WQ6X Trips thru another CQ-M Contest

As far as radiosport goes, this last weekend was rather slow; only
3 relevant contest GiGs,
as opposed to 5 or 6
(as in past weekends).  

The agenda included:
[12:00z]  CQ-M International DX Contest
[12:00z]  Volta RTTY Contest
[14:00z]  Arkansas QSO Party (AQP)

Friday evening, attempting to setup the K3/0 for remote access found the internet network used for IP radio access to be non-functional. 

Fortunately access to another network made it possible to run the remote K3 radio via the RCForb software.  For me personally, being president of the Alameda Tongue Twisters Toastmasters club found me at the District 57 conference representing my club.  By the time my obligations were over and I was behind the computer screen it was nearly 04:30z.

By the time I got started, the AQP GiG was long over - done - 1 down, two to go.  Tuning around the RTTY portions of 20, 40 & 80 yielded no RTTY activity, only FT-8; 2 down, only CQ-M left.  Luckily the CQ-M GiG allows working domestic, as well as DX stations - there was an abundance of stations to be worked.

Although running remote, I was able to funnel the RX audio thru an external Autek QF-1A audio filter (for the left ear) and an MFJ-751 (for the right ear) creating in-effect stereo Cw.

I enjoyed the contest but was disappointed by the luck of Russian stations to work. 

The BiG surprise was the number of VK/ZL stations (off the back of the Shorty-40 yagi) calling in while I was looking for Europe.

Not knowing what to expect, the decision was to run high power (990 watts), guaranteeing the signal could reach just about everywhere (except, I guess, Africa).



Pointing the Shorty-40 to 330-degrees yielded a plethora of JA stations, each worth 2 points.  Normally when working Asia I am annoyed by stateside callers off the back of the yagi; in the CQ-M contest they are most welcome - as long as they read the contest rules and know to send 5NN + Serial #.  When they didn't send a number "001" was entered in the log. 
Not knowing the rules, they certainly won't be sending in a log.

Intentional QRM-wise, things were rather quiet until a data cranker showed up at 05:15z on 7.033.  After a pause, the cranking resumed and then erupted into a jamming sound; sounding like the kind used to jam SWBC stations.  Moving to 80-meters gave respite from the "cranker"; that is, until I discovered there was little CQ-M activity on the lower bands.

At 07:30z, 2.5 hours of sleep took over.  By 10:00z, with the assistance of some strong KONA coffee, 40 meters for the last 2 hours was the proper way to end a last minute contest.

Did YOU work the CQ-M contest?
If not, WHY Not?
If so, did WQ6X make it to YOUR log?