As told by Bill, K7ZM: The club was formed at a meeting of a group of hams on a May 1989 afternoon at Jake's Truck Stop in Bend. The existing local ham club was mostly into repeaters and I suggested that we start a club oriented towards DXing and Contesting. A piece of paper was passed around as our first club membership roster, and so was formed the "Central Oregon DX Club". I was elected the Club's first President. Vern Anderson, K7DSS, (now W7WH) was elected Vice President and Gene Varney, WA7OTM, (Old Tired Man, SK) became Secretary-Treasurer. At least four other local Amateurs signed up and we decided to become an affiliated ARRL Club, which we achieved on June 24, 1989. The club was growing. Other newer members included Ron Smith, K9QAM, and Ed Vaughn, K7YLO, who were quickly named Field Day directors for the club's first official gathering in June. Other newer member included Harry Townsend, K6ELR (now KI7MM), Bob Mazziotti, WA6RDK (now K7RDK), and Bruce Danielson, N7RFM, who designed the first CODXC website. Today, the club continues to grow and is extremely active, coordinating the annual Oregon QSO Party (now the 7th Call Area QSO Party), participating in the annual ARRL Field Day event, and traveling each year to put the (very rare) Modoc County on the air for the California QSO Party. Many club members participate in major contests like the CQ WW, ARRL DX Contest, ARRL Sweepstakes, various Sprints and most other contests, as well as holding locally-sponsored community events such as "Kids' Day". |
