WQ6X Works another Wonky Weird Prefix (Ssb) Contest

This last weekend's WPX Ssb GiG certainly fit the definition of ad-HOC (whatever THAT is). 
Team-NX6T was unable to cobble together enough committed operators willing to GOPHER
It; I guess they're saving their energy for upcoming JIDX Cw contest mid-April.  With no remote operation happening from Anza, I took the opportunity to experiment throughout the weekend with
the various nuances of running the Yaesu FT-2000 in an Ssb radiosport contest.

I recently learned how to configure the N1MM+ software to trigger the voice keyer memories built-in
to the FT-2000.  The problem is was, only 5-seconds of the recording is actually maintained in each
V-Key memory (the operating manual promises 20-seconds).  For CQ'ing, I could either play a .WAV file from the PC or make the CQ  call <5 seconds in length (the voice keyer recordings) and have better audio quality, with a HEAVIER punch to it.

Band conditions all weekend were rather noisy and in my mind overall poor, giving me opportunities
to "catch up" on some sleep.  Saturday morning found us with a last-minute speaker cancellation
for the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) monthly meeting.  As club president I filled in the speaking slot with an ad-HOC presentation on why I feel radiosport activities qualify as emergency preparedness exercises.  (I guess my Toastmasters involved has really paid off.).

For background information, I referred to previous contest Blog posts on the subject:

1. [X] - Are Radiosport contests REALLY Emergency Preparedness exercises?
   
2. [X] - CQP as EM-Comm Training
   
3. [X] - NAQP: 10 Fantastic Hours of EM-Comm Training
4. [X] - General PREP for Radiosport
   
5. [X] - WQ6X Blog SEARCH: Emergency
   

With the presentation behind me, I proceeded to engage in my own emergency preparedness
training exercise.  Being a weird prefix contest, WQ6X should've been highly sought after.  In fact, only 20% of my CQ calls yielded any calling stations, even tho my signal was reportedly reasonably STRONG.  Most of the stations I called were openly grateful for WQ6 as a new prefix; other than WQ6I, there were no other WQ6 callsigns.

 

While I had high hopes for 10-meters this weekend, overall, that was NoT to be.  Having a rotatable yagi is of little use when atmospheric noise levels are a quiet, yet persistent plague throughout the entire weekend.  

 

In addition, a not-insignificant batch of impulse noise filled the area.   Fortunately, the FT-2000
digital noise blanker easily removed it; something the old FT-1000mp's analog blanker could never accomplish.  Then again, the FT-2000's Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) circuits helped considerably
to make the atmospheric noise more bearable

 

Some of my favorite weird prefix calls this weekend included:

4A7A, W0MB, PJ4K, VP5P, TO3Z, PJ2T, ZZ7A, V47T, D4Z, NP4IW/KN6, WI0WA, KD2RD,
FM5BH, V31XX, AD5XD, K2SSS, XQ1KN and KP2M (Radio Reef, where we ran as WP2/WQ6X
to win the 2014 RTTY RU contest).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DiD YOU work the CQ WPX Ssb contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?