WQ6X Wings another Wild Multi-contest Weekend

This last week was actually quite a busy one, between seeing clients and learning to program
C# for Unity in order that I take my design skills to the 2-D and (eventually) 3-D level.  As such,
it seemed too complicated to make my way to Concord, so instead, I managed to run the weekend's assortment of radios[port contests from Fallbrook's STN-1 remotely from Alameda by way of RCForb (to run the K3 Xcvr) and VNC Viewer (a VPN allowing me complete control of the station computer).  

This weekend, we shared airspace with an FOC GiG (wherein they talk to each other and ignore us non-FOC operators).  There were five events that I focused on this weekend, listed in calendar order:

• [x] - The Vermont QSO Party (VTQP)
• [x] - The Mexico RTTY Contest
• [x] - The Minnesota QSO Party (MNQP)
• [x] - The British Columbia QSO Party (BCQP)
• [x] - The North American CW SPRINT Contest
  

The BiGGest problems this weekend were heat in the shack and incessant internet dropouts.
If I seemed to disappear all of a sudden, it was because either the VPN connection or connection
to the radio would drop out. Nothing more frustrating than hearing you calling me while the VPN won't allow me to type or press function keys.  Nevertheless, somehow I got thru this weekend.

While local filters accomplish nothing in a remotely-run RTTY contest, the above setup works extremely well for CW contests.  Very similar to my setup in Concord, the filters here allow splitting audio between the ears, with low frequencies favoring the left ear and higher frequencies favoring the right.  In an attempt to simulate the 3rd-channel stereo-effect, you will notice a small MFJ-751 in between the QF-1A filters for each ear.  This will be written up in the next installment on Stereo-CW.

The weekend began with the Vermont QSO party, altho you would never know it because no VT stations were to be found on Friday evening.  Assuring myself we had 48 hours to find Vermont, when it was all over on 3 VT stations made it to the log - NoT that they couldn't hear me; there were virtually NONE in Vermont to be heard.  This echoes my BEEF with most QSO parties (Except CQP, 7QP & NEQP) - not enough stations play in their own QSO party - they put on an operating event and then don't participate in their own event.  HuH?

The Minnesota MNQP fared much better - ROVER stations were even worked.  Unfortunately again, the in-state turnout was abysmally low.  I guess I am spoiled by the HUGEness of CQP (followed by 7QP & NEQP) - we go out of our way to populate the bands (to the disdain of non contesters).

The same complaint can be made regarding the BC QSO party.  While there were more BC stations on than VT, they were largely on 40-m and that's it.  None were heard on 80 and none were heard on 15 (even tho the band was open).  I would think pointing the Stepp-IR DEAD north should've filled my receiver with BC stations - NoT So.

Running remote from Alameda, I was too lazy to run SSB. 
Who nose, maybe that was where the REAL operations were being held.  It certainly didn't help matters that Saturday evening was blanketed with a K-Index of 5; altho band noise was the least of our problems.  I would've traded noisy band conditions for the incessant internet dropouts.

The Mexico RTTY contest was the main GiG to play in this weekend.  Being careful NoT to overheat the shack, most of the RTTY time was spent running about 1150 watts by way of a KPA-1500 amplifer.  I purposely chose to run the 3-el Stepp-IR for the high bands allowing me to point the antenna towards South America and later in the afternoon to open it up BI-directionally for adding
Japan to the log.  

Both mornings, anticipating JA activity I looked for the Russian Asian beacons (~7.039) for indicators of propagation.  While the "F" beacon came through loud and clear both mornings, the "M" beacon was weak on Saturday and disappeared altogether on Sunday, just like its K-Beacon sibling which has been AWOL for months.

I was so wrapped up in running RTTY and looking for QSO party stations I  all but forgot about
the NA CW Sprint event.  For this month's running the event began at 23:00z instead of 00:00z
(giving E. Coast stations more of a shot at 20 meters).  My 1st QSO was on 20-meters at: 01:27z,
just in time for the Fallbrook internet to fail.  When things came back online 20 minutes later, 20 was gone and I took refuge on 40-meters until contest ended an hour later.  It was a kick bouncing around the band (instead of hogging a run frequency).

At 00:00z, when it was all over I had 5 logs to create and submit and 5 scores to post on the 3830 Scores website.  Barely 5 weeks into the new year and WQ6X already has 15 radiosport events posted on 3830 Scores.

What about YOU?

DiD YOU play radiosport this weekend?

Is WQ6X in one of YOUR LoGs?