Welcome to the Dominion DX Group

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We are a small club located in Richmond, VA.  We have a diverse member base that enjoys many aspects of amateur radio.

DDXG monthly meetings are normally held on the fourth Saturday of each month. However, in the month of October we will not have a regular club meeting. Rather, on Saturday, October 19th, many of our members will operate a Parks on the Air (POTA) station at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County, 10301 State Park Road, Chesterfield, VA 23832-6355. We will start at 10:00 AM EST. Guests are welcome and information about our club will be available. We anticipate having two stations to allow for twice the fun. More information about POTA is contained in the post below. If you have questions about this event, our our regular meetings contact Jim Mundy, WY4O, via email at wy4o73 at gmail dot com.

We are doing a couple test runs of a proposed DDXG 80 meter net. John, KX4QC, will be on 80 meters around 3.860 at 8:00 PM EDT (00:00 GMT) on Thursday evenings. Announcements will begin around 7:45 PM EDT (23:45 GMT). All are welome.

If you want to inquire about QSLs, send a message to the club, or ask the club a question, then send us an email.

DDXG to host POTA event

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

Parks on the Air (POTA) is about amateur radio operators visiting parks and making contacts from within the parks with other amateur radio operators at any location. DDXG will host a POTA event on Saturday, October 19th, at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County. Beginning at 10 AM EST multiple stations will be operating allowing licensed hams to get on the air and participate. Guests are welcome. And DDXG members will be available to chat about our hobby and our club.

If you’d like to join us, the address for Pocahontas State Park is 10301 State Park Road, Chesterfield, VA 23832-6355. Parking is $7.00. Once you enter the park follow signs to Picnic Shelter 2 and look for the club banner. There are two to three parking spots adjacent to the shelter including one handicap parking spot; the rest of the parking is about 200 feet away. Bathrooms are within 100 feet.

More information about Parks on the Air can be found at the POTA website. A presentation from our September club meeting is available to review here.

It’s Time for Field Day!

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment
Logo for ARRL 2024 Field Day

On the weekend of June 22-23, 2024, in locations across the country, amateur radio operators and clubs will participate in ARRL Field Day. So what exactly is Field Day? According to ARRL Radiosport and Regulatory Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, “It is part emergency communications exercise, part social gathering, part open house for ham radio – it is what the local club makes of it. No matter what goal your activation has, ARRL hopes it is a safe, fun, and rewarding event for each club.”

Here in the metro-Richmond area the primary field day operations is facilitated by our friends at the Richmond Area Telecommunications Society (RATS). And, as in pervious years, the event will take place at the Laurel Recreation Area, 10301 Hungary Spring Rd., in northern Henrico County. Information can be found at the RATS Summer Field Day information page. Many of our DDXG members will join in the activities.

As a kid, even before I was a licensed ham, I remember my Dad (WA3JTU, SK) making the trek to the field day location of the local central Pennsylvania club. Later, because we had a military surplus 10KW generator (before home generators were cool), Dad would participate from the home station. And every year non-hams, or hams who had not been active for a while, would find their way for the social gathering, the learning available, to get on the air, or just for the hot dogs and hamburgers. There will even be testing available if you are becoming a ham or upgrading your license.

2023 DDXG DX Ladder Results

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

During the January 2024 meeting Tom, N3GTG, DDXG President and Ladder Chair presented the results of the TWO 2023 DX Ladder competitions. Beginning in 2023 a second ladder competition was added allowing those members with significant DX history to compete with a chance to earn recognition for activity within a calendar year. We are calling the new ladder competition the SUPER LADDER.

Original Ladder

Lauren, W4LEW, was presented with the plaque for her winning performance in the original ladder. While only active in chasing DX for about the last three years, she has consistently brought a strong game to the competitions. Congratulations Lauren!

Super Ladder

And our esteemed member, and recipient of the very first DeSoto Cup, W4DR, Bob, proved that he continues to be a force when it comes to DX activity. Bob was awared the plaque as winner of the new Super Ladder. Congratulations Bob!

2024 DDXG Board of Directors

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

The Dominion DX Group installed the 2024 Board of Directors at the January meeting. Returning for another year in service to club are Tom (N3GTG), President, Sheila (K4WNW), Vice-President, and Lauren (W4LEW). John (KX4QC) will serve as Secretary for 2024. And Jim (WY4O) remains on the board as a Director. We appreciate the dedication of these club members and their support for the club.

L-R: Tom, N3GTG, President; Lauren, W4LEW, Treasurer; Sheila, K4WNW, Vice-President; John, KX4QC, Secretary; and, Jim, WY4O, Director

Club Call Earns DXCC Challenge Award

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Members of DDXG, with the consent of the trustee, may operate under the DDXG club call, K4VAC. Logs are maintained and uploaded to ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LOTW). During the October meeting Bruce, WD4LBR, who is the trustee, showed off the DXCC Challenge plaque recognizing that the club call had met the requirements of the DXCC Challenge,. According to the ARRL website, “The DXCC Challenge Award is earned by working and confirming at least 1,000 DXCC band-points on any Amateur bands, 160 through 6 meters (except 60 meters).” Thank you to Bruce and all club members who take the time to work new DX for yourself and for the club.

Sheila, K4WNW, Achieves DXCC Honor Roll

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At our June meeting we celebrated our long time member, and current Vice-President, Sheila, K4WNW, on achieving ARRL DXCC Honor Roll. The DXCC Honor Roll is earned by amateurs who submit confirmation for contacts reached within the numerical top 10 of the overall number of entities on the DXCC List. As of 25 Jun 2023, there were 340 current entities on the list, with 331 being required for the Honor Roll.

Sheila keeps her eyes open for new opportunities to add to her DXCC numbers by monitoring the DX news for upcoming DXpeditions. And she shares this information each month through her Upcoming DX presentation. This presentation is distributed to club members, and is also made available to all interested amateurs via the DDXG website. You can find the Upcoming DX from the current meeting in the right column of the home page of this website.

Sheila and husband Bruce, WD4LBR, also an Honor Roll member, are models of amateurs who give back to the community by sharing knowledge, “elmering” new and aspiring ham operators, and supporting our club community. Congratulations Sheila!!!

ARRL Field Day is June 24th

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

Each year amateurs around the country gather to participate in ARRL’s annual Field Day. According to the ARRL’s field day page, ‘The object of Field Day is to work as many stations as possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 Meter HF bands, as well as all bands 50 MHz and above, and in doing so to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio.”

DDXG does not have an event for Field Day; however, we do hold our June meeting one week early to allow our members to participate in their choice of Field Day activities. Most will join with our friends and fellow amateurs from the Richmond Amateur Telecommunications Society (RATS) at their Field Day event. RATS will operate at the usual spot: Laurel Recreation Area, 10301 Hungary Spring Rd in northern Henrico County.  They will gathering at 10 AM local time Saturday, June 24 to begin setup, and will go on the air at 2 PM, operating from generator power as a class 2A station. More information is available at the RATS website.

Second DX Ladder Competition Added

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

Beginning April 1, 2023 the DDXG group has added a second DX ladder competition. Why a new ladder? The original ladder, which has been a competition enjoyed by DDXG members for many years, is a cumulative collection of band-countries recorded for a member since the member joined DDXG and began participating in the competition. Several of our members include DXCC Challenge and Honor Roll recipients. And we even have an ARRL DXCC DeSoto Cup recipient. Members who have made hundreds or even thousands of band-country contacts will likely not have a chance to place in the current DDXG ladder competition. While newer hams, or those recently elevating their license privileges or becoming active in the hobby again, may make lots of new band-country contacts – particularly during this new solar activity cycle.

Our new DDXG Super Ladder, will reset all member band-country totals each calendar year. So regardless of the history of activity, each member starts with a clean slate. And if the activity in our first month is any indication, every one will have fun chasing DX for credit in these two DX ladder competitions. Check the current month’s standings as of our latest club meeting by clicking on the “DX Ladder” link at the top of this page. Good luck and Good DX to all!

Crozet 2023 Comes to an End

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

It’s been quite a year for DX so far – and it’s only March. We’ve already had the number 2 and number 3 most wanted DX entities (according to Club Log) on the air. Bouvet, 3Y0J, was a much anticipated DXpedition. The conditions proved to be incredibly challenging – both at Bouvet and on the air. And Crozet, FT8WW, started out with an extremely limited schedule for operations that ended up being extended much to the delight of DX chasers around the world.

Both DXpeditions are now in the books – hopefully the log books of some of our club members that is.

But conditions are favorable and there are yet a good number of DXpeditions active or planned. One of the best places to get information is the upcoming DX presentation shared by our club Vice-President, Sheila, K4WNW. The program from the most recent meeting is shared with members and also available via a link in the right column of this website.

Here’s to a year of great DX!

2023 Installation of Officers

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L-R: Tom, N3GTG, President; Sheila, K4WNW, Vice-President; Jim, WY4O, Secretary; and, Lauren, WD4FMG, Treasurer

During the January meeting our long time club president, Sheila, K4WNW, handed the gavel to our new president, Tom, N3GTG. The club is incredibly grateful to Sheila for serving as our president for many years. And she remains active as our vice-president. Jim and Lauren continue in their roles as secretary and treasurer respectively. Here’s to a great 2023 for the club. How’s DX? It’s great! Consider joining DDXG! Visitors and new members are always welcome!