A Collection of Past SCCC News Stories (Newest to Oldest)
Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
December 2022
SCCC logo Welcome aboard to new SCCC member Ryan, KI6BTY. Ryan was licensed in 2007 but has only recently really got into the hobby. He is a recovering computer geek and thus is really enjoying FT8 and other digital modes. He is new to contesting and award chasing and is looking forward to improving his radio and contesting skills.

Did you catch it?! The November-December issue of the National Contest Journal (NCJ) has Part 1 of Jim, N6TJ's "70 Years of Contest Memories." And what a great first installment it is! The man has experienced a lot of contesting in those 70 years, and he has some stories to tell. Jim also includes many FB pictures in the article. If you aren't a subscriber to NCJ (and why aren't you?!), you can get a copy at your local ham radio dealer. I can't wait for Part 2!

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
November 2022
CQWW DX
Fresh off the SSB contest, CQWW CW is coming up later this month! With Cycle 25 improving rapidly, this should be a really good 48 hour event. 10 meters is likely to be open all day! And with pandemic lockdowns mostly opened up, Contest-peditions and big multi-multis are back in play! Are you ready for some big time fun?! We'll have comments from SCCCers related to the SSB contest next month.

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
October 2022
CQP Wine 2007 W6KC
The BIG one is October 1 and 2! What's that you say? The California QSO Party! The CQP for short. If you are reading this on the first or second, we hope that you will get on and submit your score toward the SCCC of course! If you are reading this later in October, hopefully you got on and had a lot of fun! Pictured at left is a CQP wine won by Jim, W6KC back in 2007. The wine is awarded to the Top 20 Single-op finishers both in-state and out-of-state each year. And lest we forget, SCCCers Axel, KI6RRN (as K6Q in 2020) and Marko, N5ZO (as N6Q that same year) own the SO HP and SO LP records respectively in this contest. Nice!

Coming up at the end of the month is another big one. The CQWW DX SSB contest. This one brings out a whole lot of DX and the world's best DX contesters and stations. With Cycle 25 on the upswing, look for some great openings and big scores!

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
September 2022
ARRL DX Contest


Congratulations are in order for Jim, N6TJ and Bill, W8QZA for their finishes in the 2022 ARRL International DX Contest CW. Jim operated KH7Q in Hawaii and finished 5th place DX in the Single Op, High Power category. Bill piloted W6QU to 6th place in the USA in Single Op, QRP category. Great job guys! Full results can be found here on the ARRL website.

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Kurt Andress, K7NV (ex-NI6W) SK
August 2022
Kurt NI6W/K7NV at XE2SI in 1984





It is with heavy heart that we report the passing of Kurt Andress, K7NV (formerly NI6W). He passed away in his sleep at home in Nevada on Thursday, August 25. Kurt had been known as an excellent engineer and had helped many west coast hams with their antennas and towers over the years. Kurt (then NI6W) joined the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee (CAC) in September of 1990, replacing outgoing rep Marty, N6VI. (Not sure how long he served on the CAC.) (left--Kurt at XE2SI in 1984) photo provided by N6LL





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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
August 2022
AG6RS on left
Welcome aboard to new member Tim, AG6RS from Long Beach. Tim was first licensed in 2010. He got the license primarily to serve as an ARES member in public service. He quickly learned that there are many other fun attributes to being an amateur radio operator. He has only recently participated in several contests, includin the ARRL June VHF contest (as a classic rover). Welcome, Tim, and we hope to add your contest scores to the club's going forward. Bill, W8QZA (W6QU)

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
July 2022
KW6AA
Welcome aboard to new member Ihor, KW6AA from San Diego. He has been a ham radio operator since 1967 and is a native of Ukraine. He enjoys contesting and DXing. His former calls are UB5AAF, RB5AA, UY5AA, and WZ8AA. in 1982, he won first place HP Mixed Mode worldwide in the IARU Radiosport contest as UB5AAF. We look forward to adding his scores to our club competition totals.




AA2IL

Also welcome to new member Joe, AA2IL, another from the San Diego area, Ramona to be precise. Joe was first licensed in the 1970s and has enjoyed casual contesting, particularly CW and VHF. He has a small ranch on the crest of the foothills and that has provided him with excellent DX and VHF / satellite opportunities. Welcome aboard, Joe!



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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
June 2022
SCCC logo
The CQWW DX CW contest results are out. Dan, N6MJ piloted TI7W to the top spot in the Single Op High Power category! Dan had a 464 QSO hour and averaged 236 QSOs per hour over the entire 48 hour contest! Fifth place went to Ken, K6LA at VY2TT. Check out the full write up here.

The ARRL Phone Sweepstakes results are also out. Ken, K6LA operated VY2TT to third place SO Unlimited HP. The SCCC finished second in the Medium Club category with its 47 entries.

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
May 2022
Paul, WN6K SK It is with deep sadness that we must report the passing of Paul Dorey, WN6K. Paul passed away at 11:40 pm on April 8 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His daughter reported that it was very peaceful and he was surrounded by family. Paul was an active SCCC contest contributor. His 3830Scores writeups almost always included what book(s) he finished reading during the contest. I know we all got a smile out of those reports. He had informed me on February 23 that he had started chemo but as we all know, pancreatic cancer is unforgiving. Treatments rarely result in success. He will be missed. Personally, I always wish that ham calls would not be available for at least ten years after a person becomes an SK. Wishful thinking, I guess. Paul's call expires in September, 2025. Let's hope that another contester gets it. 73, Paul and thank you for the many contest QSOs. The service will be May 19 at 1:30 at the Miramar base on Novel Drive. It will be an outdoor ceremony. A link to the flyer can be found here.


The CQWW SSB results are out. Results can be found here and the write up is here. VY2TT (K6LA), KH7M (N6TJ) and TM2Y (N5ZO) placed 8th, 16th and 24th in the world in the fiercely competitive Single Op All Band High Power category. Congrats to all. I also want to make note of two competitors in this contest that recorded absolutely amazing accuracy rates. Yuri, VE3DZ operating as VE2IM had just 14 busted calls out of 6,483 QSOs, an incredible error rate of 0.2%! Randy, K5ZD had just 13 busted calls and an error rate of 0.3%. Just amazing stuff! Kudos to the two of them for such accurate logs!

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
April 2022
SCCC logo Welcome aboard to new member Donald, K6DW. Donald lives in North Hollywood and mainly operates DX contests.

The final results of the February NA Sprint CW contest have been published at the NCJ web site along with the contest write up. Axel, KI6RRN operated the WA6TQT station remotely and used the NO6T club call to place 5th place overall, recording 345 QSOs. David, N6AN took 4th place in the QRP category. The SCCC #1 team finished 5th this time around. Do read the write up. It's an especially interesting one.

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
March 2022
W8GJK's day job Welcome aboard to new member Ken, KA6KEN. Ron lives in Goleta out near the coast. He does phone contests only these days but hopes to get his CW chops up some day. His very busy schedule currently has him picking and choosing contests. He organized Field Day events for the Santa Barbara ARC in 2018 and 2019 and helps AC6T and K6AW maintain the UCSB W6RFU station and antennas. He owns the Santa Barbara Electronics Supply and co-owns Impulse Advance Communications and Impulse Telecom (a CLEC). He is looking forward to participating in a multi-two or MM contest with other hams in the near future.

Also, welcome aboard to new member Paul, W8GJK (picture at left) in Los Osos. He has been casually operating contests for many years, mainly as a means of DXing. He has recently become more interested in contesting on its own. He is a professional communications tech and is looking to learn more about contesting. He was first licensed in 1994 as a teenager. Paul's other interests include aviation, skydiving, electronic music, motorcycling, and travel. His QTH is just barely within the 175 mile ARRL club circle for SCCC. Welcome Paul!

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
February 2022
ARRL
Welcome aboard to new member Ron, WA6FGV. Ron hails from Santa Barbara. He is interested in all contests and especially CW. We look forward to having his scores in the club totals.

PLEASE NOTE! The NCJ Sprint Team has announced that the CW and RTTY North American Sprints will again begin one hour early in February and March to give more time for 20 meter activity. Last year, west coast stations found this change especially helpful. The Fall Sprints will tentatively continue to use the normal 0000Z start time. The Team has also made a suggestion: "Please acknowledge each contact with more than a "dit" - often lost in the scrum, that dit might get snipped by your amplifier, the other station's turnaround delay, or by noise. The Management recommends "R" or "X" (short for the already shortened TU)."

The ARRL International DX CW contest is the third full weekend this month, Feb 19-20. The SSB contest follows two weekends later, Mar 5-6. With the bottom of the sunspot cycle in the rear view mirror, we are hoping for improved conditions, especially on 10 and 15 meters. Note that Jim, N6TJ will again be out in Hawaii as KH7Q in the CW event and as KH6LC in the Phone contest.

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Monthly News (SCCCORE - SoCal Contest Club Operations, Results and Enlightenments)
January 2022
Happy New Year
The CQWW DX CW contest in late November brought out the usual crowd of contesters world-wide. Many were feeling comfortable enough to travel to DX destinations for the contest. A few countries were still closed or had restrictive COVID restrictions. Conditions were not quite as good as during the October Phone contest but they were better than in 2020. 15 meters was open and 10 did have its periods of activity. Some comments from SCCC participants follow.

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