ability. Many small stations may fold, but the big boys will find a way to keep making money at it. AM is like baseball. It is simple and perfect. Les, we like being autonomous. We like being different. Is there anything wrong with that? Respectfully, Karl Zuk N2KZ *From:* Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com *To:* Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com irca@hard-core-dx.com *Sent:* Thursday, March 13, 2014 3:39 PM *Subject:* Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Honestly, I need to terminate my participation in the discussion at this point. My perception is that a few hard-liners on the BoD on one or both clubs are the ones standing in the way of what is common sense to many members. We're up to about twenty e-mails on the topic so far, and still no one can or will state what the original issues were, or how they relate today. Frankly, Mike, I'm not interested in the feelings of the Board of Directors on this issue. I'm interested in someone presenting some facts that will help me understand what the problem was, and possibly still is. If those can be articulated, I might change my point of view. Otherwise, it just looks like an entrenched position situation. As for people who stand up for their heritage. I'm a Southerner, and proud of it. But I share no heritage with men who fought to protect an economic system that enslaved other human beings. History judged them wrong, and justly so. That the symbol of that rebellion causes people of color pain and outrage is no surprise to me. Anyone who displays it is ignorant at best, and racist at worst. And with that, I'll terminate my participation in this discussion. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Proud Member of both the IRCA and NRC. ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com mailto:IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list
[IRCA] Array Solutions SAL-30
Hi folks. I just finished up deploying an AS SAL-30 Shared Apex Loop and my initial observations are that this is by far the best directional antenna on that I have ever used. My experience with directional antennas over the years range from small ferrite and wire loops, modest beverages, Wellbrook K9AY/ALA10/ALA330/DKAZ, phasing various antenna configurations with Quantum, Connelly DXP5, and currently a DXE NCC-1 with phased active whips. The SAL-30 is the best MW antenna that I have had the pleasure of using. On almost every MW channel I can easily have two stations in the clear, and on many it is no problem receiving 3 or 4 stations. The UNI directional mode is amazing, with just the push of the Flip switch you generally find another station totally dominant. I have found the controller with 8 direction switch to be extremely accurate, making it easy to determine exactly which direction an UnID is arriving from. Another bonus that I discovered last evening while experiencing quite a bit of lightning static, when the pattern was pointed north and the static crashes were extremely subdued to the point of not being an issue. I have also found the performance up to the spec'd 8 mhz of this model to be excellent. In these bands I can null some of the CODAR signals way down, null utes, determine the direction of a weak signal, and significantly peak a signal for best SNR. This afternoon I found that on many HF DX signals, the directionality of this antenna was actually useful up to 15 mHz. On many DX stations bothered by significant long-path echo, I could always eliminate the LP component. On HF above 8 mHz, the directional pattern does not appear to be very useful with strong domestic stations such as the Tennessee SW broadcasters. So far, I am extremely pleased with the performance of this antenna. I was initially very concerned with the cost of the antenna vs performance but I can now say this was money very well spent. One word of caution is deploying the mast on the SAL-30. This is a task for 3 people minimum, and on a totally windless day. With two folks we were able to get 8 of the mast sections up, but had to wait a week to get a third person to help get that last mast section put in. If I can master video and youtube over the weekend, I will look at putting up some MW specific audio/video. 73, Brandon Jordan http://www.swldx.us Fayette County, TN EM55gc WinRadio G33DDC, WinRadio G313-e, RFSpace SDR-IQ, Icom R75, Eton E1 Double KAZ Loop (20×88') with Wellbrook FLG100LN-2 Amplifier DX Engineering DXE-AAPS3 Active Antenna Phasing System Array Solutions AS-SAL-30 Shared Apex Loop ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
My comments below are made as the (new) NRC Board of Directors chairman. First, the split, which occurred some 11 years before I joined the NRC and 15 or so years before I joined IRCA. In a nutshell, from what I've read in old bulletins (and oldtimers who were there, please correct me if I mis-state any facts) NRC was governed by a minority and chiefly by one person (I forget his title), and at the time the club consisted about 99% of DX News, so it was run like a corporation, which is pretty much what it was and continues to be today, although now many decisions are made by the board of directors who vote on issues - and often the vote is split. Accusations were made that the club was not being democratically run, which was quite true, but the exchange became acrimonious to the point that several individuals split away from the NRC and named their group National Radio Club, International to which the original NRC objected strongly, so that eventually the club was renamed IRCA. It's interesting to note that many NRC members immediately joined IRCA within a year or so of the formation of the new club, and it's my understanding that nowadays fewer than 50 or even 25 IRCA members do not belong to NRC, also. The East/West division is somewhat of a myth, also, as several years ago we did a demographic study of NRC members, which revealed that more NRC members lived west of the Mississippi than the entire membership total of IRCA. But that was when the NRC had around 600 members, so that may be out of date now. I've had numerous conversations with Phil Bytheway and other IRCA officials over the years - Phil and I have shared motel rooms at various conventions - about this topic, and it's obvious that there are deep differences as well as strong similarities between the clubs. For one thing, IRCA is strictly a democratic organization. Everything is decided by votes, which are printed in DX Monitor, and eventually things get decided on (over a year in a case where I presented several proposals - sometimes the Democratic process is slow!). Important decisions in the NRC are voted upon by the Board of Directors, who are appointed to their position by current BoD members. And … each club has survived nicely since 1961. Should we consolidate for the reasons Les listed in another e-mail? You know, today I had to go grocery shopping while this discussion popped up on the listserv. In Topeka, we have three large groceries - Dillon's, HyVee, and Walmart - and several smaller, really neighborhood-sized groceries. I chose one because I needed several items that the others didn't offer. Next time I'll go to another for the same reason. I feel the same way about NRC and IRCA. I belong to both so that I can take advantage of each club's offerings, and I'd hate to see a merger attempt that would radically modify the structure of either club and rile up individuals. (BTW the cost of a stand-alone subscription to e-DXN, which is available as a .pdf download but not as an e-mail attachment as is DX Monitor, is $15.00. Also, to try to hold down rising postage and printing costs, the BoD has proposed reducing the number of issues of the printed DXN to 20 from the current 30, although the content would remain the same, with time-value DX posts and station statuses posted on e-DXN between DXN issues.) Wayne Heinen and I attended the IRCA Billings convention in 1994 (I believe that's the right year) when DX Monitor was in danger of being terminated. We made a proposal to merge DX Monitor with DX News - and were soundly rebuffed. End of that discussion, and we haven't tried to reopen it or any merger talks since. Nevertheless, any time anyone from the IRCA BoD wants to discuss a merger, we're happy to talk. BTW - I'm surprised that someone hasn't stated the exact facts in the case of this year's IRCA convention, which are simply that John Johnson wanted to bid Billings for a 50th-anniversary IRCA convention and simply wasn't interested in bringing in NRC, WTFDA, or other clubs. And that's quite understandable, not to mention that a joint convention is quite an undertaking. So far, no one in NRC has expressed any interest in hosting a convention. Period. (And for the record, I cannot remember competing convention bids since the St. Charles convention in … 1979?) So … continue the discussion. But let's make sure that future comments are as civil as they have been -Paul Swearingen, IRCA member and NRC BoD chairman -Original Message- From: Les Rayburn l...@highnoonfilm.com To: Mike Sanburn mikesanb...@hotmail.com; am a...@nrcdxas.org; irca irca@hard-core-dx.com Sent: Thu, Mar 13, 2014 2:40 pm Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Honestly, I need to terminate my participation in the discussion at this point. My perception is that a few hard-liners on the BoD on one or both clubs are the ones standing in the way of
[IRCA] The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Karl, you smacked the nail straight on. Well-pounded! 1. ANY club has a certain percentage of members who want to see things 'made better.' Many decry the aging of clubs and dwindling membership. Good for them; clubs need energy. If that energy doesn't include the capabilities of fund-raising and new-membership promotion, so be it. It's a HOBBY club! 2. Though I was energized by Skip Dabelstein's session about this at last year's joint convention, I'm now realizing: Clubs are getting smaller. So what? (As you noted Karl, even if there were TWO members, we'd still be QSLing.) I'd add however that if a club is going to incur significant publishing costs it needs a large-enough membership base. Aye, there's the rub. When a club can't justify significant expenditure, it cuts costs. Bully for IRCA going electronic! 3. Club styles: The French say: Vive le Difference. IRCA and NRC ARE different; different leadership style, different community, different colloquy. I say it's nice to have these differences, and I draw from both, giving back as I can. We accept the differences and we Get Over It. 4. One issue that will always be a problem is soliciting direct support from a larger group of members. It's not fair to those few who do all the work. But it's a fact of life in ANY club. It is however, one area in which we could all actually make a difference. My friend Jim Wulliman of WTMJ/SBE says: don't get mad; get involved. So...with all due respect to those who sustained this latest dialogue, let's turn our energies away from position e-mails on unsolvable issues and instead direct our focus on nagging our recalcitrant pals and pal-ettes into giving something back to the clubs. Last I heard, 'sharing' was no longer a dirty word. Cheers! Mark Durenberger DX Audio Service -Original Message- From: Karl Zuk Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 4:03 PM To: l...@highnoonfilm.com ; Mike Sanburn ; a...@nrcdxas.org ; irca@hard-core-dx.com ; Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America Subject: Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA Les: First of all, there is no problem. Both clubs are rolling right along. Both offer different things to different people. Your idea sounds like this to me: Cincinnati and Cleveland are both in Ohio - let's merge them. Huh? Second: Both clubs have very long standing and different communities of people. Yes, some people belong to both. There's nothing wrong with that. Some don't. Third: There's a distinct difference in philosophies that has always given each club its own personality. IRCA is west. NRC is east. Even more so, IRCA has a very large group of people who handle all the club tasks in a democratic way. It characterizes itself as being very fair and forthright. I really can't speak about the NRC since I have never been a member. When I think of the NRC, I see it as centralized and more formally structured. Nothing bad about it - simply a different approach. All well and fine. Cool beans. These thoughts from a former President and Board member of the IRCA (myself.) Fourth: The clubs have their differences, but they have always gotten along with civility. I joined the IRCA in 1981 and at that time joint reciprocation deals were being cut to share resources (like guide books) and to get along better. I honestly think that having two clubs has always been better than one. More is being done to support our hobby. More points of view have been shared. More has been developed. More has been published. Brilliant people have met more brilliant people. Accentuate the positive. We may be old and dying but we are all still fascinated with medium wave propagation and programming. I believe that if there are only two of us left in North America we will still trade notes. People have talked about CW this way for decades. More people use it than ever. I've saved the best for last. AM isn't going anywhere. The bandwidth is not really applicable to other technologies and is not sought for digital transmission. It will always remain as a very simple and effective way to send a wireless signal for a thousand miles or more. You need nearly nothing to pick it up - especially compared to Internet 'radio' - the most un-wireless method of transmission ever established! No other medium has this ability. Many small stations may fold, but the big boys will find a way to keep making money at it. AM is like baseball. It is simple and perfect. Les, we like being autonomous. We like being different. Is there anything wrong with that? Respectfully, Karl Zuk N2KZ ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or
Re: [IRCA] Puyallup, WA Ultralight TP's for 3-13
Bad day to sleep in! When I got to the dials things were clearly better than yesterday,except no sign of Bangladesh on 693 today (armchair copy yesterday). Noted higher domestic splatter, though today, as well, so net no better. 73, Walt in Masset On Thursday, March 13, 2014, d1028g...@aol.com wrote: Hello All, This morning's TP-DXing session featured a potent sunrise enhancement boost on the low band here, raising up the signal from 603-HLSA to a huge level shortly after the 1400 TOH (along with its weaker Chinese co-channel). Low band Japanese and Asian mainland stations both benefited from the boost, something similar to a mid-October sunrise enhancement. The session started off in ordinary fashion just after 1300 with the typical low and high band Asians managing fair signals in and out-- 594-JOAK, 603-HLSA, 693-JOAB and 738-BEL2 on the low band, and 1566-HLAZ, 1575-VOA and 1593-CNR1 on the high band. These regulars rotated in and out without any special strength until around 1350, when 594-JOAK began to receive a potent boost with the first hint of daylight, reaching very good audio around 1355. The same boost also raised up the signal of 531-JOQG to a fair level, and brought 558-HLQH out of the noise as well. 603-HLSA had been in and out of the noise with fair audio for about an hour prior to 1400, but its signal received a dramatic boost at this time, so that the 1400 TOH (with the usual female KBS ID, but with an unusual, no-pip time signal ( http://www.mediafire.com/listen/20i9glqdvd01jq9/603-HLSA-1400z031314SWP.MP3) was at good strength. HLSA continued to get stronger yet, reaching an excellent level at 1405 with the! usual deep-voiced male Korean DJ at potent strength over the usual female Chinese co-channel. 639-CNR1, 648-Russia and 657-Pyongyang also received a decent daylight boost, with all of them reaching fair to good audio about the same time as 603-HLSA's romp (peaking around 1405). A brief check of the high band at the same time revealed some good audio on 1566-HLAZ and 1593-CNR1, along with fair audio from 1503-JOUK and 1575-VOA. The low band romp lasted until around 1420, when all of the signals except 594-JOAK started to dive into the noise. On the high band 1575-VOA stuck it out until about 1435 as the last Asian survivor of a pretty memorable session. Best signal of the morning was from 603-HLSA, reaching one of its strongest levels ever observed in 7 years of TP-DXing. 594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan Male-female Japanese speech at good level at 1356 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/28b5dwpc5wykydy/594-JOAK-1356z031314SWP.MP3 603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Strong Korean female pop music at 1403 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/hdkb0bgt9dbt98a/603-HLSA-1403z031314SWP.MP3 603 HLSA Namyang, S. Korea Deep-voiced male DJ at excellent level at 1405; weak Chinese female co-channel underneath http://www.mediafire.com/listen/7b7t03023gmg9pe/603-HLSA-1405z031314SWP.MP3 603 China (Hulun Buir?) Female Chinese speech almost at equal level with HLSA's deep-voiced Korean male at 1407 http://www.mediafire.com/listen/dbcihnpfld79wi9/603-China-HLSAmix-1407z031314SWP.MP3 73 and Good DX, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA) C.Crane SWP 7.5 Slider loopstick Ultralight + 12 Experimental FSL antenna ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com javascript:; http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com javascript:; ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] Reflections on merger question
I am one of the few NRC members remaining from 1963-64 when the division that resulted in the formation of IRCA came to a head, and my memory, at age 78, is still vivid enough that I could go into some historic detail as to how it all came about. However, though I distinctly remember the issues that arose, it really wasn't the issues that caused the split, it was the way the issues were handled. Karl Zuk, whose comments appeared on the IRCA thread, identified the one key difference between the two clubs, the method of governance. Those who believe all of a club's members should have a vote in how the club is operated are more comfortable in the IRCA; those who are content with the concept that those who do the work make the decisions accept the governance of the NRC. It's as simple as that, and for that reason, I see little chance that a merger can emerge. A good case can be made that the spirit of cooperative competition that has evolved makes both clubs better; thus, those of us who still DX benefit from information that is generated by either, or both, clubs. If there were just one club, the incentive to do better might fade. Though the divisive issues from 50-plus years ago have faded, I intended to provide a brief history of how the division came about and some attempts to bridge the differences have occurred. The result was not quite as brief as I had originally intended. When I joined the NRC in 1956, the club was governed by an elected board of directors. Between 1956 and 1959, issues arose that were heatedly debated within the pages of DX News and in correspondence between club members. Prior to the 1959 convention in Omaha, the publisher, whose title was executive director, announced his resignation. At that convention, there were options presented to the convention goers for a new publisher, but none had long-term experience with the club. Some of the old-timers urged a previous publisher to come back; he said he would if the convention would agree to abolish the board of directors and turn over governance to a three-person team, the publisher (executive director), the Musings Editor, and the International DX editor. The convention-goers voted to do so. That vote established a precedent about the power of a membership vote at the convention. Between 1959 and the Amarillo convention in 1961 some controversial issues arose. At Amarillo, convention-goers voted to take certain actions, but the three-member governing board later overruled some of the votes, resulting in more heated debate that eventually resulted in a decision to cut off debate. A movement grew to establish a new publising team and return to a membership-vote form of government that was OK'd at the Denver convention, but was again rejected by the three-member governing board. In 1962-63 I had tried to convince my friends among the eventual IRCA founders to be patient ... that the publisher at the time had planned to retire a couple of years down the road, and the opportunity would arise to transition to a new three-member board that could have decided to reinstitute an elected board of directors that would have made the club's decisions. If they were ready to publish, they were ready to govern. In 1964, the publisher/executive director retired, the reins were turned over to a successor. By 1965, I had become international editor, thus one of the three governors, and a volunteer to succeed the new publisher. In 1966, Gordon Nelson became International editor, Ernie Cooper remained Musings Editor and Dick Cooper turned over Executive Director voting power to me, as his future successor. At the Montreal convention in 1966, Nelson, Ernie Cooper and I presented a proposed new constitution and by-laws that would have provided a way, a difficult but possible way, for the membership, through an elected board of directors and a membership vote, to impeach an editor or publisher who made contested, unpopular decisions. Some of us remember that during all this time -- 1959 through 1968 -- ALL DX club bulletins were mimeographed publications, hand-cranked, sorted and stuffed into envelopes by the publisher and any others whom he could get to help. It was labor intensive — volunteer labor intensive. Because the NRC, largely due to shared antenna and propagation research by Nelson, thrived and grew, the convention-goers at Montreal soundly rejected the constitution we had written, expressing what we took to be satisfaction with our efforts. There were no controversies at the Eugene convention in 1967, and, even when third-class postal service out of Boston became iffy and we raised the dues from $4.00 to $7.00 so we could send the bulletins via first-class mail, harmony prevailed. Publishing of the bulletins became a team effort by the original BAD Guys, the Boston-Area DX'ers. I turned the crank and, after the team collated the bulletins, stuffed the envelopes, applied the
[IRCA] WWV Solar Report
:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt :Issued: 2014 Mar 14 0015 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # # Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 13 March follow. Solar flux 148 and estimated planetary A-index 13. The estimated planetary K-index at UTC on 14 March was 1. Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Trends -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Date 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 UTC 0900 1200 1500 1800 2100 0300 0600 0900 1200 1500 1800 2100 SFlx 165 165 165 165 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 148 A-in 44445666666614 13 K-in 11112354322121 Current Solar information available at http://www.am-dx.com/wwv.htm ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] Reflections on merger question
John - Thanks for the history; I remembered quite a bit of it but not in the detail you told. However, I think you're too hard on yourself. You and the BPC did the best job possible; making lemonade out of lemons. For that, I have to salute you all. Also, helping Russ and Page take over publishing from the BPC was a blast; as the song goes those were the days … - John ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TP DX in Seattle on March 13
My morning bore no resemblence to Gary's (so what else is new?). I had boring low band reception 1300-1400, that fizzled off to nothing as sunrise approached. However, there was a brief exciting enhancement above 1300, with some decent audio from several Japanese commercial stations. The NHK outlets on 1386 and 1602 did OK as well. Oddly enough, Gary's best high bander today (VOA-1575) was barely audible here. Overall conditions were mostly down from the previous few days, but the high band Japanese added some excitement to an otherwise dull morning. GOOD - A native speaker would have understood most of it at least briefly 774JOUB, Chinese lesson 1331 1422JORF, Japanese talk 1406-1417, then pop song 1566HLAZ, man woman in Chinese, then announcements 1359 FAIR - A native speaker would have recognized words and phrases 594JOAK, male talk 1256-1300, pips at ToH 693JOAB, weather report 1315 747JOIB, weather report 1305 972HLCA, man woman in Korean 1352 1242JOLF, Japanese talk 1410 1386NHK2, man woman in Japanese 1406 1404Japanese talk music in domestic splatter 1406, possibly 2 stations mixing 1431Rapid Japanese talk 1407, then several ads 1503JOUK 1406, Japanese woman 1602NHK2, 1308 Japanese man woman //1386 POOR - A native speaker would have understood none of it 828JOBB, 1339 weak Chinese lesson //774 1125Music and bits of talk 1407 1134Lively talk, possibly a radio drama 1409, sounded like Japanese but not 100% sure 1314JOUF, group vocal 1410, then Japanese woman 1412, possibly rising to fairlevel at times 1323Man woman 1409, too weak to ID language but likely CRI 1458Weak talk 1408 1557Weak talk 1413 1575Weak talk 1412 CARRIERS 558 567 729 738 756 936 963 981 1053 1107 1116 1197 1206 1269 1278 1287 1449 1467 1476 1485 1584 1593 ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
[IRCA] TP 13 Mar, Victoria version
Another interesting morning, more Japanese today, and really, sunrise enhancement after 1400UT was where most of the action was, except for the regulars. Still lots of odd carriers too. pretty darn good audio (all of it understandable by a native speaker, at least briefly): 594 JOAK. Man in JJ 1413UT; at this strength a number of times 774 JOUB. 1224UT w/EE lessons 1566 HLAZ. Man in CC 1422UT Reasonable audio at times during the period (much of it understandable by a native speaker, though often battling w/splash or noise): 531 JOQG migrated north today...man in JJ //594 at 1406UT 603 HLSA likely w/soft countryish vocal mx 1409UT 612 4QR likely w/ man in DU EE 1219UT 738 Tahiti. Man in FF 1205UT 747 JOIB EE lessons 1325UT 828 JOBB. EE lessons 1214UT not so reasonable audio, occasional words or phrases in splash or noise could be understood by a native speaker: 567 JOIK w/man talking //594 1327UT 612 JOLK w/man in JJ //594 1412UT 1242 JOLF likely w/two men in JJ 1411UT 1422 JORF man in JJ overcame the splatter, sort of, 1404, 1407, 1411UT 1503 JOUK likely, man in JJ but not //594 (local nx) 1410UT Burbles in the splatter and noise (if lucky, language might be guessed at by cadence of talk, or parallel established by changes in talk or music) : 558 unID opening notes of a pop song, not //603 1404UT 666 JOBK man in JJ //594 1416UT 693 JOAB EE lessons creeping through the splash from CBU, 1422UT 756 unID. NZ? quick fade up of man talking, DU EE inflection 1204UT 954 JOKR? woman talking, maybe JJ, 1414UT 1125 unID. Choral mx, maybe Tagalog talk? 1417UT 1287 maybe JOHR, woman talking JJ? 1425UT 1314 JOUF? not //DWXI webstream; rock mx 1405, and talk by woman at 1412UT had a JJ sound to it 1404 unID. man talking 1407UT, too murky to say, and couldn't find a // w/1287 1593 CNR1 / NHK2 man and woman in CC //6175 at 1410UT, but another man and woman were also there //774 1602 NHK2. Spotty signal, man talking in splash //774 at 1414UT Strongish het, no or near imaginaryaudio (either undermodulated or ravaged by splatter): 675 711 837 882 891 972 1008 1053 1098 1116 1134 1179 1224 1458 1476 1494 best wishes, Nick ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA
Like many, it really doesn't matter why the split was. I am sure John Johnson or Larry Godwin could answer that question better. Myself, I have been in the IRCA since I was 19, in 1968. I have been on the IRCA BOD now since 1981. The discussion has come up many times with many members through the years. The two clubs are very different on how they are run and yes, the majority of the active DXers in the NRC are in the Midwest and East and the IRCA is in the Mountain states and the West. The general attitude from the ones I have spoke with through the years like the two separate clubs. Some are members of both and like the variety. With the demise of the IRCA paper bulletin , how long will the NRC hold on to theirs? If the two competing Radio Electronics mags drop theirs to go only to online, then much of the rest of the paper publications probably see the handwriting on the wall. There is nothing wrong with an online publication. I do wish we could have kept the paper versi! on, but the cost has really gone up in the past few years and the readership has gone down. Myself, I also like two separate clubs. Patrick Patrick Martin Seaside OR KGED QSL Manager Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:00:48 -0500 From: l...@highnoonfilm.com To: mikesanb...@hotmail.com; a...@nrcdxas.org; irca@hard-core-dx.com Subject: Re: [NRC-AM] [IRCA] CQ Communications The idea of merging NRC/IRCA I was honestly not aware that the IRCA focused on the West Coast, and the NRC focused on the East Coast. Again, this may have been more obvious at some point in the club's histories, but it's hardly the case today. The growth of the Internet for communications have all but removed any trace of regionalism from this hobby. True, I often ignore some of the more hardcore TA and TP loggings and information, but otherwise, I'm interested in what folks are hearing all over the country. I think that pooling resources would help to delay the erosion of the hobby in several significant ways: 1.) Volunteer pool: Where overlap does exist, a merged club would only need one volunteer to handle CPC duties, editorial column duties, Board of Director duties, etc. The pool of volunteers is shrinking along with our membership. Duplication of effort just doesn't make sense. 2.) Time: Think about how much time we all spend sending out duplicate log reports or DX tips to multiple e-mail lists. The same people are subscribed to all of them or at least most. It's unnecessary and a waste of time. 3.) One Stop Shopping: A unified club would be a much stronger voice to advocate our interests to broadcasters, the FCC, ARRL, and other organizations that make common-sense partnerships. It would allow those interested in the hobby to have a single source of information. 4.) Financial: As more members age, and begin to live on fixed incomes, we must all take a look at our hobby expenses. Club membership is not very expensive, but the costs are growing. Especially if you wish to continue to receive printed publications. At some point, many of us may be forced to choose which club we want to belong to. For such a small niche hobby, should that really be necessary? The hobby, like the band itself, may be destined to fade away into history--but I want to fight that battle as long as possible. What did Lincoln say, A house divided cannot stand? I think it's past time to put whatever the issues were behind us. Even now, I can't help but notice that no one has been willing or able to even articulate what these differences are. Here in the South there is a popular bumper sticker displaying the Confederate Flag with a circle/slash drawn over it. The text reads, We lost. Ya'll get over it. It's a simple statement against those who would continue to fight the long-forgotten Civil War, or embrace the symbols that for many also represent pain and oppression. Being proud of your history is one thing. Allowing it to define your future is not. -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63 Member NRC, IRCA, Medium Wave DX Circle Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF Engineering Active Whips, Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector ___ The NRC AM mailing list Questions? ow...@nrcdxas.org Antenna Pattern Book Now Shipping AM Radio Log is now shipping! FM Atlas 21st Edition Close Out Prices! Details at http://www.nrcdxas.org ___ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To
