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.
Perseverance DX Group is organizing a team of experienced DXpedition operators to activate the South Orkney Islands (IOTA AN-008) from approximately Feb. 21, 2020 through March 5, 2020. South Orkney Island is currently #16 most wanted on Clublog. More information is available on the group’s website. The Dominion DX Group is a proud club sponsor of the South Orkney DXpedition.
ARRL Field Day is June 22-23. RATS will once again have Field Day operations at Laurel Park, 10301 Hungary Spring Road Glen Allen, VA 23060. Talk-in: 146.88 (74.4 tone) or 442.55 (74.4 tone). For more information visit the ARRL Field Day site at http://www.arrl.org/field-day.
ARRL Field Day is June 23-24. RATS will once again have Field Day operations at Laurel Park. For more information visit the ARRL Field Day site at http://www.arrl.org/field-day.
Due to Field Day, the next DDXG meeting will be held one week earlier than usual, Saturday, June 16th. DDXG meets at the Deep Run Recreation Center at 9900 Ridgefield Parkway, Henrico, VA 23233.
DDXG will once again be at Frostfest on Saturday, February 3, 2018, at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Frostfest is the mid-Atlantic’s largest winter hamfest. Our location has changed just a bit this year – we are now in the rear of the hall just to the left of the prize drum. Hours are from 8:30AM to 3:30PM. As in years past all of the flea market tables for Frostfest have been sold out. You are guaranteed to find a huge variety of great ham radio stuff to start or add to your shack.
DDXG will again provide the test bench so if you find a great rig or simply need to make sure something that has caught your eye powers up you can bring it by the DDXG tables. The team will help you test out basic power and transmit functionality. We have a 12 volt power supply, a dummy load, and SWR/power meter available.
Frostfest will also host a number of commercial vendors including Elecraft, Ham World, Quicksilver, Signman and more. Plus meetings (including the ARRL Virginia State convention), forums, and VE testing will all take place.
Be sure to stop by the DDXG booth and learn about our club. Members are available to share our excitement about DX, answer questions, and make you aware of upcoming DXpeditions! Ask us about joining DDXG to learn about or share your passion for DX!
Come join us at Frostfest this Saturday, February 6, 2016. We will be located at the same spot as last year – at the end of the middle row across from the announcer’s stand and prize drum. The building layout is available here.
DDXG will also be providing the Frostfest test bench. We will have a 12 volt power supply, volt meter, dummy load, and SWR/power meter available. You can perform a quick check to see if the equipment powers up and puts out RF.
Please stop by and say hello. We’ll have information available if you’re interested in joining the club or attending one of our meetings. We’re also proud to have one of our members, W4DR, hosting a forum session at noon titled “66 Years of DX Adventures“. The complete list of forums is here.
Members of the Dominion DX Group went over to Tangier Island for the RSGB IOTA Contest again this year. Instead of using the club call, each member used their own call to make contacts. WV4Y, WD4LBR, KC4QYG, and W4BNO all operated this year. We used a Zero Five vertical and an Icom-9100 as our station.
This was a much more relaxed operation than in years past. We all got to operate, but also spent some time just relaxing on the island and eating seafood!
Come out to Frostfest on February 2, 2013 and visit us at the DDXG table. Many members will be there working the tables and shopping. DDXG will again be hosting the test bench for Frostfest. We will have some basic supplies available for checking out the new (or new to you) equipment. We will have a 12 VDC power supply, 50 ohm dummy load, watt meter, and a volt meter on hand.
Frostfest is one of the largest hamfests in the area and draws well over 2000 amateur radio operators. For more information on Frostfest, including directions, ticket sales, and more, check out the Richmond Frostfest web site.
Many members of the club participated in the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest in January. The combined club score was well over 600,000 points. Thanks to everyone that participated.
Tangier
Our Tangier operation this year was different than what we have done in the past. We only operated a single station and let club members and guests operate under their own call sign if they chose to. We had a great time and made several hundred QSOs over the weekend. W4BNO has uploaded some pictures of the weekend to flickr.
DXCC
Several club members got DXCC awards this year. Congratulations to these folks for the work they put into getting their awards.
KC4QYG
KW4CQ
W4DKR
NQ4A
KC4QYG presented with his DXCC award.
Bob, KW4CQ, proudly displays his DXCC certificate!
Barry, W4DKR, receives his DXCC Phone certificate.
Jon, NQ4A, receives his 15 meter DXCC award at the December 2012 DDXG meeting.
Other Awards
In addition to DXCC, several members of the club received other awards.
WD4LBR received his “Worked All States” Triple play certificate.
Joe Fijol, KJ4SSX, received his eQSL 25 Country certificate.
WD4LBR received a “DX Champion” award from the Central Virginia Contest Club for working the most new band entities and the highest percentage of needed entities.
Several members of the club participated in the 2011 ARRL SSB DX contest from Costa Rica and took first place!
Andy, KC4QYG, earned his WAS Triple Play certificate.
Bruce, WD4LBR receives his Triple play award from Sheila.
Joe (KJ4SSX) with his eQSL 25 country certificate.
Bruce, WD4LBR is presented with his DX Champion award.
Costa Rica DX Contest team 2011
New Members
Despite having known the members of the club, Joe Fijol, KJ4SSX became a full member of DDXG in 2012. 😉 Welcome, Joe!
Joe Fijol (KJ4SSX) becomes a full member at the May 2012 DDXG meeting.
Looking back, 2012 was a great year for DDXG and we are looking forward to more radio active fun in 2013.
Members and friends of DDXG will again travel to Tangier Island on the weekend of the RSGB HF IOTA Contest, but with a slightly different emphasis. The club will participate in the contest, but will be there primarily to activate NA-083.
This means that we will be QRV on Friday, shortly after our arrival. DDXG will run a separate log for the contest and may revert to the earlier ‘activation’ log after it ends. Please look for K4VAC on the bands!
