Ad-HOC wise, radiosport doesn't get
any more ad-HOC than this weekend. The 48 hour Contest weekend brought us the CQ W.W. Dx GiG - complete
with crowded band pandemonium.
While plagued by space-WX anomalies throughout the long weekend, dogged persistence allowed our four operators
to conduct a more than reasonable operation - all remotely - from Fallbrook.
Work requirements kept me in Alameda relegating use of RCForb radio control software along with the VNC viewer to run the WINTEST program remotely.
We ran the usual bevy of Elecraft K3's & K3/0's into a KPA-1500 (STN-1) and an Expert 2-K (STN-2). Functionally, the antennas were functional, except on Sunday when an erratic 6-Pack switch box caused the 3-element Stepp-IR yagi to report high SWR when switching over to the antenna on
15 meters. It was too early for N6KI to be productive on 40, leaving me to run 20, 15 & 10 all
alone; using the C-31 yagi allowed for instant band change.
Despite the horrible space-WX this weekend, a number of reasonably-excellent band openings occurred on 10, 15 & even 160 meters. With the Solar Flux (SFI) consistently around 74, we are CLEARLY on the way up into Solar Cycle 25 (and yes, I've said this for nearly 3 years now).
From my experience, more solar storms are experienced when the SFI is moving up than
when it moves down; either temporarily, or at the end of a solar cycle.
While I spent considerable focus on South America, that is only because there were band
openings to South America. My only regret is that running remotely, RCForb would error out
anytime I attempted to trip the vox, making it impossible to run a frequency. The weekend
in Alameda was spent engaging in an elaborate Search & Pounce (S&P) playing back DVK
(Digital Voice Keyer) files to run the radio.
When all of the equipment and internet connection are in top form, running NX6T at night is an overall exciting affair; with a unique feeling of aliveness. A thrill is experienced from being able to control a radio 455 miles away.
Sometimes in Concord I will monitor
an NX6T run frequency as WQ6X in
the bay area, giving me a perspective
on how others hear the NX6T signal.
Likewise, LooKing for WQ6X by
listening remotely is very telling.
One evening during an ad-HOC 75-meter ragchew with another Concord amateur, I connected to Station-1 in Fallbrook for listening to our signals, as well as others with us on the frequency.
Another way to get a listen to your signal is by way of one-or-more remote SDR receivers scattered about the geographical globe. The WEBSDR Website can take you into this exciting remote world. When I was looking further into the Russian Military Beacons, I used several SDR's to get a better triangulation on signal levels. Running a General Web Search brings you even more options.
Looking for 10-meter openings on Sunday led me to sweep thru the 28.200 - 28.300 beacon area listening for propagation clues. As the radio was tuned up into the phone band, at 16:18z, out of nowhere (on 28.343) I encountered a CW QSO (I KiD you NoT) between WB6ZFG and K6GVG
(altho I only heard the K6GVG end of it).
Today, running the numbers thru my calcutator, it would seem that 28.343 is the 4th harmonic of 7.086; not an unusual frequency to be ragchewing on at 9:20 in the morning. Looking up Roy's callsign on QRZ.Com, it seems he is running a contemporary (but classic) ICOM-7610.
I guess when we are just a hill or two apart, harmonics or overloads happen.
I sent him an e-mail letting him know what I heard.
Also weird was seeing a spot (@16:18z on 3.796.11) for BY2RADAR. Right next to it was a flood
of what was CLEARLY RTTY Data; certainly NoT RaDaR. Have you ever encountered this before?
Based on the 3830Scores report for Mulit-2 operations, it would seem that NX6T is at the bottom of the heap; alto we took 2nd-place for Zone-3 and 1st-Place for W6 - NoT too shabby considering that we were ad-HOC'ing it all the way.
Did YOU participate in the CQ W.W. Ssb contest?
Is NX6T in YOUR Log?
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