Hi Vince,
I was a donor to the expedition, also did OQRS, and I'm still waiting for my card, so I'm sure the manager is still working on them.
73,
Chuck  NI0C

Gosh, I could never bring myself to throw away a QSL card.  They don't take up that much room in my house.  I do have a small wall display with about 20 cards; also use a digital picture frame to display a few hundred scanned QSL's and some of the nicer eQSL's. 

I also use photo albums to display my favorite QSL's from each CQ zone that I have confirmed on each band.  I use three such albums: one for the low bands (160, 80, and 40 meters); one for the traditional DX bands (20, 15, and 10 meters); and one for the WARC bands (30, 17, and 12 meters).  My goal is to fill up each of the slots in those albums.

73,
Chuck  NI0C

I attended both the Hamvention and the QRPARCI FDIM with my son, AA0BP, and his brother-in-law, N9WAT.

In the category of rigs, I was intrigued by Ten Tec's new "Open Source" QRP radio, which is designed to attract some of the younger people who are more interested in creating software than building hardware. 

I also saw the Pixel Pro-1B receiving antenna, which even I would have room for installing at my QTH. 

I was very pleased to meet Dave, AA6YQ, at his DXLab booth, and he answered my basic questions on getting started with Spot Collector, which I will try soon.  Thanks, Dave, for the link to your slide presentation, which we didn't get to see (we had to leave Dayton very early Sunday morning).

In the flea market, I saw several old National receivers that always tug at my heart strings: NC100(?), NC183D, and the HRO60, all in excellent cosmetic condition.  My wife thanks me for not bringing any of these home!

At the FDIM, we heard excellent presentations on Baluns by W7EL, and QRP radio projects by G3RJV.

73,
Chuck  NI0C

I'm almost positive that you have to pick one of the seven zones for a KC4AAA QSO, so you couldn't count it for all seven zones.

Nevertheless, it is interesting that you can work all 40 CQ zones by working less than 40 countries.  Off the top of my head, you could get WAZ with only 33 countries, if you worked Canadians for zones 1-5; Asiatic Russia for 17, 18, and 19; and China for zones 23 and 24.

Typically, though, people don't qualify for WAZ until they've gotten well over 200 countries. 

73,
Chuck  NI0C

Trevor,
See: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_awards/cq_waz_awards/index_cq_waz_award.html

Also: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_awards/cq_on_line_confirmation/cq_on_line_confirmations.html

The CQ awards manager, N5FG, is very nice to deal with, so e-mail him if you have questions after looking at the above web references.

73,
Chuck  NI0C

TNX to K0YQ for pointing out this fun program.  I downloaded it today and scored 51 points in my first 15 minute session with it.  Good practice to see what the business end of a crazy pileup sounds like!
73,
Chuck  NI0C 

17 meters is my band of choice at the moment, and it yielded me Z81X last night for a new band entity. 
73,
Chuck  NI0C

I haven't noticed any ringing with any of the crystal CW filters I have in my K3: (700, 400, 250, and 200 Hz bandwidths).  I'm finding I use the 400 Hz the most often, and if I really want to improve copy on a weak CW signal, the APF function helps a lot.  There is some noticeable ringing associated with the APF; however it is usually not a problem.

73,
Chuck  NI0C

I should have added to my previous posting that an 8-pole filter will always have a better shape factor than a 5-pole filter.

See my comments on this at: http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,88818.0.html

Scroll to bottom of the first page.

73,
Chuck  NI0C

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned that most of the buttons on Elecraft radios have one function for a "TAP" and another function for a "HOLD."  I don't have a manual in front of me to look up the exact duration of a "Hold" versus a "Tap."

73,
Chuck  NI0C

NU1O wrote:

I was merely reporting on my experience-- what I've observed by listening for many years.  I don't have explanations for the motivations of SLIM.
73,
Chuck  NI0C

The best part of Dayton is meeting people you've worked and heard on the air.  I met Peter there a few years back when he stopped at our flea market space.  I'll certainly look for Dave at the DXLab booth.   
73,
Chuck  NI0C

I'll be in Dayton this year with my son, AA0BP.  No flea market spot this year. We'll be concentrating on the QRPARCI activities (and we'll be attending the FDIM banquet).  Peter, I'll look for you at the ARRL DXCC exhibit.
73,
Chuck  NI0C

In my experience, the less frequent the id, the more chances are the call sign is SLIM.
73,
Chuck  NI0C