WQ6X Dabbles in the ARRL Dx Contest

It's hard to believe another ARRL DX Cw contest has come and gone.  Awhile back, I wrote a
Blast-from-the-Past Blog about this contest.  While this year's event was dramatically different
(It was a Dual-OP), there are some similarities to previous Cw DX contests.  As it turns out, even veteran contesters are often unaware of the fact that the ARRL Dx contest since its inception in the 1930's was to give amateurs from other countries the opportunity to work all (then) 48 states, as well as Canadian provinces.  (Even today, Alaska and Hawaii are considered DX countries rather than states for the purpose of this contest.)  In this GiG USA and Canada are the desired targets.

Being a Cw contest,
using Stereo-Cw fit
right in with the
operating goals.  

The audio cabling
is run such that either
the Yaesu FT-2000 or the Elecraft K3/0 is switchable into CH-4 of the Rockville mixer which feeds a pair
of QF-1A filters cascading into separate DSP filter combinations for each ear.  

 

Because I ran frequencies much of the time, using Stereo-Cw allow the calling stations to surround my listening experience rather than jumble atop of each other.

While the solar flux dropped into the low 90's during the contest period, the weekend was Space-WX free, altho bracketed by solar storms BE-4 and immediately afterwards.  A BiG surprise were the openings on 15 & 10 meters.  Europe from the SF East Bay area was sparse.  Several Scandinavian contacts were made on 15 meters (not 20 as is usual for the area) as is typical during lower SFI periods.  As it turns out, fewer contacts were made on 20-meters (27) in this contest than made
on 10-meters(54); then again, having a 3-el Long John yagi made all the difference.

Propagation-wise, there seemed to be a "signal tunnel" to South America and much of the Caribbean from the Concord location.  Throughout the day, many times 10-meters would sound like a noise-free yet DEAD band.  Calling CQ TEST w/the yagi pointed more-or-less to South America would suddenly yield a flood of calls from that direction, then go quiet again.  More stations were made from this direction on 40 & 80 than from OC/Asia; a reversal from previous ARRL DX GiGs.

In the ARRL DX Contest, for the exchange, WE send our State or Province, while DX stations send us their power level.  Therefore, WHY do Dx stations ask me for m my NR?  Technically, MY Nr is 599, while my STATE (ST) is CA.  If you read the rules, you KNOW what province a VE/VA/VO/VY station is in; therefore, no need to ask.

A noticeable problem was the spot-posting of incorrect callsigns.  While I can usually spot an incorrect callsign and delete it from the bandmap, it comes back after ~7 minutes later - Bummer Dewd.  Also confusing are the FT8 stations spotted as being on Cw, when in fact they aren't. 
The tip-off that they aren't really Cw is their listed frequency (usually up 75-khz from the bottom
of the band), when in fact the last legitimate Cw station is usually around 62-khz (max) from the bottom of the band.

For WQ6X, as a Single-OP, band focus was on 10 & 15 meters; 20 meters offered only poor
(at best) openings.  JA and Central America produced the most DX activity.  The BiG surprise
was the plethora of K6/KH7 stations, which from the Waste Coast are largely no-Brainers.

While the 8JK Cobra array produces 160-meter contacts in 160-meter contests, for this contest, nothing outside the continental USA was ever heard on "Top Band".

When it was ALL over with, WQ6X managed 193 QSOs in 30+ countries; not bad for just trying things out.

The BiG bands this year were 15-meters, 10-meters, 40-meters, 20-meters; with only a handful of contacts on 80-meters.

QSO-wise, overall, this year seemed to
lack activity, compared to the last 2 years, despite the fact that the SFI is WaY Higher than previous years - Go Figure.

The upside is that the major solar storm didn't plaster planet earth until just AFTER the contest event was ended.  Feeling-wise, it seems that solar storms always hit in the beginning or middle of weekend, NoT afterward.

For the most part, even the "worst" day (Space-Wx wise) with a higher-SFI is in general a GooD day (unless of course the K-Index is 6+).

 

DiD YOU work the ARRL Cw contest this year?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?