Monthly Archives: October 2025

W6/SD-497 – Lead Mountain

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Lead mountain is a bit east of Barstow, CA. I first became aware of this mine form the Mineralogical society of Southern California when they hosted a field trip to the area. I didn’t make the trip, but I’ve been curious about visiting since. Additionally, I worked two SOTA stations from the summit above the mines for So.Cal Winter Field Day, so activating this would make it a complete. Getting there was pretty easy. I found a few interesting rocks while hiking up which appeared to host interesting minerals, but honestly I didn’t know what I was looking for. At the top I setup a 40M EFHW antenna and connected it to my MTR3bv2 and worked several stations on 40M and 20M. No DX or S2S unfortunately. Overall, this is an easy one to activate but it’s a bit far off road. I wouldn’t drive a sedan there. The total hike was less than a mile and 400′ of elevation gain.

“The Lead Mountain mine area is known for excellent baryte crystals and beautiful hemimorphite sprays. Micromineral enthusiast can find coronadite, plattnerite, and other lead and manganese minerals.”

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-497

Total distance: 0.65 mi
Total climbing: 374 ft
Download file: Lead.gpx

Date:10/10/2025 |  Summit:W6/SD-497 (Lead Mountain) 

TimeCallsignBandModeNotes
20:55W6LOR7MHzCWS58N R56N
20:58W6DT7MHzCWS57N R58N
20:58K6STR7MHzCWS58N R56N
20:59WB6POT7MHzCWS58N R57N
21:00K6KMH7MHzCWS58N R57N
21:00K1CT7MHzCWS52N R55N
21:02K6HPX7MHzCWS53N R53N
21:03N6JZT7MHzCWS56N R55N
21:04KE7F7MHzCWS44N R53N
21:09K7SO14MHzCWS57N R56N
21:10WW7D14MHzCWS55N R55N
21:11NU7A14MHzCWS44N R599
21:12N7BYD14MHzCWS57N R55N
21:12KI7QCF14MHzCWS599 R599
21:13N7BBQ14MHzCWS33N R54N
21:14AC7P14MHzCWS44N R44N
21:16N7QD14MHzCWS55N R57N
21:17W2WC14MHzCWS44N R55N
21:17WB7ULD14MHzCWS57N R52N
21:19NU6E14MHzCWS52N R55N