WQ6X Wangles a Russo-Asian Radiosport Weekend

The 1st contest weekend of September is one of those "mixed-bag" affairs.  Being an Ssb contest,
All Asian is typically a major disappointment.   However, this year I discovered the Russian DX RTTY contest embedded in the packets of downtime in the All Asian GiG.

Client commitments kept me at my Alameda office (with no remote radio access) during Friday evening's potential 15 & 10 meter openings.  For WQ6X, A-A startup time did not begin until 06:00z, looking for a 20-meter opening while watching the greyline window, looking for Asia (JA in particular) to transverse into evening, when 40-meters opens in Japan towards their East - West Coast USA.

Being an Ssb contest, I was not surprised to hear the4 usual contest weekend non-amateur signals invading the lower 40-meters phoneband segments.  (For some reason, these intrusions rarely occur midweek).  The A-A contest weekend brought us the following 40-meter occurrences:

• 08:48z - 7132.66 - A station (LOUD S-9) was sending 5-character code groups.
  (WQ6X was running a frequency on 7135.35)
• There was what I call a "Data Cranker" - some sort of digital signal that sounds kinda
  like a toilet.
• There was of course the usual not-allowed Ssb operations in the middle of the CW/RTTY segment of the 40-meter band.
• The Russian "K"-Beacon is of course heard every evening, after about 07:00z on ~7.039.

Over the course of the 48-hour contest period, WQ6X made it all happen in only 3 operating periods:

• Friday Evening
  06:00z - 08:37z - 100 QSOs on 20-Meters
  08:50z - 12:35z - 59 QSOs on 40-Meters
• Saturday Evening
  06:41z - 07:27z - 8 QSOs on 20-Meters
  08:50z - 12:35z - 10 QSOs on 40-Meters
• Sunday Afternoon
  08:50z - 12:35z - 21 QSOs on 15-Meters

According to the 3830 Scores website, WQ6X took 1st-place for USA using Low Power (LP).

In between the non-Asian openings, I switched to running the Russian DX RTTY GiG.

Making this contest work using an older version of N1MM required patching two different
log segments together to deduce the proposed ending score.

The Tennessee QSO Party (TNQP) is one of those GiGs that doesn't know what weekend it belongs on.  While I like the idea of running on Sunday, this year, client commitments kept me off the air for most of the contest.  Then again, when I WAS on the air there were hardly any TNQP stations being heard, nor any being spotted - Wassup with that.

Bottom line, WQ6X added 3 contests to the 3830 Scores list to say I wuz there.

DiD YOU work the above radiosport contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

XYZZY

WQ6X PiTches a Case for the California QSO Party (CQP)

In preparation for the 2025 California QSO Party (CQP) event coming up in October, I followed
the steps outlined in the recent Blog post on Preparing for Preparation ([CLICK HERE] to read that). 
As President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) my goal is to pitch a case for club members to be involved with this monumental annual radiosport event.

While ARCA has always made a notable Field Day presence, operating the California QSO Party
is a relatively new experience for the radio club.

• [X] - (2021) - K6QLF Runs a Memorable 1st-time ever CQP Event
• [X] - (2024) - Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) runs a CQP Training Exercise

To assist people in understanding what makes CQP so significant, I offer you these thought morsels:

• WHAT is CQP?
  CQP is the pre-eminent State QSO Party - one of the last state QSO parties
  for the calendar year.  Think of CQP as the ultimate Emergency Preparedness Exercise.
  
  
• WHEN is CQP?
  CQP Runs the 1st FULL weekend in October (Oct. 4th 9am PDT to Oct. 5th 3pm PDT).
  Ideally, equipment is setup and tested the day before - Oct. 3d.
  
  
• WHY is CQP?
  CQP provides activation for ALL California Counties - specifically the "RARE" ones,
  enabling operators to qualify for the coveted WACC (Worked All California Counties)
  Award.
  
  
• WHERE is CQP?
  CQP is anywhere you want it to be.  When choosing a location give thought to the
  importance of operating ALL 30-hours.
  
  
• The GOAL of CQP
  Over the course of ONE weekend you can learn superior operating skills
  that will be with you for the rest of your time on HF radio.
  
  

As it turns out, the 2024 operations for K6QLF and WA6OYC - simple CQP setups from the Oakland Yacht Club (in Alameda) - netted us a 5th-place win in the Expedition class and a QRP county record for Alameda County - proof once again that sometimes just showing up is enough to be some sort of

a contender.

For 2025, Alameda County (ALAM) has risen on the county needed list from #58 (Bottom) to #44.

WHAT are YOUR ThoTs on Operating the quickly upcoming 2025 CQP QSO Party?

WQ6X Posts Blog #777 after 13 years

It seems astonishing to me that despite often hit-missing Blog postings, the WQ6X
contest Blog has now reached the lucky 777-th post.  While some blogs do indeed share
common characteristics, most of the Blog posts are completely unique.  Here is an overview

of how things turned out.

• [X] BLOG #001 - The World of WQ6X Contest Activities
• [X] BLOG #100 - WQ6X Contest Blog 100th entry! - the REAL value of Radiosport
• [X] BLOG #200 - WQ6X Single-OPs CQ W.W. Cw Remotely
• [X] BLOG #300 - WQ6X Blast from the Past: ARRL RTTY RU

• [X] BLOG #400 - WQ6X Wangles another Weird Triple-contest Weekend
• [X] BLOG #500 - WQ6X Posts Contest Blog #500
• [X] BLOG #600 - WQ6X SURPASSES 600 Blog Posts
• [X] BLOG #700 - WQ6X CONTEST BLoG - PosT #700

Blog #700 was posted about this time last year.

The Question is, when can we expect Blog Post #800?

Stay Tuned for the upcoming answer to that Question.