[SCCC] 2025 ARRL FIeld Day, W6BA

[Steve Harrison]

I operated (only CW) from W6BA, the Morongo Basin ARC; thus, our score 
is being credited to the MBARC. W6BA is the former callsign of Bill 
Adams (SK) of 29 Palms, CA, one of the founders of the SCDXC in 1947 (I 
don't know whether he was ever a member of the SCCC, however).

We were located in the Yucca Mesa Community Center in Yucca Valley, CA, 
running everything off the various wall sockets (the lights were 
blinking something fierce when I keyed my TS890 on CW!) as we just 
didn't have time to set up (and refuel, when necessary) a generator.

Only half a dozen or so club members actually operated, although we 
entered as class 5D in the (vain) hope that more club members would stay 
and partake of all the available radios. For antennas, we were only able 
to put up five dipoles, one for each band 80 - 10M, with the high band 
dipoles oriented broadside to NW - SE, essentially up and down the west 
coast, and only around 15 to 20 feet high (and also as close as just a 
few feet from the incoming power lines!). An 80M dipole (around 30 feet 
high) showed very high SWR (>3:1 anywhere in the band) and I was only 
able to work the loudest stations on 80M. The 40M dipole (around 35 feet 
high or so) was by far our best performer. Although we originally were 
going to orient it broadside to the NW - SE like the high band dipoles, 
we changed our mind(s) at the last minute and were able to erect it so 
it was broadside to the east coast. Although it performed well most of 
the time, there were some W1s, W4s, and VE7s whom I just could not work. 
We didn't even try 10M. I did listen for beacons on 6M (the 40M dipole 
showed an SWR of less than 1.5:1 on 6M) but didn't hear any, so I never 
tried 6M.

We have published probably over 100 pix of our effort on our Facebook 
page using our club name, Morongo Basin Amateur Radio Club. There's even 
a video of a bunch of clowns (myself included, the only person in the 
video NOT wearing a long-sleeve shirt or cap for protection against the 
hot sun) attempting to erect the heavy-duty 2-1/2" diameter mil-surplus 
mast that supported the outer end of the 40M dipole; it's a real riot 
and has to be seen to be believed  8-D (Believe me: on the ground, it 
was FAR more hair-raising trying to get that thing up than it appears in 
the video!)

Surprisingly to myself, there was sufficient inter-station interference 
(for various reasons I won't go into here) that we had to use band pass 
filters on ALL radios; and we still had problems with several radios.

The score summary below does not include the several bonus points we 
know we earned. Also, our FT8 operator brought her own (brandy-spanking 
new, and QRP, at that!) rig but we didn't really have time to set up her 
laptop to converse with the Wifi network, so her 9 FT8 QSOs had to be 
entered manually last night (well after the "contest"). At the present, 
we still have not figgered out why N1MM+ is not giving those FT8 QSOs 
the proper point value (as you can see below). Nevertheless, our FD 
Chairman says:

"I think for now you may assume that the score will probably be 2,592+18 
= 2,610 and 250 bonus points."; that would be a total of 2610 + 250 = 
2,860.

73,

Steve K0XP

___________________________________________________________


                   FD Summary Sheet


        Start Date : 2025-06-21

     CallSign Used : W6BA
       Operator(s) : AD6G

Operator Category : MULTI-OP
              Band : ALL
             Power : LOW
              Mode : MIXED+DIG
           Station : FIXED
          Assisted : NON-ASSISTED
       Transmitter : UNLIMITED
     Sent Exchange : 5D ORG
        Gridsquare : DM14TE

              Name : Morongo Basin Amateur Radio Club
           Address :
    City/State/Zip : Yucca Valley  CA  92284
           Country :

      ARRL Section : ORG
         Club/Team : Morongo Basin Amateur Radio Club
Email : ad6g at arrl.net <mailto:ad6g at arrl.net>
          Software : N1MM Logger+ 1.0.10733.0

         Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Pt/Q
          3.5  CW      29      58   2.0
          3.5  LSB     15      15   1.0
            7  CW     262     524   2.0
            7  LSB    298     298   1.0
           14  CW     126     252   2.0
           14  FT8      2       0   0.0
           14  USB     30      30   1.0
           21  CW      53     106   2.0
           21  FT8      7       0   0.0
           21  USB     13      13   1.0
        Total  Both   835    1296   1.6


             Score : 2,592
               Rig :

          Antennas :

           Soapbox :


   I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
   established for amateur radio in my country. My report is
   correct and true to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be
   bound by the decisions of the Contest Committee.



   Date : 2025-06-30    Signature :