WQ6X Works the Whackiest, Weirdiest WPX Contest Ever

Riding on an all-but-empty BART train to North Concord (Contra Costa County - EB Section),
I look at the almost-rain clouds.  As a Biofeedback therapist, I have seen clients everyday for the
last 3 weeks, assisting them thru the anxiety they've encountered due to the world-wide panic.

For the rest of the weekend, my goal is to play radiosport as NX6T w/an ad-HOC team of operators ranging from 14 to around 72 (I'm somewhere in the middle).  The goal is to revamp the Elecraft K3/0 connection to run NX6T's Station-2 (instead of the usual STN-1).  And additionally, thanks to a wide-selection of operators in Fallbrook, I'm going to look for opportunities to put the WQ6X callsign on the air, in this weekend's 48-hour CQ WPX Ssb contest melee; NX6 & WQ6 are desirable contest prefixes (I.e. Multipliers).

After last weekend's BARTG HF RTTY Contest, the Rockville audio mixing box was hastily cabled into the FT-1000mp @W7AYT's QTH.  For Cw and RTTY purposes, this implementation is quite effective, altho the interaction between the devices/channels takes some getting used to. 
The REAL test will be in this weekend's Ssb contest.

Additionally, an MFJ-1020 Active Antenna [Pre-selector] has been rescued from the "mothballs" to
be inserted into the 1000mp's RX Antenna path.  The ICOM 7000 (currently being used for SWL'ing
at W7AYT) has a SUPER pre-amp built-in; as such, it would benefit very little from any additional outside-amplification devices.

Fast-forward to NoW [03:35z after the contest] and looking back, most things did not happen the way I had considered that they would go; not a bad thing necessarily, just a different set of circumstances and equipment configurations to troubleshoot.

At left is a close-up of the audio mixing being given it's contest debut at the W7AYT QTH.  The most egregious problems come from ground-loops between the disparate kinds of equipment all coalescing into one audio-control unit.
The 4 stereo channels give audio access to:
    - ICOM 7000 (Direct)
    - FT-1000mp (Direct)
    - Elecraft K3/0 (Direct)
    - FT-1000mp (Filtered Audio)

The audio switch (below mixed) directs audio to:
    - Amplified Stereo Speakers (w/ sub-Woofer)
    - Wireless (non-amplified) headsets.

While the isolation filters isolate units, it's often
at a cost of impedance mis-matching which can significantly lower the volume; the main reason for adding an internal amplifier to the Rockville mixer.

Overall, the Rockville mixer is destined to play a continuing role in the audio processing for WQ6X. 
The Com8 mini-plug stereo switch box will be re-assigned to my Alameda location, allowing further testing of another Autek QF-1A filter pair being experimented with there.

As it turns out, I never managed to resolve the IP-address conflict that has prevented me from running the Elecraft K3/0 into Fallbrook.  The RCForb backup plan also failed as microphone audio was not strong enough to key the radio on the other end - Go Figure.

With extra time to focus on WQ6X operations in Concord, I was dismayed to experience the usual signal-vortex at this East Bay location.  Even the strongest signals seemed quite weak.

Another anomaly at this location is the fact that the CH-250 vertical is often LESS-noisy than the sloppy WQ6X 8JK somewhat-inverted Vee. 

With the MFJ Versa Tuner II it is easy to select either the 8JK Vee, the CH-250 vertical or the WQ6X JA Sloper (that rarely hears JA) - with or with out the tuning section.  I am continuously amazed which antenna actually gives the best reception.

On a whim, I made CQ calls both days on 28414.14 with the antenna pointed towards South America.  On Saturday afternoon the one-and-only 10-meter contact was made with K6JAT on Skyline Blvd. in Oakland - essentially a ground-wave QSO.  15 meters produced a couple of more QSOs, with CE2LR & KX7M ; while I could hear many stations on 15, they were mostly below the RX noise-floor - Bummer Dewd.

The last hour of the contest found WQ6X scouring 20 meters and then ending the WPX GiG with

a handful of QSOs finagled on 40 meters.  While this was indeed a WEIRD WPX contest, like every contest event I always get something useful out of the time spent; and, it keeps my attention off the panic being experienced by non-amateurs around the world wide. 

 

As it turns out, VHF (2-meter) amateur radio operators have the greatest chance for survival.

 

Did YOU work this year's WPX Ssb Weird Prefix Contest?

 

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR Log?