WQ6X - SARTG RTTY Remembrances -

The Scandinavian Amateur Radio Teleprinter Group (SART) RTTY events are uniquely structured 24-hour radiosport contest events that are "stretched out" over a 40-hour time frame, inside which there are two 8-hour mandatory off periods.

I did a backwards look at the different SARTG RTTY GiGs documented over the years and found
a surprising JUMP chronologically.

• [X] 2o13 - WQ6X operates NAQP-SSB & SARTG RTTY while hunting for Lighthouses
  
  
  This was WQ6X's entry into the SARTG RTTY contest from N6GEO's QTH in Brentwood California.  In between working the NAQP Ssb GiG 40 SARTG RTTY QSOs eventually
  made it into the log on 15 & 20 meters (40 & 80 were DOA for RTTY).
  
  
• [X] 2o21 - WQ6X Works another WEIRD NAQP Dual-OP
  
  
  After nearly 5-hours of frustrating full-duty RTTY running, from W7AYT's QTH in Concord,
  it was certainly time to give the FT-1000mp a rest.  The biggest problem was actually
  in-shack RFI on 20-meters, disrupting computer USB ports of all things, encouraging
  15-meter operating whenever possible.
  
  
• [X] 2o24 - WQ6X Wanders around a WEIRD Saturday-contest WeekEnd
  
  
  This was a weird attempt at running SARTG RTTY remotely.  Unable to directly
  control the radio, it was a simple matter to swap the audio lines and turn on VOX.
  Because of splotchy internet, I devised the idea of recording the F1 and F3 keys
  into the Elecraft K3's DVK channels 1 & 3.  Because the contest exchange involves
  an ever-increasing serial #, the contest exchange was sent out newly for every QSO.
  While 30-QSOs (11k points) isn't much of a score, what was actually learned in the process is what matters.
  
  
• [X] 2o24 - Reminiscing RTTY Running Realistically
  
  
  This was a variation on Blast from the Past (BFP) Blogs I have written,
  altho it included the many different RTTY GiGs I have participated in during
  the last 15+ radiosport years.  Being a unique 3-part contest, the SARTG events
  certainly belong in that retrospective.
  
  
• [X] 2o25 (Jan.) - WQ6X Uses SARTG-NY as a RTTY RU Training Ground
  

  
  The SARTG NY (New Year) RTTY contest became more of a training ground for adaptive RTTY cabling than it was about how many QSOs could be added to the log.  The gimmick documented in that blog entry was using N1MM+ to key the Yaesu FT-2000 PTT circuit which was parallel hooked to the K3/0-mini footswitch line.  Doing this eliminated the need for using VOX to activate the remote radio (VOX can get into an infinite feedback loop.).  While it was still necessary to type in the run frequency, by running instead of S&P'ing,
  the correct frequency was always in-place.
  
  
• [X] 2o25 (Aug.) - WQ6X Works a Weirdly disjointed Radiosport weekend
  
  
  Contest calendar wise, the 2o25 3rd August weekend produced a bevy of different
  radiosport contests, one of which, the SARTG RTTY, GiG was in the middle of that. 
  The strategy was operating the correct contest (SARTG / NAQP) at the correct time
  for the current band conditions & to predict what the evening propagation will bring us.
  While playing SARTG RTTY, WQ6X also ran the NAQP Ssb contest at QRP power
  and managed to take 1st-place for QRP in that event - I DiD NoT see that one coming.
  
  
• [X] 2o26 - WQ6X Wanders thru YeT another SARTG - NAQP Ssb
                    and International Lighthouse WeeKend
  
  
  For 2o26, equipment cabling problems kept the RTTY operation off the air during
  the 1st 8-hour segment and part of the 2nd segment.  When it was all over the 96-QSO score was considerably less than 2o25's 110 Q's, due to the noticeable lack in multipliers.
  What made the 2o26 event fun was purposely running frequencies most of the time.
  It also gave me the opportunity to make some improvements to the Stereo-RTTY method.
  ([CLICK HERE] to read about Stereo-RTTY.)

WQ6x Wonders Woozily about the 4th Weekend in August Radiosport

From my perspective, this weekend was about making a presentation on Worked All States for the monthly meeting of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA), The 10:30 AM presentation inserted nicely into a weekend with 3 minimal events:

• [X] - The Romanian YO DX Contest
• [X] - The Hawaiian QSO Party (HIQP)
• [X] - The Ohio QSO Party (OHQP)

 The 4th weekend in radiosport often varies depending
on whether or not there is a 5th weekend in August.

Prior to the W-A-S presentation, 20-meters produced a handful of contacts. 
After the ARCA meeting, I ran the YODX GiG and the opening scout for stations in
Hawaii (HI) and Ohio (OH). The Ohioans run their GiG until 04:00z (9pm PDT) - there
is NO "Sunday Do Over".

During the last hour of OHQP I utilized pre-defined function key macros to call "CQ OH".
Unfortunately, my CQ's brought in a slew of non-Ohio callers.  Out of frustration I posted
yet another Blog on the subject of why you should not call me.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

Many Ohio stations don't have an "8" in their callsign, adding to the confusion.

In response to my "CQ OH", calls were received from the following Ohio stations:

K9NW, K1LJ, W4KD, WA3KYC and AB3AH.

K3YP/ASHT is the correct way for an Ohio station to send their callsign.

With OHQP over (at 04:00z), the focus returned to 20-meters and the YODX contest. 
The YO DX GiG resulted in 78 QSOs in the log with 2/3's of those being 4-point EU
QSOs and a few 8-point YO stations.

At 12:00z, YODX was over.  Technically, the Hawaiian HQP had another 16 hours to produce KH6/WH6 QSOs.  Unfortunately, that is not what happened at all.  For most of the day, no Hawaiian stations were heard.  I saw RBN spots for KH6KB and briefly KH6TU.  WH6R was spotted for a few minutes and briefly W1AW/KH6.  The problem was, if you missed those brief windows of opportunity or propagation was POOR during those moments, then for all intents and purposes, Hawaii on the air was not happening,  (Where were the usual Multi-OP stations like KH6LC?)

Late Sunday afternoon, KH6KB finally made it into the 20-meter log.  Later @3:45z, with 15-minutes to go, KH6KB was heard at the bottom of 40-meters.  While he was LOUD in Ramona, my attempts to work KH6 for a 2nd time.  All too often at 04:00z propagation to Hawaii is one-way - Bummer Dewd.  

With one more hour I coulda worked one more station. Instead of submitting a 1-QSO 3-point log,
my hope was to submit a 2-QSO 6-point log.  Oh, how CRUEL life can be.

WQ6X Works Weekend 4 and offers More Reasons why "YOU should NoT call Me"

If you have been following the WQ6X Blog over the years, you probably recognize the topic
variations on why "you should not call me".  ([CLICK HERE] to see where all this comes from.) 
Every time I post a new Blog in this arena, I keep thinking I've nothing more to say on the subject.
Then August contest weekend #4 happens.  As I worked my way through the process, the decision was made to document how I transformed an annoying operating experience to a "well-oiled" solution.

During August weekend #4, my radiosport time was focused on YODX Cw Contest and later the Ohio QSO Party (OHQP).  During both contest events, from time to time, I would run out of stations calling CQ that I could hear.  At that time, I pick a unique run frequency and put out a CQ for that particular contest.
For the Ohio QSO Party my CQ was EXPLICITLY CLEAR: CQ OH  WQ6X/6  WQ6X/CA.
Unfortunately, more non-Ohio stations called-in, than actual stations in Ohio.

This leads me to ask ONCE AGIN the key questions that this blog is all about.

• Do You know what "CQ OH" means?  - If NoT, then You should not call me.
• If You DO know what "CQ OH" means and you're not in Ohio?
  then You should NoT call me.
• Have you read the OHQP Rules?  If NoT, then You should NoT call me.
• If you HAVE read the rules, do you get that I am a California looking for Ohio station?
  If NoT.... you know the drill...
• Do you understand that "/6" and "/CA", mean that I am in California, not in Ohio?
  If NoT..... you need to review the State and Call Area ABBV's.
• If You DO know this is the OHQP and that I am a California station, what is your
  purpose for calling me?  I can't add you to my log so it means nothing. 
  When I say you're FIVE-NINE (5-9), I say that to EVERYBODY.  If you ARE REALLY 5-9, then your signal is blanketing the weaker signals (possibly from Ohio) disrupting an otherwise smoothly running RUN frequency.

As you can see from the blog picture above, an integrated set of function key definitions were derived

to make this unfortunate situation more manageable.

When I call "CQ OH....." I am looking ONLY for Ohio stations who will give me "5-9" and "XXXX" (their 4-letter county abbreviation) - state QSO parties are REALLY that simple.  Are YOU capable of following directions during a radiosport weekend?

In addition to Ohio QSO Party (OHQP), there was the Romanian YODX contest which I ran on Cw:
Similar to the QSO party, running out of stations calling CQ, I found a "quiet" frequency and put out
a CQ YODX for myself.  I used 2 variations:

• CQ YO Test  WQ6X  WQ6X
• CQ Test YO WQ6X  WQ6X

Again, we ask the fundamental questions:

• Do you know what "YO Test" or "Test YO" means?
  If not, then you should NoT call me.
• If you have not read the YODX rules, then you should NoT call me.
• If you HAVE read the rules, then you know I am looking for "5-N-N and Serial#".
  When I ask for your NR?  I do NoT want your state, I want a QSO number.
  If you don't know what a Serial/QSO number is, then you should NoT call me
• If you DO know that I want a Serial #, then why are you sending me your state?

Have I left anything OUT?

To wrap-up this little rant, I leave with the ending to the last Blog on this topic:

Bottom-line is to take each situation as it presents itself and then move forward. 

There is a time and a frequency for you to call me.  I look forward to adding your
callsign to my contest log - just doit in the right way at the right time.

WQ6X Wanders thru YeT another SARTG - NAQP Ssb and International Lighthouse WeeKend

While the NAQP events are run twice a year, the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend event happens only once a year at this time.  Back in 2o12, I ran this 3rd weekend in August mobile,
visiting lighthouse stations from Vallejo (north of San Francisco) all the way to Santa Cruz, making QSOs from each lighthouse location I encountered along the way. These also became NAQP contacts, altho just in case, I submitted what is known as a "checklog". 
([CLICK HERE] to read about this.)

Leading up to this weekend, I have written about the NAQP Ssb experience. 
Here are some of the more prominent examples:

• [X] - WQ6X Muses over NAQP Ssb Contest Events
• [X] - WQ6X Blast from the PAST: NAQP Ssb - Part 2
• [X] - BLAST from the Past: NAQP Ssb Contest

On the agenda for the third weekend are 4 uniquely different radiosport events.

• [X] - ILLW
• [X] - SARTG WW RTTY
• [X] - NAQP Ssb
• [X] - ARRL Rookie RTTY Contest

The SARTG GiG runs 8-hours ON (00:00z), 8-hours OFF, 8-hours ON (16:00z), 8-hours OFF,
8-hours ON. (08:00z).  This offers up plenty of sleep time and/or offers me the opportunity to run
other radiosport events in the 8-hour off periods.

Sometime on Friday for reasons that I am unable to fathom, a different K3 radio was swapped
in at the Ramona QTH (the original was to me working just FB).  Afterwards, the left channel audio disappeared.  Friday evening while setting up the morass of cables required to make remote RTTY
a reality, the mic audio-in also seemed to not be functioning.  Unable to resolve that kept me out of the 1st 8-hour segment of the SARTG RTTY contest as well as part of the 2nd 8-hours and the opening hours for the NAQP ssb GiG.

Aside from the radio setup, the KN6NBT's "Medium Pistol" QTH in Ramona a single tower brings
us a 3-el Stepp-IR, a 2-el SHorty-40 and an 80/75 Inverted Vee - all peaked @ 55'.

The mic audio problem turned out to be easily resolved via a menu setting.  From there, the operating plan changed into finishing the 2nd 8-hour segment in the SARTG GiG, run the final 6-hours of the NAQP Ssb contest, take a 2-hour rest break and then finish Sunday with the 3rd 8-hour run of the SARTG contest.  

With the left channel audio missing, the inputs were shorted together to give a MONO starting point.

When running Stereo-CW, Left and Right can easily be sorted out.  However, running Stereo-RTTY required the right channel QF-1A filter to perform "double duty" - the aux. notch filter helped shape the audio passband aa bit to render RTTY demodulation more accurately.  

For Ssb, the K3's auto notch filter knocked out the usual bevy of tuneup turkeys, while the aux. notch could knock out nearby station "crud" (above or below the passband).

For NAQP, 75-meters was its usual left coast disappointment.  By the time 75 opens to W6,
a large number of eastward stations (already reaching their 10-hour limit) shut things down by
03:00z (~11:00 on their end).

While the International Lighthouse event had its tentacles intertwined throughout the weekend, because I ran very little actual Ssb time, I missed most of those stations.  When it was all over,
only 96 QSOs made it to the SARTG log, altho enough to secure an LP 1st-place for the Left Coast.  Making only 232 QSOs in the NAQP log, WQ6X was positioned more-or-less in the middle of the 3830 LP scores.

On Sunday, tuning around the RTTY sub bands, the Rookie RTTY was all but a bust. 
Most of the stations calling CQ were NoT rookies, making them worth 0-points.
Only 2 actual rookie stations made it to the log - this happens almost EVERY rookie contest.
Wassup that people host a custom contest event and then no one plays in their event?  W-E-I-R-D.

DiD YOU work the 3-weekend radiosport contest GiGs  How many Lighthouses did YOU work?

Is WQ6X in any of YOUR Logs?

WQ6X LooKing for Lighthouses: A LooK BacK

Co-parallel with the August NAQP Ssb contest, we have the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW.Net) wrapped around it.  I used to live in Pacific Grove and suggested to the powers that be at the Lovers Point Lighthouse that their location should be activated, the caveat being no tent setup was allowed - which of course terminates the possibility from the beginning.

In 2o12, I came up with a different idea.  Registering the W6L callsign (L = Lighthouse), I drove
a Mercury Cougar (sports car) from Vallejo ending in Santa Cruz, stopping at every lighthouse along
the way.  Using the callsign "Whiskey Six London - mobile", I ran an ICOM 7000 into a weirdly rigged hamstick dipole tuned by a vintage DENTRON Jr. Monitor antenna tuner.

With the NAQP in full swing, stopping at each lighthouse, a handful of QSOs were made on the
20 & 40-meter bands.  Running only Ssb, the Hamsticks were all tuned once for the phone band before the expedition was begun.

 I've not done anything nearly as elaborate as the 2o12 W6L mini expedition.
I've contacted several California lighthouses about setting up a weekend-long event, and thus
far have yet to receive permission for other than just a few hours -which is is simply unacceptable.

Late last month we had the Islands On The Air (IOTA) and now in August, we colloquially have
LOTA - Lighthouses On The Air.  There is of course other "on the air" GiGs such as POTA & SOTA.

Have YOU made contacts during any of the above events?

Have YOU ever considered hosting a unique Event?

WQ6X Wiggles-thru another Wonky WAE Radiosport ConTesT

It seems that for years now the WAE Cw contest weekend always opens full of implied hope
of numbers being larger than they actually turn out by the time it is over.  Then again, it can't be
worse than last year's run when the EU path got blind-sided by a CME blast, "tearing the ionosphere to shreds".   Previously in 2o24, with a Solar-FLUX of 303 we managed 30-QSOs + 30-QTCs more than this year, however as it turns out we found 30 more multipliers than in 2o24, resulting in a slightly higher score.

For 2o26, the event opened with activity on 15, 20 & 40 meters.  When 40 died in Europe, 20-meters quite open for several hours.  It can't get much better than that, so I took a sleep break.   Starting up Saturday morning, there was a reasonable opening to Europe on 15-meters altho 10-was a no-show all weekend.  As morning became afternoon, 15-meters slowly (but quickly) faded into oblivion, never to return - not even on Sunday.

In reviewing WQ6X WAE entries since 2o16, while some of the scores were indeed quite higher,
they were made running high power (HP) - usually around 1-KW.  This year's WAE was the 1st low power (LP) GiG ever run from WA6TQT (in Anza) that actually manifested a purposefully organized EU contest progression.

There are of course variables.  Last year, a CME all but obliterated the LP WAE run from Ramona. 
This year the SFI was down considerably to a Cycle-25 downward low of 94.  Altho the A/K-Indexes started off low, by mid-Saturday they had risen noticeably.  Additionally, Space-WX numbers do not take into account earth-WX, in particular - lightning storms.

In contests involving distance communication (Ex: So. Calif. to EU) my operating preference
is to start high (in frequency) and move lower.  Amazingly, at the start of the contest 15-meters
gave up 3 central EU stations (LY5W, OU2W & RU1A) before quickly fading into oblivion.  Moving down to 20-meters, the band brought us a wall of EU stations, interspersed with even LOUDer statesiders calling CQ WAE.

It didn't take long to determine that the "WQ6" prefix might be a desirable commodity. 
As it turns out, 2/3's of the OP-time was spent running frequencies - an important benefit 
being that the more-aggressive EU stations asking "QTC?".  (Late in the contest, I had to
"Go shopping" for stations to redeem the leftover QTC's.).

While 20-meters was reasonably hopping, by 02:06z it was timer to duplicate this success on 40-meters, with a different set of stacked yagis.  With stacked yagis available on 40 to 10 meters, pointing the stacks toward EU once in the beginning is all that was needed.  For working 0-Azimuth (over the pole into Eastern Europe), there is a KT-36 for the high bands and a 40-meter Stepp-IR.

Keeping an eye on the greyline screen encouraged S&P'ing and calling CQ until it was clear that EU had moved from the greyline into full daylight.  Returning to 20-meters (03:00z), the frenzy was continued until 09:20z when nothing was left to work.  After a sleep break 15-meters was not reliable into So. California until 16:00z.  

Openings to EU on Saturday were sporadic at best.  Only 24 more 15-meter QSOs made it to the log before the band faded into oblivion and could not be resurrected the rest of the weekend.  This was all a function of the SFI and A/K Indexes.  Comparing the Space-WX from 2o24 to this year's event was quite striking.  The major difference of course is the SFI of 303 in 2o24 versus a mere 94 during this August 2o26 weekend.

Bottom-line is Sunday was spent entirely
on 20-meters.  Occasionally switching to 10
and 15 meters to call CQ was pointless - with
only one USA spot, the MUF on Sunday afternoon must've been well below 20-Mhz.  

For the rest of the day, WQ6X called CQ,
went on last-minute S&P journeys and dumped
the last of the QTC traffic: de WQ6X HV QTC - we were stuck with that final QTC message.

Sunday afternoon in the WAE contest always presents a desperate flurry of stations looking to move QTC traffic they have not sent for far-too-long.  This year, rather than get stuck with books of undelivered messages, after running a frequency and unloading 5+ QTC books, the rest were unloaded gradually throughout the contest.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 15th-place
worldwide, 6th-place for USA and 1st-place for W6 (Left Coast).

DiD YOU work the Worked All Europe (WAE) contest?

HoW many QTC Books DiD YOU send?

WQ6X Barely Balances another dual-OP NAQP Cw ConTesT

Thanks to summer solar storm noise, the NAQP Cw GiG is always a mixed bag. 
From one point of view the solar-WX anomalies were "minor", except that doesn't
take into account atmospherically caused noise from such things as lightning bursts
across the continent.  Nevertheless, this weekend's main goal was to replicate the dual-OP
NAQP Cw operation from the GiG in January.  ([CLICK HERE] to read the write-up on that.)

Normally NX6T runs high power (HP) in most contests, except that the NAQP contest purposely 
does not allow for a high-power category (only LP and QRP).  What NX6T has going for it in
a low power contest is WA6TQT's massive antenna farm up on the hill outside of Anza.

With its minimal Name/State exchange, I think of NAQP GiGs as the PERFECT introduction to domestic radiosport contesting.  On the other end of the spectrum is the November Sweepstakes (domestically) and the Worked All Europe (WAE) contests on the DX end of things.

NAQP Cw/Ssb is scheduled twice each year - in January and again in August.  (The NAQP RTTY GiGs materialize in early February and late July).  All events are scheduled to run during "winter propagation" conditions and then once under "summer propagation" conditions.  Frequently the difference between the two periods are dramatically different.  Just looking at the Space-WX numbers tells us a lot. (More on that later.)

WQ6X Evaluates: CQP 2026: Rules Updates

You've heard me say - When in Doubt CHEAT! (But w/in the Rules)

To cheat within the rules means to say / do something that technically is not prohibited in a radiosport contest, altho next year, things may be different.  Technically, this is what happened as a result of the 2o25 CQP contest.  An operator who was CLEARLY running Single-OP (i.e. Solo) submitted his score as a Multi-OP and pushed the NX6T win into 2nd-place.  The CQP committee allowed the Single-OP's Multi-OP win to prevail while at the same time making it known that the loophole would be
sewn shut for CQP 2o26 - which indeed it has.

Being a part of the NX6T Multi-OP event, I certainly raised my concern over our drop to 2nd-place, as did team leader N6KI.  In other contests, I have submitted a Multi-OP log after first recruiting another person (licensed or not) to make a few QSOs under my supervision.  I send them on their way and continue the contest as a Multi-OP entry - this is cheating within the rules.

The CQP contest committee in all their wisdom came up with what I believe is a perfect
non-discriminatory solution.  To claim Multi-OP status, you must indeed have multiple operators running the transmitter(s).  No longer can a single operator be classified as multi-op simply because he operated for more than 24-hours.  As with other radiosport contests, now, if you operate for more than 24-hours, other stations will receive QSO credit, however you will not - it couldn't be simpler than that.

With the 3-point Ssb-QSO rule change, we can now look forward to more Ssb QSOs,
especially on Sunday afternoon when it is overly quiet on the bands.

To read the Frequently Asked Questions for CQP - [CLICK HERE].

The CQP 2o26 contest is shaping up to be one of the best yet.

Are YOU planning to operate in the CQP?

Look for WQ6X (QRP) and NX6T (RIVE) throughout the CQP weekend.

XYZZY

WQ6X Wanders thru a WONKY IOTA ConTesT WeeKend

The RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) contest is in a category all by itself, even tho it isn't.  As contest exchanges go, in IOTA we send 5NN and a contact serial #.  Islands stations additionally send us their numbered island designator.  EX: JR2PMT sends 5NN 247 AS007 (one of seve3ral island designators for Japan).

Starting at 12:00z (noontime in England), requires that I wake @4:45am, brew a pot of black
coffee and in the chair by 5:05.  Prior to the contest weekend the Solar Flux Index (SFI) moved
on up to ~148 with a relatively low K-index.  Amazing for So. California, 15-meters opened early
to EU and remained open much of the day.  Ironically, shortly after EU faded into oblivion, 15-meters was gone - there was virtually no afternoon opening to Asia - Bummer Dewd.

The Island designator system is unique to IOTA.  After much searching, the list of designators
was finally located.  ([CLICK HERE] to see the list - which is broken down by continent).  In the IOTA contest, multipliers are accumulated on each band for each island designator added to the log - each new band enables "starting over" with mult collection on that band.  While mults ASRE important, even MORE important is the fact that contacts with island stations are worth 15-pointsa per log entry, whereas contacts w/non-island stations are worth only 2-points each.

Running Low Power (LP - 93-watts), the decision was made to call CQ a LoT.  It was gratifying 
that many island stations called in to the run frequencies.  Using the Stereo-CW method made
running frequencies much easier.  Unfortunately, this method cannot overcome internet "jitter"
which creates momentary dropouts in reception.  Having dealt with this problem in recent weeks
has required me to develop the ability to anticipate and read Cw between the dropouts.  Operators with S9+ signals would be frustrated when I ask for repeats - it wasn't weak signals or QRM/QRN that was the problem, it was internet dropouts.

After the IOTA contest was over, I was surprised to discover that over 18-hours of OP time had been logged.  Submitting the log as a 12-hour entry would've cut off some of the juiciest multipliers which occurred in the final hours of the contest GiG.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X's Cw-only entry took a 3rd-place overall and 1st-place for USA/North America.  Ironically, the 1st-place station (JA6GCE) was one of only a few JA stations actually participating in the contest.  While 40 and 20-meters were littered with JA callsigns in the 
bandmap, most were operating in some domestic JA competition, not the IOTA GiG - GO Figure.

DiD YOU work the RSGB IOTA Contest?

How many Islands did you work from the IOTA List?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?