UK/EI & FOC Give WQ6X false hope

W Q 6 X  @ 0 6 : 0 0z  (11pm)

The weekend before March's WPX Ssb contest is typically a slow one in the radiosport world. 
As someone who loves the challenge of radiosport contesting, I'm willing to give most HF
radiosport events a GO.

K 6 J O  Running NA - S P R I N T ( S O 2 R)

This contest weekend, the only GiGs of interest to me were the FOC QSO Party, the UK/EI
contest and the Ssb NA Sprint.  K6JO had already reserved both stations @ NX6T for another
SO2R operation and I was too lazy to make the trek to W7AYT's QTH to run my FT-1000mp,
leaving WQ6X to run remote CW-only for the weekend.

F O C  Ending  Screen

The FOC (First-Class Operators Club) QSO party began at 00:00z, altho I didn't have a working
K3/0 setup until 05:00z.  It was purposely decided to run high[er] power; because I could, and because we needed all the help possible in being heard.  There are TWO kinds of FOC events;
the 1st for FOC members (earlier this month); the 2nd for all of us, FOC or not - while we can
work any station, FOC stations are worth more points.

U K / E I  Ending  Screen

For those of us on the Left-Coast, the UK/IE GiG was the "almost" contest; from beginning to end. 
It would be quite different altogether if the Solar Flux (SFI) was in the 100+ range instead of the current 68 - 72.

2 - Element  "S h o r t y  4 0"

Using the N1MM+ software, running as Assisted found the 40-meter bandmap to be populated with numerous UK/EI stations when the K3/0 was switched
to 40 @06:15z.

Immediately, 2 contest stations made
it to the log: GM4Z & GW4J.  After that, none, nada, ZIP.  Clicking on bandmap spots and making a call yielded nearly a dozen "almost" QSO, like: "WQ6?, WUQ6? W6QX?, but nothing more.

OH Wail.  Despite only 2 QSOs, a
log was submitted.  Unfortunately,
the contest was not on the 3830
scores list. 

An e-mail to Bruce Horn (Wa7BNM) resulted in it being added less than 24 hours later - Thanks Bruce!  [CLICK HERE] to view the overall contest stats and [HERE]  to see my minimal contest
write up.  If the reported scores are in anyway indicative of reality, technically, WQ6X's 2 QSOs
would take 1st-Place for USA; however I doubt it - not everyone who submits a log posts their
score on 3830Scores.Com.

Regardless of how any of this turns out, putting the K3/0 on the air from Alameda allowed a thorough test of IP-based internet connection for the K3/0 as well as the DNS-based VNC Viewer connection. 

The REAL test for this configuration will be running NX6T remotely the following weekend in the WPX Ssb (aka "Weird Prefix") contest using the K3/0, but from W7AYT's QTH in Concord, where I expect to be running as WQ6X during non-NX6T hours.

Did YOU work the SPRINT, FOC or UK/EI contests?
If not, y'all missed out.