Another On-The-Air Award

Following the announcement of the Lost Island DX Society’s LIDS-On-The-Air (LOTA) award, we discovered yet another unique On-The-Air style award. The Interstate Highway Rest Area Society sponsors the Rest Areas On The Air (RAOTA) activity and (soon coming) award. This is one of the more interesting concepts for an On-The-Air activity. Its easy to envision weekend DXpeditions to activate rare rest stops in the wide open west. Although award details are not available at press time, we assume that you’re not required to actually operate from within the restroom of the rest stop, which would be a little awkward not to mention potentially, umm, un-aromatic.

 The LIDS give a hearty endorsement to the nascent RAOTA award and look forward to the Worked All Rest Areas (WARA) award that must certainly be on the way. Perhaps we can cooperate and have the LIDS mount an activity weekend to activate some of the rest areas. We see a Toilet-LIDS-On-The-Air weekend as sure to attract much attention and hopefully not cause much stink.

   

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.

LIDS On The Air

Recent years have seen a surge in popularity and activity of various ‘On The Air’ types of awards. The largest being the Islands On The Air (IOTA) award, but there is also the Summits On The Air (SOTA) and the Wainrights On The Air (WOTA) as well as several others.

The Lost Island DX Society is not above hopping on an already crowded bandwagon, so with great pride we announce the LIDS On The Air (LOTA) award. This award should be relatively easy to qualify for since LIDS can be readily found in just about every DX pileup and most contests. But don’t discount finding LIDS on the air during casual operations. To qualify for the LOTA award, work 100 or more LIDS. An SWL version of the LOTA award is also available with the same requirement to copy 100 or more LIDS. To qualify, send in a listing of the LIDS worked/heard and you will receive an impressive Certificate of Radio Achievement and Participation (CRAP). So if you would like to receive a LOTA CRAP, send your LIDS list to the Lost Island DX Society DX Society World Headquarters and we will be happy to comply.

Perpetual Energy

While the grammar police were combing our previous reports, the Lost Island DX Society was sending a group of representatives to Washington, DC to see if we could help break the impasse on the debt ceiling. Or barring that, see if while distracted by budget issues we could sneak a request for permission to land on Navassa Island (KP1) past the Fish and Wildlife folks. Sadly, the answer is still 'no' on both accounts.

While attempting to find the back entrance into the Capital building, where we hear their cafeteria has a dynamite Francis Scott Key Lime pie, we came upon a sight which set us back on our collective heels for a moment. On the grounds of the Botanical Gardens at the foot of the Capital building sits a windmill that never stops turning. Despite the lack of any wind, this windmill turns continuously. We stopped and observed it for quite some time, and it continued to turn, again, without any evidence of natural wind.



Our delegation sought out one of the groundskeepers of the Botanical Gardens to ask about this miraculous windmill, thinking it must be motorized. Nope, we were informed, the windmill runs off of wind only. The secret is its location. Being at the foot of Capital Hill, it has an inexhaustible supply of hot air to power it, day and night.

Once informed of this, the answer was obvious. So, what does this have to do with Big Gun DX'ers and Contesters? Easy. Every Big Gun station has a similar, though smaller, supply of hot air available. If windmills could be installed at these stations in the proper location, it should be possible to generate enough power to supply at least one Alpha for the contest weekend. Green technology - it's not just for Al Gore anymore.

IAMRU Contest This Weekend

This weekend the Lost Island DX Society will be participating in the summer festival of QRN, otherwise known as the IAMRU contest. This annual contest, under the guise of an everybody-works-everybody DX contest, is THE platform for a jingoistic radiosport competition between national radio societies. In the past, certain national radio societies have worked the contest rules looking for loopholes like a tax lawyer with an offshore bank account. This year should be no different.

The LIDS are testing some new performance enhancing hardware for the contest this year. The logging computer has been outfitted with some additional hardware and software. For every new multiplier worked, the computer triggers a dispenser and gives the operator an M&M. Green ones if it's a really rare mult. If the rate meter falls below a preset level, the computer trigger a power source connected to the operator's seat which administers a mild shock. If after two minutes the rate has not reached an acceptable level, the voltage of the shock is increased. This continues until either an acceptable run rate is attained or it is necessary to replace the op. If these enhancements work out, expect support for them to be included in a future release of N1MM and Writelog.

Survey of Field Day Activites

The meisters of mediocrity heavily promote the annual Field Day Not-A-Contest-Even-Though-We-Keep-Score-And-Report-Them Event as a giant on-air kumbaya gathering of clubs and friends who take to the wilds of the local park and rough-it for 24 hours while trying to demonstrate that, given 12 months notice and plenty of time to plan and recruit volunteers, we amateurs can respond in a snap to provide communications in an emergency. If it falls on a weekend with nice weather.

Many group Field Day outings also provide ample opportunity for members of the group to channel their inner Bobby Flay and demonstrate what may be lacking in RF readiness is more than made up for in gastronomical extravagance.

Field Day has a place and function for amateurs of every streak and interests. In order to demonstrate the variety of Field Day activities, the Lost Island DX Society commissioned a survey of Field Day activities among a plethora of active amateur operators. (FYI, plethora has nothing do to with that fake zebra-leather looking stuff that covered the headboard of Cousin QRM's bed in his bachelor days - just to save you the trouble of looking it up like we did.) The question asked was "What did you do for Field Day this year?" Results below are about as accurate as the surveys printed in a popular radio magazine.

World Ending This Weekend, Dayton Hamvention To Be Held As Scheduled

Despite warnings from California preacher Harold Camping that the world will end Saturday, May 21, 2011 beginning at 6 PM, the Dayton Hamvention will be held as usual. Hamvention chair Michael Kalter, W8CI, said “In the past we’ve dealt with thunderstorms and even tornadoes, and the Hamvention has continued on. We’re not going to let a little thing like the world ending preempt the premier amateur radio gathering in the world.”

As radio amateurs the world over began to converge on Dayton, OH for the Hamvention, organizers of the QRP-centric Four Days in May conference and the Contest University, two events held prior to the official start of the Hamvention, reported no concerns about the end of the world. “Contest University is over on Thursday, so an apocalypse on Saturday won’t bother our plans at all,” said Tim Duffy, K3LR, head of Contest University. “However, if the start time of the apocalypse is correct, it will kind of screw things up for the Contest Dinner on Saturday night,” according to Duffy.

Several regular attendees of the Hamvention, when questioned about the impact of the impending end of the world on the Hamvention reported that having experienced the Hara Arena bathrooms on Saturday afternoon, they have already experienced hell and are well prepared.

Hamvention officials reported that in the event of the world ending as predicted, Sunday's events for the Hamvention will continue as planned but attendees are advised to dress appropriately in the event of hail and brimstone.

Secrets of the CW DX Pileup

Meaningless statistics up 26%!

How do you tackle that nasty DX pileup on cw? Check below and see where you fit in.

All data accurate +/- 400% - about as accurate as CBO predictions of the federal budget and GDP.

Survey Says...

Remember that old TV show called Family Feud when it was good? Yeah, me neither.

The hottest trend in reporting these days is the presentation of data in the form of big colorful graphs. Whether it’s showing how many people with size 8 shoes think the president is doing a wonderful job versus the number of left-handed albinos who think he isn’t, the infograph is a staple of modern journalism. This data is from the murky world of statistics, a branch of mathematics only slightly less confusing than new car warranty exceptions. Surveys and statistics have two really important attributes going for them that make them a lazy reporter/blogger/whatever’s dream: 1) 67.9% of all statistics are made up on the spot, and 2) big colorful pictures means you don’t have to write as many words.

Being one to never look a Trojan horse in the mouth, the staff of the Fi-Ni Report is hopping on the infographic bandwagon. Just like our favorite magazine publisher in Connecticut, we’re going to start filling up blank space with pretty pictures that may or may not accurately reflect the habits and attitudes of the amateur radio community. Make of them what you will.

The A-R-Double-L

Amateur radio is an activity governed by rules and regulations more than almost any other non-commercial activity. Firstly, amateurs are bound by the rules for amateur radio operation established by their governments regarding frequency, power and other limits of their operation. Those who pursue the art of DXing are bound by the rules of the various DX programs in which they participate. Contesters are bound by the rules of the contests in which they operate.

Where ever there are rules, there are inevitably rule breakers, intentional or not. Some are blatant, others, not so much. For every rule there is an interpretation of what the rule actually means. In the case of award programs and contests in particular, there is even room to argue that rules are wrong.

Opinions on these matters, like certain body parts, are universally widespread among the populace. This has lead to a sub-genre of activity in the amateur radio world defending or attacking various rules and interpretations. To date, this activity has been haphazard and un-organized. Amateurs, however, love clubs and organizations. Except for those who hate clubs and organizations - another argument for another day. But for those who feel a need for organization and recognition, we are proud to announce the founding of the Armchair Radio Lawyers League (A-R-Double-L).

The A-R-Double-L is predicated on the assumption that everyone has watched enough episodes of Law and Order to be a self-educated lawyer and can apply that astute thinking to interpreting the rules of the DXCC program or the 10-minute rule for CQWW and can argue their opinion persuasively without resorting to childhood epithets involving bodily parts. Hence, it is not expected to attract a large crowd of 75m ragchewers.

A new list-serv dedicated to A-R-Double-L arguments will be created. As needed, special list-servs may be created for individual topics such as “Should Scarborough Reef be considered ‘land’?” and “What actually constitutes ‘assistance’ during a contest?”. The hope is that these will remove some of the dreck from CQ-Contest*.

The Armchair Radio Lawyer League will be administered by the law firm of Howe, Dewey, Cheatham and Wynn.

* The Armchair Radio Lawyer League has no affiliation with the CQ-Contest website, the CQ-Contest list-serv or Major League Baseball.