PODXS 070 Club

 

The beginning as written by Jay N3DQU #0010:

Before the history of this very active group can be examined, one must first look at the roots of the sponsoring organization, the Penn-Ohio DX Society. The birth of the Penn-Ohio DX Society (PODXS) is an interesting story in itself, perhaps a subject for another time. What follows is a short synopsis, so the reader can understand the driving force behind the Ø7Ø Club and how it came to be.

More commonly known to its members as PODXS (pronounced PO-dix), the Penn-Ohio DX Society is a somewhat obscure independent amateur radio club based in New Castle, Pennsylvania. What some might call a renegade group, PODXS was formed in July 1996 by N3DQU, AA8QQ, KD3MO and AA3KM, with membership being restricted to those licensed General Class and above. Perhaps "renegade" is too strong a term when talking about PODXS, suffice to say that the Penn-Ohio DX Society was formed in response to a very strong, local club environment which supported VHF while virtually ignoring the HF side of amateur radio.

A short time after PODXS was formed, KA3X joined as the fifth member of the group, to bring the total regular membership to five. The regular membership of PODXS has never numbered more than 5 members and currently stands at three: N3DQU, AA8QQ and N3XC. Over time however, a number of honorary members have been privileged to join the PODXS ranks. Except for a yearly meeting and a "changing of the hats", PODXS remained a loose-knit group, putting their efforts into enjoying this great hobby of ours, rather than getting caught up in the mundane organizational aspects that tend to be a drag on what an amateur radio club should be all about.

In the original bylaws, the stated purpose of PODXS was "...to enjoy the traditional aspects of amateur radio and to maintain an active ARRL-VEC testing team in the New Castle, PA area." The phrase "traditional aspects" refers to all those activities that one normally associates with HF operating: sky wires, chasing DX, contests, wallpaper and QSL cards, sunspots, propagation, etc. Not long after the inception of the club, the VEC testing team was dropped for certain reasons, leaving the stated purpose to stand as it has been ever since, "The Penn-Ohio DX Society exists to to enjoy the traditional aspects of amateur radio."

Fast forward to the year 2000. Something new has been happening in the amateur radio world and it is significant in a hobby, where numbers are beginning to be negatively affected as the advance of the internet threatens the hobby's membership base. The "soundcard modes" have emerged, bringing new and old blood back into amateur radio and it looks like PSK31 is leading the pack. But something is missing. There are amateurs out there putting PSK31 on the air to be sure, but except for one-on-one QSO's, there is not much out there for them to do, no base of operations, no flame to congregate around. Enter the Penn-Ohio DX Society.

Jay Hudak, KA3X, affectionately known as the "Old Dood", was the first PODXS member to experiment with the new soundcard mode, PSK31. Once the other members got involved, it became obvious that here was an opportunity for "The PODXS Boys" to give something back to the amateur radio hobby, in a sense to become part of amateur radio history. KA3X and N3DQU decide to form a support group for PSK31, called the Ø7Ø Club, a reference to some of the operating frequencies where PSK31 can be found, with KA3X as the Club Manager and N3DQU doing yeoman service as webmaster, awards boss, et al. On September 21, 2000, the Old Dood, Jay Hudak, KA3X, officially becomes the very first member of the Ø7Ø Club, as Ø7Ø #001. By the end of 2000, the Ø7Ø Club boasted a membership of 25 members, and now at the time of this writing, stands at over 800 members worldwide.

Except for a very short period, the Ø7Ø Club has always offered membership free of charge to all amateurs licensed to operate on the HF bands. The Ø7Ø Club is very proud of the fact that all operating costs have been paid by donations of time and money from the members of PODXS and the Ø7Ø Club.

Of course, the Ø7Ø Club did not blossom to over 800 members over night and there is still quite a bit yet to tell...of endorsements, the TDW, PSKFest, Dayton eyeball QSO's, Honorary PODXS members, APE, LONP and the Low Band Sprints, Rollo, Mona and her cat...all parts of Ø7Ø Club history. But this article is long enough. For now, let me tell you something you probably didn't know. Back in 2001, the Old Dood and I talked about just how far we were going to take the Ø7Ø Club project. After all, it looked like PSK31 was starting to take off on its own and there were other outfits out there that were offering contests and awards for the fledgling mode. We had accomplished what we set out to do, to give something back to the hobby, maybe even make our mark in amateur radio history. So it was decided that, once we hit member #100, we would pull the plug on the Ø7Ø Club and move on to other things!

Little did we realize... 73 de Jay, N3DQU, Ø7Ø #010 ..

 

Update August 2021

 

The 070 Club has become more than any of the founders could have ever imagined.  As of this writing, there are over 2850 members worldwide! The concept as written above by N3DQU of moving on after hitting member number 100 has disappeared into the ionosphere like a refracted radio wave.  Lucky members can still catch Jay #0010 on the bands, and Steve W3HF #0025 is very active in all the club activities (and he is the one that ensures that we still follow the core values of the founding members in our activities and operations). This month Steve is operating APE from Diego Garcia as VQ9HF.

Over the years, leadership has changed (check the Staff Directory for the current list of volunteers) and the club has continued to develop contests and events to further the use of PSK31 throughout the world. 

Virtually every month has a contest, and there are continous opportunities to receive endorsements and recognition for operation.  Besides the coveted LONP, we have added some very difficult achievements such as Work The World (WTW), 365/366, 24/7, APE, Chimp, Endorsement Daze, for which information about each can be found on the website. 

One of the memorable contests was when we achieved member #500, and we had a 500 mile race with points being awarded for contacts. The first to reach 500 points was declared the winner! 

The club has added the Rollo Cup Championship, RC3, which spans the entire year.  Members accumulate points for this coveted Revere cup trophy by operating and scoring in all of the contests spanning the year.  The first ever RC3 cup was awarded to Lee, N5SLY for accumulating the most points in 2019, with the most recent being John KC3L for 2020. 

We are looking forward to achieving membership level 3000, for which you can be sure there will be a huge celebration, and a contest that will challenge each and every one of us.

 

 

  St. Patrick's Day Contest

 

Purpose:

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated internationally on 17 March. Named after, um, Saint Patrick, one of the most commonly recognized patron saints of Ireland and originating as a religious holiday, it has gradually become more of a celebration of Ireland and Ireland's culture. Now the  Ø7Ø Club brings you an international 24 hour St. Patrick's Day on-the-air party that is now open to all PSK-31 operators!

 

ENTRY CATEGORIES:

QRP (max power 5 watts output)

Low Power (max power 25 watts output)

Medium Power (max power 50 watts output)

High Power (max power 100 watts output) (use 100 watts on 40m & lower only, and 50 watts maximum on 20m and up)

 

DATE:

3rd Saturday in March: 0000-2359 UTC

 

 

EXCHANGE:

State/province/country (SPC). Call "CQ St. Pat's Contest".

 

 

BANDS:

160 thru 6 meters, no WARC bands. Work each station once/band.

All contacts must be 2-way PSK31.

No repeater, cross-mode or cross-band contacts allowed.

 

Power:

Use no more than the stated maximum for your entry category. Please keep your power output set to a reasonable level to avoid QRMing others. Use the MINIMUM power necessary to make the contact at all times!

 

SCORING:

 QSO points - Each contact counts one (1) QSO point, dupes count (0) points.

Multipliers - Each different state/province/country (SPC) worked. Use current ARRL DXCC list for country reference.

Final Score = (Total QSO Points) x (Total Different SPC's).

 

Scoring Notes:

SPC Definition: S = U.S. States, P = Canadian Provinces, C = DXCC Countries

First U.S. station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First VE station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and province).

First Alaska station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First Hawaii station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

Washington, DC counts as Maryland (MD).

 

Bonus Points:

 

 

How about a challenge within the contest?

In the same spirit of the Work The World Award Series, using the FIRST LETTER of the suffixes of the stations you work during the contest, spell out the phrase:  for Bonus Points as follows:

Spell "Erin" and claim 100 Bonus Points.

Note: a single callsign can only be used once per band. Same station diffenent band is NOT a dupe.

You need 11 qualified QSOs for the full credit of 500 Bonus Points.

Only the first letter of the suffix counts towards the spelling of the words.

 

 

AWARDS:

Place certificates will be sent for each category. Highest Ø7Ø Club member score gets Top Dawg and a Rollo Dog Tag!

All Ø7Ø Club member entries received will automatically qualify for an endorsement sticker.
 

 

Entries:

Logfile format: ADIF (why adif?). Please submit logs via the St Patrick's Uploader. (will be activated when contest starts).

All entries must be received by One (1) week after the St. Patrick's Contest.

Entries with excessive dupes will be listed as check logs. All entries are subject to verification.

 

The 070 Club reserves the right to disqualify entries deemed not in accordance with the above rules or are contrary to the spirit of this event.

 

If you have questions, please contact our contest support staff: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

 

ANNUAL Ø7Ø CLUB PSKfest

 

PURPOSE:

To work as many stations as possible in the allotted time using PSK31 mode.

 

ENTRY CATEGORIES:

QRP (max power 5 watts output)

Low Power (max power 25 watts output)

Medium Power (max power 50 watts output)

High Power (max power 100 watts output) (use 100 watts on 40m & lower only, and 50 watts maximum on 20m and up)

 

DATE:

0000-2359 UTC On the 1st Saturday following January 1st

 

EXCHANGE:

State/province/country (SPC). Call "CQ PSKFEST".

 

BANDS:

80 thru 10 meters, no WARC bands. Work each station once/band.

All contacts must be 2-way PSK31.

No repeater, cross-mode or cross-band contacts allowed.

 

Power:

 Use no more than the stated maximum for your entry category. Please keep your power output set to a reasonable level to avoid QRMing others. Use the MINIMUM power necessary to make the contact at all times!

 

SCORING:

 QSO points - Each contact counts one (1) QSO point, dupes count (0) points.

Multipliers - Each different state/province/country (SPC) worked. Use current ARRL DXCC list for country reference.

Final Score = (Total QSO Points) x (Total Different SPC's).

 

Scoring Notes:

SPC Definition: S = U.S. States, P = Canadian Provinces, C = DXCC Countries

First U.S. station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First VE station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and province).

First Alaska station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

First Hawaii station worked counts as two (2) multipliers (country and state).

Washington, DC counts as Maryland (MD).

 

AWARDS:

Place certificates will be sent for each category. Highest Ø7Ø Club member score gets Top Dawg and a Rollo Dog Tag!

All Ø7Ø Club member entries received will automatically qualify for an endorsement sticker.
 

ENTRIES:

Logfile format: ADIF (why ADIF?)

Please submit logs via the PSKFest Uploader 

 

All entries must be received by (ONE (1) week after the PSKFest). Entries with excessive dupes will be listed as check logs. All entries are subject to verification.

 

The 070 Club reserves the right to disqualify entries deemed not in accordance with the above rules or contrary to the spirit of this event.

 

If you have have questions, please contact our contest support staff: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.