WQ6X Strolls thru a Strange September Contest Weekend

The second contest weekend in September is a mixed consortium of 48-hour vs. Sprint
contests as well as a [ho-hum] State QSO party and the FOC Cw contest wrapped all around it.

• [X] - FOC QSO Party (24-hours)
  
• [X] - Worked All Europe (WAE) Ssb contest (48-hours)
  
• [X] - Alabama QSO Party (12-hours)
  
• [X] - NA Sprint CW Contest (4-hours)
  

The FOC GiG allows me to test-run Cw-keying in conjunction with the Stereo-CW technique
I am so enamored with - so VERY useful in the NA Sprint Cw GiG.

While the WAE contest may have run 48-hours, being a Europe-only GiG, there weren't a plethora
of EU Ssb stations to be worked; especially as a QRP station.  Of course, I later discovered that there
IS NO QRP category in the WAE GiGs.  Nevertheless, at least I was able to say I gave it a GO.

When it comes to the 4-hour CW Sprint GiG, I had THIS to say in the 3830 Score posting:

20-meters seemed to fold-up rather quickly, moving the morass of leap-froggers down to 40-meters. 80-meters was largely a Left-coast (CA & OR) affair. For whatever reason, 70+ of the stations worked asked for a REPEAT of the NR - EVERY TIME. REALLY? Wassup with that? Then while I am repeating my NR, the call-in VULTURES obliterate the frequency with their callsigns, requiring yet another repeat. AD Nauseam.

The Albama (AQP) GiG was not much better.  I had THIS to say about AQP:

This is the 1st AQP GiG from KN6NBT's QTH in Ramona - QRP no Less. The band condx. between CA and AL were quite good, so WHERE were the AL OPs? There were POW/MIA stations on in AL but no AQP internet spots and virtually no activity heard from So. California. Wassup with that?

I guess, more than anything, this weekend was about trying out a number of disparate
contest GiGs by way of the newer STN-2 laptop at the W7AYT remote operation.

In coming posts, look for some newly added audio enhancements for this portable operation.

For WQ6X it's: Filters, Filters and MORE Filters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During recent weekends with a significant lull in contest activity, I have been rerouting
the audio cables behind the scenes of the portable setup I maintain at W7AYT's QTH
in Concord.

Having recently reintroduced a classic Radio Shaft 15-Band stereo equalizer (not shown in the
above photo) back into the audio line, I marveled at the morass of patch cables behind-the-scene enabling it to all work more-or-less with minimal artifact (i.e., unwanted signal interaction).

The transceiver setup in Concord is actually 3 units:

• A Classic (2009) Yaesu FT-2000
• A Classic (2007) ICOM 7000
• A not-so-Classic Elecraft K3/0 - for remote K3 radio access

Because Stereo-Cw is at the heart of ALL the audio filtering employed, a pair of Classic Autek QF-1A analog filters (A) front-end the audio line.  The filters which follow, shape the stereo audio differently for each ear - an MFJ-784 for the left ear and a pair of NIR DSP filters for the right ear.

The mixing box (B) enables mixing audio from the FT-2000 and the K3/0 through the array of audio filters, with capability to add another pair of devices.  The USB-powered unit contains OP-amp isolation with adjustable volume control for each channel.  Next to it (I) is an old-design 4-port
signal splitter unit which enables sending the audio to multiple filter inputs with a similar form
of device isolation insuring they get only the signals, NoT ground-loop voltages.

The Rockville 8-channel mixer allows listening to signals from the mixing box directly or by way
of a pair of MFJ 752 audio filters or DSP units - an MFJ-784 for the left ear and a pair of cascaded JPS (NIR-10 --> NIR-12) filters for the right ear.

A side effect of using older-style DSP units in parallel with analog boxes is the artifact that
is introduced in the form of an approximate 120ms signal delay created by the DSP unit itself. 
This problem has been resolved by adding a bypass-able AU Tool AP-411 device known as the
"Lip Sync Corrector" into the analog audio line introducing an audio delay that matches the
processing overhead of the NIR-10 + NIR-12 DSP devices in the opposite ear. 
A repurposed A / V switch allows the L-S-C to be switched-in or bypassed.

Overall, this combination of switches and filters allow for a number of different approaches
to massaging receive audio into something more readily understandable.

What about YOU?
Do YOU make use of external audio?
What secrets have You uncovered?

The All Asian Weekend that ALMOST never made it

The 1st radiosport weekend is always full of "high hopes and strong expectations", often DASHED
in an instant, as almost happened for the All Asian contest weekend.  There were 4 radiosport events happening that weekend, altho only the last 3 GiGs actually happened. 

• [X] - Russian Digital Contest
• [X] - All Asian DX Ssb Contest
• [X] - Colorado QSO Party
• [X] - Tennessee QSO Party

At WQ6X's Concord location, a newer Toshiba computer has been swapped-in to run the radio
and has yet to be properly configured for RTTY, hence no activity in the Russian Digital GiG. 
For the All Asia Ssb GiG, the decision was to run QRP, as difficult as that might turn out. 
The net-result was 15-QSOs in the log, due mainly due to PooR Asian participation [in their own contest], along with a number of solar events throughout the weekend which "bent the ionosphere
all out of proportion.  Even signal quality with "nearby" Colorado (during their QSO Party), was highly Questionable.

Out of desperation,
I put out CQ calls, if for
no other reason than to get RBN (Reverse Beacon Network) signal strength data.  

The amazing thing is how well WQ6X's QRP signal was heard around the country, so good that
Billy-Bob (and his brother Barney) would even call in.  I defined the F-10 function key to send "Colorado ONLY".

The REAL problem
was PooR Space-WX,
as you can see here.

This was one of those weekends when Billy-Bob and Barney were the LEAST of my hassles.  Intentional QRM against "them pesky contesters" seems to be on the rise lately. 

 
Here are some of the chicken-scratched not which survived this event:

• 04:00z (14244.44) a CW "heckler" showed up.  Based on his signal strength, I knew he was a local in/near San Diego County.  Then W9EEE moved on in and decided he wanted to RAGCHEW - he didn't know ANYTHING about Colorado or Asia.
• At 10:00z running 7153.53 - a series of JAMMING Noises swooped in/around the run frequency, followed by the infamous Data-cranker 20-minutes later.
• 13:21z 7138.38 (Ssb) is FLOODed with weird Digital QRM.
  Moving down to 7135.35 I get 5-mins of clear frequency before RTTY QRM swoops in - it's past my bedtime - time to shut it down.
• 16:14z on 14225.25 I get the GOD heckler.

The only thing USEFUL in all this was tuning down to ~ 7.039 to listen for the Russian military beacons.  The "F" and "K" beacons were AWOL during All Asian weekend.  The "M" beacon
was LOUD but sending SLOWly Saturday morning, then Weak but FASTer on Sunday morning.  Obviously, some sort of human influence accounts for the sending changes.

When it was all over, what I accomplished from all the effort - was - EXPERIENCE - I Thingk.

What about you?  DiD YOU play around in the All Asian and Colorado QSO Party GiGs?

HoW DiD it all Turn Out?