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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Wow,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> I just read this and I need to make a few comments.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I certainly agree with Gene’s first paragraph, and it caused me to go over to rdxa.com and check the Score Grids from the last two years. It is really disappointing, with a membership of around 70, we had a maximum of 12 people post scores in CQ WW SSB contests. And for both years, that was the highest, the rest of the DX contesting scores are around 6-8 as an average. For ARRL DX CW is was 6 and for ARRL SSB is was 8. Yes NYQP and SS are higher, most likely because they are shorter contests and are more heavily promoted. (Remember, I got my ass jacked by W2FU this year for supposedly cheating at K2NNY by sending out an e-mail to get on and have some fun?) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>For the second paragraph, I don’t agree with Gene, it is never useless to pole the club, in fact I think we did that last year, except that the results of that pole were never published on the reflector, they were stated at a meeting, but meeting attendance is also down from normal years, so basically no one really remembers what was poled, and maybe 15 or 20 got the results of the pole.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The third paragraph makes great sense. If you want to DX or DX Contest, RDXA should be the place to be.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>4)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Then we get our asses jacked again by W2FU by saying that we need another reflector because he didn’t like DX spotting on the main reflector (WTF is the reflector for) Anyway that has been settled and I hope people get back to using the reflector, it is a mechanism to keep RDXA’ers together.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> This all being said, I have also raised the point before, what are we a FIELD DAY CLUB? As from my point of view that is basically all we do to promote the club comradeship, that is the only thing we do as a “CLUB”, and that has evolved into a political nightmare in itself. You all know what I mean. Watch the higher turnout and teeth natching on Tuesday when K1PY starts again to convince us all to GO FOR IT and WIN on Field Day. (Unless I am wrong, that will happen.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> As for getting anything done in this club, and remember all are volunteers, it is like pulling teeth, we can’t even get the newsletter on the from page of the website because there is too much code writing to do it easily.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Bottom line, and I feel the same way, TO MUCH POLITICS and no politicians. We all feel the pain, but many back out and no longer serve because of the politics of getting things done. I am almost at that point, along with many members of the BOD, that is why, at the BOD meeting last night, I laid it out to everyone, you need to be ACCOUNTABLE for your actions To much willy nilly going on, people afraid to tell someone they are NOT doing their job, even though it is volunteer position. That is part of why things are going south, but changes are coming, and I believe they will be fast.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It is an ongoing battle to get people motivated, many bitch about what goes on, but when you ask them to get on the BOD and make changes, why do they all say NO. They want to voice their opinions and cut up the Officers and BOD, but they will not volunteer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>We are what we are, and believe me, the Officers and BOD are great people and all want the same, but we all say “what can we do to change things ?” If you have an answer, let us know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>We change things, people bitch, we don’t change, people bitch, it is a no win situation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Gene, my thoughts, POLE the CLUB on the reflector, and let them have a go on the reflector, then you, the Officers and the BOD members will find out what people want. Remember, something like this will generate lots of replies, good and bad. This is exactly what happens, people send things to the Officers and BOD and it gets distributed around to about 8 or 10 guys and it dies. The club members don’t get a say, or a chance to reply because they don’t see the concerns from the membership.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Here is what I will do, I will take Gene’s e-mail, strip any identification from it and send it to the club and say we need your feed back, and let the fur fly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Paul K2DB<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> rdxa-bod-bounces@rdxa.com [mailto:rdxa-bod-bounces@rdxa.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Paul Kolacki<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:08 PM<br><b>To:</b> rdxa-bod@rdxa.com<br><b>Subject:</b> [Rdxa-bod] FW: ARRL DX Contests<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I received this from W2LU today. I now forward it to you for your reading pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>FX<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Gene Fuller [<a href="mailto:w2lu@rochester.rr.com">mailto:w2lu@rochester.rr.com</a>] <br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:46 PM<br><b>To:</b> Capt. Paul Kolacki; C R Shalvoy; Ken Boasi<br><b>Subject:</b> ARRL DX Contests<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hi Paul,Chris and Ken -</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I continue to be disappointed in the club's focus. With less than two months until the ARRL DX contests. it seems as though our focus is already going to be on six months away - Field Day. And then it will be SS and then NYQP. My observation is that over the years the club has morphed from a DX club to a domestic contest club and I may now be in a minority of the membership more interested in DX and not so much in just high numbers of stateside Q's. </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I have nothing against the stateside contests, it's just that that is not where my primary interests lie. I'm afraid that at this point it would be useless to pole the membership since for sure there is a strong, vocal, group focused on Field Day/SS/NYQP activity which would dominate. Perhaps realistically we (I) should just acknowledge the fact that we are just a contest club and that one of the contest areas that we are interested in might be the various DX contests. </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I would think that RARA would be the place for general contesting and RDXA , by name at least, would be the place for DX'ing and DX contests.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Just my nickel's worth.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>73's,</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Gene / W2LU</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>