Author: Jim, WY4O

Sheila, K4WNW, Achieves DXCC Honor Roll

~ Jim, WY4O ~ Leave a comment

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

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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

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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

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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!

DDXG Ladder Champ

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Our friendly club competition, the DX Ladder, allows club members to compete for the most new band-countries in a calendar year. For example, work a new country on three bands for three band-country credit in the ladder. Work an existing country on a new band, score a new band country.

Tom N3GTG, Lauren WD4FMG, and Sheila K4WNW

Our 2022 DX Ladder champ is Lauren, WD4FMG. Lauren logged an amazing 724 new band-countries. And she earned her DXCC on 10, 12, 17, and 30 meters in the process. DXCC, short for DX Century Club, is amateur radio’s premier award for confirming 100 countries. That’s quite a year Lauren! Congratulations!

Ladder chair, Tom, and club president, Sheila, presented the 2022 DDXG Ladder award plaque to Lauren at the club’s January meeting. And members are already off to chasing new band-countries for the 2023 calendar year. Interested in chasing DX?… why not join our club!

3Y0J – Bouvet Island DXpedition

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This is the biggie! Bouvet Island is known as “the most remote uninhabited place on earth.” And as far as DX is concerned, this is the Clublog #2 most wanted entity.

The 3Y0J team is days away from arrival and commencement of operations. The best place to follow their progress and gain information on the operation is the 3Y0J facebook page. And you can visit the 3Y0J website at https://3y0j.no.

DDXG is proud to be a supporting club sponsor of the 3Y0J DXpedition.

DDXG Holiday Social

~ Jim, WY4O

Our DDXG tradition is to skip our regular December meeting and instead celebrate the holidays with a social event. And we LOVE Vinny’s Grill on Lauderdale (owned by our own Giacomo, KK4FTC, and his lovely wife Victoria). Everyone enjoyed the food and the fellowship. Of course we missed those who could not join us.

All of us at DDXG wish all of you the happiest of holidays and a wonderful new year! Hope to see you at our January meeting on Saturday, January 25th. And if you are not yet a member why not start of the new year by joining us. New and prospective members are always welcome.