Category: The Nugget

Next meeting: August 30th at Round Table Pizza in Martel (Jackson). Find out more.

In this issue: tubes as always, and… ancient PowerPoints? – new videos! – classifieds – DX – focus contests – State QSO parties! – funny stuff! – and more!

From the Prez

Hello Contesters and DX’ers!

We’re going to talk about CQP at our next meeting so I thought I’d suggest a few items for everyone to peruse.  

There are five categories for a California club to enter in:

• Yosemite
• Joshua Tree
• Sequoia
• Redwood
• Channel Islands

The number of logs submitted determines what category a club is in.  

• The Yosemite category is for those clubs submitting 31+ logs.
• The Joshua Tree Category is for those clubs submitting 21-30 logs.
• The Sequoia Category is for those clubs submitting 11-20 logs.
• The Redwood Category is for those clubs submitting 6-10 logs
• The Channel Islands Category is for those clubs submitting 1-5 logs.

In 2024, the Yosemite category had no entrants.  Not one club submitted the required 31 or more logs.

The Joshua Tree Category is where the Southern California Contest Club and MLDXCC ended up, with SCCC submitting 30 logs and MLDXCC submitting 28 logs.  SCCC beat us by a lot….775,754 points.  In short, we were not even close.

The Redwood Empire DX Association was the only entrant in the Sequoia Category, with 12 logs and, obviously, won the category.

Pizza Lovers 259, with 8 logs submitted, won the Redwood Category beating the West Valley ARA, with 10 logs submitted.  This was a fairly close competition.

Last, but not least was the very interesting Channel Islands Category.  There were 42 clubs represented in this category.  The winner, by around 150,000 points, was the Sierra Foothills ARC.  The Orange County ARC came in second.

It is interesting to look at the clubs in MLDXCC territory who submitted logs:

• 5 logs – Sierra Foothills ARC
• 2 logs – Calaveras ARS
• 2 logs – River City ARCS
• 3 logs – Yuba-Sutter ARC
• 2 logs – El Dorado County ARC
• 1 log – Stockton-Delta ARC
• 1 log – Toulumne County Amateur Radio and Electronics Society
• 1 log – Fresno ARC

Recruiting from local clubs could be a possibility for us.  Something else to dig into are the respectable scores from some of the members of clubs competing in the Channel Islands Category.  Let’s take a look at the scores they contributed to their club total (with bonus points).

• Sierra Foothills ARC – KD6HOF – 152,768 (Expedition to Butte/Plumas)
• Sierra Foothills ARC – N6WYZ – 113,600 (Expedition to Alpine County – new contester)
• Sierra Foothills ARC – WU6X – 103,344 (Expedition to Siskiyou County)
• Calaveras ARS – KA9MDP – 125,124 (Expedition to Alpine County – new contester)
• Calaveras ARS – N6FRG – 61,484 (Expedition to Calaveras County)
• River City ARCS – N6PGQ – 105,468 (Placer County)
• Yuba-Sutter ARC – W6PNH – 66,750 (new contester, Sutter county)
• El Dorado County ARC – KN6UDK – 61,190 (new contester, Madera county)

If you total up all of the above scores, the total is 789,728 points.  

You may recall that I mentioned above that SCCC beat us by 775,754 points.  Note, however, that if every one of the stations listed above entered logs for MLDXCC, we would be in the Yosemite Category all by ourselves but at least we would have the pleasure of out-scoring SCCC.

So, my question to all of you: Do you know any of the stations mentioned above?  These are stations that are ripe for recruiting.

See you on Saturday!

From the Veep

Did you get an opportunity to participate in the NAQP SSB contest? I was pleased to host Skip N6NFB at home during the contest. He ran the contest under his call @ 100 watts and managed to log quite a number of states on 15 meters. Hopefully some of those will turn out to ones he needs for 15 meter WAS. 

My HF activity has been someone what limited lately as other jobs tend to take precedence.  I’ve yet again allowed myself to be looped into another repeater project. While very time consuming, the results are rewarding.  

My six meter quest continues. Band conditions have been on again, off again. I continue to look for Delaware and Rhode Island only to have them fade out. One day last week there were a number of openings, thanks to a sporadic “E” event.  This was my first real exposure to that much of an opening.  As the name implies, one minute they were there, then gone the next, very frustrating indeed.

I had previously mentioned to a couple of members that I had purchased a receive loop from W6LVP. I’m looking for it to be an asset during the winter season on 40, 80 & 160. I’m still looking for four (4) DX Q’s to confirm on 80 meters. 

How’re your DX Marathon numbers looking? Remember even though you’ve worked a DXCC country before, they count as “brand new” again every year for the CQ DX Marathon. Also for those of you using FT8 / FT4, those contacts count in your Marathon totals as well.

I like to urge each one of you to become involved in MLDXCC by attending meetings, submitting your DX contacts to Club Log, participating in the CQ Marathon and by contributing your contest scores. Please list your log submission under the name “Mother Lode DX Contest Club“.  

Also invite new people to club meetings. It doesn’t matter if they are new to the hobby, we all started somewhere. MLDXCC is an award winning DX & Contest Club and with your support we can continue to excel.

Thank you all & 73,

Steve / NC6R

Secretary’s Report

Minutes of the July 26th Meeting (Round Table Pizza, Jackson)

The Southern California DX Club has published their last monthly newsletter.

It’s time to brush up on your code skills for the fall DX and contest season! Two great resources to help are CW Academy and Learn CW Online.

Don’t wait until the last minute to get your RTTY going for the CQ Worldwide next month, visit Don AA5AU’s excellent RTTY Contesting site for help (or ask on the MLDXCC email list.)

A new four-part interview of noted (and perhaps notorious) DXer and DXpeditioner Don Miller W9WNV was posted recently on the NCDXF chat. Here’s the link to it in case you missed it.

Articles

Norm N6JV’s Tube of the Month for August

Steve NC6R found an old thumb drive with International DX Convention (IDXC) presentations on it. Enjoy!

Newly Posted Videos!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel! (I’m very lonely there… – ed)

Corrected link (and callsign) for the May 2025 presentation on 6m DXing

DX…

Steve NC6R presented a list of interesting upcoming DX at the last meeting, but I’m going to make you read the minutes to see it!

Upcoming DXpeditions via NG3K

DX Calendar via 425 DX News

Upcoming Contests

Mark your calendar with our MLDXCC Focus Contests! Up next is the California QSO Party. on October 4-5, 2025.

Other contests of note this month, via contestcalendar.com:

• September 6-7: All Asian DX Contest, Phone
• September 13-14: Worked All Europe DX Contest, SSB
• September 13-15: ARRL September VHF Contest
• September 14: North American Sprint, CW
• September 21: North American Sprint, RTTY
• September 27-28: CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
• October 4-5: California QSO Party (MLDXCC Focus Contest)

New! State QSO Parties (via statesqoparty.com):

• August 30: Kansas, Colorado
• September 7: Tennessee
• September 20: Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Washington State Salmon Run

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Classifieds

For Sale: New, never used,  EHU for BigIR  /  $250 or best offer – Thank you, Steve / NC6R k6sca@volcano.net

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For Sale: Palstar HF-AUTO, $1,000, picked up. Shipping is extra. Like new, little use. Replaced by an Amplifier with Tuner.
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/pas-hf-auto
Model number shown in picture of the back panel.
Includes 12 Volt power supply cable and FTDI serial to USB cable to connect to computer running
W1TR automatic tune software. See links for W1TR software.
https://k5fr.com/binary/Palstar%20HF%20Auto%20Setup.pdf
http://www.glagowski.org/radio/Software.htm
Dave, w6de 530-409-7877

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For sale: Bob W1RH has a WaveNode WN2 Digital Watt Meter, with four HF sensors.  This unit sells new for $385, with a single sensor.  I have been using is in an SO2R configuration with a sensor on the input and output of each amplifier.

There are several options for the look of the computer display.  And there are several other features such as rotator control and antenna switching but I have just used the wattmeter function.

I’m selling this because I have purchased the Flex PGXL amplifier, which has built in and remotable watt meters.  It can be yours for $200.

Bob also has for sale an Array Solutions 6-PAK 6 port SO2R antenna switch – $250

Contact Bob W1RH w1rh@yahoo.com.

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Humor!

Steve NC6R has a quote of the month:

“You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.” – Albert Einstein, explaining radio

And a bit of prescience from 1906, stumbled into by your editor:

Send more funny stuff for the next issue! – Ed.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 25 August 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	232
2	W1SRD	231
3	W6DE	209
4	K6OK	190
5	K6YK	188

CW

1	K6YK	168
2	NO5Z	130
3	K6OK	119
4	NA6O	107
5	N6WM	106

Phone

1	K6YK	118
2	W1SRD	116
3	NO5Z	115
4	N6WM	111
5	K6TQ	101

Data

1	NK7I	223
2	W1SRD	206
3	W6DE	184
4	K7QDX	183
5	K6OK	159

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webwookie Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!

Next meeting: July 26th in Martel (Jackson). Find out more.

In this issue: tubes, verticals, and… tuning forks? – new videos! – classifieds – DX – contests – State QSO parties! – funny stuff! – and more!

From the Prez

Hello DX’ers and Contesters,

If you missed our last meeting, you missed a good one.  Craig, K9CT, gave us a presentation on his contest super-station in Illinois.  The good news is that Jeff WK6I will have the video of the presentation up on the website by the time you read this. Look for the Resources tab on the website, click on it and go to Videos (also linked below – J.)  

I do have some videos available from our past meetings, but very few were actually recorded.  Little by little, I am editing these down and sending them off to Jeff, as YouTube videos, so he can add the links to the website.

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The California QSO Party will be here before you know it, so now is the time to start planning whether or not you’re going to operate from home or as a county expedition.  

Last year, SCCC’s CQP score was 4,593,487.  MLDXCC was well under SCCC, with 3,817,733 points.  SCCC also won the Club Competition, in our category, in 2023.  MLDXCC beat SCCC in 2022.  Let’s go for the WIN in 2025!

I have reserved our August meeting for a California QSO Party (CQP) strategy meeting. The Lincoln Swap is in September, so there will be no meeting that month.(As always, see the Meetings page for the latest!)

County expeditions can be a lot of fun and can be a way to really rack up the points for the Club.  A group of us were in Alpine County last year and part of that group has also operated in Tehama County for several years.  We had a blast!   The more county expeditions MLDXCC members can do, the better, especially if they are in rare counties.

Dean, N6DE, has done an exceptional job with CQP, and that includes compiling an annual list of rare counties.  I don’t see any 2025 updates on the website yet, but you can bet that they will be there soon.  You’re going to want to look at that rare county list and then claim it. (See below for the latest!)

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How many of you have wished you had the ultimate operating location during an HF contest, a VHF contest, or even when trying to work that all-time new one?  This could be on the top of a mountain, the side of a mountain, or on an ocean beach.  Chris, KI1P, lives in Northfield, Vermont, and with a location like that one would think that he has a pretty darn good QTH.  Not the case.  An HF beam, pointed at Europe, looks into a granite mountain that is nearly in his back yard.  To solve this problem, Chris bought a retired television live truck and turned it into a superb contest station, with top notch equipment.  It is essentially an HF and VHF rover.  There is a lot more to this story and you can hear all about it at our next meeting, which will be on July 26^th, at Round Table Pizza, in Jackson (Martel).  I saw Chris’s presentation at the Contest Forum this year in Dayton.  Chris has a great sense of humor.  You will find it very entertaining and you may just want to find a retired television live truck and build one of these rover contest stations yourself.  Hope to see many of you there!

From the Veep

Hello MLDXCC! 

Well, Field Day (2025) is now completed, how did you guys do? With a part time effort (due to challenges), there were 392 Q’s in the log. It always gives me pleasure to work the new (younger) operators. Their excitement is refreshing. Make sure you get your score and field day stories to Jeff WK6I so he can put them in the news letter. 

Worked any good DX lately? As observed, HF conditions have been a little up and down. Stations in Europe on 20 are now workable in the evening providing some new Marathon contact.

Six meters (50.313 FT8) however has been very active at times. The last several evenings the north (BC, WA & OR) and south (AZ & NM) path has been active.  Regarding my WAS search on 6 meters, I’m still waiting for a good east coast opening to Delaware & Rhode Island. 

How’s your DX Marathon numbers looking? Remember even though you’ve worked a DXCC country before, they count as “brand new” again every year for the Marathon. WARC band & FT4/FT8 contacts all count for the Marathon as well.

Also listen for the K6C Special Event Station starting July 11^th. This is a special call for the California State Fair (Cal Expo). I will be on 20 SSB various evenings, so give me a shout.

Well that’s all for now, time to go work outside before it gets to hot! Remember to stay hydrated!

73 and Good DX, Steve / NC6R

Treasurer’s Quarterly Report

4/1/2025 Opening Balance = $2,787.07

• Income = $140.00
  • 2025 Dues – Paypal = $20.00
  • 2025 Dues – Checking = $120.00
• Expenses = $0.00
  • None

6/30/2025 Ending Balance = $2,927.07

Secretary’s Report

Minutes of the June 21st Meeting (The Breakroom, Shingle Springs)

The California QSO Party (CQP) is October 4th and that day will arrive faster than you think. The CQP web site has just been updated for 2025. You can now go there and register your planned activity, and you can track what others have planned.

The Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) has announced a new special on-air event — the NCCC 55th Anniversary Fiesta, taking place Saturday, August 9, 2025, from 1900Z Saturday-0300Z Sunday (noon to 8pm Pacific Time). This is an “operating event” with no log checking, on CW, SSB, and RTTY. Find out more!

The Southern California DX Club (SCDXC) notes in their July newsletter that due to waning interest, the August 2025 newsletter may be the last one. Readers are encouraged to respond if they desire to see more newsletters after that.

One of your editor’s local clubs – Tuolumne County
Amateur Radio & Electronics Society (TCARES) – puts out a great quarterly newsletter, here’s the latest issue. (Tell us about your local club!)

Articles

Tube of the Month – July 2025 by Norm N6JV

Multi-Band Verticals by Gary NA6O

Study of a Telegraph Tuning Fork by Gary NA6O

Newly Posted Videos!

Subscribe to the MLDXCC YouTube channel! And Please “like” the videos, it will help people find them!

• K9CT Contest Station (June 2025)
• 6 Meter DXing from NorCal, Chuck NA6XX (May 2025)
• Antipodal Focusing, John K4ERO (March 2025)
• Carl K9LA Solar cycle 25 Predictions and Progress (October 2023)
• Rob Sherwood NC0B – Lab tests of HF Transceivers (March 2021)

More videos!

Classifieds

For Sale: New, never used,  EHU for BigIR  /  $250 or best offer – Thank you, Steve / NC6R k6sca@volcano.net

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For Sale: $995 takes all, HF Amp / Tuner / Swr-Power Meter / Dummy Load – see below.  Located in Northwest Reno, NV and can deliver to NCCC Truckee BBQ Sun July 27th if desired.  Barry K6ST k6st@arrl.net 

HF Amplifier 160m – 10m Ameritron AL-811H. The Al-811 gives you 600 watts PEP output. 13.75 x 8.65 x 16 inches. Weight: 31 pounds. The Ameritron AL-811H is similar to the AL-811, but with four fully neutralized 811A transmitting tubes for 800 watts of power.

LDG AT-600ProII is a general-purpose automatic tuner intended for use with midsize amplifiers with up to 600 watts output SSB, 500 watts CW, 300W Digital from 1.8 – 54 MHz. Easy to Read Bar Graph – Dual Antenna Switch – Switched-L tuning network.

High Power SWR watt meter. HF, peak reading, 3kW

MFJ-250X VersaLoad KW Wet Dummy Load with oil. Lets you tune up fast!

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For sale: Bob W1RH has a WaveNode WN2 Digital Watt Meter, with four HF sensors.  This unit sells new for $385, with a single sensor.  I have been using is in an SO2R configuration with a sensor on the input and output of each amplifier.

There are several options for the look of the computer display.  And there are several other features such as rotator control and antenna switching but I have just used the wattmeter function.

I’m selling this because I have purchased the Flex PGXL amplifier, which has built in and remotable watt meters.  It can be yours for $200. Contact Bob W1RH w1rh@yahoo.com.

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Bob W1RH also has the following items available:

Alpha 91B amplifier.  $1200

Brand new, in the box, Svetlana 4CX800A amplifier tube – $250

Array Solutions 6-PAK 6 port SO2R antenna switch – $250

Contact Bob W1RH w1rh@yahoo.com

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For sale: Eimac 8877 and 3CX800A7 tubes, all tested to factory spec (June 2025) by retired Eimac engineer, includes individual data sheet for each tube.  Price $700 each, $1200/pair. 

Also for sale Jan 7203/4CX250B NOS in sealed can $100 each and Jan 7609/4CX150D NOS in sealed can $30 each.

Contact Mike, K6LQ wn6yqs@aol.com

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DX…

Upcoming DXpeditions via NG3K

DX Calendar via 425 DX News

Upcoming Contests

Via contestcalendar.com:

• July 26: RSGB IOTA Contest
• August 2: North American QSO Party (NAQP), CW
• August 9: Worked All Europe DX Contest, CW
• August 9: NCCC 55th Anniversary Fiesta
• August 16: North American QSO Party (NAQP), SSB
• August 17: ARRL Rookie Roundup, RTTY

New! State QSO Parties (via statesqoparty.com):

• July 26: Alabama
• August 9: Maryland-DC
• August 23: Hawaii, Ohio

Humor!

Steve NC6R found this on KL7J’s website, “How Cold Is It?“

Send more funny stuff for the next issue! – Ed.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 17 July 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	229
2	W1SRD	227
3	W6DE	205
4	K6OK	187
5	K6YK	183

CW

1	K6YK	163
2	NO5Z	122
3	K6OK	120
4	NA6O	106
5	N6WM	104

Phone

1	W1SRD	116
2	K6YK	115
3	NO5Z	115
4	N6WM	111
5	K6TQ	101

Data

1	NK7I	220
2	W1SRD	200
3	W6DE	180
4	K7QDX	173
5	K6OK	157

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webwookie Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!

The next meeting of the MLDXCC will be on June 21st in Shingle Springs. Find out more.

From the Prez

Hello Nugget readers,

I do believe all of you are aware by now, but MLDXCC has won the club competition for the 2024 ARRL Sweepstakes. This is our 10th first place win in a row. It was announced in the June QST. I really like competing in the Medium Club category. It’s always a good competition and a win every year is never for certain unlike the Unlimited Club competition where PVRC is just shooting fish in a barrel. Congratulations also go out to PL259 for winning the Small Club competition.

I went to the Dayton Hamvention again this year and I actually spent some money. I came back with a Flex PGXL amplifier, the TGXL tuner, and the AGXL 8×2 antenna switch. All of this now makes for a complete SO2R remote station. To get to that point, I need to replace the Array Solutions 6×2 switch with the AGXL and W6SR and I need to do a bit more antenna work.

I am really impressed with the PGXL amp so far. The protection circuits work as they should and this amplifier can put out a true 2 KW. The amp has three fan/blower modes: Standard, Contest and Broadcast. In the Broadcast mode, the fans absolutely scream and I like that in an amplifier. It never hurts to blow too much air on an amplifier. The down side of this is if the amplifier is located at the operating position, it can be incredibly annoying when running in Broadcast mode, which is recommended for RTTY, FT8 and SO2R operation. The good thing is that in an all-Flex station, the transceiver, amp, tuner and antenna switch are all on the network. No serial cables, USB cables, etc. are necessary. All control is over the network. This means that the transceiver, amp, tuner and of course the antenna switch can be located nowhere near the operating position. I am going to be rack mounting the 6700, tuner, amp, rotor controllers, bandpass filters, etc. all in an open-frame rack that will be located away from the operating position.

We’ve got a great meeting planned for this month. Craig, K9CT, will be giving us a tour, via Zoom, of his contest super-station. Hope to see you at the meeting.

From the Veep

Hello MLDXCC! 

As a reminder, Field Day (6/28) is just around the corner. Yesterday I received my ARRL 2025 Field Day T-shirt so I’m ready to go!  As of now, Sue K6SZQ and I will be working from our home station so keep an ear out for us. Remember to update your logging program for Field Day use too.

Worked any good DX lately? I know HF DX lately has been a little sparse; however there has been some activity from Wake Island.  Six meters (50.313 FT8) however has been very active! Currently I’ve been able to log 46 states, only needing RI, DE, VA & WV at this time. As a suggestion from a club member I’ve started to pay attention to grids as well.

How’s your DX Marathon numbers looking? Remember even though you’ve worked a DXCC country before, they count as “brand new” again every year for the Marathon. WARC band & FT4/FT8 contacts all count for the Marathon as well.

Well that’s all for now, time for me to go check east coast six meter propagation.

73 and Good DX, Steve NC6R

Articles

Another Bug Restoration

Minutes of the May 10th Meeting (Habanero Hots, Lodi)

Presentations and Slides from Dayton

Photos from the 2025 IDXC in Visalia by N6TV

Norm N6JV’s Tube of the Month

SCDXC Newsletter Lives!

The Southern California DX Club is gone, but a newsletter is still being published – and there’s a lot of great content there! Check out the June 2025 issue. (Thanks Rick W6SR for the tip!)

Speaking of DX…

Upcoming DXpeditions via NG3K

DX Calendar via 425 DX News

Upcoming Contests

Via contestcalendar.com:

• June 21: All Asian DX Contest, CW
• June 28: ARRL Field Day (yes, I know…)
• July 1: RAC Canada Day Contest
• July 5: CQ Worldwide VHF SSB/CW Contest
• July 12: IARU HF World Championship
• July 19: North American QSO Party, RTTY
• July 19: CQ Worldwide VHF Digital Contest

Humor!

Steve NC6R wanted everyone to see this 😅.

Send more funny stuff for the next issue! – Ed.

Classifieds

That way, I can always see my input and output power.  Rick, W6SR, who uses my station remotely more than I do, has depended on the software display to know how much power he’s running.

There are several options for the look of the computer display.  And there are several other features such as rotator control and antenna switching but I have just used the wattmeter function.

I’m selling this because I have purchased the Flex PGXL amplifier, which has built in and remotable watt meters.  It can be yours for $200. Contact Bob W1RH w1rh@yahoo.com

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Need a REAL dummy load, rated 500W continuous (2 kW peak)?  Here’s an old MIL TS-118A/AP, which is also a Bird 693. Flat to >1 GHz. Normally configured to use the included thermocouple sensors and a built-in meter, I’ve included a little shorting plug that turns it into a simple dummy load (disables the meter), but you can run it either way. The steel case weighs more than the instrument! Will sell for $140 because that’s what the special LC to N adapter cost me.   Manual:  https://birdrf.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/23027152223767
Contact Gary NA6O gwj@me.com

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Jim K9YC passed along information about some free towers and antennas “for a lot of labor”. They are located west of Portland OR. More details here.

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Rick N6RNO has one of these shack warmers for sale, new in box. Contact Rick at rick@eversoles.com for details.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 17 June 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	227
2	W1SRD	224
3	W6DE	201
4	K6OK	184
5	K6YK	182

CW

1	K6YK	162
2	NO5Z	122
3	K6OK	120
4	NA6O	105
5	N6WM	104

Phone

1	W1SRD	116
2	K6YK	115
3	NO5Z	114
4	N6WM	111
5	K6TQ	101

Data

1	NK7I	216
2	W1SRD	195
3	W6DE	177
4	K7QDX	173
5	K6OK	154

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webwookie Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!

All the news from the home of the very first Cinco de Mayo celebration…

The next meeting of the MLDXCC will be on May 10th in Lodi. Find out more right here.

From the Prez

Hello DX’ers and Contesters,

It’s interesting how I became the President of this club again… especially when I said I would not do it. I’m just too involved in our Community Emergency Radio Assn, CERA, the non-profit organization supporting the El Dorado County Amateur Radio Club, the El Dorado County Neighborhood Radio Watch, and El Dorado County ARES. I am also a board member with the El Dorado County Fire Safe Council and am the Chair of the Coloma-Lotus fire Safe Council. In short, that’s all the bandwidth I have.

So, as things were going downhill, at that lightly attended meeting at the end of the year, Steve NC6R reminded everyone that the Southern California DX Club folded because no one would agree to run the club. He also said that there was nothing we could do since he was termed out except perhaps to do a bylaws modification. At that point, and perhaps without a lot of thought, I suggested that I take on the position of President on paper and Steve take on the position of VP on paper. I continue arranging meetings and speakers and Steve continues to run the club.

And that’s how we’re making this club survive today. And, I’m asking myself why I’m taking the time to write a President’s article for the Nugget when I’m really only a paper prez!

OK, end of rant, unless you want to hear me rant about all of the email QSL’s I’ve been getting in the past few months. Makes me want to take my email address off of QRZ…

Now to the good stuff.

We have a terrific meeting this month. “6 meter DX’ing, From Northern California”. Our speaker is Chuck, NA6XX, and he will be giving his talk in person at Habanero Hots, on May 10th in Lodi. We will also stream this meeting. I’m told that the internet is good at that location, so cross your fingers.

Next month, Craig Thompson, K9CT, will do a talk and virtual tour of his incredible contest station, in Illinois. The meeting will be at the Break Room, on June 21st, in Shingle Springs, and we will stream it via Zoom.

Stu, K6TU, will also be doing a talk for us on his great propagation website, K6TU.net. No date or location yet.

We may also do a joint meeting with NCCC. And, I am working on several other super speakers, thanks to the magic of Zoom.

I want to thank Jeff, WK6I, for taking on the job of newsletter editor and running the website. Also, thanks to Norm, N6JV, for doing both of these tasks for years prior to handing it all over to Jeff. Norm will continue to do those great tube articles that I look forward to every month.

If we’re going to grow this club, we need to get the word out to the local clubs as to when we have our meetings. Please help us out and notify your club of our meeting dates and presentations. – Bob W1RH

Articles

Santa Maria 2026 DX & Contest Convention

Norm N6JV’s Tube of the Month

A Ham Radio Station for Jenna by Gary Johnson, NA6O, and Jim Ewing, N4TMM

Humor!

Send more funny stuff for the next issue! Thanks Sue K6SZQ for this one! – Ed.

Classifieds

 “I have three items for sale. All the items are on a make and offer basis. The items below are excess to my need, since I live in a HOA 55 plus community. I use a remote station location at W1RH’s QTH. Call or email me for more info. or offers.” de Rick, W6SR ricksamoian@outlook.com or (530) 672-2885.

Johnson KW matchbox very nice condition. This is an original unit that has NOT been modified.

Honeywell 4 cycle KW inverter sine wave generator. Used for portable operating. Quiet, and perfect for K3 and KPA 500.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 7 May 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	220
2	W1SRD	215
3	W6DE	194
4	K6YK	178
5	K6OK	162

CW

1	K6YK	149
2	NO5Z	116
3	NA6O	104
4	N6WM	104
5	W1SRD	99

Phone

1	K6YK	115
2	NO5Z	114
3	W1SRD	114
4	N6WM	111
5	K6TQ	101

Data

1	NK7I	209
2	W1SRD	182
3	W6DE	173
4	K7QDX	163
5	K6OK	139

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webwookie Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!

All the news from the “NCCC’s Kuiper Belt” – K6DGW

We had no meeting in April due to the International DX Convention, so no minutes to report, and the March minutes made it into the previous issue of The Nugget. Also no missives from the Pres. or VP this time. We’ll be back in sync next month! – Ed.

Treasurer’s Report – 2025 1st Quarter

12/31/2024: Opening Balance = $2,629.07

• Income $230.00
  • 2025 Dues – Paypal $40.00
  • 2025 Dues – Checking $190.00

• Expenses $72.00
  • P.O. Box Rental $72.00

3/31/2025: Ending Balance = $2,787.07

Articles

Why is The Nugget no longer published as an Adobe PDF?

Norm N6JV’s Tube of the Month

The 2024 DX Marathon results were posted, and the MLDXCC placed 4th World in the Small Club category!

Some interesting websites gleaned from IDXC presentations.

Gary N6AO is taking a break from the Antenna of the Month. Stay tuned.

And with the dissolution of the SCDXC, no more Deleted Country of the Month, unless someone would like to step up and continue them.

Another Editor’s Note – Club History

I am still hoping someone has some history about the first 5 or 6 years of the MLDXCC locked away someplace – please let me know if you do. If it is memories, I’m quite happy to interview you and take notes.

I’m also still hoping someone knows anything about John Fogg, K6AO. I have so far learned that he edited the NCDXC newsletter in 1965 (source: NCDXC SK list), he built a 2 meter “pip squeak” transmitter from a design in QST in 1972 (Palo Alto ARA news), he lived in Pine Grove as early as 1976 (ditto), and in 1949 he lived in Alhambra not far from where I grew up (Callbook). And, for a brief moment I was excited to see a Wikipedia article, but it’s likely that our John Fogg was not the mayor of Pensacola FL from 1994 to 2009 (Wikipedia). Hihi. – Jeff WK6I

Classifieds

 I have three items for sale. All the items are on a make and offer basis. The items below are excess to my need, since I live in a HOA 55 plus community. I use a remote station location at W1RH’s QTH. Call or email me for more info. or offers. de Rick, W6SR ricksamoian@outlook.com or (530) 672-2885.

Johnson KW matchbox very nice condition. This is an original unit that has NOT been modified.

Honeywell 4 cycle KW inverter sine wave generator. Used for portable operating. Quiet, and perfect for K3 and KPA 500.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 15 April 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	215
2	W1SRD	206
3	W6DE	186
4	K6YK	168
5	NO5Z	162

CW

1	K6YK	139
2	NO5Z	116
3	NA6O	103
4	N6WM	103
5	W1SRD	98

Phone

1	NO5Z	114
2	W1SRD	113
3	K6YK	111
4	N6WM	111
5	K6TQ	90

Data

1	NK7I	204
2	W1SRD	172
3	W6DE	167
4	K7QDX	151
5	K6OK	129

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webmaster Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!

You’ll notice that The Nugget is no longer published as an Adobe PDF file. It’s now being produced in a blog format. This is for a couple of reasons:

• Nobody really knows what goes in the depths of search engines on the Internet, but it is generally believed that content posted as normal website content (using Hypertext Markup Language, aka HTML) show up higher in search results than PDF content. This helps us attract new members better.
• PDF files are not easy to read on small devices like phones and small tablets. Modern web pages know how to adapt to the size of the device – they call this “responsive” – making it easier for our members to enjoy the content on any device.

Also, you’ll see that some of the major content and news is getting published right away – items like the Tube of the Month – rather than waiting for a monthly Nugget cycle. This is done to get the info to you in a more timely manner, and frankly it’s easier for your editor to spread the work out over the course of a month.

Since it’s now in a blog format, you can access The Nugget and related news and features using an “RSS Reader” application such as Feedly, which runs as a web app in your browser, as well as iOS and Android. Copy this link:

RSS Feed

…on the Nuggets page to add The Nugget to Feedly. (It works here too.)

While you are setting up Feedly, you might also want to add some other ham radio related blogs, like:

• SolderSmoke Daily News
• World Wide Radio Operators Foundation
• OnAllBands
• KB6NU’s Ham Radio Blog
• Hack a Day
• AE5X
• Calaveras Amateur Radio Society
• WQ6X Contest Activities
• Q R P e r

Do you have any other favorite radio blogs? Let us know in the comments!

If you are someone who prefers to print The Nugget, I’ve briefly tested it and things seem to print fairly reasonably. But if you have issues printing do let me know.

Meeting Minutes – March 22,2025

Round Table Pizza, Jackson
Meeting was called to order at 12:19 p.m. by Treasurer Sue Allred, K6SZQ. There were 12 attending in person, with 2 more attending via zoom. Of these there was one guest. Sue welcomed everyone. Each member and guest introduced themselves.

Old Business:

• The January minutes were published in the February Newsletter. Rick Casey, W6RKC, moved to accept the report as published. Dave Sanders, K6TQ, seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
• The November and December treasurer’s reports were published in the February newsletter. Rich Hill, NU6T, moved to accept the reports as published. Stefan Nicov, AF6SA, seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

New Business: None.

Member Achievements:

• Rick Samoian, W6SR, worked VK9DX Norfolk Island on 6 meters.
• Jeff Stai, WK6I, got the banquet organized for the Visalia International DX Convention

Announcements/Discussion:

• The upcoming International DX Convention was discussed, along with the uncertainty with future events.
• Bob Hess, W1RH, while managing the livestream, showed photos of Stefan Nicov’s Solid State HF amplifiers and discussed the possibility of him doing a presentation on them.
• Bob Hess also passed around a list of equipment for sale from Tony Dowler, K6BV.

Next Meeting: Proposed date to be May 10, the location is Habanero Hots in Lodi.

Adjournment: Rick Samoian, W6SR, moved to adjourn the business meeting and move to the presentation. Jeff Stai, WK6I seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Presentation: John Stanley, K4ERO, gave a fascinating presentation on Antipodal Focusing and its effect on ionospheric propagation near the opposite side of the earth from the transmitter. You can also get further information from his article in the March, 2025 QST.

Respectfully Submitted,
G. “Skip” Chraft, N6NFB

Treasurer’s Report

Sue K6SZQ reported that, given the low level of activity, she’s going to switch to quarterly reporting. Look for the first quarter report in the next issue of The Nugget.

President’s Corner

Hi MLDXCC’ers,

Well, here I am as President of this club again.  I swore it would never happen but Steve, NC6R, termed out.  In an attempt to keep the club healthy, I made the suggestion that I’d take over as President and Steve will be VP… with one condition… Steve will keep running the meetings and I’ll continue to arrange the meetings and speakers.  So, nothing has really changed other than a “loophole” in the Bylaws that allows us to continue as we have over the past three years.

I want to thank John Stanley, K4ERO, for a terrific presentation at last month’s meeting on the subject of Antipodal Focusing, meaning propagation from your QTH to the opposite side of the earth.  We did record the meeting and, hopefully, Jeff will find a way to post the link on the all-new MLDXCC website.

I can’t thank Norm, N6JV, enough for what he has done for our website and newsletter.  Without Norm’s constant “nagging” for content, we would not have had a newsletter and website with the great content we have had over the years.  Alas, Norm has finally found someone to take over the website and Nugget.  We all thank Jeff, WK6I, for taking on the challenge of filling Norm’s big shoes.  Keep doing those great tube articles, Norm!

We have some really good speakers lined up for the upcoming months.  Our May speaker will be Chuck, NA6XX, who will give a presentation on 6-meter DX’ing and propagation.  Chuck, who lives in San Jose, will be driving to Habanero Hots, in Lodi, to give us his presentation in person.  I also plan to stream this meeting.  The date is May 10^th.

A few others have agreed to do upcoming presentations.  Stu, K6TU, will give a talk on his K6TU.net HF propagation site   Craig, K9CT, will give us a presentation on his super contest station.  Gary, NA6O, has also offered to give another one of his very entertaining talks.  Other presentation for future months are in the works.

Both Steve and I have resisted streaming our meetings in the past for various reasons.  We will be streaming more of our upcoming meetings.  I do hope we can get more of our members from outside the core area to attend.  Maybe even Will, from down south who often participates in our reflector conversation, will show us what he looks like!

In our February meeting, I did a contesting and DX’ing quiz, which seemed to get rave reviews, so we may do another one of those in the upcoming months.  The February quiz, and the answers, are in this month’s nugget.

Last, and certainly not least, several of our members participated in the CQ WPX SSB contest last weekend at WC6H’s contest station.  Besides Rich, the operators included Jeff (WK6I), Steve (NC6R), Gary (VA7RR), Tim (NU6S), and Barry (K6ST).  The team did a whopping 14,097,405 claimed score to support NCCC’s effort.

For those headed to Visalia, travel safe and have a great time! – Bob W1RH

Articles

Norm N6JV’s Tube of the Month

Gary NA6O reminds us how to properly Rotate Your Yagi (no, not that way!)

The Questions and the Answers to the quiz that Bob W1RH presented at the February 2025 meeting.

The Deleted Country of the Month, courtesy of the SCDXC.

2025 RTTY Roundup Final Results

Classifieds

Tony K6BV has the following items for sale, please contact him at dxer@k6bv.net.

ClubLog DXCC Standings

As of 31 March 2025. You can see complete MLDXCC standings on ClubLog here.

Overall

1	NK7I	211
2	W1SRD	200
3	W6DE	181
4	K6YK	164
5	K6OK	154

CW

1	K6YK	136
2	NO5Z	113
3	N6WM	103
4	NA6O	102
5	W1SRD	95

Phone

1	W1SRD	112
2	N6WM	111
3	NO5Z	106
4	K6YK	101
5	K6TQ	81

Data

1	NK7I	200
2	W1SRD	168
3	W6DE	161
4	K7QDX	149
5	K6OK	128

Resources

Check out the Resources menu up there at the top of every web page for useful DX and contest info.

Prepared for the MLDXCC by Editor and Webmaster Jeff WK6I. Please do send me any corrections, omissions, or material for future issues of The Nugget. It is much appreciated!