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1999 Pacific Northwest DX Convention
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA
My wife Vicky, KB5EAM, and I took a little mini-vacation this summer
to the Pacific Northwest, and our travels included the 1999 Pacific Northwest
DX Convention in Portland. This event rotates between Seattle, Portland,
and Vancouver, BC every three years, and this year’s convention in
Portland was sponsored by the Willamette Valley DX Club. Vicky and I attended
the 1998 convention in Seattle, and we plan to attend the 2000 convention
in Vancouver.
Prior to the convention, we visited Bob Brown, NM7M (my predecessor
for the Propagation column) in Anacortes, WA. We also visited four lighthouses
on the drive from Bob’s QTH to Portland (Vicky is a lighthouse aficionado)
— Admiralty Head, Mukilteo, North Head, and Cape Disappointment.
And finally, Rush Drake, W7RM gave us a wonderful tour of his antenna
farm and operating rooms at his La Center, WA. QTH.
 The DX Convention started off bright and early
Saturday morning with Hank Lonberg, Jr., KR7X, telling us about his first
international DX effort as a member of the very impressive 1998 IH9P CQ
Worldwide SSB team to Pantorella Island.
I was next on the agenda with a discussion of skewed path propagation
to Europe on the low bands.
Following me was Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, the ARRL’s Membership Services
Manager. Bill talked about DXCC and contesting. His excellent knowledge
of political and geographical issues really shows in his discussion of
DXCC topics.
After lunch, Tom Meier, K7ZZ, told us about his most recent trip to Kwajelein
as V73ZZ for the 1999 WPX CW contest.
Next was Jack Talmadge, and he gave a very interesting and informative
talk about preventing power line and RFI problems. He showed us how he
finds and solves power line interference using state-of-the-art equipment.
 Dennis
Motschenbacher, K7BV, then gave us a slide show of his recent trip to
OHØ and OJØ for the 1999 WPX CW contest. Dennis is currently
the Editor of the National Contest Journal (NCJ).
Last on the agenda was Hank, KR7X, this time bringing us some practical
and useful information on constructing towers and getting the permits
to do so.
The Saturday evening banquet drew a big crowd, with Vicky and I sitting
at a table with Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF/7 (a former Ft. Wayne native) and
his wife Shirley, Jim Neiger, N6TJ of ZD8Z contesting fame, Hillar Raamat,
N6HR, Hillar’s wife Elsie, N7WDX, and a non-Ham friend of Elsie.
The banquet speaker was Trey Garlough, N5KO, and he showed the video from
the recent ZL9CI Campbell Island DXpedition.
At the hospitality room later in the evening, Vicky and I mingled with
everyone, and I even managed to snag third place in the CW Pileup competition
(yes, there were more than three participants).
We certainly enjoyed last year’s DX convention in Seattle and this
year’s convention in Portland. We’re looking forward to next
year’s convention in Vancouver. I strongly recommend that you attend
one of these if you’re interested in DXing and contesting.
 
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