WQ6X Meanders thru another Marconi Memorial Contest

After a 5-mile walk/run in the annual Alameda 4th of July parade (the longest small-town parade
in the USA), I welcomed the opportunity to just "lay out" on the bed in the radio room, resting up for the upcoming Marconi Memorial Contest (MMC).  Somehow, I got the idea that the MMC GiG started at 12:00z (5am) and chided myself for sleeping until 5:51.

After the Hawaiian coffee infusion took effect, it was discovered the start-up time was actually 14:00z (7am) offering plenty of the time to setup the N1MM+ function key macros and validate all of the different analog and DSP filters used to "shape" contest audio.

From the 7am start band propagation SUCKED in the USA (but sucked LESS on the E. Coast).  Looking at the enTwente (Dutch) SDR, bands were FLOODED with stations, which makes sense
in an ARI-sponsored (Italian) contest.  Looking at the 3830 score listings and reading SOAPBOX comments confirmed that 10-meters was DOA and 15-meters not much better.

Hoping for a reprieve on 40-meters in the evening found the band wide open, but very little MMC activity could be heard - Bummer Dewd.  After some sleep, I turned the radio back on to 40-meters
at 13:00z looking for some JA action, finding none to be had.  Switching to 20-meters, as the E. Coast was now in daylight, 3 -QSOs made it to the log.

The only thing REAL positive I can say about this contest is that being the ONLY QRP submission, WQ6X wins the QRP category by default.

DiD YOU work the Marconi Memorial Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

Some ThoTs on Surviving Another Month of Radiosport

Every year I endeavor to engage in a HUGE variety of radiosport contests, with Cw being my overall favorite, RTTY next, and last, but NoT Least, Ssb GiGs.  Summarily, the year begins with the ARRL RTTY RU and North American QSO Party (NAQP) GiGs in January. 

Moving into February, we are presented with the Mexican and WPX RTTY contests, and of course, the 1st state QSO parties of the year, interspersed with the CQ-160 contests.

March brings us MORE state QSO parties, SPRINT contests and BARTG RTTY GiG  Of course,
the WPX Ssb GiG is the climax of a radiosport month building up to it.  Moving into April brings
more QSO parties, some ad-HOC RTTY contests, some European DX contests, and in the middle
of it all, the HAPANESE JIDX Cw contest that NX6T has been winning for many years in a row.

May opens with the storied "Cinco-de-Contest" weekend and ends with the WPX Cw GiG. 
Every year, the San Diego Contest Club (NX6T), endeavors to win the plaque for the New
England QSO Party, something we've gotten into the habit of doing.  In between shifts for NX6T (running remote from Anza) I run WQ6X as a mixed-mode QRP operation from KN6NBT's QTH
in Ramona.  This year marks my 3rd 1st-place win outside of the 7th call area.  I have NEVER encountered a QSO party that was able to report the final results, less that 30 days from the event weekend itself.  "It's all done with smoke and mirrors" (and of course computers).

Littered throughout the rest of May was the CQ-M and the King-of-Spain Dx contests along with
the VOLTA RTTY GiG which turned out to be a DuD this year, largely thanks to horrible Space-WX.  The month of June brings us the All Asian CW GiG and of course Field Day (FD). 
For VHF enthusiasts, there is of course the VHF weekend.  July starts off with the Canada Day
GiG and then the IARU HF championship - a mixed mode 24-hour event - you could almost call
it the "SPRINT" of Dx contests.

August takes us into the NAQP GiGs one more time, several QSO parties, the International Lighthouse weekend and in the middle of it all one of my increasing favorites - the Worked All Europe (WAE) Cw contest.  In September a number of QSO parties are interspersed with the WAE Ssb contest, ending with the CQ W.W. RTTY GiG.  October opens with the California QSO Party (CQP) followed by other state QSO parties and the CQ W.W. Ssb affair.

In November we run my favorite contest pair - The November Sweepstakes (SS).  In between
we can operate the JIDX Ssb contest and the WAE RTTY - an incredibly challenging yet satisfying affair.  December ends the year beginning with the ARRL 160 / 10-meter contests and ends with the Canadian RAC Winter contest.

Do YOU work multiple different kinds of radiosport events throughout the year?

What are YOUR Findings?

Another All-ASIAN ConTesT is ALL-Over the Place

The 2o25 All Asian (A.A.) Cw contest presented us with a mixed challenge, considering the rapidly declining solar cycle.  Unlike last year's 81 QSOs, this year, 10-meters was AWOL-DOA.  While the frequency runs SEEMED Bigger and Longer, according to comparison stats from last year, we made nearly 300 QSOs LESS - mostly on 80, 15 & 10 meters.

I had a fortuitous last-minute change of plans allowing me to run Anza STN-2 remotely from my office in Alameda, enabling the opportunity to run the first 3-hours of the event on 15-meters, while K6RC scoured 20-meters for multiplier stations (MULTS) on STN-1.

While the SFI has been declining-noisily geomagnetically, the MUF has been high enough to keep
15-meters alive, well into sunset, not only on the Left coast, but in JA as well.  20-meters maintained
its reputation of being a DX band; of course, on the Left Coast, we have the advantage of Asia (Japan
in particular), being a "short skip across the pond".

Setting up the K3/0-Mini in Concord @10:30pm (PDT) insured readiness for relieving the midnight operator in addition to my 2am to 6am shift.  Running 20-meters until 09:00z, the shift was made to 40-meters, just in time for an opening to JA.  At 11:30z, with nearly everyone worked, it was time to move down to 80-meters and start it all over again - putting 38 JA's into the log.

A Toastmasters training session from 9am to NooN Saturday morning kept me out of the
operator chair until the afternoon, when WQ6X finally up on 15-meters remotely, from the
Ramona site.  Running the 4pm to 7pm shift for NX6T found me running 15-meters while
occasionally futilely making CQ AA calls on 10-meters.  Despite running 1400+ watts, the
only RBN spots were from the Northeast, even tho the Yagi-stacks were pointed Northwest. 
 (On Sunday afternoon, a single JA6 was heard (S-7) and then disappeared just as quickly.

By Saturday's end, WQ6X had managed 123 QSOs, enough to have made a presence as
a Low Power (LP) station.  All Asian has no QRP category; otherwise, I might have considered
it.  Listening for the Russian Asian-based military beacons, only the "K" beacon was heard.
The "F" and "M" beacons have been AWOL for many months (if not, longer).

Due to the nature of the way the All Asian contests are structured, I have no expectations of any significant placement in the standings; instead, I simply use these events as DX training opportunities.

While the NX6T score was considerably less than last year, we DiD manage to clearly take a 1st-place for Multi-OP Single Xmtr. outside of Asia, leaving K3EST (@N6RO) to dominate the Multi-Multi category.

DiD YOU work the All Asian contest?

How many Asian countries are in YOUR LoG?

Again, Sometimes just showing up.....

...is what makes the difference.

The 7QP QSO Party was on May 3rd this year.  ([CLICK HERE] to read my write-up about it.)
In the quickiest turn around ever in a state QSO Party, the contest committee awarded WQ6X
yet another 1st-place for the Mixed-mode QRP category.  During that weekend, 7QP was also accompanied by NEWQP, INQP and DEQP, not to mention the Italian ARI contest.

I ran several operating shifts contributing to NX6T's 1st-place Multi-OP win for the New England
QSO Party.  Because 7QP ends at 07:00z, I found every reason to put in hours for WQ6X's QRP
run.  As daytime slid into evening, I was somewhat disappointed by the lack on in-state participation. 
One of my BiG QSO Party complaints is not enough in-state participation.   It sometimes seems as
if there are 2x the number of out-of-state seekers that in-state 7QP'ers.

Nevertheless, having access to a 3-el Stepp-IR, 2-el SHorty-40 and an 80m inverted vee,
(all @ 55') was enough for WQ6X's QRP signal to properly penetrate into Northwest USA. 
To ensure no accidental after-contest "OOPS", the score was immediately posted to 3830Scores.Com and the log submitted to the contest committee.  While preliminary indications were that WQ6X DiD indeed take a 1st-place, many operators don't post contest scores, so in the end, what seems like
a win actually becomes a 2nd-place or 3rd-place after all.

The bottom line, to have any chance at securing a contest win should include:

• Read the contest results from last year (and maybe years before that).
• Read last year's 3830Score submissions.
• Read the rules for this year's contest.
• Check the Space-WX reports before/during/after the contest.
• Ensure your operating setup is contest ready well in advance.
• Double check the macros behind the logging software being used.
• Layout an operating plan (modes, hours, bands, power-level, etc.)
• Start the event PROMPTLY.
• Take advantage of fluke band openings and Space-WX phenomenon.

When it is all over, immediately post your score and submit your log. 
After that, how it turns out, is OUT of your hands.

Have YOU ever made an out-of-state state QSO Party win?

How DID YOU go about it?

WQ6X Wangles another Weird WEIRD Prefix Contest

As a Cw radiosport enthusiast, it doesn't get any more wildly Weird than May's CQ WPX contest.  Amongst other things, what made this particular iteration of the CQ WPX contest stand out is the

fact that SFI-wise, the sun seems to be frozen at around SFI-119, while an inordinate number of
solar storms have ridden along with the ride for the last several weeks.

Business commitments kept me in in Alameda until later Friday evening.  K6PO took over my
8-to-10 pm shift, from which he made nearly 100-QSOs per hour for several hours.  At around 05:00z,
I was ready to run a short 2-hour stint beginning with surprisingly wide-open 20 meters - I've not heard such a high volume of European activity on this middle band in years (and with the SFI stuck
at 119 no less).

Because of recent weird band conditions, I debated about whether or not to run QRP as I might
not be heard.  If WQ6X could be heard running QRP, I would continue with that, otherwise jump
the power level to ~93 watts as a low power (LP) station.

As it turns out, the QRP signal more-or-less made it easily into the Northeast of the USA, so,
I kept the QRP run going.  Eventually, there was no one left who could hear me necessitating
a move down to 40-meters, with a jaunt down to 80 at 06:30z.  Monitoring the operation at NX6T,
the Shift-OPs were piling QSO into the log.  My 1st shift for NX6T began at 08:00z.  20-meters was still wide open, so I went on a search & pounce (S&P) went working dozens of EU stations, while waiting for a 40-meter opening to Asia.

After enough S&P running on 40, it was time to call CQ and create a line of stations looking to add
the NX6 prefix to the log.  By the time I signed off at 11:30z, I had worked enough multipliers to take our score to the 1st-level.

Heading back to Alameda, I gave a presentation to the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA)
on radiosport contesting (in general) and Field Day - FD (in particular).  Afterwards, I tuned the Oakland Yach Club (WA6OYC) ICOM-7300 around the bands demonstrating weird prefix contest pandemonium - to wide/surprised eyes.  Returning back from Concord, the operating goal was to reprise QRP operations from KN6NBT's QTH in Ramona.

In addition to the 1 - 4 am shifts both mornings, I was also assigned the 1 - 3 pm shifts - essentially
a shift from 40/80 - to 15/20 (10m. was largely a DuD when I was on shift.  What is most FUN at WA6TQT's Radio Ranch are the stacked Yagi's (this weekend pointing to EU) and a Stepp-IR pointing to Asia - either can be selected or phased.  If you look at the RBN map, our 1.375 Kw signal certainly was heard.

While I would have rather NoT missed a NooN WPX shift for QRP, Sunday on 15-meters helped to make up for what I might have missed on Saturday.  Many of the best stations were Multi-multi (such as KC1XX and K3LR) ensuring that we could work then on any band, at the right time.

While conditions were markedly improved over previous weekends, my frustration is seeing dozens
of LOUD spots for WQ6X on the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) network and yet very few stations from those areas actually called in.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 5th-place for USA despite the online scoreboard.

DiD YOU work the CQ World Wide (WEIRD) Prefix Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wangles another WONKY King-of-Spain Cw Contest Weekend

This year's King-of-Spain Cw contest weekend was in many ways identical to the same weekend last year (as far as horrible Space-WX goes) except that the SFI then (207) was nearly twice what it is this year (117) - for that reason, the choice was made to run Low Power (LP) instead of running QRP as
I did during last year's futile QRP attempt.

In recent weeks, the Space-WX has been so horrible it was considered that there were antenna
problems at the KN6NBT hilltop Ramona QTH.  To verify the antenna system versus propagation reports, the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) was utilized throughout the weekend.  While reciprocal conditions were indeed splotchy, it was clear that the WQ6X 90-watt signal was being heard all over
the USA, parts of South America, England/Spain and even Australia (VK2) and New Zealand (ZL3), exonerating the So. California antenna configuration.

For the ARQP QSO Party, while I was disappointed with the AR station turnout, there were
some beautiful 3-county and 4-county stations operating.  Without them, the WQ6X score would
be a fraction of what little it finally ended up.  For the K-o-S contest, while I woulda preferred more action, WQ6X DiD manage a 4th place for USA and 1st-place west of the Mississippi.

DiD YOU work the King of Spain Cw or ARQP contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

NeuroLogiK Solutions releases the WQ6X Beacon Tracking Software

 

The WQ6X Beacon Tracker software has evolved through numerous evolutions since I first
conceived the Beacon Tracker idea back in 2011.  Over the years, a number of interesting
screens have been added to the software.  For 2025, the decision was made to offer the
software APP in many different versions to address the different needs of individual users.

The basic feature of the WQ6X Beacon Tracker, is track when the individual NCDXF beacons are transmitting.  By bringing up a beacon frequency on a receiver, when you hear a station making its
ID, you can look at the Beacon Tracker screen to discover which station it is, at that given moment.

From time to time, a beacon is discovered to be off the air.  The Custom (and higher) Editions
of the software enable you to mark a beacon as offline (producing a (X) on the beacon screen.

It is useful to document the Beacon / Space-WX data as it changes throughout the day. 
Toward that end, the Advanced & Contest Editions of the software allow turning on the
SNAP-Shot Camera.  Clicking on the camera icon will take a picture of the screen that
camera is on.   The individual pictures can be saved for documentation purposes.

To learn more about the WQ6X Beacon Tracker Editions,
navigate your browser to:
WQ6X Beacon Tracker - SOFTWARE EDITIONS

If you would like to know more about the what the different screens look like,
navigate your browser to:

WQ6X Software: Beacon Tracker - Software Manual

WQ6X Wings a nearly non-Existent VOLTA RTTY Weekend

 This Blog post opens on a sad note.

Accumulating Space-WX readings over the last several weeks, it would seem that the high-SFI party is now more-or-less over.  Not only have the SFI numbers seemed frozen at ~156, after a week of On/Off geomagnetic storms, the SFI has taken a dive down ~126.  If that all sounds like a carefully created excuse for what turned out to be a horrible radiosport weekend - IT IS!!

There were 3 events on last weekend's agenda

1. [X] - The Russian CQ-M DX Contest
2. [X] - The Italian VOLTA RTTY Contest
3. [X] - The Canadian Prairies QSO Party (CPQP)

For CPQP, the handful of callsigns barely hearable in Ramona, and virtually no band spots for
Canadian station, that GiG was a DuD!  Stations in the Midwest and East coast had a much better time of, whereas the horrible storms conditions made that all but impossible on the West coast.

The CQ-M certainly offered possibilities, except that 10 & 15 meters never happened to the
USA, much less to EU.  The hoped-for 40-meter opening to EU was another listen-only one-way propagation event at the Ramona location.

Last (and most important) was the VOLTA RTTY contest. The same dismal upper band
conditions existed, altho the 20-meter RTTY "corridor" produced a handful of QSOs.  Moving
down to 40-meters @01:35z, WQ6X kept a run frequency active for over 90-minutes, interspersed
with a brief appearance on 80-meters.  

Eventually, when there were no new stations on 40-meters (and 20 was too "long"), it was time
for a break to come back at 09:30z to hopefully a band full of Asian stations.  In fact, only 7N2UQC made it into the 40-meter log, with an S-9 signal no less.  What happened to other Asian stations - there were none to be heard.

Thanks to the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), it was clear that the WQ6X signal WAS making
a presence.  The fact there were so few replies says more about poor participation from operators
in the areas that could hear my signal.

One of the drawbacks of a 24-hour contest ending at 12:00z is that there are no next-day "DO overs".  Considering that 80+% of the QSOs were made on 40-meters, the contest became an SOSB-40 log submission.  According to 3830 Scores, WQ6X was the only entry in the SOSB-40 category.

With "plenty of time on my hands" on Sunday, it was time to create an internet-based software
manual for the upcoming-release of the WQ6X DX Beacon Tracker Windoze software APP. 
([CLICK HERE] to find out more).

DiD YOU work the 2025 VOLTA RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

Stereo-SDR: IT's Easier than You Think - Part 2

Stereo-SDR: IT's Easier than You Think is something I'd been musing over for a long time, which
was the motivation to "stream of thought" the ideas which became that Blog entry.  Since then, an
e-mail from K3MAH gave me clarification on the fact that his method involves only one computer,
not two.  ZOOM-in to read John's amazing description.

The above description describes the method so succinctly.  Because the above description is so pertinent, I decided to Publish this Blog Part 2 as currently unfinished.  Stay tuned while I fashion
the rest of Part 2, to clarify Part 1.