BesT LaiD PlaNs of Operators and Radiosport

This Blog title is of course a variation on an old theme.  For the 1st weekend in May, I dub it
"Cinco-de-Contest", altho some weekends have 6 or more events all happening in under 48 hours. 
For the 2o26 Cinco-de-contest weekend, despite thorough planning, what the insurance companies
call "acts of God" can occur at any moment, as the weekend so fortuitously demonstrated.

This weekend brought us the Italian ARI Dx contest and four state QSO parties:

• [X] - Italian ARI DX Contest (AR) - 12:00z
• [X] - 7th AREA state QSO Party (7QP) - 13:00z
• [X] - Indianna state QSO Party (INQP) - 15:00z
• [X] - Delaware state QSO Party (DEQP) - 17:00z
• [X] - New England states QSO Party (NEQP) - 20:00z

When running remote, there are four considerations that can become deal breakers:

1. - Operator fatigue
2. - Internet and/or equipment failures at the remote location
3. - Internet and/or equipment failures at my originating end.
4. - Power failures on my end.

Using a Toshiba Tecra Z-85 laptop at the Concord location, while giving me 5-Ghz internet
access requires running the WI-FI troubleshooter to reset the internet adapter which periodically
"trips over itself".  

My original plan was to run the 7QP, INQP and the ARI contest throughout the day until my 1st
2-hour shift for NX6T in the New England QSO Party at 00:00z (5pm), spending the rest of the
evening chasing stations in New England (until 05:00z) and the 7th call area until 07:00z when
7QP ends.  Afterwards, moving to 20-meters, the ARI Dx contest can be run as long as there are
stations to be heard.

Being asked to fill-in Saturday afternoon for NX6T shifted my attention away from Ramona
to the stacked Yagi's at the WA6TQT superstation where we ran STN-2 at nearly 1.5kw with
the yagi stacks all pointed to New England.  Ready to run again as WQ6X (QRP instead of QRO),
at 23:00z - WHAM - power outage at the Concord location - a tree toppled onto a power line, plunging several neighborhoods into darkness.  (You're probably wondering where the ubiquitous UPS backup power system was - so am I.)

With power resumed at 07:47z, the only thing left was the tail end of the ARI Dx contest - which for simplicity, was run as Cw only.  Pointing the 3-element Stepp-IR towards Europe, a total of 18 QSOs made it into the log before the 12:00z contest end.  While WQ6X made few actual contacts, the Reverse Beacon Network certainly heard the WQ6X QRP CQ Calls.

After some sleep, WQ6X was back in the OP chair running the NEQP at QRP power.  A quick
hour for NX6T at 19:00z gave me two frustrating hours looking for unique (i.e. not yet worked)
New England stations.  Back as WQ6X in Ramona for a couple of hours, the number of New
England stations were quite limited (many NEQP ops don't do Sunday).

I spent the last 2-hours running mixed-mode (Cw and Ssb) for NX6T. 
Out of desperation, I called CQ for NX6T as follows:  CQ NEQP  NX6T NX6T/CA. 
Of course, Billy-bob and his brother Barney called right in, not just on Ssb, but Cw as well. 
(I didn't even know that Billy-bob and his brother Barney could work Cw).  On voice, I said, "I'm working New England only", while on Cw I typed "NEONLY" into the callsign field and pressed F5.  When cousin Bozo kept on calling me, I sent: "KB4LID - 5NN CA".  He sent back "5NN GA" - using Ctrl-W wiped him from the log.

After the contest ended, working with N6KI (our team captain), Dennis vetted the log for any non-NE QSO party contacts, submitting what promises to be another 1st-place win outside of New England.  While the original goal was to run a Cinco-de-Contest (with NX6T in NEQP as a bonus), INQP and DEQP never happened this year.  With only marginal operating time, the hope for reprising last year's 1st-place 7QP Mixed-mode QRP win never materialized; for NEQP, at least 18 stations made it to the WQ6X QRP log.

DiD YOU work Cinco-de-Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

XYZZY

WQ6X Bumbles and Stumbles thru a 4-GiG Radiosport Weekend.

The 4th radiosport weekend of April not surprisingly turned out to be quite a messy affair overall.
Two years ago, the events were rather Whacky, altho not quite messy.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

Here are the 6-GiGs there were to choose from:

• [X] - SP DX RTTY Contest
• [X] - UK / EI DX Contest
• [X] - Nebraska QSO Party (NEQP)
• [X] - Florida QSO Party (FQP)
• [X] - Swiss Helvetia Contest
• [X] - BARTG SPRINT-75 Contest

While the above six events occur every April, the UK/EI event and Helvetia contest never seem to happen for WQ6X.  For weekend #4, the largest contributing factor to poor radiosport performance was disruptive Space-Wx, even tho the Space-WX numbers inferred conditions would be more favorable.

Both state QSO parties bracketed the RTTY contests, all run from my Alameda office using separate computers for each mode, altho ironically both computers dovetailed into the same K3/0-Mini and RRC-1258 configuration.   As it turns out, running AFSK the the K3/0-Mini control head, it's easy to overload the mic audio circuits creating excess sideband splatter requiring careful laptop audio adjustment.

Lack of NEQP participation and the 04:00z Saturday evening break for the FLQP left us with the poorly attended SPDX RTTY contest.  Being a Polish-based contest, there was probably lots of EU activity which I got a sliver of by periodically turning to 20-meters several times during the evening.

Even tho the SFI climbed to 156, in Ramona, 10-meters was a complete no-show, with 15-meters producing only a handful of QSOs for all events.  On the other end of the spectrum, scouting 80/75 meters found no contest activity, only more-or-less ragchew activity.

For WQ6X, the SPDX RTTY contest quietly faded into oblivion at 12:00z.  Later Sunday morning brought us part 2 of the FLQP (Nebraska was another no-show) and eventually the 4-hour BARTG-75 RTTY Sprint contest @17:00z.  Running 75-baud RTTY (instead of the usual 45.45-baud) made for increased adrenaline, metaphorically and physically.  75-Baud signals require more careful VFO tuning to achieve readable decoding.  When it was over, a whopping 7-QSOs made into the RTTY Log

To wrap things up, one more search for was made for Florida stations.  Other than the rover stations activating new counties, all the other stations were DUPES - Bummer Dewd.  While the weekend hardly went the way originally anticipated, at least it can be said that WQ6X made the scene.

When it was all over, it would seem the one real accomplishment was taking 1st-place for
California in the Florida QSO party - I GUESS that is something worth celebrating.

DiD YOU work the last contest weekend in April?

How did things turn out on YOUR end?

XYZZY

WQ6X WorKs a WiLD and WooLeY WeirD RadiosporT WeeKEnd

In preparation for this weekend's collage of radiosport GiGs, I took my own recent advice, known as RTFR - Read the Rules.  While it is uncertain how many events WQ6X can manage this weekend, especially because MOST are all jumbled into Saturday.  Nevertheless, here is the list to choose
from:

• [X] - Estonian ES OPEN HF Championship - Starting @05:00z
• [X] - Worked All Provinces of China (WAPC) - Starting @06:00z
• [X] - CQMM DX Contest - Starting @09:00z
• [X] - Michigan QSO Party (MIQP) - Starting @12:00z
• [X] - Quebec QSO Party (QCQP) - Starting @13:00z + Sunday
• [X] - Ontario QSO Party (ONQP) - Starting @18:00z + Sunday
• [X] - EA QRP Contest - Starting @18:00z + Sunday

On paper, I had the timeclock mapped out starting @05:00z, 06:00z and 09:00z, then 17:00z
and 18:00z.  For various reasons, as you can see, several contests ended up being lined out.

For the ES OPEN and WAPC GiGs, no stations were heard in Southern California for these events.
As far as VE2/VA2 stations are concerned, while several were worked during the CQMM event, no Quebec stations were heard calling CQ QCQP.  What good is it to schedule a QSO party when your
own operators don't participate?!

The decision was to run the various contests from my Alameda office remotely to WA6TQT's 

STN-1 enabling QRP operation fed into yagi stacks on 40 - 10 meters and a 4-Square Vertical
Array on 80-Meters.

The major event was the South American based CQMM contest which began at 09:00z, altho things
didn't start until after 16:30z. While the rules prohibited signing as WQ6X/QRP, the sent exchange
was 599 NAQ (Q=QRP).  Other stations got 10-points (instead of just 1) for working each QRP
station - a bonus after the fact.

There were unfortunately many notable things that occurred throughout the weekend:

• Medium-lousy Space-WX
  10-meters barely opened on Saturday and was open mostly to South America.
  We got multipliers for each South American prefix, making up for lack of other continents.
• There were no JA openings on 15-meters both days and POOR JA participation on
  other bands.  40 and 20 meters were littered with numerous non-CQMM JA stations
  playing in their own domestic JA contest(s).
• For reason, the N1MM software did not score the contest properly.
  To submit the 3830Score submission, multipliers had to be determined manually.

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

DiD YOU work the CQMM contest or state QSO parties?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

For WQ6X 6 Radiosport ConTesTs become Only Two

Starting @07:00z, the weekend promised to be a busy one - it was a busy weekend alright,
much of the time in troubleshooting mode.  On the Agenda were:

• [X] - JIDX
• [X] - Yuri Gagarin DX contest
• [X] - New Mexico QSO Party (NMQP)
• [X] - Missouri QSO Party (MQP)
• [X] - North Dakota QSO Party (GQP)
• [X] - Georga QSO Party (GQP)

Unfortunately, radio connection weirdness delayed my 2am start for nearly 90 minutes.  However, within minutes a run frequency was found as the JA stations lined up.  Around 12:00z, as Japan descended into darkness, 80-meters eventually opened up for nearly 1/2-hour, altho 160 never happened to JA - either morning.

Sleeping in until 18:00z, it was discovered that access to the Ramona remote station wasn't happening, ruling out the QSO parties and running JIDX single-OP.  Saturday afternoon brought further ANZA access problems: STN-` (for S&P) worked fine - altho no new mults were ever found.  Once ANZA STN-2 issues got resolved, I managed a couple of 2-hour shifts for NX6T.  After some more sleep I took the 2am to 4am shift - unfortunately, JA participation was very poor.  Rick (N6CY) took the final hour - he managed a laborious 28 QSOs.

538 QSOs made it to the NX6T log, 40% were made by WQ6X.  

After a lengthy sleep there was still 5-hours left in the GAQP.  Because the conditions were

so horrible, 10-meters never materialized and 15-meters wasn't much better.  When the GAQP
ended at 23:59z, a whopping 24 QRP QSOs made it to the QRP log.  Amazingly, a pair of 40-meter contacts made it into the log - stacked yagis made that happen.  The actual GA station participation was very poor.  The only saving grace were the rover stations (AD4EB, N4OO, W4AN & AC6ZM).

Rather than litter Blog post with complaints about non-JA stations wasting our time calling in,
I will leave that to another Blog installment.  ([CLICK HERE} to read that.)

When it was all over it would seem NX6T took a worldwide 1st-place in the JIDX. 

Running QRP power, WQ6X made 1st-place for California in the GAQP.

While I was BUMMED to miss the NMQP and the MOQP (for the 1st time in 10+ years),
we can only make so many things happen simultaneously in one radiosport weekend.

What about you?

DiD YOU work the 6 contest weekend?

How many QSOs made it to YOUR Log?

ContemPlating a CollaGe of RadioSport Reminisces

In recent years I have amassed nearly 120+ events each year (140 for 2o25).  Accomplishing
that goal requires participating in 12 - 15 radiosport events (on average) every month.  Some months that number comes easily and other times it gets upended - as happened on this year's April 11th/12th contest weekend.

For WQ6X there are 3 main "Styles" of contest events

• CW (my Favorite)
• RTTY (a learned Favorite)
• SSB (my Least Favorite)

I rate the Ssb contests as least favorite based on the difficulty of getting the voice message thru amidst deep-fading and nasty solar-WX anomalies.  On a given contest weekend there can be
events all three of the above operating styles.  State QSO parties are mixed-mode and some even support a RTTY/Digital category.  In the franticness of the activity, it becomes relatively easy to be confused about which mode you are running in that given moment.  Fortunately, most logging programs make it relatively easy to figure out which mode you are in: KEY, MIC, KYBD.

In multi-mode contests (such as State QSO parties and FD) if the radio sports a dual VFO
(VFO-A / VFO-B) or even better, dual-receive (such as the FT-2000, IC-7610, ORION-II or
the K3/K4 series), you can run one VFO/Rx on CW and the other VFO/Rx on Ssb.

During a Field Day (FD) event some years ago, I ran the event with a classic Yaesu 100-watt
FT-1000mp transceiver - working Cw in the left ear, while Searching and Pouncing (S&P) Ssb
stations in the right ear.  The "accuracy" of this unique operation was somewhat not-insignificantly influenced by a couple of CANs of Foster's Lager.

Now remember, to operate responsibly, each event should be followed up with the score posted on the 3830 Scores website and a copy of your log submitted to the contest sponsor.  Submitting a log greatly assists the contest committee to adjudicate the winners properly.  In the past, I have submitted
2-to-5 QSO logs.

While I recommend testing station equipment on the weekdays between contest weekend periods, sometimes it is multi-contest multi-mode operating that enables us to identify deficiencies in the operating setup.

While I rarely announce contest plans in advance of a given contest weekend, in many cases,
if you are familiar with my operating habits, you can predict hearing my callsign in specific
contest events, such as Sweepstakes (SS), NAQP GiGs and the Weird Prefix (WPX) contests.

Additionally, participating in a wide variety of radiosport events helps improve what I call
"Callsign Recognition".  I recently wrote a Blog about this ([CLICK HERE] to read it.)

WQ6X offers REMEDIES for Reasons Why YOU Should NoT Call Me

Frustration over the 2nd contest weekend brought back memories regarding why much of the time, stations should NoT call me.  ([CLICK HERE] to see what I have previously written on this subject.

It occurred to me that the above Blogs have said all there really is to say on the subject of
Why You Should NoT Call Me.  This last weekend brought us the OP's S/E of Anza who
called in after my CQ JA NX6T NX6T call.  They heard me sending my Zone, so they 
sent me THEIR Zone. 

My opening question is of course "DO YOU KNOW WHAT CQ JA Means?"......
Instead of circling endless in that logic pool, allow me to offer some simple preventative
 remedies to the above circle.

For starters, when you hear a CQ call (Ex: CQ NA, CQ JA, CQ EU) do you understand what
they mean?  If NoT then you should NoT call in.  The correct action is to look up the CQ call
on the internet and follow the links to the rules for the event.

That's Right - it all begins with RTFR - Read The Contest Rules.  From the rules, you will know
who to call and who not to call.  Make note how many points you get for contacting stations in/out
of your country/continent

Overall things to consider include:

• Devise a band plan 
  --- Upper bands in the daytime
  --- Lower bands after sunset
  --- 20-meters and Greyline are unique unto themselves.
• If antennas are rotatable, set them to the proper azimuth heading.

If you like calling CQ, appropriate to the event, you can devise an appropriate CQ call:

• CQ GA  WQ6X/6   WQ6X/CA
  Transl: I am looking for stations in GA.
  WQ6X is in California - the 6th Call area.
  WQ6X is NoT in GA - he is LOOKing for GA.

NoW - when you call CQ, be prepared for Billy-Bob and his brother Barney to wanna
join in the fun - whatever THAT is.  Remember this: Just because you should not call ME,
doesn't necessarily mean that you should not call others.

When nothing else seems to work, consider pointing antennas in a long path (LP) direction relative
to the QTH areas you are looking for.  I've lost count of the number of times I turn the stacked yagi arrays to VK/ZL only to have OH & SM stations call in - LOUD and CLEAR!

In summary, it ALL begins with:

• Visit the WA7BNM Contest Calendar - click on a contest to your liking
  
• Visit that contest website and RTFR - read the rules of that specific event.
• Write a participation plan.  Be prepared to alter the plan details as
  the event progresses.
• After the contest, submit your log and post your score to the
  3830 Scores website.

Radiosport involvement can be a high-energy, high-functioning activity when
we have Read the Rules and organized a specific plan to make it happen throughout
the contest weekend.

StaY TuNeD for Further Thoughts on this unique topic.

Running RTTY Remotely WQ6X Sparks an affair w/Ashley@A-I

In recent weeks, much of my remote operating has been via WA6TQT's Radio Ranch atop the hill
in Anza California due the KN6NBT station in Ramona experiencing weird internet latency problems. 
For the weekend's EA RTTY contest, I had been working on proper cabling to accomplish running RTTY from m end of the connection, with no stable results.  Then, the "DuH" hit me upside the head.

To make traveling lighter, I recently repurposed a Windoze-10 Toshiba TECRA Z-50 computer. 
The goal was to discover a cable free way to run RTTY using a Remote Rig RRC-1258 box with
this laptop.  Then it occurred to me that "Ashley @A-I" can guide me to make this a reality. 
Ashley is a euphemism for Google's GEMINI A-I system.  The inquiry that started it all was:

"Troubleshoot controlling an RRC-1258 box with a K3/0-Mini using the N1MM+ logging
software under Windows 10".

While it took 90+ minutes of back and forth between Ashley and the K3/0-Mini installation,
eventually we managed to produce reliable RTTY from the Anza setup at 05:00z (more than
1/2 way into the RTTY contest).  Earlier in the afternoon during the troubleshooting, I heard
(and missed) a juicy 15-meter opening to JA - Bummer DewD!  Also on the "miss list" were
LAQP, MSQP and the Polish SP-DX contest.

The last 7-hours of the EA RTTY contest made for a BiG disappointment.  Finding no activity
on 80-meters (altho WQ6X was spotted all over the RBN system), focus was largely on 40-meters
with an occasional switch to 20-meters to work weak EU stations there and then come back to 40.

The original idea was to run QRP, based on being able to utilize the stacked yagi's on 10 and 15 meters.  Because I missed the daytime openings, the power level was set to 69-watts and run into
a pair of stacked yagi's on 20 and 40 meters, along with a 4-Square Vertical array for 80-meters.

RBN stats made it clear that WQ6X was being heard across the USA and into EA (Spain).  Unfortunately, lack of activity after 07:30z made for a dearth of actual RTTY activity. 
When it was finally over @12:00z a whopping 38 QSOs made it into the log - Bummer DewD.

At LEAST I can say "I WuZ THERE!"

What about YOU?  WuZ YOU there?

WuZ WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Waxes Operationally on WHY I LiKe Function Keys

While penning a Blog entry for the recently run All Asian (A-A) Cw contest, I got to musing
over the innovative way in which I utilize the TWELVE (12) function key definitions under the
N1MM+ software.   Other software APPs give us only SIX.  The easiest way to describe all this is
to first document the key definitions that were used during the 2o25 Field Day event and then make additional comments behind what was done as needed.

1. F1- CQ FD, CQ FD {MYCALL} {MYCALL
2. F2- EXCH, 2A EB  EB
3. F3- TU K6QLF, TU {MYCALL}{CLEARRIT}
4. F4- {MYCALL}, {MYCALL}
5. F5- HiS Callsign, !
6. F6- NR?, NR?
7. F7- 2A, 2A
8. F8- AGN?, AGN?
9. F9- SEC?, SEC?
10. F10- EB, EB
11. F11- QRL QSY, QRL QSY
12. F12- WEIRD, W E I R D

Notice that each key provides us a unique capability.  Now the above are key definitions for running CW.  For Ssb, F1 - F4 are changed to play out the pre-recorded memories built-in to the transceiver. 
The F6 - F12 key functions are accomplished by playing .WAV files over the microphone audio line. 
The memories and .WAV files are of course prepared in advance.  

By using OPON for every operator, a different set of .WAV files can be played, although
technically, the 4-channels of  radio memories need to be re-recorded for each operator.

If unique information is being sent in the contest exchange (Ex; 5-9 CA), we can run that
contest  by way of S&P (Search and Pounce) without ever saying anything (in an Ssb contest)
or even mentioning the other station's callsign.  In CW I can run a frequency with the above setup. 
Pressing F5 sends the other station's callsign.  In Ssb, I have to say the callsign over the
microphone. Everything else can be played out with the function keys.

The bottom line, because we are already using computers to log contests, it makes sense
to let the software conduct the repetitive tasks for us, saving our voice or the need to send
things manually with the Cw paddle.

Do YOU use computer software to log your contest activity?

If NoT, why NoT?

If so, what are YOUR unique ideas on this matter?

Further Investigations into those ubiquitous Russian Military Beacons

Over the last 9 years, I have written extensively about the ubiquitous Russian military beacons.  Recently, using those beacons during numerous radiosport contests, it occurred to me that due to recent Russian military escalations, we are overdue for an update on the status of these beacons,
at least the Eastern Asian ones.  ([CLICK HERE] to read some of those Blogs.)

In my thinking, there are two groups of Russian beacons: those based in North/Central Europe
and the beacon trio operating in Eastern Asia ("F", "M" & "K").  I first heard the EU beacons on the University enTwente Dutch SDR.  In doing research for this new Blog entry, it made sense to return
to that SDR during the EU evening/nighttime hours to discover which ones could be heard.

On the Asian end of things, while I frequently rely on the Eastern Asia beacons
("F" (Vladivostok), "M" (Magadan) and "K" (Kamchatsky)), frequently for whatever
reason, one or more of those beacons appear on the west coast to be AWOL.
To investigate that situation, a search was made to find web SDR in and around
Asia solely for the purpose of listening for this trio of beacons.

For some time, only the [relatively LOUD] "K" beacon could be heard in California. 
Recently, the "F" beacon could be weakly heard, altho the "M" seemed dormant. 
Having bookmarked over a dozen Asian-based web SDR sites, late in the morning
(evening in Asia) I cycled thru the SDR list noting which beacons were being heard
when / where at times when the bands should be open to those areas.

As it turns out, all 3 Asian beacons are active, altho the "F" and "M" beacons are clearly
running on reduced power (compared to past years) or there are antenna problems (or both). 
Being geographically closer to California, the "K" beacon is always reasonably LOUD. 
The fact that we have difficulty hearing "F" and "M" beacons may have less to do with lack
of propagation, then it does with the beacon installations themselves.

Tuning around, it was noticed that the "A" & "P" beacons seem to be off the air.  Near those frequencies an "I" beacon and "L" beacon were heard. The "I" beacon was very weak, while
the faster "L" beacon was relatively strong.  The PRIYOM.org website is where I first discovered
these beacons.  At this time. it would seem that the "I" and "L" beacons are not yet documented.

Now that the operational status of the Asian beacons have been [relatively] confirmed, attention
can be given to Europe - the missing "A" and "P" beacons and the arrival of the "I" & "L" beacons.
Then again while writing this Blog entry, listening one the 10.871 frequency, the "A" beacon was heard, albeit barely - very weak.

This brings us to a final conclusion.  While signal levels from each of the individual beacons are certainly affected by atmospheric propagation (the main reason we listen for them), remember that these beacons are what I call self-autonomous - a human being initiates their operation and then comes back every few years to check out the hardware.

With the Japanese JIDX Cw contest coming up on April 11th, closer attention/scrutiny will be given to the East Asian beacons ("K", "F" and "M").  Awhile back, with the assistance of the Gemini A-I facility, I unearthed the mysteries regarding the "DW" (Desert Whooper) beacon. 
([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

Whether we pay attention or not, the HF radio spectrum is LITTERED with propagation beacons
that we radio amateurs (especially radiosport contesters) can take advantage of.

Have YOU ever listened to the above mentioned propagation beacons?

What Discoveries have YOU made?