Hello Everyone,

With CQP just happening this last weekend, apologies for not sending this out sooner, but we have a meeting this Wednesday (10/10) at the Red Cross at 19:00 in Meeting Room 5 at the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, 2731 N. First Street at Plumeria Drive (southwest corner) in San Jose. Talk in is available on the association repeaters, 2m is a good choice.

This month, we have a visit from our dear friend John Miller, K6MM to talk to us about his recent DXpedition to Baker Island at the end of June / early July. While we were out at field day and thought we had some warm weather, John and rest of the Baker team were baking in the South Pacific.

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you know that FT8 is starting to see major use in DXpeditions with its new DXpedition mode. Baker Island was one of the first DXpeditions to give it a full shakedown, find out how it worked out for them!

Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 3,090 km (1,920 mi) southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Howland Island, 42 mi (68 km) to the north-northwest; both have been territories of the United States since 1857, though the United Kingdom considered them part of the British Empire between 1897 and 1936. Located at 0°11′41″N 176°28′46″W, the island covers 2.1 km (0.81 sq mi), with 4.8 km (3.0 mi) of coastline. The climate is equatorial, with little rainfall, constant wind, and strong sunshine. The terrain is low-lying and sandy: a coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef with a depressed central area devoid of a lagoon with its highest point being 8 m (26 ft) above sea level. The island now forms the Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge and is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the U.S. which vouches for its defense. It is visited annually by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For statistical purposes, Baker is grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands. Baker Island is also the last piece of land that experiences the New Year (earliest time zone).
Pre-meeting dinner:
A few of us usually meet for dinner somewhere near the Red Cross around 6 pm prior to the meeting and anyone is welcome to join. This month we’re going to go back to Dish’n’Dash just a block down the street: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dish-n-dash-san-jose

Hope to see you at the meeting!

73,
Bill/W9KKN