Volume 6, Number 10



Volume 7, Number 9 SEPTEMBER 2002

The Nugget

The Newsletter of the Mother Lode DX/Contest Club

MEETING LOCATION

This month’s meeting will be Noon, the 21st of September at W6SR and WB6OKK’s place. It will feature a BBQ and open house, food (hamburgers & kosher dogs) as well as chips, salad, and beverages, (soft drinks and beer) will be provided. If you have special dietary needs, or want to BBQ something special, bring it along. And be sure to bring your partner, we don’t always talk HAM Radio here, HI HI.

Please RSVP to: samoian @ or call us at (530) 672-2885 by the 19th, to be sure that we have enough food and drink. We are located at 2201 DuPonte Drive, Placerville.

From HWY 50 (in Sacramento) go East to Greenstone Road. Turn right at bottom of off-ramp (on to Greenstone Road) and continue until it ends at Greenvalley Road. Turn left (onto Greenvalley Road) and travel approx. 1-½ miles to DuPonte Drive, turn right (onto DuPonte Drive) and go approx. ¼ mile. We are on the right and have a sign with our name and address; you can’t miss the antennas.

From HWY 49 (south of HWY 50) go to Pleasant Valley Road (in front of Poor Red’s Bar) and turn left, at the stop-sign (Motherlode Drive) turn left, and go approx. 2 miles to Greenstone Road then follow the direction as noted above. If you get lost, call us at (530) 672-2885 We are also good on Yahoo Maps (the easy way to find us). C U-all the 21st.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Thanks to Dick Wilson and the DX foundation for another great program. Most of you missed the meeting and an incredible DXpedition video. This month we’ll gather at Rick and Karen Samoian’s for another great visit.

CQP arrives on the 5th of October. Please make plans to operate a little longer and a little stronger than last year. Dick Wilson and I will help to get you a station if you are going to be homeless in October. We’ll get you in as a guest op, M/S or M/M as you wish.

Here are a couple of ideas to help make this the best CQP ever. Pull out the log from last year. Check your operating hours and production to see where you can make more Q’s. Operate one more hour than last year in the time block you didn’t operate last October. Make a band plan to help you be on the right band at the right time. Propagation has been lousy. If the high bands don’t open, try short path on 40.

Don’t get discouraged and watch football! Set your VCRs up before the contest. Then you can watch football after the contest. Most of all…have a good time.

Non California Club competition has been added to CQP and should stir up more activity.

I saw Lew Dickerson. K6BPB since the last meeting. Lew looks good. Future radio operation is doubtful.

See you at Rick’s.

Ray ND6S, 30 you all

SWAP MEET and bake sale fundraiser for Amador County Amateur Radio Club will be held 12 October from Dawn to 2PM in the Wal-Mart, Martell, CA parking lot. There will be various independent vendor tables with radio and related gear. Talk in 146835 -600, 100PL.

The club will have a cake table, a rummage table, and a radio/equipment table with items donated by its members. Seller spaces are $10 (two car parking spot) CU there de Ken K6TA.

The following is a request from ARRL ARECC.

Those of you that have or will complete Level 1 ARECC course by Oct 18-20 are invited to attend a Mentor/Instructor Seminar at Pacificon in Concord CA; No date or time has been set for this 4-hour course. Info on Mentors can be found at . The free 4-hour course will guide you through the process of Mentoring/Instruction. All tools and books will be provided.

Seminars will be sponsored by CNCS grant. Mileage for each Mentor will

be reimbursed at 36.5 cents/mile, with a Max of 100 miles or $36.50.

Coffee, soda and snacks will be provided. Pacificon is Oct. 18-20 in

Concord, CA. Please RSVP to Dan Miller, K3UFG via email: .

If you have further questions, contact Dan. Thanks, 73, Jettie Hill, W6RFF, SM SV ARRL Sacramento Valley Section

Section Manager: Jettie B. Hill, W6RFF

w6rff@

MLDXCC PROFILE OF THE MONTH

LYLE BRADT, K6QG

I was born June 1939 and am a Native Californian. I lived in the Los Angeles area until 1985, then moved to Tracy, and finally here to Valley Springs.

My interest in Amateur Radio started in 1948 when my neighbor began construction of a wooden A-frame tower behind us. I believe his call was W6VSP and his last name was Brown. I was the local “Dennis the Menace” always asking more questions than there were answers for. However, he was very patient and allowed me to sit in his shack (and not talk) and “listen to his QSOs”. From a nine-year-olds perspective, his station was a true thing of beauty, an entire wall full of four large equipment racks. Just like in a Flash Gordon serial. One rack was the receiver, one the transmitter, one the modulator, and finally one for the power supply. The power supply was a magical thing, it had a life of its own, glowing with an eerie blue-silver light as its master spoke into the microphone. The fun lasted for a little over a year before he moved away. Radio was forgotten. A Paper Route and other teenage activities filled the gap until the FCC announced the “Citizen Band”. I found out you could get a station permit and be on the air without studying my interest in radio was renewed. As a kid in the 50’s, the information to obtain a Ham license wasn’t readily available and there was not a nearby Elmer. So I did the next best thing. CB.. Six of us got together and built CB radio kits. At first we had only each other to talk too, but things changed rapidly, growing into the undisciplined hordes we (HAMS) try to disassociate ourselves from.

Starting in 1958, and through the early 60’s, I worked in broadcast radio in the era of real “Rock and Roll”. I was a DJ at several LA stations, KPOP and KDAY and also worked with the rock n’ roll shows in and around the Los Angeles area. If any of you were in the LA area you’ll remember the radio blaring things like, “El Monte Legion Stadium, this Saturday Night” or the immortal phrase of “Be there or be square”. Other places that you heard mentioned were the Harmony Park Ballroom in Anaheim, or the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, with the ol’' Red Cat, Art Laboe, or Huggie Boy. Well I was there and was still square! I just staged managed and occasionally MC’Ed the shows. But alias all good things have to end and in 1963 I got drafted. Because I already knew the code I was selected to be a high-speed radio operator, sending and receiving 5 character code groups of encrypted messages. This stuff made no sense and probably is why I don’t like CW today.

Following my release into “the real world” I passed my FCC Technician license test and became WB6FSE. The limits of a technician license were that of “VHF and above” so I became an avid follower of line of sight signals. I lived in the cities of Torrance and Lakewood, under the ominous shadow of Palos Verdes and Rick's (W6SR) six-meter station as mentioned in an earlier Newsletter. Our receivers didn’t have the filtering found in today’s equipment, and just to say that WB6OKK had a loud presence on 6 is an understatement. The HF radios of the 1960’s didn’t come with 6 meters, 2 meters, or anything above 10M. The 2-meter band was still just AM, and for any of the bands above 2M, you called CQ with postcards, HI HI. Just having a working radio on 6 meters was an achievement, let alone making DX contacts and earning your ‘WAS-50’ was a major accomplishment. I finished all fifty states in 1972, but it took another 32 years to get the final OSL card and my WAS-50 certificate. But that's another story.

In the middle Sixty’s I begin working for Pacific Telephone and joined the ranks of management 5 years later as a circuit design engineer. My specialties were in digital multiplexing, fiber optic transmission equipment, systems, television, and microwave radio. One of my work highlights was communications at the 1984 Summer Olympics. My group was assigned to designed the venue trailers, train the technicians to operate them and supervised their operations at the Los Angeles Coliseum. I was there (everyday) from February 1984 until the week after the Olympics ended. Talk about seeing the Olympics up close and in personal! After listening to the rehearsals for the opening ceremonies for two weeks it was worse than boring. Following the Olympics, I relocated to San Ramon and was assigned to Staff Head Quarters as a Senior Engineer. I was responsible for the selection and performance testing of the digital and fiber transmission equipment used in statewide networks. In 1989 the company offered an early retirement package and I took it. Leaving PAC bell on a Friday and going to work for Rockwell-Collins the following Monday as a senior training instructor of digital microwave systems. This job involved lots of travel and I toured the world at their expense. Three days here, a week there, etc. Travel included Hong Kong, the Arctic Circle, Trinidad, the Panama Canal, all fifty states and all the provinces of Canada. Talk about earning your frequent-flyer miles the hard way.

Back to Ham Radio, I was getting tired of workin’ the same guys on VHF, and by the middle 70's my interest had shifted to the operations of 70cm (450) FM remote base stations and linking between mountain-tops. I was working with a group of Ham in development and use of a system that is now the basis for "Cellular Phones". Back then people would stop and stare when the thing on your belt made a ringing sound and you’d begin talking. Now no one cares if you have a radio stuck to your ear. At that time we called it a full duplex phone patch. My interest in Ham radio remained restricted to FM and remote base or repeaters for over 20 years. Then I saw an advertisement for the Icom IC-706 radio in the fall of 1995. The radio offered both HF and VHF/UHF operations in one tiny box. I figured I needed to upgrade my license before I purchased one so I could use all of its features. I used my evenings on the road to study the code and for the written exam. I passed the extra in February of 1996, and then purchased the 706.

The mystery of talking around the world had changed from late 1940's, radios didn’t glow in the dark anymore, and you no longer needed 4 racks of equipment, it could be done with a radio the size of a cigar box. Soon I found myself staying up late or getting up early to work some strange place on the other side of the planet. (The term Work or worked has always intrigued me, as applied to describe making a radio contact. Does anyone have the origin of the usage? ) Using the call, WB6FSE, either on voice or CW, for DXing, just didn’t get it. Almost everyone reversed the S and F on phone or thought I was trying to correct an error when using CW. So I applied for a vanity call, ending up with K6QG from the list I’d submitted.

In 1999 I elected to retire again, and in the December I moved to my current QTH. My plan was to find a location of five or more acres; on the proverbial “hilltop” that Hams always dream of. Above the valley fog (lived in it for fifteen years, yuck!) but below the snow line. The neighbor’s house had to be far enough away so it wouldn’t cast a shadow onto my property. Valley Springs met these requirements.

My current operation is comprised of two stations. A HF station having an FT-1000MP driving an AL-80B to a Force 12 (C4-SXL) atop a LM-470E tower. Inverted V‘s for 80 and 160 round out the antennas. The other station is comprised of a FT-100 for VHF, UHF or the occasional mobile operation. On 6 meters it drives a single 4-400 delivering 500 plus watts to a 4-element quad at 82 feet. On 2 meters I use a 7-element quad and on 70cm an old 27 element KLM yagi.

I started my DX chasing much later than the majority of you, so I’m doing my best to get caught-up. I’ve contacted 264 different countries, but with the `buro' being slow, postage and I.R.C’s very costly, it will take a while. I’ll soon be joining the ranks of DXCC since I have finally got 100 countries confirmed, 28 of them on six meters. Leaving a mere 231 (more or less) to be confirmed HI HI.

For me, it’s hard to explain what fires the need to be a Ham, but like the bumper sticker reads, “Harley Davison, if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand the answer anyway.“ All in all after 40 plus years of Amateur Radio it still beats raising chickens or watching paint dry. It’s comforting to know I will always have something to fall back on when the weather is too bad for fishing.

73 Lyle

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

The high temperatures of the last month have kept my horns pulled-in, but some things have been accomplished. N6JV and K6QG came over two weeks ago and we erected the 3rd tower (Everyone needs at least 3 of em’. Right?) I have installed one of the (3) 80 verticals but have not gotten the ground system installed yet. I also removed all the “junk” (loading coils) from the three HF-2V’s and now have a full sized, 40M, triangle array. After a month or so of use, the array seems to work as well as I had hoped it would.

The 80-meter array is a work in progress, and probably will be for the next year. Oh well… I can explain the vertical arrays and show you the computer model (if your interested) at the September meeting. Last month (the same weekend as our meeting) we met our daughter and grandkids at Don Pedro Lake and spent a great weekend with them. Be sure to bring ur YL/OM to the 21 September meeting/BBQ. STUFF FOR SALE I have a few excess items: a Force 12 180B (80M rotating dipole) with the dual switch box option $400, a Dentron DTR2000L, KW+ output, 160M to 10M power amp. it uses one 8877 $500, a Swan MK6B power Amp., KW+ output on 6M, with /P/S, a Swan MKII, KW+ output, 10-80M power amp. Call me on the Swan items. All equipment is 100% operational and in good physical condition.

Lastly, please let me know ur current email/phone/address for our Oct. roster update. C U All the 21st. de Rick, W6SR

THE SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT

Board Meeting 10 August 2002

The Board convened at 11:30 in the Martel Roundtable with the sole topic of CQP on the agenda. Dick Wilson, Ron St Jean and Ray Parker attending.

Dick Wilson agreed to work on getting M/M and M/S operations organized and operating sites for members needing better conditions.

Ray Parker will contact members individually to encourage participation and to match up ops with operations. It was noted that many key-players have been absent from club meeting and that a personal follow up is needed.

In the absence of Gary Stilwell, Sec/Tres, these notes were prepared by ND6S. Ray Parker suggested the Ione Hotel for a meeting in the future. Held for Future discussion.

MLDXCC General Meeting 10 August 2002

The meeting convened at 1210 in the Round Table Pizza Restaurant in Martel.

Plans for CQP were reviewed with the membership. M/S and M/M ops were discussed.

The FCC mandate for all TV receivers to be digital by 2007 was discussed by the membership. Less bandwidth for TV on VHF and UHF channels could make more space for other operations. Also, noted as another opportunity for the FCC to sell additional channels.

Dick Wilson showed a video from the VP8THU operation. Kay Anderson noted that the club has more than enough utensils for the next joint meeting.

Ray Parker commented on the Ione hotel for a future meeting. The Hotel is nicely restored with a good dining room, bar and restaurant. Ione is about ten miles closer to Sacramento and the Bay Area. Ray will get menus and confirm possible future dates.

Meeting adjourned 1350 followed by another great informal discussion and adjourned at 11:35 a.m. de Ray, ND6S.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Beginning Balance 8/1/02 $602.23

Expenses: CQP Plaque $35.00

Ending Balance 8/31/02 $547.23*

*Includes $100 to be used as repeater fund

GARY STILWELL, KI6T, TREASURER

ROSTER UPDATE

All members: Please Send me a note with your e-mail, address, and phone # to be included in the new 10/02 roster up-date that will be appear in the October issue. Even if u have NO changes let me know that. Thanks de Rick samoian@ or (530) 672-2885

COMING EVENTS

Foothill Flea Market

2nd Saturday of each month from March through October at Foothill College, Los Altos.

Livermore Swap Meet

1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from the west 145.35 from the east. Contact Cliff Chiba, KF6EII, (209) 835-6715, email larkswap@.

Placerville Swap Meet – every third Sunday, 3970 B Missouri Flat Rd #3, Placerville. 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Talk-in on 146.865 – PL 142.2, 440.700 + PL 88.5. No fee, free parking. Hwy. 50 East, take Missouri Flat off-ramp. Go over Hwy. to 2nd light, into shopping center in front of Radio Shack.

CONTEST FEEDBACK

Join NCCC (Northern California Contest Club).

New members joining the NCCC and pledging their un-obligated scores to ARRL Sweepstakes, ARRL 10M contest and a single winter/spring contest to be chosen later, will be offered an introductory free membership in the Northern California Contest Club through the contest season ending June 29, 2003. The introductory membership will include all rights and privileges of full membership including access to the electronic version of the club newsletter, the Jug.

To join, you must attend a meeting and fill out an application. The next regular meeting is Monday, September 9, 2002 at the Tied House Café and Brewery, 954 Villa Street, in Mountain View. Time: 6 PM; schmooz, 6:30; dinner, 7 PM; meeting. Please RSVP to K6RB. For further information, go to the NCCC web site: .

CQP

It looks like several members have other plans/obligations for CQP (California QSO Party, October 5 and 6). We will have a few stalwarts to hand out QSOs to the deserving. Bill, KI6PG will be on from Tuolumne county. Ginny, N6RER, will be piloting the K6KM station up in Butte county. Gary, KI6T will have a part-time operation from Sacramento county. K6LRN & K6TKD will be probably be initiating the new ham shack from El Dorado county. Rick, W6SR, on the other side of Placerville has volunteered his station. N6XI’s plans are sort of up in the air (hope you get it ‘together’ in time). Jettie, W6RFF, will be mostly on CW from Placer county.

CQP is one of the few times California stations are sought after. Casual operators from modest stations do well just by showing up. County hunters are looking for ‘your’ county!! The contest hours are from 1600Z (9 AM, October 5) to 2200Z (3 PM, October 6). Single op stations operate 24 hours. Full rules, etc. on . NA supports CQP.

Progress report

The ham shack/workshop project has completed the construction phase. The second ‘final’ inspection will be on Sept. 3. First ‘final’ failed due to some grading problems and some other ‘nit-picking’ items, according to the contractor. We have started moving stuff from the rented storage container so we can get rid of it. Trying to schlep boxes of QSTs in near 100 degree temps has one wondering, ‘why are we keeping all these boxes??’

DXCC notes

September 30 is the deadline for submitting QSL cards for the yearly up-date to the DXCC Yearbook. See ARRL web site for details.

Antennas for sale

I have a couple of antennas for sale. I have a Moseley Pro 67 C, in very good condition-asking $450/BO and a KLM KT-34 w/new Radioworks 4:1 balun for $200/BO. The Moseley covers 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30 and 40. According to the Moseley web site, the antenna has gain on all bands except for 30. The KLM is a four el tribander that covers 10, 15, and 20. The Mosely is partially disassembled, the KLM is assembled. I would prefer that buyer pick-up at Omo Ranch.

NCDXF

Chuck, N6OJ, has some ham gear and related items that have been donated to the Northern California DX Foundation. Last list had a couple of HF rigs, some 2 M rigs, TNCs. E mail Chuck at; n6oj@ for current list.

Carolyn, K6TKD, is selling tickets for the quilt that was previewed at the joint NCCC/MLDX-CC meeting in July. Tickets are $1 each, 6 for $5 or 13 for $10 and will be available at meetings or drop a SASE with your check made payable to NCDXF to Carolyn, K6TKD, Box 273, Somerset, Ca., 95684-0273.

Videos from the Foundation’s library are available to clubs and individuals. See for list of videos. Let me know a couple of days before meetings, I can bring videos with me to club meeting and save postage, etc. I would like to have people take a few videos over the winter months and review them for quality and content.

Contests

Hope everyone had fun in the NA Sprint contests!! Will be looking for war stories, etc.

CQP-October 5 & 6

This is a chance to be the ‘hunted’ instead of the ‘hunter’. Look at last year’s results for ideas about a county expedition. Contact Bob, N6TV about ‘reserving’ your county and contact Mr. CQP, Al, AD6E, to see if there are any rule changes, etc.

CQWW SSB, October 25-27. 48 hours. See September CQ for rules, etc. or CQ web site.

ARRL Sweepstakes. November 2-3 for CW and Nov. 16-17 for SSB.

CQWW CW, November 22-24. Note: this is the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving this year. This should help participation.

Also, Please, send me your scores; at k6lrn@

CU...73,Dick, K6LRN VP/CC

DX HAPPENINGS

DX Bulletin 36 ARLD036 from ARRL Headquarters Newington CT September 5, 2002 To all radio amateurs.

LORD HOWE ISLAND, VK9. A group of YLs will operate from Lord Howe Island (IOTA OC-004) as VK9YL, from September 15 to 29. They will then continue on to the South Cook Islands where they will operate as ZK1XYL from Aitutaki Island (OC-083) from October 1 to 6 and from

Rarotonga (OC-013), October 7 to 15. QSL with return postage to VK3DYL or via the VK3 Buro.

REUNION ISLAND, FR. Bernie, FR/F6BLK, will be active from September 23 to 29. He will then use the callsign TO8MZ from Mayotte, Sept. 30 to October 9. QSL via F6BLK. He plans to stay mostly on CW but will do occasionally SSB.

BENIN, TY. Pat, I8QLS, will be active with Piero, W1NA/I8CZW and Gino, I8ULL, from October 19 to 28. During the CQWW Phone Contest. Before the contest they will focus on the low bands, newer bands, 6 meters and CW. QSL via I8ACB. The only callsign provided so far is for Pat, I8QLS, who will be using TY2LS.

GAMBIA, C5. C56/G4IRN will be on the air from September 6 to 13, on 80 thru 10 meters, using mainly CW. QSL via G4IRN.

GREECE, SV. J45DIG, the Greek DIG club station, will be activated by several operators until October 16, using CW and SSB. Ops include DH5JR, DJ8OT, DJ8VC, DF6QP and DJ8JS. QSL via DJ8OT, via the bureau is ok.

NORTHERN MARIANAS, KH0. JE6DND will use the call KH0R from Saipan from Sept. 6 to 10. QSL via JE6DND.

EAST MALAYSIA, 9M6. Shun, JH7IMX, will be active as 9M6LSC from

Sept. 26 to October 1. He will participate in the CQ/RJ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY as a Single Op/All Band entry. QSL via JH7IMX.

MAURITANIA, 5T. Op Nick Sinieokoff has again activated 5T5SN. QSL via IZ1BZV. NORWAY, LA. LA7N/p will be on from Borgan Island, EU-062, September

7 and 8. The multi-op group will have five stations on the air on

160 through 10 meters using SSB, CW, PSK31 and RTTY. They will also be on 6, 2 and 70cm SSB and FM with some satellite operations. They plan to hang out 5 to 10 kHz below the standard IOTA frequencies. QSL via SM5SIC.

BRAZIL, PY. LABRE will be active as ZW100J until Sept. 30 in celebration of the centenary of Dr. Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, ex PY1JKO. He was a ham, politician and founder of

Brasilia City. Stations will be active on 80 through 6 meters. A special QSL will be issued. QSL via the bureau or direct to PT2AA

PROPAGATION FORECAST

Don't forget that the autumnal equinox is soon. This year it will be on September 23 at 0448 UTC. High frequency propagation is improving as we move from summer to fall.

There is an interesting and informative space physics text on the net, which has lots of information on the sun, the magnetosphere, solar wind, and many other topics. You can find it at

. For some basic propagation information, checkout: as well as

. Also the WM7D solar resource page at

. You'll find links there to some interesting historical charts of sunspot cycles. Sunspot numbers for August 29 through September 4 were 146, 150, 153, 187, 227, 266 and 215, with a mean of 192. Estimated planetary A indices were 10, 10, 13, 13, 14, 10, and 42, with a mean of 16.

MLDXCC 2002-03 Meeting Schedule

Oct 12

Nov 09

Dec 07

Jan 25

Unless otherwise announced, meetings are held at noon, on the 3rd Saturday of the month.

Membership Criteria

Membership criteria may be obtained by writing the Secretary/Treasurer at:

MLDXCC

PO Box 1073

Pine Grove, CA 95665-1073

The MLDXCC NEWSLETTER

Information may be reproduced provided credit is given MLDXCC.

2002 Officers of the MLDXCC

Ray Parker, ND6S, President

e mail: rayep@

Dick Wilson, K6LRN, VP

e mail: k6lrn@

Gary Stilwell, KI6T, Secty/Treas.

e mail: ki6t@

Ron St. Jean, KG6CMS, Director

e mail kg6cms@

Rick Casey, W6RKC, Director

e mail: ab1u@

Net: Wednesday’s 19:30 local, W6SF repeater 147.165 (+600)

WebSite: Effective 5/30/02 our new address is:



Nugget Editor

Rick Samoian, W6SR

e-mail: samoian@

Contest Feedback

Dick Wilson, K6LRN

e mail: k6lrn@

QSL Manager:

Norm Regan, WA6SJQ

Publicity Chairperson

Brandt Woodard, K6BEW

ARRL Awards Checkers

DXCC

Gary Stillwell, KI6T

Ken Anderson, K6TA

WAS & others

Dennis King, N6KD

QSL BUREAU

ARRL Sixth District QSL Bureau, PO Box 530, Weed, CA 96094-0530. For more information, visit the ARRL Sixth District QSL Bureau Web site >.

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