WQ6X Wings Yet another WEIRD Weird Prefix Contest

There is something about the RTTY running of the WPX (Weird Prefix) contest, RTTY or non-RTTY.  While I truly enjoy the January RTTY-RU, the weird prefix aspect and multi-tiered point strategy
(1-pt, 2-pts & 3-pts) place the WPX RTTY GiG in a class all by itself.  In preparation for the 2o25
WPX weekend, I researched the last 5-years of WPX RTTY and published another "Blast from
the Past"  Blog.  ([CLICK HERE] to read it).  And of course, there is also a "Reminiscing RTTY"
Blog ([CLICK HERE] to read it.)

While this year's GiG was a conglomeration of different components, each component was previously arrived at after trying numerous cable combinations involving the Yaesu FT-1000mp (in my office) and the FT-2000 which comprises the portable setup I main in Concord (EB section).

As detailed in recent Blog posts, for some reason, I am unable to fully CAT control the Elecraft
K3/0-Mini remote control locally via Windoze COM ports.  It worked once, and now it doesn't.
HuH?  WTF?!

Recently, the solution has been to bring the RigExpert PLUS back into the configuration. While
it can't control the remote radio frequency knob and mode buttons; it CAN properly rout the RTTY audio and indirectly key the PTT switch by way of the FT-1000mp (office) or FT-2000 (Concord) to
the PTT jack in the control head unit.  For safety reasons, both PWR and the MIC knobs are turned
down to Zero.

While audio and PTT can be controlled w/o the RigExpert PLUS, running the laptop audio then requires a messy array of cables with DC isolation transformers inserted as needed to keep the ground loops out of the audio paths.  Instead, the RigExpert provides all the necessary voltage/signal isolation necessary between the Yaesu transceivers, the Windoze-7 laptop and the K3/0-Mini control head to produce cleanest RTTY audio possible.

The main drawback to this approach is remembering to type in the operating frequency to the N1MM+ software before logging a contact on thew Windoze-7 laptop.  This offers additional reasons to run frequencies whenever possible.

Space-WX was reasonable throughout the contest, altho Sunday afternoon things began to worsen with a number of solar storms that "waited" until after the contest before manifesting - WHEW!

During radiosport contests which begin at 00:00z on Friday, I rarely start at the starting time; this GiG was no exception.  My 02:15z starting time found 10 and 15 meters "done for the day", relegating my start to 20 meters; an increasingly less populated RTTY band, thanks to the Solar Cycle 25 sunspot peak which we are in the midst of.  From Ramona, it seems there is more relevant RTTY action on 40-meters than on 20.

In the WPX contest, while we receive 2-Points for other North American countries outside USA and
3-Points for working other continents, there are no country multipliers.  Instead, we can accumulate multipliers for each unique PREFIX we work.  Nevertheless, it's always interesting to note the individual countries worked.  N1MM+ displays this reasonably well.

Out of the 48-hours of the WPX contest according to the N1MM software, I managed to work 25.3 of those hours, altho there was closer to 28 hours spent at the operating desk, doing things to make the 25.3 hours more productive.  While there are a lot of significantly insignificant details relating to this weekend operation, I will leave that to the soapbox comments I wrote immediately after the contest when I posted the score on 3830Scores.Com.

DiD YOU work the WPX (Weird Prefix) RTTY contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?