Denny Avers, W3DRY, will be our speaker on Tuesday October 11 starting at 7PM at NRAO. Denny is our local QSL card checker and has a great background in knowing the in’s and out’s of QSL’ing and the ARRL QSL system. Denny, W3DRY, got interested in ham radio while listening to an old console radio that included shortwave bands. He has been licensed since 1958, when he was in high school. Ham radio steered him toward studying engineering at West Virginia University, and he enjoyed a 30-year career at IBM Federal Systems Company. His early operating was mostly on 75-meter phone, when it was a very friendly place to be. Denny didn’t get interested in DXing until the late 1990s and his first DXCC submission was based on QSLs for 75/80 meter contacts. He now holds 9-Band DXCC, DXCC Honor Roll (Mixed and CW), and 2,500+ for DXCC Challenge. All contacts were made using a wire antenna in an antenna-restricted community. He was nominated as a DXCC card-checker by Dennis Bodson/W4PWF (SK), when he was Roanoke Division Director. Presentation: Working ‘DX’ has been the primary focus of amateur radio from its very beginning. Working a station in another town was real DX during the spark-gap days. Today, It is still the very essence of the ‘magic’ of ham radio, and it helps develop the skills one needs to be an effective operator when called upon to provide communications during an emergency situation. Denny’s presentation will focus on the art of QSLing, and he will also spend some time providing some suggestions on how to work DX with a rather modest station. Then, we’ll have some fun with a Q&A to wrap things up. It should be a most interesting evening for all.
Important: Denny is willing to stay AFTER the meeting to check cards for DXCC, WAS, VUCC, and WAC. Those requesting this service must come with (1) the QSLs to be checked, (2) the appropriate “application” and “card list” forms filled out, and (3) provide credit card information for payment of ARRL fees (no checks or cash). Anyone who wishes to have me check their cards on October 11 must send an E-mail (w3dry@arrl.net) to let me know the approximate number of cards they want me to check. If the list gets too long, we’ll cut it off and schedule another time to do some more. First come – first served.“