W7A/PE-088 – Safford Peak

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After making some coffee, Kel and I left our accommodations in Iron Horse and headed out to Saguaro National Park West to hike Safford Peak. This is also qualifies for POTA US-0060. We started at a popular trailhead at the end of North Scenic Drive, slathered on some sunscreen and got on our way. The trail is well defined and starts gaining elevation quickly, weaving through the beautiful landscape of the Sonoran Desert. The trail eventually becomes a class 2 scramble to reach the summit. At the top is a register and plenty of options to plant a mast. Using a KH1 transceiver with the internal whip on 17M resulted in plenty of QSOs. I added a loading coil and picked up a few more on 40M. Tried 2M FM but didn’t have any takers. The hike down was the reverse of the accent, however, looking at a map post hike shows there could be an opportunity for a small loop through Sanctuary Cove? Overall, beautiful area, nice hike, great day to be out in the mountains. I’d do this one again.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7A/PE-088

Total distance: 3.73 mi
Total climbing: 1600 ft
Download file: Safford.gpx

Date:06/02/2026 |  Summit:W7A/PE-088 (Safford Peak)

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
18:02NI0CK18MHzCWS599 R599
18:04WF4I18MHzCWS44N R33N
18:04WB6POT18MHzCWS57N R55N
18:05W0MNA18MHzCWS599 R599
18:07KX0R18MHzCW981S2S W0C/SR-054 S55N R51N
18:07W0ERI18MHzCWS599 R599
18:09KT0A18MHzCW1432S2S W0D/BB-037 S52N R53N
18:10KN6OMN18MHzCWS52N R55N
18:10WW7D18MHzCWS55N R47N
18:12K6EL18MHzCW1190S2S W6/NC-423 S52N R53N
18:12AK5SD18MHzCWS57N R51N
18:13K6YK18MHzCWS599 R55N
18:14W0ODS18MHzCWS55N R56N
18:15WU7H18MHzCWS55N R54N
18:15N4TU18MHzCWS55N R42N
18:16W1UL18MHzCWS32N R22N
18:28N1CLC7MHzCWS599 R57N
18:31KN6EZE7MHzCWS33N R33N
18:33KR7RK7MHzCWS55N R52N
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W7A/AW-057 – Tumamoc Hill

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If you are a regular reader of this blog you would notice that this post lacks a quick video from the top of the summit. That’s because I forgot to record one! Tumamoc Hill is close to downtown Tucson, and it would have been a nice bike ride to the trailhead from where we was staying in Iron Horse. There is no cycling allowed on the trail up, but a rack to lock up is available at the bottom. Not knowing this, Kel and I drove there and parked along West Akalam Road. Turns out this is a very popular place to walk! It was packed! The trail up is completely paved, weaving through the flora. There is some kind of research center halfway up which had some fun things to look at,

At the top is a commercial communications installation with no access to the actual summit, however, a big chunk of the public path is in the activation zone. I didn’t follow KK1J’s advise and ask permission to operate from Benjamin T. Wilder, Director. I could see how putting up a 40M antenna up here would be frowned upon due to the congestion of visitors. As such, I sat on a rock in the AZ and used my KH1 and internal whip to activate the summit, working 40M and 15M CW. I also called out on 2M FM, multiple times and got zero calls, which was surprising.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7A/AW-057

Total distance: 3.35 mi
Total climbing: 719 ft
Download file: Tumamoc.gpx

Date:05/02/2026 |  Summit:W7A/AW-057 (Tumamoc Hill) 

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
17:20W0BV7MHzCWS57N R55N
17:21WB6POT7MHzCWS58N R44N
17:31W0MNA18MHzCWS58N R57N
17:31N0IPA18MHzCWS55N R55N
17:32W0ERI18MHzCWS58N R57N
17:32WW7D18MHzCWS55N R54N
17:33KF9D18MHzCWS55N R53N
17:34W4JKC18MHzCWS53N R55N
17:35WU7H18MHzCWS51N R53N
17:36N4TU18MHzCWS55N R42N
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W7A/PZ-060 – Guadalupe Mountain

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Kel and I were driving out to Tucson on interstate 10 for the gem show. Guadalupe Mountain is East of Quartzsite with easy access from the freeway. It’s also a good spot to stop and walk around after being in a car for a few hours. Get off at Gold Nugget Rd, then follow it East until you get to the communications site access road, which goes to the summit. We drove a Subaru about half way up before it got too rutted out to continue. From there, it’s a steep hike up. The last bit it of road is paved which makes it easier. At the top are several communication shelters. I found a rock off to the side to operate from, and gave 2M FM a shot, with two QSOs into Quartzsite. Worked 17M with one S2S. Got a text from another SOTA op needing a complete, so I moved to 40M using the whip and coil on the KH1. That worked pretty well! There are a lot of unactivated summits around Quartzsite, and maybe it’s worth a dedicated trip out there to bag several of them.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7A/PZ-060

Total distance: 0.94 mi
Total climbing: 274 ft
Download file: Guadalupe.gpx

Date:04/02/2026 |  Summit:W7A/PZ-060 (Guadalupe Mountain)

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
21:07K8EN144MHzFMS59 R59
21:16K6EL18MHzCW872S2S W6/NC-298 S57N R58N
21:18WB6POT18MHzCWS58N R57N
21:19NU7A18MHzCWS58N R33N
21:19K7ENE144MHzFMS59 R59
21:20KH2TJ18MHzCWS55N R55N
21:23WU7H18MHzCWS33N R52N
21:29K6STR7MHzCWS33N R22N
21:30W6LOR7MHzCWS33N R22N
21:33NT6E7MHzCWS57N R52N
21:34K6MII7MHzCWS42N R55N

W6/SD-080 – 4633

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2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my first activation for SoCal Winter Field Day. I woke up early and wasted no time leaving Los Angeles to get to this first summit, but I did stop somewhere off Bear Valley Road for fuel and a breakfast burrito. Getting to the starting point was pretty easy. From Barstow Rd, turn east on Haynes Rd, then make a left on Huff Rd. That will run straight into Power Line Rd. Turn right and take it as close to the summit as you can. It gets kinda rocky the further you go. 4633 is in an area where people 4×4, so the earth is pretty torn up. Park where you can. There is also a popular rock climbing area known as “Hercules Finger”.

I followed a moto trail into the rocks for a bit before turning west up to the summit. This was a scramble, hopping over boulders and navigating around large rock formations. Once at the top, I setup 2M CW and heard Mark calling CQ from a summit; 599 both ways. I worked HF high bands and tore down after exhausting chasers. From the top, I could see East Ord. It was the closest summit to me, so I figured I would hike it next. Hiking down, I met two folks climbing Hercules Finger. They asked me if they could borrow a lighter to smoke a doobie. haha. I had a lighter in my truck I gave them to keep so they could continue to enjoy their day.

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you probably know I take a ~45 second video of summits and post them here. I forgot to take one, so I’m writing this instead.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-080

Total distance: 2.21 mi
Total climbing: 796 ft
Download file: SD080.gpx

Date:16/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-080 (4633) 

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
19:23KD7DTS144MHzCW187S599 R599
19:38NT6E144MHzCW169%QRA%DM03TU%
19:47W0MNA28MHzCWS599 R599
19:47KF6HI28MHzCWS66N R43N
19:48W0ERI28MHzCWS599 R599
19:49NB0C28MHzCWS55N R54N
19:53N4TU28MHzCWS44N R43N
20:01KE7F18MHzCWS55N R55N
20:04NU7A18MHzCWS57N R53N
20:05WU7H18MHzCWS57N R53N
20:05W5ODS18MHzCWS57N R55N
20:08KD8BEU18MHzCWS55N R51N
This rock fits in my truck, no problem.
Where I started, Hercules Finger, a popular rock climb is over on the right.
Typical views
Poor tortoise
Summit station
At the top

W6/SD-013 – East Ord Mountain

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2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my second hike of the day, and second hike for the SoCal Winter SOTA fest. On the drive out to East Ord, I wasn’t paying attention to my map so I ended up in the wrong place, which is listed on a map as Grand View Mine. This would be a nice place to camp, as KB9ENS mentioned in his trip report. I wanted to start my hike from the north so I back tracked and found my way to Guzzler, as it’s listed on the map. There is no trail, and the hike starts off pretty steep. There are rock formations which make route finding tricky; I needed to backtrack several times to find a safer route. Did I mention it is steep? My definition of steep is 1000 feet of gain in 1 mile. This was something like 1800 feet of gain in a bit over a mile. It took much longer than I thought to reach the summit. At the top there was a register going back to 1988. I signed it and setup the Yaesu 817 for 2M. Made some local S2S over CW, and a few more on FM. There was a bit more time before 00:00 zulu, so I quickly setup HF, 20M and worked that as fast I could.

Since I started later than I liked, and it took me longer to reach the summit than anticipated, I was worried about losing daylight. I packed up everything and started heading down. The steep terrain and impact was hurting my knees, but I needed to beat the sun so I pushed through. About half way down, my knees really started hurting; stabbing knife pain. My stride shortened and I took breaks. The sun disappeared behind the mountains as the temperature dropped quickly. Soon, it was pitch black and the flashlight was in the truck. I still needed to navigate a dry waterfall and a wash, which was done by phone light. Luckily I was only in the dark for about 20 minutes. Had I not accidentally gone to Grand View, my timing would have been perfect.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-013

Total distance: 2.87 mi
Total climbing: 2326 ft
Download file: eastord.gpx

Date:16/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-013 (East Ord Mountain) 

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
23:30K6STR144MHzCW115S2S W6/ND-224 S599 R599
23:32W6LOR144MHzCW115S2S W6/ND-224 S55N R599
23:36KT5X14MHzCWS55N R57N
23:38K6MII144MHzFM15S2S W6/SD-443 S59 R59
23:45N6JNY144MHzFMS55 R55
23:47K6HUB144MHzFMS59 R59
23:52KF7WI14MHzCWS57N R55N
23:53AC7P14MHzCWS55N R55N
23:54WW7D14MHzCWS57N R55N
23:55JG0AWE14MHzCWS33N R33N
23:57K9WO14MHzCWS55N R44N
23:58W0MNA14MHzCWS55N R55N
23:59K7SO14MHzCWS55N R55N
23:59W0ERI14MHzCWS599 R599

Date:17/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-013 (East Ord Mountain) 

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
00:00N4TU14MHzCWS55N R42N
00:01WU7H14MHzCWS55N R54N
I parked here. You can’t tell from the photo, but the rocks ahead would break the truck
Short hike along this road before dropping down into a dry waterfall
Up
More up
Rock formations you need to navigate around.
View from the top, I think that’s one of the other Ords.
Summit Register

W6/SD-010 – Ord Mountain

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2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my third summit for SoCal Winter SOTA Fest 2026. I woke up in the morning, headed down to the hotel restaurant, and ordered breakfast with coffee. My knees were feeling “okay” but I was worried about doing more summits after East Ord destroyed them. I figured I could try an “easy” summit today so I headed out to Stoddard Mountain, W6/SD-060. Once I got close to the bottom of Stoddard, I parked the truck, slathered on some sunscreen and started a slow ascent. My knees were hurting. About 1/4 mile up, I wanted to make sure I could actually get down without stabbing knife pains, so I walked back a bit, and my knees were screaming. There was no way I could get up and down any summit today, so I continued back to the truck with the plan of heading home to Los Angeles early.

Over 2M, I heard two local hams at the Slash X Cafe talking about how they were heading up to Ord Mountain. I interjected, introduced myself, and asked if I could joint them, and they agreed! I headed over to the Slash X to meet up with them, and after a quick chat we were on our way. (I’m leaving out all of details on who/ how we got up there) Once at the top I used a 2M HT and called CQ, which was quickly answered by others activating in the area. Two S2S. From there, I went on 2M CW with a yaesu 817 and got two more QSOs. I didn’t want my hosts to stand around waiting for me to work HF bands, so I signed QRT and packed up.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-010

Date:17/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-010 (Ord Mountain) 

TimeCallsignBandModeDistance (km)Notes
21:51W6LOR144MHzFMS59 R59
21:52K6STR144MHzFMS59 R59
21:52KE6SRN144MHzFMS59 R59
21:53KE6SRO144MHzFMS59 R59
21:53K6TW144MHzFMS59 R59
21:55K6CPR144MHzFM13S2S W6/SD-116 S59 R59
21:57AK6IY144MHzFM127S2S W6/CT-019 S45 R57
22:03K6STR144MHzCW107%QRA%DM15MP%
22:04NT6E144MHzCW174%QRA%DM03TU%
This is the bottom of Stoddard, heavy rains earlier in the year made the desert quite green!
Ord helipad, my host took this photo of me.
Away from the communications equipment at the top.
Heading down!

Winter Field Day 2026

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I’m not a contester, but I like listening to fast CW and casually making QSOs with more serious folks. I think this makes me a better operator too. This year, I wanted to experiment with computer logging and computer generated CW. Everything was setup on my picnic table and run off a battery. I ended up spending most of the day hanging out with my BBQ, but I still made time to get several QSOs in the log. I had fun, and I’m going to do it again in the future. Notes for future me below, so I can remember how to do it next time.

https://winterfieldday.org

Laptop is a eWaste Chromebook running Debian 13 from a fresh install
apt install btop screen pipx flrig
pipx install winkeyerserial
pipx install wfdlogger
pipx ensurepath
groupadd dialout <user>

Connect a winkeyer, then run winkeyserial in a terminal. I used a Open CW MK2 keyer from Aliexpress, around $30. This should show up at /dev/ttyUSB0. If everything is working, the speed knob on the font of the unit should change the speed in the winkeyserial gui.

Connect USB CAT cable to the radio, run flrig and configure baud rate and port (probably /dev/ttyUSB1). Setup server port so wdflogger can record band changes. I can’t remember what the logging program uses when I wrote this but it’s easy to find.

Run wfdlogger in a terminal. This will open a gui. Set callsign, class, and ARRL section. Start logging QSOs, don’t burn whatever is on the grill and have fun. Oh, can you grab me another beer from the fridge if you go inside?

Software
https://github.com/mbridak/WinterFieldDayLoggerSoftware
https://github.com/mbridak/PyWinKeyerSerial

Hardware
Yaesu 857D
W4LMT’s Bencher key
Open CW Keyer mk2
Trashtop

Power
Cheap, deep cycle battery from the auto parts store
100W solar panel
Amazon charge controller

Antennas
Aliexpress stainless vertical
EFHW, 40M (49:1 + ~66′ of wire)

My 2026 station
This thing is rad.

Building SDRangel from source on Debian 13

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This took me all day to figure out so I’m posting it here for my own reference. Maybe it will help someone else in the future?

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
build-essential cmake git \
qtbase5-dev qtbase5-private-dev libqt5svg5-dev \
qml-module-qtquick-controls qml-module-qtquick-window2 qml-module-qtgraphicaleffects \
qml-module-qtpositioning qml-module-qtlocation qml-module-qtquick-controls2 qml-module-qtquick-shapes \
qtlocation5-dev qtpositioning5-dev \
qtwebengine5-dev qtwebengine5-dev-tools \
libqt5gamepad5-dev \
libfftw3-dev libfftw3-single3 \
libxml2-dev libsndfile1-dev libopencv-dev \
libboost-all-dev \
libsoapysdr-dev librtlsdr-dev libhackrf-dev libbladerf-dev libairspy-dev libairspyhf-dev \
libmirisdr-dev libiio-dev libcodec2-dev libcm256cc-dev libdsdcc-dev \
libserialdv-dev libqt5websockets5-dev qtmultimedia5-dev\
libflac-dev libopus-dev screen btop \
libqt5charts5-dev libqt5serialport5-dev libqt5texttospeech5-dev zram-tools

sudo nano /etc/default/zramswap
ALGO=zstd
PERCENT=60
sudo service zramswap reload

git clone https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel.git

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

3 Summit Moto day

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If you let a carbureted motorcycle sit in your backyard under the sun for months at a time, chances are the fuel will evaporate, leaving behind crusty gunk that clogs a labyrinth of tiny holes contained in the carburetor. These holes control the fuel/ air mixture and when they foul, the engine will run poorly, or not at all. The solution is to run the engine with fresh fuel periodically and never let it get to the point where the carb needs to come off for service. I did just that on this three summit moto day. See GPX below.

Total distance: 164.29 mi
Total climbing: 19429 ft
Download file: SOTO-MOTO.gpx

I bring this up because there were two trails I’ve never ridden a moto on before; Indian Canyon Road and Mendenhall Ridge Road. Both always seem to be closed. Indian Canyon was surprising because I didn’t expect the fauna to change so much between the start and end of the road. Mendenhall Ridge was surprising because after the open Forest Service gate, it starts turning into a single track trail; very overgrown. I suspect someone cut the gate lock and the road isn’t actually open at all.

Summits activated on moto day. You can search this blog for detailed write-ups on these. The first two were ride ups, the last, Iron Mountain was a short out and back hike from a saddle.
https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-118
https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-116
https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-024

Summit of Mount McDill
Mendenhall Ridge Road, just past the open Forest Service gate.