PURPOSE

Got an idea for a club build project?  Send it here.

This is a handy google form, and if your idea doesn't fit in the text boxes, just email it.  We still want to know.

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

2025

September 11, 2025

Looking for ways to help support our club financially?  How about garbage!  

Bring scrap metal, copper wire, aluminum, cans, anything that has CRV to our September 11 meeting and we will take it to recycling for cash.  The money will go back to the club to help support our expenses and events.  Scraps that fit in boxes or bags are the easiest, but if you have larger items that aren't suitable to bring to our meeting, let us know and we'll figure out how best to help.  You can always turn in these things yourself and donate what you receive.

We're not rolling in dough (or cash) but everything helps with our yearly expenses.  We will collect recycle items in September.

August 14, 2025

We are continuing the surface mount soldering project, if you need help or the right tools for this task, bring your radio and HF PCB mod and we'll help you get started or finished.  PROJECT HT HF 

July 10, 2025

Surface Mount Soldering project - the Quansheng HF mod!  

Candy Alvarez  KN6VNL  was voted to take the role of WA6BGS trustee.  Thanks!

Field Day 2025 results Summary:
Entry received at: 2025-07-25 03:04:13
Call Used: WA6BGS     GOTA Station Call: WA6BGS     ARRL/RAC Section: SDG     Class: 3A
Participants: 44     Club/Group Name: Amateur Radio Club of El Cajon
Power Source(s): Battery, Solar
Power Multiplier: 2X
Preliminary Total Score: 1,396

Bonus Points:
  100% emergency power                            300
  Public location                                 100
  Site visit by invited elected official          100
  Site visit by invited served agency             100
  Satellite QSO                                   100
  Entry submitted via web                          50
Total bonus points                                750

Score Summary:
                  CW  Digital  Phone  Total
  Total QSOs      0     50     223
Total Points      0    100     223    323   Claimed Score = (QSO points x power mult) = 646
Submitted by: The Amateur Radio Club of El Cajon, WA6BGS   president@wa6bgs.us

June 27-29, 2025

FIELD DAY

Friday, June 27 - we need help doing setup at the location.
Saturday, June 28 - starting at 11a, the twenty-four hours of Field Day begins!
It is 24 hours!  That means we will be available to operate through the entire night!  Drink coffee and join us!
Sunday, June 29 - the event ends at 11a, and we need help with disassembly and putting things away.  

If you have an HF radio and want to operate on our antennas, bring it and we'll get you connected, otherwise use the radios we are providing. 
Come call CQ and answer CQ for maximum points!

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Field Day was a massive success this year. Our sign in sheet listed 43 attendees but I suspect there are some who didn't sign. Thank you to all who volunteered for setup and teardown. Also thank you to anyone who lent equipment for use during Field Day. If you have any photos of Field Day feel free to email them to president@wa6bgs.us. You can also view photos here. We did have the tower trailer fully extended this year (100ft) for a few hours witch was interesting to see before the wind picked up. Ray managed to make two contacts via the ISS repeater at around 12:30 am. We will dive deeper and discuss Field Day during the next meeting on 7/10/2025.

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June 12, 2025

Field day planning and updates on our next soldering project - the Quansheng HF mod.

May 17, 2025

INTERNATIONAL STYLE ON-FOOT (FOX)/TRANSMITTER HUNT & BBQ
Saturday May 17th, 2025, Robb Field, Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA.

All the details HERE. 

May 8, 2025

April 10, 2025

David KM6ZKI and Vance WD9C will be demonstrating a self-hosted radio logging program called Wavelog. A Wavelog server can be hosted on just about anything including a Raspberry Pi. Once set up, it can be accessed from a web browser from anywhere on the network. This program is a potential candidate for field day logging as the client is web-based and you do not need to download a program. Find out more about Wavelog here. Other meeting topics include field day planning and continuing work on the club charter.

March 13, 2025

I have TWO End Fed Half Wave antenna kits available.  $59 each.

If you are still working on your projects and need help, bring what you have and we'll get you connected with the right people.

Rich NJ6F has volunteered to give an explanation/demonstration of a loop antenna he uses for HF communications.  If you are short on space or want to run HF from a picnic table, he can show you how it's done. Our next solder project will likely be the Quansheng HT mod for HF.  Details at the meeting, and we will post those details on the website after.  

Once we get through the interesting stuff we're going to do some very boring but necessary stuff.  Bear with us... Those who want to participate in person can sit with our leadership team for about 30 minutes and review our club charter.  This is an effort to refine our documentation into something relevant for today, and get closer to 501c3 status.  Not much will change about how we run things, but as I've explained previously, this helps us save costs and makes us eligible for ARDC grants.  I'm more interested in saving monthly costs first.    Your participation and input will be appreciated and we're trying to keep things simple.  Write down what we do, and do what we write down. Our objective for working on the charter this week is to continue editing what David has started, and we have a valid example from the SD DX club on how they did it.  We want your input.  This doesn't need to be completed on Thursday, but lets push it forward together. 

February 13, 2025

Bill Honaker N9LZ will give a live demonstration of AREDN from our meeting hall.  If it all works as we think it should, he will connect via RF across the room to another AREDN node, tunnel to UCSD, then tunnel back to his house to talk about what he has deployed.  This is the kind of groundwork we need in the county, momentum that encourages others to deploy their own mesh node and for other teams to setup nodes on high places, like rooftops and hilltops.  

If you are still trying to decide, come with questions and we can explore the global AREDN mesh through the UCSD supernode.  This is the system that bridges other regional nodes together.

After this, we have our own local amateur experts who will work with you on our previous projects.  Feel free to bring your unfinished projects and questions and learn more about what we've been working on.

DMR -  bring your radio and programming laptop, and lets compare notes.
TNC -  need help with firmware, tuning, or testing?
AREDN -  four members have deployed their own node -  we can help you get started.
End Fed Half Wave Antenna - need some help finishing yours? We still have THREE kits available for purchase,  $59 each.
MESHTASTIC - we're still learning how best to use this.  Bring your meshtastic node and confirm the message went through right there in the room.

Remember, it's AMATEUR radio, not PROFESSIONAL radio.  We'll do our best to help you learn more.

January 9, 2025

Swap Meet & Show and Tell

View photos from the meeting here.

Club Swap Meet:  Bring things to give away for free or sell.  You must keep track of your items and negotiate prices yourself.  Do not leave anything in the meeting hall when done.  Radios and parts, computers and parts, wires and connectors.   Maybe your surplus items could be the next hams entire project!

Show and Tell:  Bring your interesting items or projects and give a demonstration and explanation of what you have been doing.  If you need a projector or power cords, let us know in advance.  You don't have to sign up if you can explain everything in 10 minutes, but if you need more time to setup or demonstrate, please let us know so we can help and schedule the evening.  There will be time after our meeting to discuss one on one with anyone who is interested.

If you have nothing to swap or tell but want to get connected with others, bring your questions and see if anyone else is working on the same thing.  Use this time to connect and collaborate on projects.  The more you know the less I have to work.

2024/2023

2024/2023 Club meeting topics have been moved to the archives page.