MDARC - Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club

09/02/2026

Hi Fellow Hams:
I urge you to encourage any friends or relatives you know who might be interested in getting their Technician ham radio license to sign up for the One Day Technician License Class at the Pacificon 2026 Amateur Radio Convention on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at the San Ramon Marriott Hotel. The class is actively taught by Rich Harrington, KN6FW, and Paul Shinn, K6FRC – real good guys! This is an excellent opportunity, and Rich and Paul are both excellent instructors!

For those who also want to get their Technician License that same day, a specially scheduled license examination will be given soon after the One Day Class ends around 4:00 p.m. The great majority of students who take the class and test that same day are able to pass and get their license! If not, you can always re-test.

Due to room size, enrollment for the class is limited to a total of 30 students, which usually fills up. There is still room in the class at this time. Anyone who is interested in signing up should go to the webpage on the Pacificon website at the link below:
https://www.pacificon.org/education/license-classes/technician-class

To take the class you must also purchase a General Admissions registration for the Pacificon 2026 Amateur Radio Convention, which can be obtained through the link below:
https://www.pacificon.org/registration/attendees

And by the way, if you haven’t yet bought your own ticket for this great 3-day Convention (October 16 -18), which is produced and presented by our club, check out the great activities, forums, vendors and the many stories of Pacificon at: https://www.pacificon.org/home (website information continues to be updated).

Pete Harris, KE6ZIW
Pacificon 2026 One Day Class Coordinator
[email protected]

09/01/2026

My Fellow Hams,

Now that Moonlight on the Mountain has been completed, the next event that we have is in Tilden Park in Berkeley.

Tilden Park is a developed park, with a lot of developed areas, as opposed to the Lake Chabot area which is mostly trees and trails.

A new race organizer, Inside Trail Racing, has come to us requesting situational awareness and emergency communication at its Aid Stations and at certain junctions along the race path on Saturday, September 12, 2026. They have realized that there are certain areas in Tilden Park that do not have cell phone coverage, and they need a reliable communication system to keep track of all of their racers and their needs.

You are invited to join the communication team for the Berkeley Trails Adventure.

Please contact Larry Loomer, KI6LNB at to be welcomed onto the communication team.

Most of our assignments are drive-up assignments.

73,

Larry, KI6LNB

08/07/2026

PACIFICON 2026 is coming soon!
Want to hear about what's happening at PACIFICON 2026? Of course you do...

Pacificon℠ gives you three great days of activities for one low cost:

* A full slate of outstanding Forum presentations about a wide range of amateur radio topics.

* An all-day Antenna Seminar (additional fee required).

* Gordon West, WB6NOA: Author, educator, speaker and irrepressible promoter of all things ham radio.

* Large vendor and nonprofit expo filled with exciting products and exhibits.

* Events including an outdoor swap meet hosted by livermoreark.org.

* QRP Low Power Activities.

* Youth activities, including Scouting.

* Parachute mobile contacts.

* Electronics kit building and soldering instruction.

* A One-Day license prep class to prepare you to pass the amateur radio Technician license examination and get your first amateur radio license.

* Two days of license testing.

* A Special Events station W1AW/6 where you can operate and contact other hams worldwide, even if you don't have a license, hosted by paara.org.

* Emcomm Vehicle Showcase: San Ramon Fire, Alameda County Sheriffs, Fighter cockpit exhibit from USS Hornet, SATERN Van.

* Our wonderful banquet & keynote speaker (additional fee required).

* Our annual Wouff Hong initiation ceremony.

* A chance to hear about and discuss important national amateur radio issues with ARRL leaders.

* A chance to win radios and other great prizes throughout the convention.

* M17 digital voice mode (patent free) and MMDVM. M17 was supported by our repeater W6CX and will soon be supported again.

* First annual conference held 1920 in San Francisco.

And perhaps the best part - a chance to interact and share information with lots of other amateur radio enthusiasts to further (or begin) your own knowledge and to advance the hobby.

Registration is now open!
https://www.pacificon.org/registration/attendees

Registration : Attendees | Hotel | Non-Profit Registration | Speaker Proposals | Vendor Registration | Vendor Particulars | Volunteers

08/04/2026

My Fellow Hams,

Our next Public Service event is coming up on Saturday, August 29, 2026.

Moonlight on the Mountain is an auction and fund raiser dinner on Mt. Diablo for the Save Mt. Diablo group.

We put the dinner guests onto buses, and they are taken up a one lane dirt fire road to the dinner site. We guide the movement of the buses on the one lane road.

We hams are fed dinner as well.

After the dinner the guests are transported in the buses back down the mountain to their cars. This event service goes to 9:00 or 10:00 o'clock in the evening.

Give it some thought. Put this event on your calendar. We could use your help! If you're interested, please contact me at [email protected].

73,
Larry, KI6LNB

07/28/2026

ATTENTION, ALL PUBLIC SERVICE HAMS:
OUR NEXT PUBLIC SERVICE EVENT OF THE YEAR IS HERE !!

The Skyline 50k running race in the Oakland Hills has been scheduled for August 2, 2026.

For those of you who are new to the race, Skyline is one of the oldest continuously running 50k races in the United States.
The course starts at the Lake Chabot Marina and travels a clockwise loop through the East Bay Regional Parks to Moon Gate and finishes back at the Lake Chabot Marina. Familiar aid stations being used this year, in order of appearance, are Clyde Woolridge, Bort Meadow, Big Bear, Moon Gate, Big Bear, Bort Meadow and Marciel Road Aid Stations.

We are looking for experienced communicators and beginning hams who will be teamed up with an experienced ham at one of six check points along the running route. We will report on the bib numbers of the first three male runners and the first three female runners, as well as the bib numbers of the last five runners. We will also report to net control the bib numbers of any dropped out runners and report on the supply needs of the aid station to which we are assigned.

Most assignment locations are drive-up locations. There are a couple of walk-in assignments available as well. For last years’ hams, please indicate your preference if different from last year.
We have been asked to provide communications for this event since cell phone coverage along the race route area is weak to non-existent. Reliable communication is a must for this type of activity in this remote area.

Public service events are a good way for hams of all experience levels to Get-on-the-Air, to practice your communication talents, to serve a worthwhile cause, and to learn and practice the protocols which exist for effective emergency communication.

We have three more locations that need volunteer hams assigned to them. Are you available to fill one of those locations?

To ask questions and/or to be added to the ham radio roster, please contact Larry Loomer, KI6LNB, at .

Thank you for considering joining us for this event.
Larry, KI6LNB

07/11/2026

My Fellow Hams,

Now that we are in the summer time of 2026, we have a few public service events that are in need of supporting hams.

Please reply back to me if you are interested in participating in any of these events.

MDARC-Skyline 50k Confirmed
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Running race in the Oakland Hills
Radio Coordinator: Larry Loomer, KI6LNB
Scena Performance
https://scenaperformance.com/events/skyline-50k

MDARC-Moonlight on the Mountain Confirmed
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Fund Raising catered dinner at Mt. Diablo's China Wall in Alamo
Radio Coordinator: Larry Loomer, KI6LNB
https://savemountdiablo.org 925-947-3535

MDARC-Dick Collins Firetrails Confirmed
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Running race in the Oakland Hills
Radio Coordinator: Larry Loomer, KI6LNB
Scena Performance
https://scenaperformance.com/events/skyline-50k


MDARC-Mount Diablo Challenge Confirmed
Sunday, October 4, 2026
Bicycle race up Mt.Diablo
Radio Coordinator: Larry Loomer, KI6LNB
https://strambecco.com/event/mt-diablo-challenge/

I look forward to hearing from you!

73,
Larry Loomer, KI6LNB

The Mt. Diablo Challenge 2026 is a 3,249-foot climb up South Gate Road through Mount Diablo State Park that is closed to cars.

06/23/2026

Field Day is Saturday, June 27! Come join us!

06/15/2026

Getting on the Air with HF Radio – Basic Antenna and Equipment Concepts

Hi MDARC guys and gals! I will present an outdoor class and demonstration session at the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club’s 2026 Field Day on Saturday, June 27, 2025, 10am - 12 noon. The location is the Olympic High School parking lot at 2730 Salvio Street, Concord, CA. See sign-up instruction below.

This class is aimed at orienting folks to HF radio, with a particular focus on basic equipment needed, how to tune an HF antenna for resonance, and theoretical ideals vs real world compromises. The class is designed for:

** New General Class hams

** Anyone contemplating on becoming a General Class ham,

** Anyone interested in beginning to use HF radio.

I will be using a portable Buddipole antenna for demonstration.
Topics for discussion and demonstration:
*Basic equipment needed for an HF station.
*The two most important equations for HF radio in the field and how to use them.
*How to determine the approximate length of a horizontal dipole antenna (and of a 1/4-wave vertical) for a desired frequency range in a chosen band.
*How to use an SWR meter to precisely tune antennas for resonance and correct length.
*Ue of small inductance coils to substitute for necessary physical length of antenna.
*Description of different radiation patterns relative to height of antenna off the ground.
*Theoretical ideals vs. real world compromises

In order to sign up for the class, email me at my personal email address: [email protected] to state your intention to attend. Those who attend will receive a 21-page handout that I have prepared, and some other written guides to HF radio. If you can come, please bring a chair for yourself, dress for whatever the weather is (we will be mostly in shade), and you might want to bring something for yourself to drink during the class. If you come please get there by 10:00 a.m. I hope to begin promptly. Thanks much!!

There will be many other great activities at the MDARC 2026 Field Day. For more information about that go to: https://www.mdarc.org/activities/field-day

PS: At the following link you can see 5 photos of a portable HF station I set up on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon during a family trip to Arizona a while back for some baseball Spring Training games: 11636522@N06/albums/72157633054005624/" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/11636522@N06/albums/72157633054005624/

Pete Harris, KE6ZIW
[email protected]
Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club

On the mornings of March 9 and 10, 2013, I set up a portable HF ("shortwave") ham radio station about 10 feet away from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The elevation of the south rim is about 7,000 feet. I used a portable HF transceiver with battery power, and a Buddipole portable HF an...

06/02/2026

MDARC Field Day June 27 and 28

The MDARC Field Day will be held at Olympic High School , 2730 Salvio Street, Concord, CA

Set up will begin at 1430 hours on June 26. A complete schedule of activities will be discussed at the Membership Meeting on June 19, in person in Lafayette and on Zoom.

We plan to have ham demonstrations, contesting, a BBQ on Saturday evening, and many more activities!

Come to the meeting on June 19 and bring your ideas to make Field Day 2026 an even better experience than Field Day 2025.

05/28/2026

The Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club will offer its Level 1 Technician License training course beginning June 16, 2026. This 8-week course plus two Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) classes will meet Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. PDT. You may attend either via Zoom or in-person.

Location: Clayton Valley Presbyterian Church
1578 Kirker Pass Road, Clayton CA

Please go to https://www.mdarc.org/education-and-testing/class-details for complete details and to register.

73,
John Kearney, KM6ZJT
Volunteer Class Administrator
Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club

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