Southern California Contest Club
ARRL DX SSB: March 7-8 NA Sprint RTTY: March 15 ARRL International Digital Contest: June 6-7
ARRL DX SSB: March 7-8 NA Sprint RTTY: March 15 ARRL International Digital Contest: June 6-7
A Collection of Past SCCC News Stories (Newest to Oldest)
NAQP CW Claimed Scores
August 2017
K6NA(KI6RRN) SOLP 206,074 WB6NBU SOLP 24,440
N6AA SOLP 123,520 AI6O SOLP 19,080
K6NR SOLP 115,200 WA6URY SOLP 7,150
KM6Z SOLP 68,666 W6KY SOLP 4,636
WQ6X@NX6T SOLP 65,067 AI6DO SOQRP 2,320
XE2MX SOLP 44,622 N6VHF SOLP 690
WN6K SOLP 40,553 N6AB(N6AN) SOQRP 396
N6MU SOLP 31,375
N5ZO (NN5ZO N6CW W6NV) M2LP 351,404
W6KC (W6KC) M2LP 5,200
NC6B (NC6B) M2QRP 1,767
SCCC#1 (K6NA XE2MX K6NR WB6NBU WQ6X) 455,403
SCCC#2 (AI6O N6VHF N6AA W6KY) 147,926
IARU World Championship Claimed Scores
July 2017
N5ZO SOABACWHP 1,168,305 KM6Z SOABACWLP 109,116
N6AA SOABCWHP 749,782 N6MU SOABCWLP 82,935
W6TK SOABHP 560,714 AI6O SOABCWHP 50,046
KI6RRN SOABLP 485,924 W6KC SOABAHP 23,458
WN6K SOABLP 114,478
NX6T (K6AM KK6NON N6EEG N6KI NN6X W6ZAR WQ6X) MSHP 508,564
NAQP RTTY Claimed Scores
July 2017
KI6RRN SOLP 101,024 NE6I SOLP 2,016
WN6K SOLP 40,182 KA6WKE SOLP 1,175
WQ6X@NX6T SOLP 39,491
SCCC #1 (KI6RRN WN6K WQ6X@NX6T KA6WKE W6KY) 181,872
SCCC #2 (NE6I KNC6K) 2,016
CQWW WPX CW Claimed Scores
May 2017
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 10,223,064 N6MU SOABLP 265,963
KI6RRN SOABLP 1,811,300 N6RV SOAABHP 265,088
W6TK SOAABHP 1,419,022 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 251,996
KM6Z SOABTSLP 662,055 W6KC SOAABHP 130,560
WA6KHK SOAABHP 419,520 NK6A SOAABHP 75,680
WN6K SOABLP 342,405 WA6URY SOABHP 42,090
WQ6X@NX6T(WQ6X N6CY N6KI DL3YM K4RB K6AM) M2HP 7,547,226
CQ WPX SSB Claimed Scores
March 2017
W6TK SOABHP 2,171,016 WQ6X@NX6T SOABAHP 233,266
WN6K SOABLP 696,180 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 115,977
NC6K SOABAHP 671,957 WA6URY SOABHP 102,589
KI6QDH SOABAHP 588,392 W6JBR SOABHP 44,619
N6RV SOABAHP 490,356 AI6DO SOABAHP 8,262
WA6KHK SOABAHP 353,976 W6KC SOABAHP 4,524
NC6B SOABAHP 327,360 N6HE SOABALP 2,880
N6MI@AF6O (N6MI K6VCR) M1HP 1,481,700
ARRL DX SSB Claimed Scores
March 2017
ZF2MJ(N6MJ) SOABHP 8,607,168 WA6KHK SOUHP 108,108
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 1,664,040 N6ER SOUHP 66,555
W6TK SOUHP 610,836 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 58,512
WN6K SOABLP 360,360 NC6K SOSBHP 32,640
N6RV SOABLP 231,324 N6HE SOUHP 15,435
KI6QDH SOUHP 206,400 W6KC SOUHP 14,280
NC6B SOUHP 168,156 NK6A(MK6A) SOSBHP 9,975
K7ACZ SOABLP 151,929 W6JBR SOUHP 9,870
WA6URY SOABHP 110,136 AI6O SOABHP 8,424
NX6T (N6KI WQ6X N6NC N6ERD NN6X N6EEG W6ZAR W2PWS N6CY KK6NON) M2HP 1,090,908
ARRL DX CW Claimed Scores
February 2017
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 4,864,266 WA6KHK SOUHP 152,922
K6NA SOABHP 1,413,039 W6KC SOUHP 139,080
W6TK SOULP 881,166 W6KY SOABQRP 136,620
N6RV SOABLP 646,623 W6YA SOSBHP 120,285
NC6K SOUHP 504,210 NK6A SOUHP 97,464
WQ6X@NX6T SOUHP 449,541 KI6QDH SOUHP 60,600
N6QQ SOABHP 433,214 KM6Z SOSBLP 48,750
N6WS SOUHP 417,120 W6JBR SOUHP 43,200
AA6PW SOUHP 344,736 WA6URY SOABHP 41,652
N6MU SOABLP 233,415 WB6NBU SOABLP 32,625
NC6B SOUHP 175,200 AI6O SOABHP 25,872
W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 156,894
CQWW WPX RTTY Claimed Scores
February 2017
KI6VC SOABHP 879,752 KI6QDH SOABHP 183,750
WN6K SOABLP 715,071 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 153,488
WQ6X@NX6T SOABHP 641,478 N6LL SOABLP 129,532
NC6K SOABHP 627,634 W6KY SOABLP 123,480
W6TK SOABHP 507,834 NE6I SOABHP 94,772
KM6Z SOABLP 444,501 AI6O SOABHP 80,452
N6QQ SOABHP 424,100 W6JBR SOABLP 25,466
NC6B SOABHP 218,624 NK6A SOABHP 23,850
AI6DO SOABHP 190,784
NAQP RTTY Claimed Scores
February 2017
KM6Z SOLP 58,480 KI6VC SOLP 35,778
NC6B SOLP 49,446 W6KY SOLP 24,250
WQ6X@NX6T SOLP 46,800 KI6QDH SOLP 18,000
WN6K SOULP 45,310 K7ACZ SOLP 7,552
NC6K SOLP 39,240 W6JBR SOLP 3,375
SCCC #1 (WQ6X@NX6T NC6K W6KY KI6QDH KI6VC) 164,068
NA Sprint CW Claimed Scores
February 2017
N6MJ@W6TMD SOHP 16,320 W6UE(N6AN) SOHP 8,080
N5ZO SOHP 14,448 KM6Z SOLP 5,811
K6NA SOHP 13,248 WA6URY SOHP 2,079
K6LA SOHP 12,096
SCCC #1 (N6MJ@W6TMD N5ZO K6NA K6LA W6UE(N6AN) 64,192
NAQP SSB Roundup Claimed Scores
January 2017
W6TK SOLP 142,968 K6NA SOLP 5,950
WN6K SOLP 108,559 WB6NBU SOLP 3,854
KI6VC SOLP 45,288 KM6Z SOLP 2,184
KI6QDH SOLP 35,490 NC6K SOLP 300
WQ6X@W7AYT SOLP 8,820
NX6T (W2PWS N6ERD K6GO NA6MB W6ZAR N6KI N6EEG N6NC) M2LP 180,775
SCCC #1 (W6TK WN6K KI6QDH WQ6X@W7AYT W6AFA) 295,837
SCCC #2 (K6NA NC6K WB6NBU K2RP) 10,104
NAQP CW Roundup Claimed Scores
January 2017
N5ZO SOLP 277,056 WN6K SOLP 77,649
XE2MX SOLP 144,628 N6MU SOLP 70,366
N6MJ@W6TMD SOLP 141,759 WQ6X@W7AYT SOLP 24,768
K6NR SOLP 133,560 WB6NBU SOLP 21,606
AC6T@W6RFU SOLP 127,908 W6KY SOLP 12,580
W6TK SOLP 120,120 KQ6ES SOLP 9,720
NC6K SOLP 110,080 WA6URY SOLP 9,936
KM6Z SOLP 102,080 W6UE(N6AN) SOLP 9,028
N6NC@NX6T SOLP 78,775 W6JBR SOLP 3,034
SCCC #1 (K6NA XE2MX AC6T W6TK NC6K) 774,800
SCCC #2 (N5ZO K6NR WN6K WQ6X KQ6ES) 522,753
SCCC #3 (N6MJ N6NC WB6NBU W6KY) 254,720
CQ 160 Meter CW Claimed Scores
January 2017
VY2TT(K6LA) SOAHP 714,119 WN6K SOLP 20,910
K6NA SOHP 226,688 WA6URY SOLP 18,192
N5ZO SOHP 81,396 W6YI SOAHP 15,703
K6NR SOAHP 79,690 AI6O SOHP 14,898
N6KI SOHP 62,160 NC6K SOAHP 11,092
W6TK SOHP 48,216 W6JBR SOLP 4,025
N6LL SOLP 24,100
ARRL RTTY Roundup Claimed Scores
January 2017
NC6B SOHP 80,114 AI6DO SOHP 18,480
WN6K SOLP 59,520 NK6A SOUHP 18,104
KI6VC SOHP 50,490 K6ZZ SOLP 10,502
KM6Z SOLP 40,832 W6JBR SOLP 6,439
KI6QDH SOUHP 25,500 AI6O SOHP 4,182
K6PO SOLP 23,530 W6TK SOLP 2,220
W6KY SOLP 23,373
The SBMS Microwave Contest - N6NB
May 2016
Probably not many SCCC members have ever gotten on the air to operate in the San Bernardino Microwave Society Contest, held last weekend (April 30-May 1),
but they will surely recognize some of the calls of people who did get on for this exotic microwave contest.As an organization, SBMS is a little like SCCC. It's a regional entity that attracts people from four or five counties to its meetings. As far as anyone knows, this club has never met in San Bernardino, but some of its founders (engineers in the postwar era) worked at a U.S. Navy research facility in Norco. They started meeting at the Corona American Legion Hall--and that tradition has continued for upwards of 50 years. more
SBMS is all about microwave experimenting. The SBMS contest is a nation-wide event that starts on 2.3 GHz and goes up from there. The prime "money" bands
are 2.3, 3.4, 5.7 and 10 GHz. At 24 GHz and up, it gets pretty experimental. Microwave-oriented clubs in other areas often compete in the SBMS contest.
The club competition has often been won by the Northern Lights Radio Society in Minnesota.Several SCCC members, including AF6O, N6HC, N6MU and N6NB, happened to start talking about the SBMS contest over lunch a couple of weeks ago. A plan was hatched to do a coordinated operation in the SBMS event. I (N6NB) had three fixed stations available that coverthe bands above 2.3 GHZ plus more microwave-capable rovers than we could ever staff with operators. W6IT agreed to operate the mainstation at my Panorama Heights house, as he did in last year's SBMS contest. N6HC, who lives all of a mile away as the crow flies, offered to activate a second station at Panorama Heights, this one built around a minivan and tower trailer in the driveway. Arnie's friend N1BKB agreed to get on at my house three miles away, using a microwave setup atop a 70-foot tower. Meanwhile, AF6O operated a rover-like setup in my E350 Ford van and I roved in my Ford F150.
With that group of operators, we had a critical mass for a successful effort. The contest is scored by distance with no geographic multipliers, so rovers
have an incentive to stay far away from each other. I roved all over the Antelope Valley, stopping every 10 miles to work the fixed stations and AF6O, who
parked the van at his home in Pinon Hills and worked me over distances of 50 to 100 miles. The rules allow rovers to re-work everyone (rover or fixed)
after every 10-mile move, so things can happen really fast.The results will be posted online shortly after the log submission deadline in early June. It's too soon to know how we did, but SCCC is likely to be one of the top-scoring clubs after an interestng weekend of microwave DXing.
Wayne Overbeck, N6NB less
The Other Conference On April 14-17 - N6NB
April 2016
While about 800 contesters and DXers were gathered in Visalia, another amateur radio conference was under way on the opposite side of the United States.
It was the VHF "Super Conference," a first-time event that was held near Washington, D.C.The Super Conference resulted from a merger of the Eastern VHF Conference, sponsored by the Northeast Weak Signal Group (NEWS), the Mid-Atlantic VHF Conference, sponsored by the Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club (the Packrats) and the Southeast VHF Conference, sponsored by the Southeast VHF Society. Much of the work of hosting the conference was done by members of the Grid Pirates Contest Group (K8GP). Terry Price (W8ZN) and his wife Margie (K4MEP) seemed to be everywhere, pulling things together and solving problems. The event was held at the Dulles Airport Holiday Inn.
At the final count, 233 were registered for the Super Conference and a number of others dropped by. more
I attended the Super Conference and did a talk about setting world DX records on 2.3 and 3.4 GHz last year. I also had a paper in the published Conference Proceedings book. Jim Forsyth asked me to write something about the event for the SCCC website.
The conference had many highlights, One was a talk by Dr. Joe Taylor, K1JT, about the newest features of his WSJT weak-signal digital software. Those attending the final banquet were asked to vote for the best talk at the conference. Joe won "by a very wide margin," according to emcee and co-host Phil Theis, K3TUF, president of the Mt. Airy Packrats. There were also many other excellent technical talks.
Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, the recently retired CEO of ARRL, was the keynote speaker, giving his first speech as a FORMER League official. Dave talked about the threats to amateur radio spectrum allocations, some of which are frighteningly real--especially in the microwave and millimeter wave region.
The topic that dominated conversations in the hallways and hospitality suites was the August UHF Contest and ARRL's proposed new UHF and Up Contest. ARRL recently announced that it was cancelling the August contest now to clear the way for a new contest in early May, starting next year. When ARRL made the surprise announcement of the cancellation last month, many VHF enthusiasts from coast to coast objected. Many said it was their favorite contest. A coast-to-coast group came together to take over sponsorship of the August UHF Contest.
The 39th annual August UHF Contest will be held as originally scheduled on Aug. 6-7, 2016, with the Mt. Airy Packrats, the Northern Lights Radio Society
(Minnesota) and the Pacific Northwest VHF Society acting as co-sponsors, joined by many other co-sponsors (including me). The contest has its own website,
www.uhfcontest.org What most troubled many supporters of the UHF contest was the secrecy of ARRL's decision to drop the contest. The decision was apparently made at the January board meeting, but it was not mentioned in the board minutes. The author of the QST article about the 2015 UHF Contest was kept in the dark, as were the VHF editor of QST and several other contest article authors. The 2015 results article in QST urged readers to take part in the 2016 event. That was published long after the cancellation decision was made.
To his credit, Kermit Carlson, W9XA, chairman of the board-level sub-committee that cancelled the UHF Contest and drafted proposed rules for a new one, made a public announcement of the proposed rules just before the Super Conference--and then appeared in person to talk about them. When members of his audience objected to the secrecy or some of the proposed rules for the new contest, he repeatedly said, "I am the public face" of this process. He never passed the buck even when it became obvious that many in the audience were not pleased.
One of the major features of ARRL's proposed new May UHF Contest is distance scoring, with a very heavy emphasis on the microwave bands. A contact on 222 or 432 MHz is to count for one point per mile, while Qs on 902 and 1296 will count for four points per mile and Qs on 2.3, 3.4, 5.7 and 10 GHz will count for TWENTY points per mile. EME contacts will not count at all.
The heavy emphasis on the microwave bands reverses a long-standing ARRL practice of de-emphasizing the higher bands by creating categories that exclude them. Many stations that have microwave capability have abandoned those bands to get into "limited" categories. That led to a drastic decline in activity on the bands that are most threatened by non-amateur interests. ARRL now proposes to reverse course and create strong incentives for use of the microwave bands.
The distance-scoring concept itself has also been questioned by some because of its geographic biases. Enhanced long-haul tropo is common in the midwest and especially the east but almost unheard of in the west except on over-water paths such as California to Hawaii.
I was the sixth call area representative on an ARRL committee that considered distance scoring more than 30 years ago and rejected it in favor of using grid squares as multipliers (previously, ARRL sections had been the multipliers in VHF contests), Distance scoring was also tried in the VHF sprints but abandoned after several years because participation declined sharply after the first year. Now W9XA's committee seems to hope distance-scoring will "revitalize" VHF-UHF contests. The committee surely recognizes there are very unequal scoring opportunities in various regions. Their answer is to have NO national awards at all, apparently not even top-10 listings in QST. Instead, the proposal is to give awards only in 18 newly created geographic entities, not nationally. There could be as many as 72 regional winners (in single op, multiop, rover and team categories), but no overall winners. It isn't clear how the top scorers could be prevented from going through the results region by region and compiling their own lists of national "winners." That happened before when national top scores were not listed in QST.
All of this led to some spirited discussions at the Super Conference and afterward on the various VHF reflectors..
In my initial draft of this article, I ended it at this point. But there's some history that should be pointed out to SCCC members. For the first 50 years of VHF contests, they were dominated by stations in the northeast. As a Californian, I managed to win the single op category in ten VHF/UHF contests in the 1970s--before the advent of grid squares. But that was unusual. Nobody else on the west coast was winning VHF contests then, and no western club had won a club gavel until SCCC started winning just a few years ago. SCCC's run began when we started recruiting talented operators and outfitting them with microwave-equipped rover stations. By working each other quickly in multiple grid squares (a strategy that critics called "pack roving"), SCCC has been able to win club gavels in 13 UHF or VHF contests by now. When that started happening, critics began demanding distance scoring as a "solution" to the "problem" we created. Even though our group was working considerable distances on the microwave bands, and despite the unpopularity of distance scoring in the sprints, there are still influential people who see distance scoring as a panacea.
There are at least two ironies in this. For one thing, our group has largely retired from competitive roving. The critics of "pack roving" are beating a dead horse. Moreover, experience has shown that "pack roving" is a successful strategy in distance-scored contests as well. W9XA's committee has given tacit recognition to that fact by including a "team" category in the proposed UHF rules. That category will encourage groups of rovers to get together with one or more fixed stations and cooperate to maximize their scores. The new "team" roving concept sounds a lot like "pack roving" under another name.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out when the rules are finalized and the new May UHF contest has been held a few times.
Wayne Overbeck, N6NB less
SCCC April Meeting (L to R) N6NB N6MU AF6O N6HC W6OAR
April 2016
ZD8 Operators at SCCC & OCRG Get Together - N6HC
March 2016
ARRL UHF Contest 2016 Revived - N6NB
March 2016
After ARRL announced that it would not sponsor the UHF contest in 2016, a group of radio amateurs from coast to coast came together to make sure that
the contest DOES occur as scheduled on Aug. 6-7, 2016 (1800z Saturday until 1800z Sunday).
The sponsoring group includes the leaders of several large VHF-oriented clubs, two volunteers who write contest results articles for QST, the editor of the "World Above 50 MHz" column in QST, two people with extensive computer log-checking expertise, and others who are concerned about the future of contesting on the amateur bands above 222 MHz.
We believe that continuity is important in amateur radio contests. We do not want even a one-year hiatus for a contest that has been an annual tradition for almost 40 years.
The sponsoring group includes the leaders of several large VHF-oriented clubs, two volunteers who write contest results articles for QST, the editor of the "World Above 50 MHz" column in QST, two people with extensive computer log-checking expertise, and others who are concerned about the future of contesting on the amateur bands above 222 MHz.
We believe that continuity is important in amateur radio contests. We do not want even a one-year hiatus for a contest that has been an annual tradition for almost 40 years.
SCCC & OCRG Get Together
February 2016
Our guest speaker will be Dennis Vernacchia, N6KI.
This program is for anyone who would be interested in hearing how soldiers during the Vietnam War, got to talk home to their families and friends when long distance overseas telephone rates were prohibitive for the average income person and/or no phone lines existed at bases and remote outposts in Vietnam. Only some pertinent logistics of the MARS Vietnam system will be presented to outline the difficulties the Army MARS administrators caused us.
The talk will also show how the cunning and "Yankee Ingenuity" by a 20 year old, marginally trained soldier, shanghaied into an elite and remotely isolated combat Airborne Infantry unit firebase, managed to mostly stay out of harm's way and employ all his very focused civilian skills, as a young ham radio operator, to provide one of the best morale boosting services for his fellow comrades when he maneuvered himself into the penultimate job his skills could offer his unit.
Because the U.S. Army did not have a formal assigned MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) as MARS Operator, as did the Air Force, Navy/Marines, many other hams that served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam had similar experiences getting into MARS stations which possibly may have also saved their lives, or at a minimum, their mental sanity, by applying their ham radio skills learned in civilian life.
Poignant audio clips, recorded in the late 1960s segment of the war, of soldiers talking to their loved ones, interspersed with a unique collection of color and black and wide slides, will, at times, keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and again prove that Amateur Radio is a valuable public resource that, at times, can and has saved lives!
We will meet at the Hotel California - 10931 Hunting Horn Drive, Santa Ana, CA 92705-2499 on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 2:30 PM. The program will commence about 3:00 PM. Please RSVP to Arnie by email at n6hc at aol.com or landline at 714-573-2965.
This program is for anyone who would be interested in hearing how soldiers during the Vietnam War, got to talk home to their families and friends when long distance overseas telephone rates were prohibitive for the average income person and/or no phone lines existed at bases and remote outposts in Vietnam. Only some pertinent logistics of the MARS Vietnam system will be presented to outline the difficulties the Army MARS administrators caused us.
The talk will also show how the cunning and "Yankee Ingenuity" by a 20 year old, marginally trained soldier, shanghaied into an elite and remotely isolated combat Airborne Infantry unit firebase, managed to mostly stay out of harm's way and employ all his very focused civilian skills, as a young ham radio operator, to provide one of the best morale boosting services for his fellow comrades when he maneuvered himself into the penultimate job his skills could offer his unit.
Because the U.S. Army did not have a formal assigned MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) as MARS Operator, as did the Air Force, Navy/Marines, many other hams that served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam had similar experiences getting into MARS stations which possibly may have also saved their lives, or at a minimum, their mental sanity, by applying their ham radio skills learned in civilian life.
Poignant audio clips, recorded in the late 1960s segment of the war, of soldiers talking to their loved ones, interspersed with a unique collection of color and black and wide slides, will, at times, keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and again prove that Amateur Radio is a valuable public resource that, at times, can and has saved lives!
We will meet at the Hotel California - 10931 Hunting Horn Drive, Santa Ana, CA 92705-2499 on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 2:30 PM. The program will commence about 3:00 PM. Please RSVP to Arnie by email at n6hc at aol.com or landline at 714-573-2965.
Club Meeting
May 2015
I really agree with those who have said today's SCCC meeting was a good one. I think it was one of the best club meetings I've
ever attended and I attended a LOT of club meetings during four terms as an ARRL vice director.
Dick Norton led an excellent discussion of major issues in amateur radio and contesting. About 50 people were there, maybe more.
Among the highlights:
*Dick asked for a show of hands of those who had been licensed less than 20 years. No hands went up. (That has all sorts of implications for the future of contesting and amateur radio itself. I would guess that the majority of those in attendance have been licensed more than 50 years.)
*Dick asked how many live in places with deed restrictions limiting antennas. I believe seven hands went up.
*Also, Dick asked about the prevalence of TVI/RFI problems and problems of noise generated by neighbors' electronic devices. Interference TO neighbors seems to be a far less serious problem than it once was, but interference FROM neighbors is getting worse. Our host, N6HC, said that when one neighbor turns on a plasma TV, it basically puts him off the air.
*There was a fascinating discussion of the pros and cons of remote ham radio operation. Some cited horror stories about stations signing a call sign from a different continent than their transmitter site during a contest, with no indication of that fact. Others noted that remote operating can be a solution for those who cannot put up antennas at home.
*The prognosis for a legislative override of deed restrictions does not appear to be good. (The basic problem, IMHO, is that over the last 50 years there was been a growing consensus among developers, urban planners and lenders that amateur radio antennas are not compatible with the environment in planned communities. By now more than 60 million Americans live in communities that have CC&Rs restricting antennas. Many CC&Rs forbid not only antennas but also operating a "shortwave" radio station in the community.) Dick mentioned a new League publication citing public service by hams nationwide. The pamphlet is an outgrowth of W6XD's club talks about the way amateur radio has been marginalized in recent years while ARRL has not adequately publicized ham radio's contributions.
This isn't intended to be either a news story about the meeting or a set of minutes of the meeting. I just thought I'd share some of what I heard.
73, Wayne, N6NB close
Dick Norton led an excellent discussion of major issues in amateur radio and contesting. About 50 people were there, maybe more.
Among the highlights:
*Dick asked for a show of hands of those who had been licensed less than 20 years. No hands went up. (That has all sorts of implications for the future of contesting and amateur radio itself. I would guess that the majority of those in attendance have been licensed more than 50 years.)
*Dick asked how many live in places with deed restrictions limiting antennas. I believe seven hands went up.
*Also, Dick asked about the prevalence of TVI/RFI problems and problems of noise generated by neighbors' electronic devices. Interference TO neighbors seems to be a far less serious problem than it once was, but interference FROM neighbors is getting worse. Our host, N6HC, said that when one neighbor turns on a plasma TV, it basically puts him off the air.
*There was a fascinating discussion of the pros and cons of remote ham radio operation. Some cited horror stories about stations signing a call sign from a different continent than their transmitter site during a contest, with no indication of that fact. Others noted that remote operating can be a solution for those who cannot put up antennas at home.
*The prognosis for a legislative override of deed restrictions does not appear to be good. (The basic problem, IMHO, is that over the last 50 years there was been a growing consensus among developers, urban planners and lenders that amateur radio antennas are not compatible with the environment in planned communities. By now more than 60 million Americans live in communities that have CC&Rs restricting antennas. Many CC&Rs forbid not only antennas but also operating a "shortwave" radio station in the community.) Dick mentioned a new League publication citing public service by hams nationwide. The pamphlet is an outgrowth of W6XD's club talks about the way amateur radio has been marginalized in recent years while ARRL has not adequately publicized ham radio's contributions.
This isn't intended to be either a news story about the meeting or a set of minutes of the meeting. I just thought I'd share some of what I heard.
73, Wayne, N6NB close
CQ World Wide WPX CW Claimed Scores
May 2015
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 13,991,520 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 653,221
N5ZO SOABHP 5,077,104 NE6I SOAABHP 519,256
W6TK SOAABHP 3,611,046 N6AA SOABHP 369,834
K6NR SOABHP 2,457,312 AI6O SOABHP 340,101
AH7T(N6MI) SOABHP 2,066,075 WA6URY SOABHP 322,964
WA6KHK SOAABHP 1,453,830 NK6A SOAABHP 309,075
WN6K SOABLP 1,178,165 NC6Q SOAABHP 86,020
N6MU SOABLP 660,104 W6KC SOAABHP 44,250
WQ6X (N6KI N6CY W6JBR WQ6X K4VU N0DY W6RW WB6NBU K4RB W6QEG) M2HP 9,236,016
Blast From The Past - NE6I
January 2015
While filing some QSLs this afternoon, I ran across one of my cards from the SCCC 1986 XE2SI CQWW CW operation. There were a couple of years in the mid-1980s when the club went down and operated field day style. I got a chance to go with the gang in 1983. It was a blast.
73 Dennis NE6I
CQ World Wide DX Contest CW Claimed Scores
November 2014
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 11,501,145 XE2MX SOABLP 536,846
ZD8O(N5ZO) SOABHP 10,747,094 K7ACZ SOABLP 457,595
HR2J(N6AA) SOABHP 7,087,350 W6YA SOSBHP 447,435
KH7M(N6TJ) SOABHP 5,843,271 W6JK SOABHP 319,716
K6NA SOABHP 4,173,624 N6HE SOABHP 286,620
W6PH SOABAHP 4,020,624 K6DDJ SOABHP 257,881
W6TK SOABAHP 1,776,600 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 233,079
AA6PW SOABAHP 1,554,630 WA6URY SOABHP 134,693
N6RV SOABLP 1,476,200 NK6A SOSBAHP 133,104
WN6K SOABLP 819,153 N6KI@NX6T SOABAQRP 132,164
WA6KHK SOABALP 697,600 W6LEN SOABLP 78,642
W6UM SOABHP 600,541 KI6QDH SOABAHP 32,928
N6MI@AF6O (N6MI, AF6O) M1HP 1,564,028
During the CQ WW DX CW contest (November 29-30, UTC), Scott N6MI (little pistol) was guest operator at the AF6O (big gun) station in Pinon Hills, California (DM14ej).With help from Jim (AF6O), Sheila, and Scamp (the dog), N6MI piloted the station to a gross score of 1,564,028. This included 1,456 QSOs, 120 total zones, and 268 country multipliers (80 through 10 meters).
N6MI's best band was ten meters (428 QSOs, 30 zones, and 76 countries). Conditions were excellent on most bands, though N6MI recalls that conditions were "5% better" in the October CQ WW DX SSB. Both contests included long runs on 10 meters on Saturday morning (California time). Often, the biggest problem was where to point the beam because the bands were almost always open in more than one direction.
N6MI was very impressed with the twin AF6O delta loops on 40 meters. N6MI reports that some European stations just popped out of the noise on the EU-VK loop.
N6MI's highlights include: being called by a VU2; working deep Asians during the entire contest; working Europe on 40 in the early evening; proper English tea breaks;
breaking most pileups with the first or second call; the Sunday sunrise (windy with angry clouds); taking naps on a real bed (instead of the floor of the N6MI contest van);
the luxury of operating without having to drive to a remote location in the ham van; and making AF6O laugh with silly CW frivolity.N6MI had a macro for "AF6O is at the paddle" (to be played at appropriate times during the contest). N6MI acknowledges that his CW is substantially better on Saturday, when he is rested. N6MI was pleased with the meal service provided to guest operators; AF6O would not confirm that this service is available to all visitors.
CQ World Wide DX Contest SSB Claimed Scores
October 2014
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABAHP 9,441,090
W6YI SOABHP 2,485,120
N6QQ SOABHP 1,273,140
N6RV SOABLP 1,067,776
N6MI+K6VCR M1HP 1,025,387
W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 343,869
W6TK SOSBAHP 335,895
N6WS SOABALP 328,280
W6JK SOABHP 319,658
WA6KHK SOABLP 262,782
WA7BNM SOSBLP 209,042
WN6K SOSBLP 149,073
NK6A SOSBHP 52,689
Breakdown of Radios and Loggers Used at WRTC
July 2014
Radios Used at WRTC Loggers Used at WRTC
K3 75 63.6% Win-Test 40 67.8%
FTDX5000 8 6.8% N1MM 15 25.4%
TS590 7 5.9% Writelog 2 3.4%
IC7600 6 5.0% SkookumLogger 1 1.7%
FT1000MP 6 5.0% DXLog 1 1.7%
IC7800 4 3.4% TOTAL 59 100%
IC756-3 4 3.4%
FT1000D 2 1.7%
FT3000 2 1.7%
ORION II 2 1.7%
IC7700 1 0.8%
TS850 1 0.8%
TOTAL 118 100%
IARU HF Championship
July 2014
K6LA SOHPMIX 1,305,472 NK6A SOHPMIX 135,172
K6NR SOHPCW 590,178 KI6QDH SOLPMIX 49,819
N6MI SOHPMIX 397,846 W6TK SOLPCW 47,679
N6QQ SOHPMIX 181,632
NX6T (N6KI, KL7SB, WB6NBU, NN6X, NA6L) MSHP 997,084
WA6URY MSHP 111,696
World Champions N6MJ and KL9A
July 2014
Another Gavel for SCCC - N6NB
June 2014
SCCC has won still another gavel in a VHF contest, our eleventh (11th) during the last four years. But it could be our last gavel for a while.The results of the January, 2014 VHF Contest are in the just-released digital edition of the July, 2014 QST.
Capture The Flag T Hunt - Anthony Cioffi N2KI
June 2014
Well hello everyone! Today was our Capture The Flag Fox Hunt sponsored by the Hudson Valley Direction Finding Association of Orange County NY. This was the first
event of its kind in this area and I am happy to report, a success.We had two teams made up of four hunters each. TEAM EAST was comprised of K2STN (Team Captain), KB2SSZ, WA2KOT and WM2C. TEAM WEST was comprised of AC2O (Team Captain), N2KI, N2DBD and KC2YYF.
The event promptly started at 10 am with a four hour time limit. The WEST team hid their transmitter in Highland State Park.
Promptly at 10am the transmitters were activated. Both teams were required to take their first bearing from where they hid their transmitter. more
From the TEAM WEST location, we all concurred on the first bearing of 133 degrees. We then set out in different directions to obtain more bearings so as to
triangulate the signal.KC2YYF heading east and N2KI headed south west. AC2O and N2DBD followed along the bearing zigzagging their way and obtaining bearings on the move. With AC2O's setup, it made this very easy to do.
All the while, we coordinated our information on a local repeater. It didn't matter if TEAM EAST heard us discussing our data because they had a different mission. A couple of more bearings from N2KI put the signal into Goose Pond Mountain State Park a little over 12 miles away. This was confirmed by AC2O and N2DBD.
Driving west along Rt 17M, just as I was passing the park I was able to tune 10 kilocycles off and still have a full scale signal. So it was surely in this area.
TEAM WEST members all arrived at the parking area just about the same time. Using a 4MHz active attenuator proved to be the tool to use for sniffing out a 5 watt
transmitter in close proximity. It is really amazing how you can just walk up to the transmitter using this method with a tape measure beam.One hour and twenty-one minutes after the start, we had found the box. Victory TEAM WEST! We dialed the phone number on the box and read the code statement affixed to signify we had found it.
TEAM EAST continued on to pursue the WESTS' transmitter to further hone their skills, they successfully found it by about 1 pm. What a great job by all the participants. We all had a great time and are looking forward to the next event!
Information and photos from this event will be put on the HVDFA website soon. That's it for this edition from the HVDFA, Orange County NY. close
Members Well Placed in 7QP Results
June 2014
WN6K Second Place SOHPMIXED
AF6O First Place SOHPCW
W6AFA First Place SOHPPH
N6MU First Place SOLPCW
WA6KHK Second Place SOLPPH
NX6T Second Place MSHP
W6TK Third Place MSLP
Upcoming June VHF Contest - N6NB (Mouseover for full story)
June 2014
The VHF contest is June 14-15. A number of SCCC members will be active, some at home, some on mountaintops and some roving. Unfortunately, it does not appear likely
that we will have as many stations on as we did last year, when SCCC won the gavel for the highest aggregate score of any medium size club in the country.Probably the largest multioperator effort will be headed up by Dave Smith, W6TE, on Frazier Mountain. His team will be using a motor home, a fifth wheel trailer and several other vehicles plus at least four generators and equipment for every band through 10 GHz. Among those planning to join W6TE on Frazier are K6MI, K6ZMW, W6YLZ, WA6WTF and WB2WIK.
N6MI and K6VCR will be on a mountain near Barstow, using Scott's converted TV news van. They will be on all bands through 1296.
NI6E and K6EPP are planning to tow their newly built tower trailer to the desert east of Chiriaco Summit in DM23. Look for them especially on six meters.
N6TEB and K6WCI may operate at N6NB's hilltop house in Orange County--or they may rove. If they are at N6NB's house, they will operate separately using two completely independent stations for all bands through 10 GHz. They were not sure what they would do at this writing.
Carole, W6TTF, will be roving with 10 bands, mainly to provide rare microwave multipliers for the W6TE group. N6NB may rove, but probably on a limited basis. Several others who have roved in recent years will be unavailable this year for a variety of reasons.
June SCCC Meeting
June 2014
At the meeting it was discovered that some members are still using flip phones! photo: N6NB
N6HC W6SQC N6MU AF6O
CQ World Wide WPX CW Claimed Scores
May 2014
VY2TT(K6LA) SOABHP 12,378,037 WA6URY SOABHP 183,201 AF6O SOABHP 2,025,058 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 134,196 W6TK SOABHP 2,019,020 ZM3T(W3SE) SOASBLP 125,160 WN6K SOABLP 924,8464 NO6T(N6NC) SOASBHP 101,982 N6MU SOABLP 304,300 WQ6X@NX6T M2HP (K4RB KB7V N0DY N6CY N6EEG N6KI NN6X WA2OOB WB6NBU WQ6X) 9,619,592 N6MI MSHP (N6MI NB6E) 2,227,722
N6MI CONTEST VAN IN MONTEREY
ARRL Centennial: Southern California Operation - SoCal Coordinator K6NA
February 2014
SCCC is the host club of record for the Southern California operation using W1AW/6 as part of the
ARRL Centennial year celebrations. The regional activity is coordinated by K6NA.The week of operation begins at 0000UTC Feb 12th and ends at 2359:59UTC on Feb 18th. Active stations who can put out a strong, clean signal, and handle pileups of domestic and DX stations, may apply to be a W1AW/6 Host station.
Hosts must be ARRL members, but Hosts may invite non-members to operate as guests. Please download and read Rules and Guidelines for Operating. Use a logging program which can produce ADIF files.
Please access www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party to learn details. The goal is to put W1AW/6 on the air and make thousands of contacts from several sites in the Southwestern Division
more
All bands and modes may be used from distributed locations, simultaneously, but it is critical to avoid same-mode, same-band duplication in a given time slot. Hence you must coordinate with K6NA for your assignments, which can be chosen in two-hour time slots (start 0200Z- start 1600Z)as indicated in our schedule below.
Study the existing UTC schedule by day of week. Determine open time slots which you can support. Choose band and mode for each slot desired. Use the Request Form,
visible below the assignment schedule. Your Host request and data choices will be auto-sent to K6NA. The schedule will be updated often.If you prefer to make a direct email request, follow this format in the message body:
FEB 14 0400Z-0559Z 40m SSB
FEB 17 2200Z-2359Z 80m RTTY
Add as many lines as you can support. Send email to: k6na at cts dot com Your phone number is required. Every effort will be made to accommodate your requests, but if changes are needed, K6NA will contact you. Do not assume you have authorization until you see your call sign block assignments updated on this website schedule!
Multi-ops & club stations K6NX(KI6X) W6TRW(N6ED) W6RFU(AC6T) NX6T(NØDY) members must contact their individual coordinator.
NAQP CW Claimed Scores
January 2014
N6WIN(N6MJ) SO 312,232 N6MU SO 99,530 K6LA SO 243,110 N6ER SO 85,644 AF6O SO 204,048 KI6VC SO 56,854 N6AN(@W6UE) SO 195,720 N6GP SO 52,448 AC6T(@W6RFU) SO 177,240 N6NC SO 43,070 K6NR SO 176,730 W6TK SO 40,018 XE2MX SO 161,766 N5ZO SO 35,100 NX6T(N0DY) SO 135,872 WA6URY SO 15,664 WN6K SO 114,872 SCCC #1 (N6WIN(N6MJ),K6LA,AC6T,N6AN,K6NR) 1,105,032 SCCC #2 (NX6T(N0DY),WN6K,XE2MX,AF6O,KI6VC) 673,412 SCCC #3 (W6TK,N6GP,N6NC,K6NA) 135,536
CQ World Wide DX Contest CW Claimed Scores
November 2013
HR2J(N6AA) SOABHP 6,626,073 WA6URY SOABHP 327,642 K6NA SOABHP 3,571,020 W6KY SOABALP 202,261 K6NR SOABHP 1,396,440 NE6I SOABAHP 154,936 N6RV SOABLP 1,191,330 W6SJ 111,800 W6TK SOABAHP 1,121,956 WN6K SOABALP 96,596 N6WS SOABAHP 1,107,288 KQ6ES SOSBHP 86,526 AA6PW SOABAHP 1,000,494 AF6O SOSBLP 83,884 N6MU SOABLP 522,368 NK6A SOSBHP 66,785 N6PE SOABHP 501,847 N6IC 57,477 N6MI SOABHP 473,344 W6GMU SOABLP 53,988 W6QU(W8QZA) SOABQRP 374,680 WA7BNM SOSBLP 2,280 ZF1A (K6AM M4PN K5YAA) M/S HP 16,166,214 OC4CW (K6ZH N7CW OA4TT) (1/3 points to SCCC) M/S HP 11,838,694 NX6T (N6KI WQ6X N0DY K4RB NN6X N6EEG) M/2 HP 5,473,380
NX6T MULTI 2:
Very good condx from start til Sunday morning when A index shot up to 8 and 10 and 15 mtrs didn't play as well as Saturday afternoon. Had a fun time running
Multi-Two so our multi-op group were kept busy for all but 1.5 hours. This was the most QSOs we have done from our portable site and hope to keep improving on station setup and antennas in the future. 70 ft Tower Trailer w/ 2el 40, 3el SteppIR 80m & 160m Inv V Dipoles. 40 ft Tower Trailer w/ 2el 40, 3el SteppIR. 2 K3s, 2 ACOM 2000A Amps. - N6KI
N6MI CONTEST VAN:
J. Scott Bovitz, N6MI, is an enthusiastic little pistol and a proud member of the Southern California Contest Club.
Business prevented Bovitz from enjoying the recent surge in sunspots (the second peak), so he was hell-bent on participating in the 2013 CQ WW DX CW contest in late November.After studying the weather.gov pages, Bovitz drove 200 miles looking for a break in the rain and snow. Finally, the rain stopped for a few hours south of Mojave. Bovitz camped on a small rise with a good view in most directions. Bovitz was three hours late into the contest and exhausted, so he worked a few folks and went to bed. The rain started again and did not stop for 24 hours.
Bovitz woke at dawn on Saturday and found his milk was frozen...but the higher bands were hot and never dried up. watch ham van video
California QSO Party Claimed Scores
October 2013
N6WIN(N6MJ) SOHP 371,811 AF6O SOHP 248,414 K6NA(N6ED) SOHP 306,152 AA6PW SOHP 117,936 W6UE(N6AN) SOHP 299,106 NK6A SOHP 76,615 W6TK SOHP 272,546 N6HC SOHP 32,614 K6LA SOHP 268,946 N6QQ SOHP 6,720 W6SX SOHP 256,329
K6AM SOLP 222,585 KQ6ES SOLP 90,324 N6ZFO SOLP 215,122 NK6A SOLP 76,615 WN6K SOLP 164,640 N6MU SOLP 68,000 N0DY/6 SOLP 116,740 WK6I SOLP 4,050
K6QK MSHP 294,872 N6HD MSHP 217,442 NX6T MSHP 275,082 W6RFU MSHP 93,335 K6VO(@K6NR) MSHP 243,504
K6Z MMHP 597,110 K6MI MMHP 391,419
N6MI Kern County Expedition
J. Scott Bovitz, N6MI (www.n6mi.com), made a trip to Kern County for the 2013 California QSO Party. N6MI made more than 1,100 contacts from the Mojave Desert floor in his fully equipped ham van -- complete with a 56' 2" pneumatic mast and a rack mounted Elecraft K3 line. N6MI only missed one multiplier in the United States and Canada. His pain at missing Utah was partially eased by the enthusiastic CQP participation from Europe.
ARRL September VHF Contest Claimed Scores
September 2013
K6FGV/R Rover 223,020
K6AH/R Rover 183,260
N6VI/R Rover 173,145
N6HD/R Rover 165,066
W6TE MOUNL 149,710
N6NB SO/P 114,665
AF6O/R Rover 99,204
KJ6CNO/R Rover 31,270
W6TAI/R Rover 22,960
W6TAI SOLP 280
N6VH SOLP 28
ARRL September VHF Contest
September 2013
N6NB - it was a chance to try out my still-unoccupied house in Panorama Heights. I parked the tower trailer in the driveway and used the same
equipment and antennas that I used in June on Signal Peak. It seems to be a pretty good location.(Starts when fully downloaded)
W6TE - John, K6MI, and I operated the ARRL Sept. VHF contest from 8,000 ft Frazier Mt.
Thanks to the So Cal rovers and others we were able to amass over 150,000 points operating 10 bands. Unfortunately, activity was way down from prior contests.Claimed score: 149,930
Pack Rovers - A pack of six rovers travelled from DM12 (San Diego) to DM06/CM95/CM96 (Kettleman City) for a total of ten grids.
Not all rovers visited all grids. Each rover was equipped with the ten bands between 50MHz and 10GHz. Many contacts were made
with portable stations N6NB and W6TE. Special thanks to W6TAI who made a trip to Gaviota in order to work the pack from CM94
on all ten bands, over an almost all sea path.
