Gearing Up For Contest Season

While we’re still wringing out the water left by Irene and patching the cracks in the drywall from the earthquake, a hint of autumn floats through the air in recent mornings. For ordinary folk that means football season. They’re gathering their tailgate accouterments and digging out their favorite team jersey in preparation for the Big Game.

As a Big Gun Contester or DXer, fall means the start of the contest and DX season. Time is running short for completing those antenna and shack improvements. Have you got your required multi-radio lockout rigged yet?

There is still time to order the Big Gun equivalent of a team jersey. Proudly proclaim your proclivity for the Lost Island DX Society. At some level, we’re all LIDS, so order your LIDS wear today from the official LIDS store on Cafepress. You can also get Dr. DX’s Antenna Wax wear for the antenna farmer looking to coax that last 0.01 dB out of his antenna system. And there’s even items for those who’ll work phone when they pry the J-38 from their cold, dead hand.

Preparing for the Contest Season

Jumping Jehoshaphat! Here it is the first of September. Summer is semi-officially over and we're staring down the barrel of the 2010 Contest Season and the Lost Island DX Society hasn't gotten even one of the summer antenna projects completed. Plans for the pair of rotating 200' towers with stacked mono-banders ran into a snag due to a lack of space and money, so we're now trying to get a tribander up on a rusty old Rohn 20 tower we found in the weeds over on the neighbor's property. The SB-220 is still sitting in pieces at the club station waiting for the magic smoke to be put back into the power supply. Macho Cueso and Leche Dinero have spent the summer touring with a Lucha Libre troupe, so their preparations to dominate the Xtreme division of CQWW have been put behind schedule. It's time to start getting serious.

To get you in the proper frame of mind at least, make sure you've got your stocks of Lost Island DX Society paraphernalia. Whether you're a Big Gun or a Pea Shooter, attitude is everything and the LIDS have plenty of that. Whether its at the next hamfest or club meeting, come out of the closet and proudly let everyone know you're one of the LIDS.

Sunspots or no, the big contests cometh. Let's make some RF!

Dayton Fashion

We're only about a month away from the Dayton Hamvention, so time to start planning in earnest. In particular, the fashion scene is an important component of the Dayton experience. Big guns, little guns alike, the look at Dayton is as important as it is during Fashion Week in NYC. The top photo shows one of the vendors at a recent hamfest hawking the latest in haute couture for public service activities. Yellow safety vests never go out of style in the ham radioverse, just ask around on your favorite repeater.

The LIDS can't compete with the yellow safety vest, but over at the Fi-Ni Report's home for official merchandise, we do have a new shirt in yellow certain to get you the attention you crave, and an apt description of most of the official LIDS. See the second picture above.

We still have official Lost Island DX Society logo shirts and the beeutiful Dr. DX shirts. Order yours now so you'll have them in time for Dayton.