WQ6X Runs a Raucous BARTG RTTY Rendezvous

Prior to this weekend's annual BARTG HF RTTY contest, in checking the contest website,
the discovery was made that last year's QRP entry from Ramona resulted in a 1st-Place for
W6 and NA (North America) - who woulda thunk it could happen, considering limited resources available.  ([CLICK HERE] to read the write-up on last year's BARTG RTTY contest.)

One of the things I like about the BARTG event is its 02:00z (7pm PDT) start time.  Cobbling the proper cable configurations for RTTY is a challenge considering that each computer on the network
(2 on WinDoze-7, 1 on WinDoze-10 and 1 on WinDoze-11) each come equipped with a unique soundcard configuration.

The settled-on configuration was to run the K3/0-Mini unit from the WinDoze-7-1 laptop at my office
to open the contest.  Then later, the operation can continue on the WinDoze-7-2 laptop in Concord by transferring the settings back and forth by way of a .ADI file.  The file was made but never used - the internet at the Concord QTH was so horribly unstable that effective communication was all but impossible.  As it turned out, Concord was just a place to sleep.

This of course reiterates the one inherent weakness in running remote - poor internet
connections can undermine the best of operator intentions.  It became very clear that cobbled experimentation would be the operating backdrop for the rest of the weekend; luckily there was
36-hours left to make an attempt at surpassing last year's 1st-place win.  Unfortunately, HORRIBLE Space-WX compounded the situation.

The commute from Concord to my Alameda office is just over an hour (plus equipment packing/unpacking/setup time).  It's better to invest 90-minutes in a commute than to spend
the rest of the weekend fighting internet connectivity that might never be resolved.

In the Blogs on Stereo-RTTY, I have documented the cable configurations needed to make
RTTY work (stereo or otherwise) -([CLICK HERE] to read those write-ups.  Because there is a risk
of DC "ground loops" creeping into the audio lines, there is a judicious use of audio isolation blocks, altho they sometimes introduce an approximate 6db insertion loss.  This isa small price to pay for more-or-less "clean" audio - essential for satisfactory satisfying RTTY audio in both directions. 
To reduce receive signal levels, a USB mixer box was put in the RX audio line.

Unable to run RTTY from the Concord QTH, I was bummed by the prospect of missing out on
all the 40-meter JA multipliers.  If Saturday night is any reflection of Friday night (and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise), the flood of JA stations were all ragchewing on Ssb, not running RTTY or the RUS DX contest.

While the Russian DX contest began at 12:00z (5am PDT), I didn't connect with it until 13+ hours
into the event (01:30z).  Because the Space-WX numbers were so dismal, the idea of running QRP
was certainly not a consideration.  Running BARTG and VAQP made sense, however for RUSDX,
the power level was upped to 92-watts.  As it turns out, there were few Russian callsigns actually heard during the event and only a handful were actually seen in the bandmap.

At 01:45z, an interesting occurrence occurred when I started calling "CQ RU TEST WQ6X WQ6X"
on 7008.68.  Some IDIOT started sending "STAHLIN" after each CQ call.  Later (@02:07) on 7017.17 STAHLIN was back followed soon after with "PUTIN".  When I took the "RU" out of the CQ call, the IDIOT gave up his tirade.

Other weird things that occurred included:

• At 05:20z we had a new variation on the "A-Beacon'
• At 08:30z, 40-meters was LITTERED with JA ragchewing - they used to be dedicated contesters on 40-meters.  Now they are dedicated ragchewers.
• At 09:10z, tuning around 40-meters a numbers station was heard on 7184.11 @17-wpm sending an incrementing number followed by Question Marks.
  EX: 9912XX??8????.  Later at 13:30z the station was weaker sending 9916XX??8????
  The direction seemed to be Northwest from Anza (i.e. Asia)
• N7ESU works me and then moves up 1KC to call CQ - HuH?  The WHOLE band is open, why right next door?
  
• N6AR/4 worked me and then moved DOWN 1KC to call CQ.  REALLY?  WTF?!

Sundays in radiosport contesting are often
a mixed bag - they either allow us to "catch up"/pick-up on where we left off, or they can
turn out to be dismal DuDs, this one due to
the ongoing onslaught of geomagnetic noise.  

With WQ6X as an often-desirable callsign
to work, I often spend a not-insignificant amount of time calling CQ on Sunday afternoons.  

While there is often a dearth of responses to those calls, what else do we have going?

While we had until 02:00z to accomplish
(if you will) self-redemption, that mostly accomplished nothing other than to prolong
the agony.

The contest weekend may have ended Sunday evening however, the funky Space-WX
conditions were with us for another 36+ hours.

When it was all over, WQ6X managed just under 100 RTTY QSOs - enough to make a 2nd-place showing in this classic RTTY event.

DiD YOU work the plethora of March 14th weekend radiosport contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?