WQ6X Wangles yet another Weird RAC Winter Contest Weekend

The last weekend in December is always a sleepy, mixed-mode mixed-up affair. 
The goal for this weekend was two-fold:

1. Run the Canadian RAC Winter Contest ([CLICK HERE]) mixed-mode QRP
   from Ramona to accomplish an overall high score running QRP power.
2. Run the Stew Perry (SP-160) contest ([CLICK HERE]) QRP from WA6TQT's
   QTH in Anza, coaxing the crippled 160-meter tri-Square to the best "direction"
   for each station worked.

Thanks to a 00:00z starting time, the RAC winter contest was begun using the K3/0-mini from the desk at my office, until 04:35z.   Later, the set up was moved to Concord to finish the contest (dealing with the usual Concord internet pulse-hiccupping.  By midnight, most of North America was sleeping so I joined them, starting back up on 40-Cw around 14:45z to work Japan.  When no more JAs were heard, the move was made to 20-meters as the sun came up, enabling communication with stations eastward from Anza.

Amazingly, 15 & 10 meters didn't open up in Ramona until after 17:00z.  Resuming at 18:45z, throughout the morning and early afternoon CQ calls were made on each of the high bands giving
me RBN (Reverse Beacon Network) stats on my QRP signal.  The 3-el Stepp-IR was rotated and switched from the NORM state to 180-DEGREES and Bi-Directional.  When it was all over, I quickly made screen captures of all the relevant stats and produced a Cabrillo file - all for submission later.

With the screen now cleared, attempts to connect to STN-1 and STN-2 at the Anza QTH failed - it would seem the internet in Anza suffered a power failure with no one onsite to restart it.  With the internet confirmed down, the backup plan was to run WQ6X as a Low Power (LP) station using the 8JK mish-mash Cobra sloper array setup @W7AYT's QTH. The MFJ 993b Intellituner managed to bring the SWR down to 1.4:1, enabling 6-QSOs (14-points) made it to the log. 
Calling "CQ SP TesT" produced one RBN SPoT from K2PO/7 in Oregon.

By midnight, no QSOs outside of CA were happening (e.g. hearable), so I shut things down,
eventually submitting a 14-point LoG to say "I WuZ THERE!"

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X DiD indeed take a 1st-place outside of Canada.

DiD YOU work the RAC Winter or Stew Perry SP-160 contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wrangles another Weird EU Contest Weekend

After the CQ and ARRL bruhaha weekends, the 3rd contest weekend in December brings us the
OK-DX RTTY Contest from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening and the 9A (Croatian) Mixed-mode DX Contest, during which WQ6X ran CW-only (85-watts), while the RTTY GiG ran a cooler 69-Watts.
Bonus points accrued for OK and 9A stations in their corresponding contest events.

Unable to acquire local COM-port control of the RRC-1258 (internet interface box) to run RTTY,
the backup plan (using swapped soundcard patch cables, while keying the radio using VOX) accomplished the RTTY intent.

Starting late, after a few QSOs, the internet latency became a horribly notable problem. 
Internet jitteriness got so bad that contest operations were suspended until after 1am (when
everyone has gone to bed).   At 11:00z (3am) operations resumed with the Shorty-40 turned
to ~300-degres (relative to Ramona), enabling me to work the same bevy of JA RTY callsigns;
with everyone around me sleeping, internet bandwidth improved considerably.

After another sleep break, the 9A (Croatian) GiG was in full swing (at least it was on Cw, at any rate).  It would seem that with an SFI of "only" 175 - 184, 15-meters was largely THE band to focus on.
10-meters was barely happening, while on 20, everyone seemed to be skipping over everyone
else, resulting in a seemingly dead band - at least in Ramona.  Space-WX is always a factor. 
Of coarse, the SFI skyrockets to 238 on Monday (doing us No GooD).

Joining up with the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) for our annual Christmas brunch
kept me out of the operator chair for several hours.  Back in the chair at 21:20z took advantage
of upper band openings for a 1/2 hour, thanks to an improved internet.  When the switch was made
to RTTY at 22:47, data-garble had been all but eliminated.  

At 00:00z, with the RTTY contest over, it was off to W7AYT's Concord QTH to finish the remaining half of the (A Cw GiG - with hopefully a more productive internet connection.  The Concord internet connection was pretty much business as usual: reasonably OK latency w/pulsing-cutouts every 90-seconds or so.

While most of my radiosport runs this year have been run with QRP power, signal levels this weekend were poor enough that it was clear running QRP in the (A contest would not have been productive. 
It seems that many RTTY contests (such as the OK RTTY GiG) do NoT offer a QRP category. 
As a compromise, the remote K3 was dialed down to 69 watts as an LP (Low Power) Entry,
while the 9A GiG ran 85-watts to be classified as Low Power.

Once 40-meters to EU faded into the noise, it was time for another sleep session. 
Resuming at 11:00z, turning the Shorty-40 to 300-degrees encountered to increasingly
frequent contest weekend RaDaR intrusion in the Cw segment of 7-Mhz (40-meters) - this
time it was parked on 7.041, with 25khz of SPLATTER on either side, all but obliterating Cw communication.

In addition to faster internet, the radio setup in Concord has the advantage of the full-blown,
multi-faceted, continuously evolving Stereo Audio facility.  ([CLICK HERE] to read about it.) 
While my Alameda office sports a Radio Shaft 16-channel stereo equalizer, a 2nd pair of Autek
QF-1A filters have yet to be configured for the Alameda location.  (The original pair of QF-1A
units were moved to the Concord QTH once the Stereo Audio approach was confirmed to be
effective for radiosport running.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X, scored near the middle of the submissions
and managed to take 1st-place for California (CA) and the W6 call area - NoT bad for just
screwing around.

DiD YOU work the 9A or OK DX contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Conducts a QuainT QRP 10-MeTeR ConTesT

Similar to speech contests in Toastmasters, before major radiosport competition events, I look
at previous years score results, study the all-time high score records and even consult previous
WQ6X Contest Blog posts about the upcoming events (and sometimes related contest topics and weekends).

For this year's 10-meter contest, there were 5 specific goals:

1. Run as WQ6X QRP from Ramona, using CW-only, setting a Southwest Division Record.
2. Run as W6R (Whiskey SiX Radio), setting yet another Southwest Division record.
3. Put Cw hours in the OP chair for NX6T as a part of the team, winning Southwest
   Division for the Multi-OP Single-Xmtr category.
4. Put contacts in the log as W7AYT to win SOU QRP (Phone-only) for East Bay
   (EB) while chasing the illusive PAC Division record for QRP-Ssb.
5. Thoroughly leverage the Stereo-Cw and Stereo-Ssb modalities using the recently
   revamped audio configuration(s) for WQ6X's portable setup at W7AYT's Concord QTH.

The 10-meter contest begins at 00:00z (UTC) which is 4pm on the Left Coast (Pacific Time). 
After a few "false start" hiccups, WQ6X ran the Ramona radio remotely from my office in Alameda.  By 03:30z there was nothing left to hear (in Ramona), altho spying on N6CY at the helm of NX6T,
it was clear that their superb antenna farm enabled them to hear stations we can only dream of
in Ramona - amazing when you consider the two locations are only 66 miles apart; altho Anza's elevation (3,921') is nearly 3x that of Ramona (1,427'), not to mention stacked arrays for 40m thru
10m (versus a 2-el Shorty-40 and 3-el Steep-IR @55').

Saturday morning EU, the Caribbean and SA were wide open.  After putting 171 QSOs in the Cw log,
it was time to switch logs to run as W6R on Ssb.  Not surprisingly, the 1x1 callsign confused many stations, altho the JA OPs are used to me using 1x1 callsigns and overall, they loved W6R.

Here are some of the Spaobox comments posted about the remote operation from Ramona.

Being a mixed-mode contest, running Stereo-Cw was somewhat different from running Stereo-Ssb.
Either way, audio from the K3/0 Mini, is sent to an audio mixer, which redirects to an audio splitter, which splits the audio into 3 different filtered audio lines, which run to a Rockville 4-channel mixer, emptying into a 15-watt stereo amplifier.  Output from the amp can be sent to either OwnZone wireless headphones or a pair of LEKATO speaker boxes, specially wired for Stereo radio audio. 
The vintage Autek QF1-A filters is the secret behind the esoteric stereo mechanism.

[CLICK HERE] to read the various BLOG Entries on the Stereo Audio concept.

When it was all over it would seem that WQ6X took 3rd-place overall and set a Southwest Division division record.  W6R took 2nd-place overall and also set a Southwest Division record.  W7AYT took
a 3rd-place and set a record for East Bay (EB) section.  Unfortunately, the PAC Division SOU QRP record is still out of reach - as they say, wait til next year.

From Orange (ORG) section, NX6T took 23rd place overall for the crowded Multi-Single HP category.
For USA and Canada, NX6T took 7th-place, while enjoying 1st-place wins for ORG section and Southwest Division.  While no multi-op records were set, it was nevertheless an impressive operation.

DiD YOU work the ARRL 10-Meter Contest?

IS WQ6X, W6R, W7AYT or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wings yet another WEIRD ARRL-160 Contest

In contrast w/2023 (and even years before) when I ran as WQ6X from W7AYT's Concord QTH
while putting in hours for NX6T's HP run, this was WQ6X's 1st ARRL 160-meter contest run using QRP power.

The ARRL 160-meter contest begins @22:00z on Friday (favoring Midwest and East coast OPs). 
On the Left Coast, the band is only beginning to open @00:00z.  Client commitments kept me out
of the OP chair until 03:00z, altho K2NV (NNJ) was hearable as early as 23:30z.

Running remote from Anza (STN-2) offers the advantage of opening a radiosport contest from
my office in Alameda, then continuing the Anza operations later from W7AYT's QTH in Concord
(with its periodic, pulsing internet dropouts).  Either way, the same K3/0-Mini (w/RRC-1258 Box). 
The N1MM+ software is run through a VPN known as VNC viewer.

Space-WX, (while the SFI was not super high) was very cooperative overall.  Then again,
even with some of the nastiest solar storms, 160-meter operations often manage to "fly under
the radar"(so-to-speak).  Space-WX conditions seemed to get noisier as the weekend progressed. 
This month, it would seem that the new SFI-Low was down around 172.  (Wasn't that the final PEAK of solar cycle 24?)

The game for the 160 weekend was to run QRP (5w) into a horizontal Tri-Square, suffering from
an open phasing cable.  Altho nearly 100-feet above ground, my guess is that the antenna switch
was simply bringing in 1 of 3 bi-directional dipoles but not operating as a directional array.

As I recall, I put ZS5CW in the log using the N-E dipole, and worked Arizona & TX using the WEST dipole.  Bottom line, the signal reach using this crippled configuration was only good for 2/3's of the USA, KH6 and some VE's (and of course the ZS5).  None of the Northeast states were workable,
even tho I could often hear them.

Because it would be useful to know which direction(s) the RF was radiating towards, signal
levels were checked using several web SDR receivers around the Southwest (and Northeast),
while consulting the RBN (Reverse Beacon Network) stats.  

Propagation-wise, Friday evening was incredibly HoT.  Unfortunately, Saturday evening was
quite a disappointment.  On BOTH Sat/Sun mornings, JA stations were heard (MoRe and LouD
on Saturday), altho none of them could hear WQ6X.

One of contest BEEFs (complained as a QRP-Operator) is that run stations GIVE-UP on me too quickly.  If you ever listen in on a run frequency I am calling, you will not only hear me call again
(AND AGAIN), I will also be shifting my xmit frequency slight up and down, in case he has a TighT CW filter with some WEIRD audio offset - the goal is to slip in between the "ears" of his narrow passband.  For the most part, I DON'T Give Up - You Do.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X's 11.9k-point score took 6th place overall,
while securing a 1st-place for Orange Section (ORG), as well as the Southwest Division.

I operate such a wide array of radiosport contests, I am often looking for "callsign recognition"
to make the difference. Unfortunately, callsign databases are often grossly out-of-date; WQ6X is
often listed as being in: EB, SB, ORG and/or SDG.  For that reason, I usually have a function key defined to send "SDG" (for example).  Fortunately, in the 160 & 10 meter contests, the exchange is always the same: "5NN CA".

DiD YOU work the ARRL 160-Meter Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wangles a 5.5-Hour 40-Meter HaM SPIRIT Contest

The year 2024 brought us a number of 5-weekend months, altho not all
5th-weekends sported any radiosport activity.  Turns out, the 5th weekend in
November brought a radiosport event I've never seen before: The HaM SPIRIT Contest.

Stumbling onto a lone entry in WA7BNM contest calendar, following the link to the contest
website found it to be a Russian organized/run event.  By the time a log setup for the N1MM
software was created, there were only 7 OP hours left in the event.  Altho it was a multi-band
multi-mode event, the decision was made to run as a LP (Low Power) 40-Meter only Cw station.
This coincided with the morning Greyline period in Russia and EU - which was AMAZING!

Much of the 7 hours was spent calling CQ, encouraging all of the rare Russian
and deep Eastern European stations to call ME for a change, they being rewarded
with the rare "WQ6" prefix - kinda like in the WPX Cw contest.  Skimming thru the log file
after the contest, I am amazed at the different prefixes that responded to my CQ's, including:
RG9, RW9, R8, R2, RL4, RW0, RN3, RM4, HA9, ON6, YP8, Z32, F5, G4, OM5, LB2, DF1,
SP3, & IK0.  The BiG surprise was RD1A/MM operating from ITU Zone 75 and the QR Grid square.  While all those prefixes may not seem a big deal for OPs in the Midwest and the East coast, from Ramona, on 40 meters, those were amazing QSOs.

My BiGGeST beef were the LOUD USA stations who obviously could hear me yet would move 1/2 Kc away and start calling CQ.  I purposely choose oddball run frequencies (7003.69, 7006.69, 7007.77, 7008.88, 7009.69, 7014.14 & 7016.16), so when a station moves in on me, I know it's no accident.

Using Function Key F-11 ("QRL QSY!") a half dozen times usually does the trick. 
With one station station I moved down the 1/2 Kc, called him and made the QSO - he
OBVIOUSLY could hear me.  Notice that NONE of those offenders ever sent "QRL?"
before calling CQ.  Whatever happened to "QRL?" courtesy?

During the last couple of hours, to alleviate bore-dumb, while calling CQ, I began listening
to my calls on various SDR receivers to get a sense for where I was being heard.  Doing this
set the stage for an SDR research project Sunday morning.

The real disappointment in this contest was the final hour as EU and Russia came into daylight,
severing the pipeline with the west coast, just moments before.  The last QSO in the WQ6X
Log came at 06:59, with that remaining hour yawning while desperately calling CQ. 
ToTaL OP time ended up as 5.5 hours, thanks to that inert final hour.

All disappointments aside however, it would seem that deciding to run Single-band
40-Meters Cw found WQ6X in 1st place for that category.  Amazing!
Like has been oft said, "...sometimes just showing up is the major accomplishment".

DiD YOU work the HaM Spirit Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Creeps thru another QRP CQ W.W. Dx CW ConTesT

The month of November in 2024 brings us 5-WeeKEnds, altho only the first four were scheduled w/radiosport activity.  With the clocks turned back to Pacific STanDarD Time (PST), 20-meters (and below bands) open an hour "earlier", which is PeRFecT for a 48-hour DX contest.  CQ W.W. began
at 4pm Friday afternoon and ended at 4pm on Sunday afternoon, just as the sun was in the process
of disappearing behind overhead rain clouds.

While the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was down to around ~150, by Saturday, it had jumped to over 200 (as I type this it is at 221).  While the upper bands were somewhat noisy, 15 & 10 meters were open reliably until past 10pm.  By 8am Saturday morning, 15 & 10 were WIDE-Open to Europe - AMAZing!

(I read numerous reports that there were also EU/AF openings, on Sunday, altho that was HARDLY my experience.)

During the after-midnight time period, the game was to alternate between 2-hours sleep and 2-hours OP-time on 40-meters, which altho open to Asia, was PLAGUED by an OTH RaDaR centered right in the middle of the CW band - HuH?  WTF is THAT ALL About?

At the Ramona QTH, the 3-el Stepp-IR possesses the advantage of pointing the yagi more-or-less Southeast (towards South America), while switching 180-degrees (in <7-seconds) to work VE7, UAO
and JA stations already coming thru [early] on the upper bands.  It seemed like the bands ALL opened "early" and remained open much "later".

In perusing the scribble-notes made during the contest period, it seems the best way to make scents out of them would be to list them bullet-point style:

• At 10:23z Saturday morning out of nowhere another OTH RaDaR suddenly appeared on 7015.69 (my run frequency).  RoTaTing the yagi while checking signal levels confirms that once again, this intruder is located in Eastern Russia - WTF is with THAT?
• 11:02z on 7007.52 a LOUD HL2WA calls CQ.  Numerous stations call him. 
  He DISAPPEARS.  I send QRL?  receive NO response and Call CQ.  Shortly
  after HL2WA is back calling CQ, again, hearing/working NOBODY - HuH?
• On Sunday morning, BRASH, LOUD BA4II, BH4BFS & BU2EO at different times
  jumped on my run frequency calling CQ LOUDER than ANYONE and then they
  Answer NOONE - again WTF.
• A DX station calls in.  I work him, putting him in the LoG.  2 - 3 minutes later he
  calls in again.  DiD he log me the 1st time?  If I work him again, it's a DuP (no penalty). 
  If I don't work him again, we both get DINGED for my not logging the 2nd contact.
• Persistently calling CQ on 3516.69 Sunday morning created a perfect propagation
  opening; even if it was only a quicky, it was PERFECT.

Throughout the weekend, WQ6X busted NUMEROUS pileups, simply by slipping my
QRP signal in between the LOUD callers.  On Sunday, a number of the SUPER stations
came back to my QRP CQ calls as they played the S & P game, looking for new callsigns.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 4th place overall and 3rd-place for NA.

DiD YOU work the CQ WW Dx CW contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

What Do We SaY about Ssb November Sweepstakes?

 

Around this time last year, I wrote a long overdue Blog regarding CW Sweepstakes ([CLICK HERE]
to read that).  As I check the station setup for the 2024 Sweepstakes phone (Ssb) contest on Friday evening, I am prompted to ask a similar question: "What Do We SaY about Ssb Sweepstakes?". 
While the information exchange is IDENTICAL for BoTH contests, the events themselves operate dramatically differently.

Now, it may surprise you to know that Ssb contests are actually my LEAST favorite event from the BiG Three (CW, SSB and RTTY); however, that's a ToPiC for a separate BLOG Post unto itself. 
For me personally, the Sweepstakes phone contest has a timeline of amazing operating events
dating back to the days when I held the WA6LKB and eventually KX6H callsigns.  One of those weekends got me bitten by a dog in Livermore and in the middle of a Sweepstakes event (back
in the day) found me laid up at St. George's hospital in Cincinatti with a potentially serious hand infection.

Last year, WQ6X took a surprising 1st-place running as unlimited-QRP.  In this year's CW GiG
(2 weekends prior), while I probably took the Southwest Division for QRP unlimited, the East Coast "Professionals" left me eating their E-Coast Dust.

My straight-forward Goals for Sweepstakes phone 2024 included:

• Assisting NX6T (Multi-Single LP) to an Overall 1st-place (altho it looks as if we took 4th)
• Reprising my accidental Unlimited-QRP win from last year (it looks like WQ6X took 3rd)
• Perfecting the Art of Stereo-SSB

For the CW Sweepstakes GiG, Stereo-Cw made an at-times unintelligible pile-up of callers actually quite manageable due to the (more-or-less) 180-degree audio spatial dimension.  With Stereo-Ssb, we can adjust the frequency knob of each QF-1A filter unit to create a more intelligible listening experience.  As high/low pitched QRM moves into the audio fringes of the left or right ear,
the frequency knob can be adjusted to "de-emphasize" the splatter individually for each ear.

Because the high[er] bands were littered with atmospheric noise, the aux. notch control for each
ear reduced the noise-grinding fatigue, way better than the K3's DNR facility ever could - sometimes analog audio shaping still surpasses digital signal processing (DSP).  Then again, it's easy to not remember that the aux. knobs on the QF-1A have altered the passband and I unconsciously settle
into that way of listening.  To reduce the possibility of complacency, it's useful to occasionally set
both notch knobs fully CCW and "start over" (when in doubt, "ReSeT" is my motto).

My BiGGest beef during this weekend was the OP's who speak WaY TOO FAST - with QRN & QSB, rapid voice speaking rapidly requires repeats of the report.  Before EVERY Ssb contest, I actually REHEARSE saying the exchange(s) properly and then load up the 4 DVK channels in the K3 radio. 
Speaking your callsign SLOWLY is important, because if I type the wrong callsign into the log,
YOU get dinged.

The OP's at NX6T turned in a not insignificant score again this year.  Unfortunately, missing section #85 (VE9) and 100+ QSOs relegated us to a 4th-place, while WQ6X took an overall 3rd place.  However, in BOTH cases, a Southwest Division win was secured.

Here is a random sampling of WEIRD things which happened throughout the November
Sweepstakes weekend:

• Out of carelessness, at the start of the Sweepstakes GiG, I failed to notice that the 3-El Stepp-IR antenna was still pointing 180-degrees from its azimuth heading.  Nevertheless, WQ6X was spotted by TI7W (Costa Rica) - unfortunately not allowed to participate in our domestic contest.
• It was discovered that my 21.358.58 run frequency was ALSO the National Tuneup Frequency (NTF).  Audio DSPs eliminate the tone(s) in my ears, but NoT the passband AGC-affects from the still IF-present carrier signal.
• My near-doppelganger WQ6Q was active during this Ssb contest, often confusing Billy-Bob and his brother Barney (NoT to mention Cousin Bozo).
• While SEARCHhing and POUNCing, on 7.153 I overheard a VA3 station working a VE3 station BOTH using Cw.
• A PULSE RaDaR station suddenly appeared on 14.172 - OBLITERATING 14.150 to ~14.230
• K1KP signed his callsign as Kilowatt 1 Kosher Pickle.
• When I ask for ONLY your Section and you send me all the information before it AGAIN, if signal fading is occurring, by the time you get around to saying "NFL", you will have faded out requiring me to say "AGAIN? AGAIN??".  Just give me ONLY what I ask for and we'll be done in less than 5-seconds.

One COOL thing about Ssb Sweepstakes is getting to HEAR the actual Voices of the OP's I worked earlier in the month on RTTY and CW.  While I always enjoy Ssb Sweepstakes, I am also glad it is OVER, so my ears don't have to listen to lower-pitched or higher-pitched splatter anymore.

DiD YOU work the 2024 November Sweepstakes?

IS WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Sprints thru another JIDX + WAE RTTY WeeKend

The 2nd contest weekend in November always brings us a variety of different activities to wrap
our operating skills around.  Because this is a 5-weekend month, things line up a little differently
than previous years.  This contest weekend brought us 4 radiosport GiGs of varying length:

1. [X] - Worked All Europe (WAE) RTTY - 48 hours
2. [X] - JIDX SSB Contest - 30 hours
3. [X] - OK/OM Dx CW Contest - 24 hours
4. [X] - NA Ssb SPRINT - 4 Hours

One of the things I like about the WAE contest GiGs is that they begin on Friday afternoons and continue for a FUL 48 hours, offering me numerous opportunities to participate, important when
I am also a shift operator for a concurrently run NX6T contest GiG - during this weekend it was
the JIDX Ssb contest.

Massive shifts in Space-WX conditions made for a challenging multi-GiG contest weekend.

Thanks to being a North America GiG, the Ssb SPRINT was largely not affected, except for
some low-level background noise, which we are largely used to.  The Aux. notch filter built into
each QF-1A audio filter (used to create Stereo-Ssb), made it possible to "shape" the passband,
reducing the noise-fatigue.

In addition to freaky Space-WX, this was yet another Ssb contest loaded with intentional QRM
of many different kinds.  For starters, at 11:20z on 3.805 a Cw signal (presumably Russian military) with the callsign 2JL4 made the scene.  With the 4-Square vertical array, it was easy to deduce the signal as originating from Eastern Russia.  Shortly later OTH RaDaR inundated 3.750 to 3.790. 
Then at 11:42z the 40-meter phone band was littered with RTTY QRM.

At 20:36z while running 14089.89 a repetitive chirping RTTY jammer made the scene.  30 minutes
later while running 14096.69, muffled Ssb could be heard, followed by unintelligible Cw and ending
up with FT8 making the scene - HuH?  Later, what I call a "data mixer" signal made the scene on 21098.89.  These kinds of occurrences seem to happen ONLY during contest weekends.

While I still enjoy the JIDX contest, with the rule change prohibiting me from running WQ6X
as Single-OP (i.e. separately) while also being an OP for NX6T, it's NoT Quite the SAME.  Serendipitously, the opportunity was then afforded to spend more time in the WAE RTTY
contest and keep the NIGHT shift alive on 40 and 80 for NX6T.  Somewhere in the middle
of it all, time was found for making CW contacts in the OK/OM DX Cw contest.

Also in the middle of it all, time was found to work the 4-hour NA SPRINT Ssb GiG - this weekend
was a BiG voice contest weekend, that's for sure.  Switching over to RTTY from time to time, gave
the voice (or should I say the voice KEYER) a break.

DiD YOU work the JIDX, WAE, OK/OM or Ssb SPRINT GiGs?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Successfully Navigates another NEAT QRP November Sweepstakes

Overviewing the upcoming contest weekend, THREE Major Goals were on the Agenda:

1. Reprise last year's S-West Division QRP Win from KN6NBT's
   Ramona QTH (SDG Section).
   
   
2. Join up with NX6T's remote-run low-power operation from WA6TQT's
   Anza QTH (ORG Section).
3. FULLY-Utilize the Stereo-CW facility I talk so much about. ([CLICK HERE])

While BOTH operations seem to have produced high scores for S-West Division, it will be contest committee's last-minute log adjudication that determines whether N4QS remains in 1st-Place - it's
THAT close.

CW Sweepstakes is unique in that the contest begins in the PDT time zone and ends in the
PST time zone (USA operators across the continent experience this.)  This was especially tricky
as I had the 3:30am to 5:30am operating shift w/NX6T, offering access to the east coast w/the 80-meter 4-Square vertical array.

10 & 15 meters were [not surprisingly] wide open, which moves a lot of contest activity AWAY
from 20-meters (now viewed as a "Backup" band during moments of disruptive Space-WX activity. 
For WQ6X, 40-meters was THE band to some degree, due to moving down there before 01:00z on Sunday to end the contest.  Hindsight raises the Question of whether operations should have started on 40-meters on SATURDAY as well.

The navigation secret during this weekend's weird propagation and pile-up effects was certainly the virtually-embedded Stereo CW which resides permanently at W7AYT's Concord QTH.  Transceivers may come and go, however, the audio-out of those radios is switch-boxed to the Stereo-CW system.  Being a Cw contest, when running a frequency, calling stations each call-in uniquely-offset from the
run frequency - the higher pitched offsets appear in the upper-left of my listening experience, while mid-offset signals appear "directly in front of me" and lower pitched offsets appear more to lower-right.

Using the R-I-T control, I can "shift" a calling station to a mo-betta physical location, confirmed by the change in signal pitch.  Function Key F3 in the N1MM+ software sports a {ClearRit} macro call, resetting the offset to ZERO.

After it was all over, it would seem that NX6T took an overall 2nd-place and 1st-Place for Southwest Division, while WQ6X ended in 6th-place and also managed a 1st-place for Southwest Division.

DiD YOU participate in the November Sweepstakes?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?