June 26-28 ARRL Field Day 2026
Padre Water District offices at the entrance to Santee Lakes.
24 hours of radio!
June 13, 2026 - ARRL VHF CONTEST
June 13 starting Saturday at 11:00a Pacific time and ending 7:59p on Monday.
https://www.arrl.org/june-vhf All the details are here.
A group will be taking the Coaster train north to Oceanside and working our way back south through the day. We will leave Santa Fe Depot at 8:20a.
Passes are $15 and give you access to the Coaster and MTS for the entire day.
Jason and Tommie will be on Mt. Soledad by 11:30a. For those who want to start at this summit, drive to the park at the summit near the memorial cross and look for hams playing radio.
We're going on an outing with plans to meet up at the end of the day, and some are taking the Coaster train to North county for some extra points. Anyone is welcome to join us, stay with us as long as you like, move to a different group, or just meet at the end.
The goal is to get our new ham friends out, familiarize them with their HT, try out a very low key contest with equipment they already have, and meet up for food at the end. This doesn't commit you to a lifetime of radio contesting, but if you find this interesting, it's a great start. Since this contest relies exclusively on simplex operation, we're recommending a few high spots around town where you should have success.
Pick a location that you think will work, based on your ability to get there. If you are up for a short walk, a strenuous hike, or just need to drive, choose accordingly.
Bring equipment you need to stay there for a bit. June is our longest daylight month, probably the best weather, but our microclimates mean anything is possible. Since the contest starts at 11a, you'll have time to reach your first destination when it's cool outside.
When finished operating from your selected locations, meet us at Santee Trolley Square, find something yummy to eat, and tell us about your day. For those who are going to ride the trains, we expect to be at Trolley Square between 5p and 6p, and depart for home around 7p.
What you need:
Charged battery in your HT and cellphone.
A paper notepad and reliable pen or pencil
Appropriate clothing - hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, jacket, shoes.
Necessary water and snacks, and maybe a chair.
Where to go: (these are just suggestions)
If you plan to hike a trail for a summit, know your route and hiking speed.
Cowles Mountain can take an hour to reach the summit if you walk slowly.
Dictionary Hill is a 2mi trail not too strenuous.
Mt. Helix may require a long road walk as summit parking is very limited.
Mt. Soledad and Pasatiempo Park (near Patrick Henry HS) just drive your car.
Harry Griffin Park has lots of space and a mostly clear view to the west.
Any place near you which has a mostly flat view will be a good start. VHF and UHF signals from an HT can go many miles if the conditions are right. We recommend a park as it’s open to the public. Private property, shopping centers, sidewalks and street curbs may bring unwanted attention
What frequencies:
For this contest, 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, and the ham bands above, but most HT's will be 2m and 70cm.
Simplex frequencies, and we will focus on just a few of them.
146.520 - 2m national calling
146.550
146.580 - Adventure Frequency (SOTA and POTA are here)
147.510
223.500 - 1.2m calling
446.000 - 70cm national calling
446.500
There are many SoCal coordinated 2m simplex frequencies. Here is the entire band plan for 2m.
https://www.tasma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Band-Plan_25Oct2022.pdf
What do I do?
Try listening.
When you hear someone calling "CQ Contest, this is K6THEM calling CQ"
YOU ANSWER with your call sign.
If they heard, you'll get a reply confirming your call and they give you their grid square.
You give a confirmation they were heard and give your grid square.
The calling station will thank you and and might say 73.
You close the contact by saying 73
The calling station will begin their script again.
Write down the time, band, their call sign, and grid square. You can do this as you get the information or at the end - if your short term memory is good. I prefer to write as I go.
Try calling.
Choose a simplex frequency and wait for it to be clear.
Say "CQ CQ Contest, this is (your callsign), calling CQ"
now wait and be ready to write
If several people respond at once, request the most legible call sign to come back, like this.
Station ending in ZEM go ahead?
Exchange your grid square and call signs, record the time. Get ready for the next one.
Remember:
This is simplex and less than 10w so your ability to be heard could be less than a dozen miles. Call for a period of time, give it your best effort, take a break and listen for others as most HT hams are going to be using and listening on the same simplex frequencies. If you find any of this confusing or frustrating, just let the other station know you are new at this and still learning. They will likely slow down and coach you through the process. Remember, it’s amateur radio, not professional radio.
Operating stationary or mobile
If you move to multiple grid squares during the contest, your category will be “rover” and make this known when calling or responding. CALLSIGN Rover. This only applies if you leave your grid square, and for most of us, we live in DM12
Log sheet from the ARRL you can use during the day.
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Contest%20Forms/vuelog.pdf
You can use local time in the field, but will need to convert time into UTC when submitting the log.
Calculate points later.
Be sure to record the multiplier
Log sheet from the ARRL you can use during the day.
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Contest%20Forms/vuelog.pdf
All the rules. Don’t get overwhelmed. Make contacts, log them, have fun, we’ll help you with the score sheet at the end.
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestRules/JanJunSep-VHF-Rules.pdf
This VHF contest ends at 8:00pm on Monday, June 15. You don’t have to stop when we do.
Food options at Trolley Square, Santee. We recommend going to a place where multiple people can join you, or takeout and we all find some tables to sit. Here are some places to consider at the very end of the trolley tracks.
Panda Express
Luna Grill
Jamba Juice
Cold Stone
Chipotle
Anny’s Burgers
Crumbl
Across Cuyamaca street or Mission Gorge Rd:
Street’s Phone and Grill
Pepper Farm Deli
Costco food court
Lucky Chinese Food
Greek Mediterranean Grill
El Pollo Loco
Lucky Chinese Food
Carls Jr
Panera
Wendy’s
McDonalds
Taco Bell
Some of us will be done by 7pm. Hope to see you along the way!
June 6, 2026 Museum Ships On The Air
The Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station (NJ2BB) is the host of the annual Museum Ships Weekend. In all, over 100 museum military ships, submarines, minesweepers, tugboats, and museum ships will be participating between 0000Z June 6 and 2359Z June 7, 2026.
This year, the Amateur Radio Club of El Cajon will join the worldwide event by activating, for the first time, the World War II Base End Station museum located within Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego. The Base End Station served as an observation and radio communications center that helped protect San Diego Harbor and formed part of the U.S. coastal defense system.
On Saturday, June 6, 2026 (also the anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, in 1944), David Kaplar (AK6QP) and Grant Madden (KO6IHG) will activate under the special 1x1 callsign W6N from the Point Loma Lighthouse parking lot beginning at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time.
Club and non-club members who wish to participate in this event (which is not a competition) can do so in one of two ways:
Stay at home and contact one of the participating stations (Chaser).
Bring your portable equipment to Cabrillo National Monument (Activator) and join David and Grant on the air. This is also a great opportunity to test your portable setup prior to Field Day.
Park Entrance Information
Cabrillo National Monument charges an entrance fee for visitors entering the park. Current fees are:
$20 per vehicle
$15 per motorcycle
$10 per person for pedestrians, bicyclists, or visitors arriving by public transportation
America the Beautiful and other qualifying National Park passes are accepted for entry.
Active duty military & dependents free
Participants are encouraged to check the official National Park Service website prior to the event for the most current fee information.
We hope you'll join us in commemorating both Museum Ships Weekend and the anniversary of D-Day while helping put the historic Point Loma Base End Station on the amateur radio map. For coordination and planning please go to our new Discord server or email david.km6zki@gmail.com
San Diego T-Hunt Group is having an event! If you have never tried this, here is an opportunity to learn. It's easy, and a great day in the park.
ON-FOOT (FOX)/TRANSMITTER HUNT & BBQ
Saturday May 16th, 2026, KEARNY MESA COMMUNITY PARK, San Diego, CA.
Sponsored by the San Diego T-Hunt Group
2026 On-Foot T-HUNT
https://eccalifornian.com/the-amateur-radio-club-of-el-cajon-keeps-the-communication-hobby-alive/
Event reports and presentations from the February meeting.
Winter Field Day - Patrick Gooden
Wheels on the Air - Grant Madden
Grant will be presenting this at the Yuma Hamfest, Saturday February 28, at 9:00 a.m.
Meshcore in addition to Meshtastic
Stephen KJ6BXN suggested an interesting idea this month. In the past year we've all looked at and many have invested in Meshtastic hardware. An off-grid messaging network operating in the ISM bands (915MHz), using LoRa spread spectrum low power transceivers. I asked Stephen to give me the sales pitch for why any of us should even TRY the Meshcore software. This is what he said.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Meshcore is better than Meshtastic in my opinion for message routing and consistency. There are two distinct firmwares (companion and repeater) compared to Meshtastic where every node can repeat. I found my messages can go further and actually have conversations reliably. Meshcore is just a firmware and uses the same hardware as Meshtastic. Southern California is on the edge of the band maybe because it is more RF quiet. There is good Discord channel called the West Coast Mesh here https://discord.gg/RTs8gUDcrX
The website and webflasher for MeshCore is https://meshcore.co.uk/
The So Cal frequency and settings for Meshcore are:
Frequency: 927.875
Spreading Factor:7
Coding Rate:5-8 (user's choose) 5 is snappier but 8 has less code rate failures
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If you have an idle Mesh node and a couple hours to try, load up Meshcore and see what you think. You can always flash the device back to Meshtastic.
I have idle hardware for this task! Try it and lets compare notes next month.
Deric KO6EJV asked the club to take a look at LoRa APRS. We know about APRS, we know about LoRa, but I don't think we were closely following how these two technology stacks started working with each other. This runs within the 70cm ham bands, and look carefully when buying compatible hardware.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We have a San Diego LoRa APRS Discord channel for coordination, shopping list and help here https://discord.gg/neHv6q67u7
There is a nationwide/worldwide Discord channel here https://discord.gg/6pn2nuVWWP
Link to Igate/Digipeater webflasher: https://richonguzman.github.io/lora-igate-web-flasher/installer.html
Link to Tracker webflasher: https://richonguzman.github.io/lora-tracker-web-flasher/installer.html
Short shopping list:
Heltec V3 433mhz
https://a.co/d/0cXhCupG
QRP Labs LoRa APRS boards:
https://shop.qrp-labs.com/lora
433mhz antennas
https://a.co/d/02quR9rx
Monoband UHF Whip
https://zbm2industries.com/products/qp-whip-antenna-thicc?variant=45110615998616
Maps for just LoRa APRS: https://lora-aprs.live/
LoRa APRS worldwide map: https://lora.ham-radio-op.net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
January 24, 2026 - Winter Field Day
Winter in San Diego, where it might dip into the 60's and you need a jacket.
Patrick.G K6PFG is going to run a one day operation for Winter Field Day
Harry Griffen Park
9550 Milden Street
LaMesa, CA 91942
Winter Field Day is held the last full weekend in January. For 2026, it will be held on January 24th and 25th. The 30-hour operational period starts at 1600 UTC on Saturday (11 am EST), the 24th, and ends at 21:59 UTC on Sunday, the 25th (4:59 pm EST).
Patrick has written a detailed order of operation for the day, inviting members and guests and anyone who is interested to join us. This is not an endurance event like summer Field Day, and you must bring your own chair and snacks and drinks. There are plenty of food options nearby in LaMesa if you forget. Weather is predicted to be good, so dress accordingly. Setup will begin at the park at 9:00am, and will finish before the park closes at sunset.
THE INTENT OF OUR CLUB PARTICIPATING IN WINTER FIELD DAY 2026 IS PROVIDE HF TRAINING FOR MEMBERS WITH EMPHASIS ON MEMBERS WHO HAVE NO HF TRAINING OR LIMITED HF EXPERIENCE. HERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CLUB MEMBERS (AND PUBLIC IF YOU SO DESIRE) TO GET HF EXPERIENCE ON EXCHANGES DURING AN ORGANIZED EVENT, DO THE REQUIRED RECORDING IN A LOG AND HAVE FUN. THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MISTAKES WITHOUT PENALTIES. ALL RADIOS ARE THE PERSONAL PROPERTY OF OUR VOLUNTEER MEMBERS. IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH ANY EQUIPMENT, ASK AND WE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO OPERATE PROPERLY.
Anyone wishing to bring their own radio and suitable antenna is welcome to join, but during our operation at the park, we will designate three radios on 40m, 20m and 15m, reserving the 10m band for testing and operating homebrew equipment. This designation is to avoid conflicts between radios located close together. Bring your own power. All antennas need to fit within the confines of our operating area at the park without creating a hazard for others. The park is still open to the general public.
Here is Patrick's complete write up for our event.
ARCEC OPERATING GUIDELINES FOR WINTER FIELD DAY 2026
Anyone can call into our event using the WA6BGS 2m repeater, or on 146.520 simplex.
January 17, 2026 - VHF+ contest and we're going to travel around the county!
{insert what we did here}
2025/2024/2023 Club meeting topics have been moved to the archives page.
