WQ6X Wanders thru a Watered-down Pair of QRP Contests

The last weekend of July is always a watered-down time, radiosport-wise.

During the IOTA, GiG, the condx were so poor, the decision was to run Cw ONLY.

This weekend brought us 2 GiGs on separate days which WQ6X ran QRP.

• [X]- Islands on the Air (IOTA) - Saturday @1200z for 24-hours
• [X]- Flight of the Bumble Bees QRP Contest - Sunday @17:00z for 4 hours

For IOTA, after resolving a few last-minute discrepancies, WQ6X was on the air remotely from
Ramona with the 1st QSO at 13:46 on 20-meters, working K4RUN, V85NPV, BY5SSB, VE7JKZ, V47EM & XE1AY - not a shabby way to start.  Being the 4th weekend of the month, after 15 QSOs the radio was shutdown as I made the trek to the Oakland Yacht Club (in Alameda) for the monthly club meeting of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA).  Our guest speaker was Mike K6MKF, who gave us an informative presentation on how amateur radio came into being in New England around 1904.  

After the presentation, I sat down to a battery operated ICOM 7300 feeding a horizontal J-pole
atop the story yacht club meeting.  The goal was to tune around the Ssb portions of the bands
looking for island stations.  Unfortunately, the electronic device RFI is so pervasive at the yacht
club no Ssb signals could be copied.  Moving down to 20-Cw, N9RV came in LOUD and Clear followed by V85NPV, verifying the antenna works, passing radio signals as well as power supply squeals.

This is inspiring me to put together a club presentation on utilizing the MFJ-1026 and TIMEWAVE ANC-4 noise phase boxes to eliminate the noise at the RX front end, before it can take over the RF
pre-amps and flood the I-F system.

I arrived back in Concord at 22:30z just in time to be drawn into troubleshooting an Xmit audio problem with STN-2 @WA6TQT's setup in Anza.  After an hour+ it was clear that a human needed
to be physically dispatched to the radio site for a close-up cable inspection.  

At 23:51z calling CQ on 21014.14, the band was open to Asia, putting JA6GCE, JA0FVU, JS1NDM, JM1SZY, JF2FIU, JF3BFS & JO7KMB into the log, with many stateside stations off the other end of the Stepp-IR set to run Bi-directional.

By the time I got into the groove (QSO-wise), the contest was already 1/2 over.  15-meters quickly disappeared, relegating a move to 20-meters.  As the solar flux continues to drop, 20-meters once again becomes THE Dx band.  Also lately, 40-meters has been opening later (03:15z), with skip distance(s) considerably less (than springtime), along with elevated noise-levels during the summer months.

Several trips to 80-meters yielded only one QSO (w/K7ARE).  Not only were there no other callers, but there were also no bandmap spots for the band.  Back to 40-meters, after working N2GC @05:05z, no other new stations were heard., giving me a reason to grab some sleep until 10:15z.

Hearing the Russian "K" and "F" military beacons on ~7.039 (the "M" beacon has been AWOL for some time), at least made it clear that there was propagation to Asia.  This brought hope that already-worked JA's
would materialize on 40-meters.  

While many JA's stations were indeed present, being Sunday evening in Japan, most were engaged in some sort of JA-only JCC contest, not the IOTA GiG.

At 10:15z, S&P'ing put JH2FIU, JG1LFR and JN1THL into log (along w/N3QE off the back of the beam).  

The last hour of the IOTA was a COMPLETE DuD!  When the IOTA contest ended at precisely @ 12:00z (5am), I promptly went back to bed for another 5-hours, returning to the OP chair just in time to activate the 

4-hour ARS Bumble Bee QRP event.

In the Bumble Bee GiG all QSOs were worth 1-point, with BB stations (operating portable away from their home QTH) giving us multipliers for each numbered BB station worked.  According to the rules, all station were required to run 5-watts or less.  Considering this was already a QRP weekend, the BB contest fit right into my QRP goals.

When it was all over, WQ6X took a distant 2nd-place in the IOTA 12-hour category and
a close 3rd-place in the Bumble Bee GiG.  Bottom-line - 2 more contests were added to
my 3830 score ToTaL.

DiD YOU work the IOTA and/or Bumble contest GiGs?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X WINs another QRP NAQP RTTY GiG

Aside from the NAQP RTTY GiG itself, this radiosport weekend was about putting the pair
of RigExpert (PLUS & TI-5000) devices through a number of experimental configurations. 
Because there is no RTTY audio connections on the Ramona side of the remote connection,
a number of "Kludges" have been devised to encode/decode the RTTY tones from the originating
end (Concord, Ca. - EB section).

Using a pair of audio isolation blocks, audio from the Windoze-7 laptop is fed into the 1/8"
microphone socket on the K3/0 Mini control head.  Receive audio (after processing thru the
array of Analog and/or DSP filters) is fed to the laptop mic 1/8" socket.  The same pair of Autek
QF-1A analog filters used to create the stereo Cw effect also enable the peaking of high tones
(left Ch.) and low tones (right Ch.).   While peaking the tones by ear improves reception, as it turns out, an even better approach is to peak the left/right frequencies to produce the best decoding (based only on the MMTTY decoding display) that transforms the "garble" into reasonably perfect text copy,

As it turns out, the operating difficulty for this GiG had nothing to do with audio quality and everything
to do with local internet connection quality.  It was THIS situation that was the determination of when (and for how long) to take a break from the contest.  Evidently, something/someone in the vicinity
was overloading the internet creating noticeable signal latency.  A workaround was made possible
by loading up the the radio DVK memories (before the contest) to call CQ (F1), send an exchange (F2) and send a TU message (F3).  While the internet was splotchy on the Concord end, sending from the DVK memories was sent w/o any latency.

Behind the scenes Saturday morning and evening was the Space-Wx situation, which altho
it looks good (according to the numbers) in fact, the real truth is much worse than that. 
The numbers often don't take into account the REAL world of radio operations.

While technically WQ6X made considerably more QSOs in this event that the February GiG,
there were noticeable differences; the Canadian turnout was considerably lacking, while other
than KP4, virtually no Caribbean stations were heard (much less worked).

Because two tuning knobs are employed running remote RTTY (the FT-2000 for frequency logging and the K3/0-Mini for actually running the remote radio), it made sense to find clear frequencies
(often above the 100khz offset from the bottom of the band) and call CQ.  Running a given frequency works until another station (who allegedly can't hear me) moves into the vicinity of the run frequency, obliterating my CQ calls.  Tracking run frequencies shows the WQ6X run frequency to either creep
up or down as stations move in on my slot.

Opening a new band with searching and pouncing (S&P) brings a determination of signal copyability, while noting whether there is transmit RFI (in the remote shack) and any receive anomalies on that particular band.

Running a Stepp-IR yagi for 20, 15 & 10, it is crucial to manually switch the antenna band as well (there is no band-data cable installed at the Ramona QTH).  While running QRP into a high-SWR match won't hurt anything, it is clearly a waste of time.

Frequency-wise, 10-meters was another no-show.  Daytime hours were largely split between
20 & 15.  While propagation was largely the same for both bands, stations seemed to bounce between bands, offering the opportunity to work the same station again, often for multiplier credit.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 1st-place for QRP Assisted.

DiD YOU work the NAQP RTTY contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

SO2-R: Why I've NeVeR made the transition

The following has been like this for "YEARS" as is evidenced by the referenced dates.

Over the years I have more-or-less figured out the art of SO2-V (Single-OP 2-Vfos);
essentially leveraging the Sub-Rx inside the Yaesu FT-1000mp to run dual-mode (for GiGs
like the 10-meter contest) or running a frequency while S&P'ing (Searching and Pouncing)
on the side.  For me, there is no doubt that SO2-V dramatically improved operating efficiency
overall.  Then again, it is just as easy for things to become hopelessly confused, turning it into
a completely wasted effort.

For 2022, WQ6X radiosport activities begin with a Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver, relegating
the FT-1000mp to 2ndary status.  The eventual goal seemed to be seamlessly integrating the
FT-2000 into the same operating position originally occupied by the older FT-1000mp, which
is then re-positioned to be ready for an actual basic SO2-R operation, later this year.

Performance-wise the FT-2000 features take the original FT-1000mp operations to the next level. 
Both transceivers integrate stereo Cw quite well, with the color screens of the 2000, adding to the
visual aesthetic experience.  While the K3/0 is a most effective radio setup for running remote operations, nothing compares to the incredibly well laid out ergonomics of the FT-2000.

So why would I want to go to all the trouble (and expense) to create a fully functional SO2-R
setup?  If you look at the above stat comparison from the 2025 ARRL DX Cw contest, notice
that MOST of the Top 20 entries (80%) were running SO2-R or 2BISQ (an SO2-R variant).

NX6T ran as a "Multi-2" operation offering two uniquely different remote radio operations. 
STN1 unfortunately was plagued by "bubbly" internet resulting in Cw character dropouts. 
While your signal may have been quite strong, the dropped characters required numerous
repeats - sorry about that folks.

Time spent running NX6T eliminated the need for separate off-time. 
This was fortunate as the final 2 hours brought last-minute openings on 80 and 160 meters.

By 10pm it was all over.  For me, there was nothing left to do but COLLAPSE on the bed listening
to Latin Jazz on shortwave using the ICOM 70000 - a GREAT SWL receiver.  As quick as the NAQP Cw made the scene, the Cw bands became silent once again - time enough to post the 3830 score and submit a log immediately.

As it turns out, MY solution to this issue is to run SOAB QRP.  Rarely, do we see a QRP
operator running some variation of SO2-R, except in this GiG K6JS who took 2nd place. 
For me, this certainly is a less expensive and less of a setup hassle approach to making
a high score.

The REAL solution is to give the SO2-R / 2BISQ operators their own "playpen", moving them out
of OUR playpen.  Some contests, solve the SO2-R "problem", by instituting a 10-minute band requirement, meaning once a QSO is made on a given band, you are not allowed to make QSOs
on other bands for at least 10-minutes.

What do you think about this?

Are YOU an SO2-R / 2BISQ operator?

Are you OK with only competing against other SO2-R / 2BISQ operators?

Share with us YOUR thoughts on this.

When the "Music's" Over......

This blog post was actually conceived on 26 May 2022.

The "DOORS" rock band released a song in the late 60's entitled "When the Music's over
[...turn out the lights]".  The 3rd weekend in May found me participating in the Toastmasters
District-57 International Speech contest, which turns out to be the level where I got knocked out. 
(After this is the District Quarter Finals, followed by the SEMI-Finals and the Final Round finale.)

When it comes to speech contests, I have a personal policy of delivering trial speeches every week until I am finally out of the running.  Weekly speech delivery gives me access to a speech evaluator and potentially constructive comments from evaluation forms filled out by attendees.  In radiosport contests, participating in the smaller, less-known events keeps me in practice for the more major events that are scheduled throughout the year.

This year, as each week progressed, my speech contest speech on bullying metamorphosed
from a simple area-level speech ("We only have Winners on Our Team") to a district-level speech ("Bully Me Once - Bully Me Twice") involving the use of props and a unique change of clothing. 
I was encouraged by reviewing 1st-place videos from previous world championship winners.

Each week, the excitement intensity dialed-up and dialed-up until it reached "11".  While snippet changes to the speech occurred throughout the week, I finalized the final form for that previous
7 days, Tuesday afternoon, running a few trials at my office before the Tuesday evening meeting
of the Alameda Tongue Twisters (Motto: "If it's Tuesday, it MUST be Toastmasters").  After each win (Club-level Area A-22 & Division-A), I took a DEEP breath and took a long nap, refreshing me enough to start rehearsal/practice all over again on Wednesday.

Because the District International Speech Contest serves as an opening to the annual District Conference, after the contest is over, there is still much to experience in the form of the Keynote Speech on Saturday morning that was missed thanks to the district business meeting running
a woefully 62 minutes overtime.  (I thought Toastmasters events ALWAYS ran on time.)

The day proceeded with a number of workshops and noon-time guest speakers.  Rounding out
the conference was the District-57 speech evaluation contest.  Attending evaluation contests offers me ideas that can be useful towards crafting a speech for next year.  

By 6:00 pm, the Toastmasters side of the weekend was largely, allowing me to focus all my
attention on Radiosport operations, which for that weekend was the King-Of-Spain Cw contest.

In the end, it comes down to the oft. heard saying: The Decision of the Judges is FINAL.

When you engage in competition, what do YOU do when the music's over?

WQ6X Runs another QRP IARU GiG

Because it is a mixed-mode radiosport event, I often characterize the IARU HF Championship
as Dx Championship Field Day, due to the often use of tents for the WRTC Championship held every ~4 years.  The years in between can be thought of as practice years.  This year, the Anza station had already been requisitioned, pre-empting any operations as NX6T.

With the Ramona station in good form, it was available for WQ6X to run a mixed-mode QRP operation remotely from the bay area.  (2 years ago, WQ6X ran a  Cw-only remote operation from Ramona.)  Because the IARU GiG utilizes a fixed format exchange, for Ssb, the decision was to load up the 4 voice keyer memories (allowing voiceless operation) as follows:

1. F1 - "CQ IARU Contest..."
2. F2 - "Five-Nine ZERO-SiX"
3. F3 - "ROGER, ROGer, Roger"
4. F4 - "Whiskey Quebec SiX X-Ray"

As it turns out, only 14 Ssb QSOs actually made it into the log.

Brewing up some Hawaiian coffee at 5:20am, I had the pre-set station configuration on the air @12:46z, opening the contest on 40-meter Cw, before moving to 20-meters @ 13:57z.   When
15-meters opened at 15:05z it brought 45 minutes of fun, before fading into oblivion.  Moving back down to 20-meters, the fun continued until 16:51z.  Then, just as quickly, the band propagation fell apart on 20-meters as well, offering an excuse for another 90 minutes of sleep (the next sleep period would not be for over 18 hours).

A brief 10-meter opening came and went at 19:21z.  The rest of the afternoon was spent
band-jumping between 20m-15m-10m, running a frequency and then S&P'ing for stations that were missed.  I was just as surprised by the stations that called in on my run frequencies as I was with the stations that for whatever reason could not hear my calls (and anyone else as well, much of the time).

At 02:00z the move was made down to
40-meters, mainly to run frequencies and occasionally put an Ssb QSO into the log.  

A brief 80-meter run at 04:00z were the only contacts on that band.  NoT having access
to 160-meters, I have no idea whether the
LUF (Lowest Usable Frequency) made it
down that low.  

From 05:00z to 10:00z it was all about running frequencies on 40-meters.  After 90-minutes sleep, 8 more QSOs made it into the log before the 12:00z contest ending time.

The end result was 308 QSOs (14 on Ssb) over 19-hours of operating time.

While there were geomagnetic storms throughout the IARU GIG, noise conditions became WORSE after the contest event had ended.  It was difficult to fathom that the SFI was between 128 - 138.  Clearly, Solar Cycle 25 is on its downturn.

DiD YOU work the IARU Contest?

Is WQ6X QRP in YOUR LoG?

Creative Competition in Radiosport and Toastmasters Part-8: Decision of the Judges is FINAL

Every NEW Year, the Speech Contest Calendar (Toastmasters) and the Contest calendar
(Radiosport), start over.  In Toastmasters, the International Speech and Evaluation contests
begin at the club level.  In radiosport, we have "warmup" exercises in the form of the North
American QSO Parties (NAQP), and, if you are a RTTY enthusiast, the RTTY RoundUp (RU).

Recently, while musing over the above-mentioned competition events, it occurred to me that:

• In ToasTMasters, the judges use a POINT System to score the winners.
• In Radiosport, our LoG files are eventually transposed into a POINT System.

In BOTH cases, the highest point score wins; the 2nd highest takes 2nd-place, etc.
Of course, there are sometimes disqualifications (DQ's) that remove a score from
being eligible to receive an award.

Therefore, the bottom-line is "cheat w/in the rules" to obtain the highest score possible. 
In Toastmasters, technically, the judges are supposed to be anonymous.  Not knowing who they
are reduces the likelihood of you "playing to" someone because you think they are a judge.  

In radiosport, the [so-called] judge is the LCR (Log Checking Robot) - the software which inhales and categorizes all submitted Cabrillo Log files into a database, verifying the correctness of each piece of data entered.  Incorrect entries or your callsign NoT in the log of the station you claim to have worked will subtract points from your score total.  Depending upon the number of errors, the score you submit could be dinged down by hundreds, if not 1000's of points.

Either way - Decision of the Judges is FINAL.

WQ6X Meanders thru another Marconi Memorial Contest

After a 5-mile walk/run in the annual Alameda 4th of July parade (the longest small-town parade
in the USA), I welcomed the opportunity to just "lay out" on the bed in the radio room, resting up for the upcoming Marconi Memorial Contest (MMC).  Somehow, I got the idea that the MMC GiG started at 12:00z (5am) and chided myself for sleeping until 5:51.

After the Hawaiian coffee infusion took effect, it was discovered the start-up time was actually 14:00z (7am) offering plenty of the time to setup the N1MM+ function key macros and validate all of the different analog and DSP filters used to "shape" contest audio.

From the 7am start band propagation SUCKED in the USA (but sucked LESS on the E. Coast).  Looking at the enTwente (Dutch) SDR, bands were FLOODED with stations, which makes sense
in an ARI-sponsored (Italian) contest.  Looking at the 3830 score listings and reading SOAPBOX comments confirmed that 10-meters was DOA and 15-meters not much better.

Hoping for a reprieve on 40-meters in the evening found the band wide open, but very little MMC activity could be heard - Bummer Dewd.  After some sleep, I turned the radio back on to 40-meters
at 13:00z looking for some JA action, finding none to be had.  I called CQ with no takers. 
Understand that throughout this contest, WQ6X's CQ calls were producing DOZENS of RBN entries - unfortunately, no humanoid OPs were behind the radios at those locations.  Switching to 20-meters,
as the E. Coast was now in daylight, 3 -QSOs made it to the log.

I often hear OPs say, "we were n the air".  In Cw / RTTY contests, my question becomes: Wassup that I saw no RBN spots?  EU callsigns readily appeared on the [RBN-populated] bandmap, yet less than a handful of USA/VE stations ever made it into those listings.  Calling "CQ MMC" on 80-meters netted 1 California Station ~200 miles NE of Ramona.

Checking the Online Scoreboard found WQ6X to be the #1 QRP station from North America (NA).  Submitting the score to the 3830 Scores website confirmed this standing.

When it was all over, a whopping 26 QSOs actually made it to the log.  W/several stations being repeats from other bands, the entire contest, EU stations were truly enjoying an EU continent Field Day.  The only thing REAL positive I can say about this contest is that being the ONLY QRP submission, WQ6X wins the QRP category by default.

The final question I have on all of this concerns where we will be in Solar Cycle 25 at this time in 2026.  Check this Blog next year and find out.

DiD YOU work the Marconi Memorial Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

Some ThoTs on Surviving Another Month of Radiosport

Every year I endeavor to engage in a HUGE variety of radiosport contests, with Cw being my overall favorite, RTTY next, and last, but NoT Least, Ssb GiGs.  Summarily, the year begins with the ARRL RTTY RU and North American QSO Party (NAQP) GiGs in January. 

Moving into February, we are presented with the Mexican and WPX RTTY contests, and of course, the 1st state QSO parties of the year, interspersed with the CQ-160 contests.

March brings us MORE state QSO parties, SPRINT contests and BARTG RTTY GiG  Of course,
the WPX Ssb GiG is the climax of a radiosport month building up to it.  Moving into April brings
more QSO parties, some ad-HOC RTTY contests, some European DX contests, and in the middle
of it all, the HAPANESE JIDX Cw contest that NX6T has been winning for many years in a row.

May opens with the storied "Cinco-de-Contest" weekend and ends with the WPX Cw GiG. 
Every year, the San Diego Contest Club (NX6T), endeavors to win the plaque for the New
England QSO Party, something we've gotten into the habit of doing.  In between shifts for NX6T (running remote from Anza) I run WQ6X as a mixed-mode QRP operation from KN6NBT's QTH
in Ramona.  This year marks my 3rd 1st-place win outside of the 7th call area.  I have NEVER encountered a QSO party that was able to report the final results, less that 30 days from the event weekend itself.  "It's all done with smoke and mirrors" (and of course computers).

Littered throughout the rest of May was the CQ-M and the King-of-Spain Dx contests along with
the VOLTA RTTY GiG which turned out to be a DuD this year, largely thanks to horrible Space-WX.  The month of June brings us the All Asian CW GiG and of course Field Day (FD). 
For VHF enthusiasts, there is of course the VHF weekend.  July starts off with the Canada Day
GiG and then the IARU HF championship - a mixed mode 24-hour event - you could almost call
it the "SPRINT" of Dx contests.

August takes us into the NAQP GiGs one more time, several QSO parties, the International Lighthouse weekend and in the middle of it all one of my increasing favorites - the Worked All Europe (WAE) Cw contest.  In September a number of QSO parties are interspersed with the WAE Ssb contest, ending with the CQ W.W. RTTY GiG.  October opens with the California QSO Party (CQP) followed by other state QSO parties and the CQ W.W. Ssb affair.

In November we run my favorite contest pair - The November Sweepstakes (SS).  In between
we can operate the JIDX Ssb contest and the WAE RTTY - an incredibly challenging yet satisfying affair.  December ends the year beginning with the ARRL 160 / 10-meter contests and ends with the Canadian RAC Winter contest.

Do YOU work multiple different kinds of radiosport events throughout the year?

What are YOUR Findings?

WQ6X Creatively CeLeBraTes another CaNaDa DaY

While we celebrate July 4th in the USA, the Canadians precede our extravaganza with a quieter,
yet equally patriotic, remembrance of their country's origins and traditions.  As a radio amateur, Canada Day brings us yet another not-insignificant radiosport contest event, one that encourages
QRP operation.  It is also one of the few events that often end up occurring midweek. 

Because Field Day (FD) ran so late in the month, FD and Canada Day were barely 2 days apart. 
After running FD on a sailboat from the Oakland Yacht Harbor (in Alameda), I setup the K3/0-Mini
in my Alameda office, allowing an immediate start at 00:00z (assuming I was ready already). 

Comparing the receive signal/noise levels between Ramona (KN6NBT) and Azusa (WA6TQT),
the decision was made to run from Ramona, which at the very least entailed a less complicated setup.  Altho the Azusa QTH sports numerous antenna tower arrays, for Canada Day, it turned
out to be a noisier location.

Evaluating the N1MM+ operating statistics disclosed
that a total of only 05:02 hours was actually spent actually operating over the 24-hour contest period. 
What it does NoT detail is the fact that a LoT of time
was spent during the operating periods listening around the bands locally and via the KFS & UTAH Web-SDRs.

When it was all over, a mere 72 QSOs actually made
it into the Log.  While this was a mixed-mode operation, only 3 contacts were made using Ssb, despite the fact that I used VFO-B to check the phone bands on a frequent basis.  I worked all stations that were heard.

Often when I complain about lack of participation by the
target stations in a QSO-party like exercise, I am told that they were INDEED operating.  Well then, my question is, where were the Bandmap-map spots for all those different stations allegedly on the air?

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X managed a 1st-place for the mixed-mode
QRP category., even surpassing 2 Canadian mixed-mode QRP stations.
This is reason once again why we should ALWAYS submit a log.

DiD YOU work the RAC Canada Day contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?