WQ6X Wanders through another 5-contest radiosport weekend

It would seem that RTTY contests often occur in clusters, in early spring and then again in Autumn. 
This year, the 3rd weekend in October brought us the Japanese-based JARTS RTTY contest as a
48-hour backdrop and playing field for 2 state QSO parties, the Stew Perry SP-160 contest and the Worked All Germany (WAG) GoG, which as it turns out, I had little time for.  The decision was made
to run all the events using STN-1 at the WA6TQT superstation in Anza California.  

Because Anza is technically not RTTY-equipped, to make it all work, the RRC-1258 box (which controls the K3 radio on the other end) is itself com-port controlled by a RIG Expert PLUS rig
control unit.  It's all accomplished by way of a morass of cables hidden in a cubby hole on the operating desk.  Because the RX audio wanders its way through a Radio Shaft 16-channel
equalizer into a pair of Autek QF-1A analog audio filters, what I call "STEREO RTTY" comes
into play to enhance the character decoding process.

The original plan was to run the JARTS GiG @55-watts and rest at the QRP-level, until I noticed the Space-WX storms crawling all over the weekend.  Because the GiGs were all intertwined, it suddenly seemed way too complicated, leaving the decision to run everything @90-watts, returning the JARTS GiG to the 55-watt level.

Despite the Space-WX storms, the band condx. were most exceptional into Europe and W. Africa
on10 & 15 meters.  It may be signals between NY and the left coast may have been skipping over their intended locations.  Around 02:00z, it was finally time to give 160-meters a look.  Thanks to a pair of solar storms, the high noise-level on 160 was no surprise.  The decision to NoT run QRP
was certainly vindicated.  Calling CQ, only RBN receivers as far as Kansas could hear WQ6X
on 160-meters, and then not very loud. 

An hour into the SP-160 GiG, after doing a RTTY signal check on 40-meters, suddenly the switching network on the 160-meter Tri-Square failed to activate, creating a near-infinite SWR condition on that band, effectively ending WQ6X's Stew Perry contest run - time to finish the evening running RTTY.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the NYQP and ILQP GiGs, my only real beef is that both
events provided us with limited OP-time.  Ironically, while NYQP ran until 02:00z (7pm),
an opening to NY could not be expected by then, even using an 80-meter 4-Square array,
whereas on Sunday, despite an earlier QSO party ending, it was possible to put 5 80-meter
ILQP contacts into the log before it was over - GO Figure.

The JARTS RTTY contest ended @00:00z with 523 QSOs in 39 countries making it
to the WQ6X log kept locally at the run site in Concord (EB section).  While not a super
score by any means, it certainly surpasses anything I've ever done in this 48-hour RTTY
contest event.  ToTaL OP time for this event was close to 22-hours over the weekend.

DiD YOU work any of the above 5 radiosport events?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Navigates another 6-Contest Weekend

The 2nd radiosport of October bring us 4 state QSO Parties, the OCDX Cw contest and my
RTTY favorite - the MAKROTHEN unique 40-hour On-Off-On-Off-On contest.  To make it all
work required a significant amount of time juggling, fitting QSO party activity into the MAKROTHEN off periods.

The 4 state QSO parties were a mixed bag; PA and AZ came thru as they always do.  NV and SD gave us another poor turnout as they have the last two years.  What good is it to hold a QSO party when your own in-state operators don't participate?  I don't recall receiving an email announcing either NV or SD QSO party - Bummer Dewd.

With many QSO parties, "rover" stations bring us additional county action.  As I recall, only one mobile station was heard for both AZ/PA  GiGs.  On the other hand, both events gave us additional action on Sunday, offering another high band (20, 15 & 10) opportunity.

Due to poor propagation, the OC DX Cw contest was a quiet affair, even with the Stepp-IR running
Bi-directional or pointed right at the Southwest.   Friday evening found one KH7, with nothing else heard.  To some degree, the poor propagation was due to the increasing Space-WX anomalies.

Of course, the funnest part of the weekend was the Greek MAKROTHEN RTTY contest.  Always arriving later on Friday evening, only 3.5 hours of op-time made it into the log during the first 8-hour operating period.  Starting up Saturday morning, I dialed the power down to 5-watts to run the state QSO parties.  When switching back to RTTY, I had to remember to up the power to 69-watts for running the RTTY as an LP entry.

For the most part, every station heard made it to the RTTY log.  At 00:00z the MAKROTHEN GiG took on another 8-hour break, and the focus was switched back to the QSO parties.  Unfortunately, while PA and AZ more-or-less barreled on, only one SD station was heard/worked before the event ended @05:00z.  While technically NVQP continued through Sunday, not a single W7 (outside of AZ) was heard - Bummer Dewd.

When it was all over, only 3 out of the 6 radiosport contests were actually worth reporting on. 
The others gave me an activation point on 3830scores.com but were otherwise "ho hummers".

DiD YOU participate in any of the above contest events?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Runs a 5-Phase CQP Weekend

While each CQP contest is demonstrably different, the variety in the 2025 CQP event exceeds
any run I have run previously - in short, this was TRULY Mr. Toads Wild Ride.  In recent years,
CQP has offered the opportunity to run several different operations during the 30-Hour CQP
Event.  For this year, I broke it down into 5-Phases:

• Phase-1 - Operate a WQ6X Multi-OP from Alameda County, running QRP - the goal being to replace the record set by WQ6X and WB6RUC from Tom's sailboat during the 2024 CQP operation.
• Phase-2 - Activate the W6CF amateur radio station - onsite at the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) on behalf of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA).
• Phase-3 - Operate CQP Saturday evening using [Special Event callsign] W6R from KN6NBT's   QTH in Ramona to surpass the SO-QRP record set for San Diego County
  by WQ6X last year.
• Phase-4 - Put in operating hours (from 1am to 4am) for NX6T's remote operation
  from STN-1 (@WA6TQT) activating Riverside (RIVE) county.
• Phase-5 - Finish the W6R operation, ensuring our record-breaking run
  TRULY sets a new record.

PHASE-1

Making Phase-1 work required more time spent researching and planning the operation than DiD
the actual operating needed to accomplish that goal.  Surpassing a 24-point 2024 record was a no-brainer.  To be sure, WQ6X made 21 QSOs and submitted a 1.1k-point log - mission accomplished.

PHASE-2
Phase #2 was the most involved of all the CQP operations for this year.  Typical of this kind of operation, agreements needed to be come to as to when/how to make this all happen.  The original goal was to run all 30-hours as W6CF, switching in various operators.  Unfortunately, CHRS was not equipped to do that and outside of Denny (AE6C), no other operators with interest could be secured for Saturday.  When it was all over, 7 hours were put in on Cw and Ssb, submitting a 219-QSO log
for the event - enough to take 2nd-place in the Low Power Multi-Single category.  Possibly next
year we can take this event to the next level.  (Look for a more detailed write-up on the W6CF
operation itself. - coming soon to a WQ6X Contest Blog near you.)

PHASE-3

This 3rd step was a mixed challenge.  At the last minute another operator was optioned for the KN6NBT site, which would leave operating time to start after 03:00z (8pm), about the time I actually DiD start.  Consequently, that operator opted out leaving the Ramona site wide-open for use as W6R.
The goal of this phase was to make enough QSOs to put W6R well on the way towards surpassing last year's SO-QRP record.  I took a sleep break at 06:45z to be ready for Phase-4

PHASE-4

I often joke that the real reason NX6T invites me to join their crew is because I am willing to do the 1am to 4am shift (and sometimes fill-in during the "dinner shift").  CQP during the middle of the night is different because most left coasters are sound asleep and the East coast operators are just waking up to start their operating day.  Being a Multi-single operation, operating in this time slot requires rotating between 160, 80 & 40 meters (we had a potential 20-meter problem, so I let the morning operators sort that one out).  On each band the switch would be made between Cw, Ssb and then back again.  Because virtually all of the Multipliers had already been worked, there was no need
for Search & Pounce (S&P) - simply find a run frequency and call CQ (run it and they will come).

PHASE-5

After finishing my shift for NX6T, I caught some ZZZ's and then restarted as W6R at 15:00z, making Cw contacts until the CQP contest ended.  I had been asked to be on call to finish the last 2 hours for NX6T if another operator could not be found - thank you K6PO.  To make things easier, W6R ran just CW-only (more points per QSO) - no Ssb.  The day was spent traversing between 20, 15, 10 meters
and then back to 15 and 20 meters, mostly calling CQ and occasionally working out-of-state stations calling CQ CQP.

When it was all over, W6R had logged 524 QSOs and submitted an 81k-point log which at this
time seems to have taken an overall 1st-place for QRP - it certainly succeeded in setting a new
QRP record for San Diego (SDIE) county (officially, the record was set @17:20z).  W6R has set records for both QRP and QRP-assisted for SDIE - looks like it is time to set a Multi-OP QRP
record for San Diego next year.

When it was all over, similar to last year, I managed to be involved in 4 events, however this
year broken into 5 specific phases.  I guess we could label submitting scores and logs plus
posting Blog entries as Phase #6.

DiD YOU work the California QSO Party (CQP)?

Is W6CF, W6R, WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Runs a Rockin' RTTY Radiosport Retreat

The final radiosport weekend in September not only brings us the first CQ W.W. GiG of the year
(CQ W.W.  RTTY), it also encompasses the final 10-daze leading up to October's annual EPIC - the California QSO Party (CQP).  Throughout the week, I have been orchestrating a Zoom event (hosted by EventBrite) encompassing the presentation I made about the California QSO Party (CQP) to the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) for our monthly membership meeting.  

Also throughout the week/weekend, I have been screen-shotting Space-WX data in an attempt to make sense of the largely-not-necessarily-make-sensible Space-WX wave our radiosport activities "ride on".

For the CQ W.W. RTTY event, scheduling nuances kept me out of the operating chair until 06:26z (configuring the RigExpert PLUS unit with the RRC-1258 remote interface box took longer than I had anticipated).  40-meters seemed wide-open (it was), portending AWEsome Space-WX conditions throughout the entire radiosport weekend; the [massive] Space-WX hit didn't occur until several hours after the RTTY GiG was over (and WQ6X's ending score was posted on the 3830Scores website). 
As I write this Blog, K-Index = 5 and A-Index = 10.

Running QRP in a RTTY contest is an interesting challenge - other operators either cannot hear the QRP signal or just plain don't care and move right in "next door" anyway - sometimes on both sides of our weak signal.

Because I purposely choose specific "oddball" run frequencies (Ex: 14096.69, 21133.33, 7062.62) , when stations start calling CQ EXACTLY (perfect-decoding) on the WQ6X run frequency, I know it is no accident - whatever happened to the adage of listening on the frequency FIRST, BE-4 calling CQ?
and, while I'm in RTTY rage mode, wassup with stations parking themselves atop the 14.100 NCDXF beacon frequency, making it all but worthless to people who actually rely on that beacon for propagation predictions.

For West Coasters at this point in sunspot cycle 25, we have three opportunities for late afternoon
on 20, 15 and even 10 meters.  40 meters gave us sizeable openings on both evenings. 
Unfortunately, notably missing this year was South America (SA) and VK/ZL (OC) stations. 
It's one thing to not hear stations that were spotted - it's yet another thing when no spots are
seen from a geographical area at all.

At least WQ6X was being seen in the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) stats.

When it was all over, WQ6X took a distant 2nd place to Ki4RRU.

DiD YOU work the 2025 CQ W.W. RTTY contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?