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 non-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 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.

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?

Creating an Audio Odyssey via Analog and Digital

It is no secret that I like to knob twiddle; adjusting controls enables me to maintain the illusion that

I can have some sort of influence over transmitted and received signals.  When it comes to received signals, there is always the desperate hope of being able to reduce/notch minute (but nonetheless annoying) bits of noise or carrier remnants.

Before owning my first radio w/some sort of DSP filtering (the classic Yaesu FT-1000mp), a JPS
NIR-12 external DSP unit was brought into my operating configurations for it and the ICOM 7000.
Later, because the FT-1000mp possesses only minimal filtering in the Sub-RX, inserting the NIR-12 into the R-channel audio line provides DNF (Digital Notch Filtering) and passband contouring for BOTH ears. Eventually, a JPS NIR-10 was cascaded into the right channel after the NIR-12.

Next up, a pair of MFJ-752 (Signal Enhancer II) units made the scene.  I inserted the 752-C into
the left channel audio.  For the right channel, a modified 752B was added.  The 752-B modification
was the addition of an old MFJ CW-1 filter board, providing 180 / 80 HZ Cw filtering.  

Even later, an MFJ-784 was picked up, offering even more knobs and buttons to play around with.
The MFJ-784 is unique in that the settings can be saved in a sort of local memory - a crude sort of
e-prom.

The REAL breakthrough came when I discovered the vintage Autek QF-1A analog filters. 
Front-ending it with a classic Radio Shaft 16-band stereo equalizer, shaping the desired passband BEFORE sending the audio to the QF1-A filters.  Cutting off the extraneous frequencies before/after
the desired receive passband reduces the possibility of harmonic overload.

Along the way, a passive mixer unit brings audio from the different radios into one input line,
splitting the audio amongst the various filter units.  The output of the units is then blended into
selectable audio using a classic Rockville 4-channel stereo mixer box.

As you can see, the above filter combinations offer a plethora of knobs to twiddle.

Do YOU make use of external audio filter units?

What Discoveries have YOU made?

For WeeKend 4, for WQ6X it's all about speaking

In radiosport, we know at least a year in advance the upcoming date of a given radiosport
contest event - case in point, the WPX Ssb contest runs during the 4th full weekend in March.
In Toastmasters, Division-level contests are scheduled for some day/evening at some time in March.  Occasionally, those dates / times collide/intertwine.  The weekend of March 28 brought us the WPX Ssb GiG starting @5pm PDT (00:00z), with the District-57 Division-A contest commencing @12:30pm PDT Saturday afternoon.

Because the WA6TQT superstation in Anza was already reserved by K6JO and problematic
internet jitter conditions @KN6NBT (in Ramona), after the speech contest I lazily made the journey
to W7AYT's Concord QTH where a fully external-filtered FT-2000 can deliver a potent 90-watt signal into the weird antenna system languishing at the East Bay (EB) QTH.

With over 1/2 of the WPX GiG already over, setting up around 10pm (05:00z), 40-meters seemed like the obvious band to open w/Ssb operation.  

Unfortunately, the leftover shack RFI problem had yet to be resolved.  Because the Toshiba Dynadok docking port is less than a foot away from the MFJ-993b IntelliTuner, induced RF was literally taking the Dynadok unit offline.  

Putting a magnetic donut on the coax out accomplished nothing; wrapping the Dynadok USB cable around that same donut and **PooF!**

Quitting at midnight, the operating goal switched to SOU-10 - a single band entry (with a dose of 15-meters to test the 3-el yagi as a roto-dipole).  

While listening for a 10-meter opening Sunday morning, the microphone system switch box arrangement was re-cabled allowing the following inputs:

1. A $13 eBay special full frequency broadcast microphone.
2. A classic 70's Radio Shaft tape recorder stereo microphone.
3. A HEIL PRO-Set headset.
4. A generic audio-in for playing WinDoze .WAV files

If for some reason it is desirable to actually mix the microphones, a generic usb-powered
Mix unit shares a really identical footprint", using the same cable configuration.

This year's WPX Ssb contest gave us some of the highest QSO numbers EVER.

After a lunch break, the 1st QSO finally made it into the WQ6X log @19:28z.  One of the advantages
of 10-meters is that it can often be very quiet (noise wise), so much so that the band can sound DEAD.  Then, out of nowhere, a dozen stations BLARE in from South America - GO Figure.

Running as Assisted allows us to enable TeLNeT and look for stations spotted in the bandmap while looking for stations in between those spots.  The rotor turning the 10-m Long John yagi got a workout this weekend.  Being used to running a Stepp-IR @Ramona (or stacked yagis in Anza), I had to get used to actually turning the aluminum in the direction of the signals themselves.

Eventually 10-meters was worked-out as far as what I could hear. 
Thanks to the MFJ Intellituner, the 10-meter yagi tunes nicely 15-meters 

(and sometimes even 20).  After 5-QSOs it was back to 10-meters for a 

languished finish.  It would seem that WQ6X took 1st-place for W6.
(In the Division-A speech contest, Ron Fitch took 2nd-place.)

DiD YOU work the WPX Ssb contest?

How many unique prefixes made it into YOUR Log?

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?

LeVeRaging Callsign Recognition in Radiosport ConTesTs

During radiosport contests, it could be argued that NOTHING is more important than callsign recognition.  Virtually anything you can think of that will put your callsign before people's eyes
and in their ears will silently come to your aid in the heat of a contest event.

Here are some randomly ordered ideas worth exploring:

• Work multiple/numerous contest events throughout the year
• Call CQ a LoT
• On RTTY make your contest CQ calls LENGTHY, quietly slipping into their sub-conscious.
• On CW and RTTY verify that your CQ calls are actually generating RBN spots.
• When allowed by contest rules, take advantage of self-spotting (Ctrl-S in DXLog).
• Switching RUN frequencies every ~20 minutes freely propagates RBN spots,
  useful when self-spotting is disallowed in a given contest event.
• ALWAYS send/say your callsign SLOWLY and SUCCINCTLY.
• Sending at 25WPM creates more callsign recognition than 35WPM.
• Promote your callsign on social media
• QRZ.com
  
  
  
  
• FACEBOOK
  
  
  
  
• YouTube
  
  
  
  
• 3830Scores.com
  
  
  
  
• WQ6X.Blogspot.com
  
  
  
  
• ToasTmaster meetings and RADIO CLUB events
• Using 1x1 callsigns (for specific events) can create an autocorrelation 
  which we can "cash-in" a year from the current event.

The above thoughts and musings are just some of the more obvious callsign recognition ideas.

What Do YOU Say / Do to bring about Callsign Recognition?

WQ6X Wangles 2 Speech & 5 Radiosport ConTesTs

For 2o26, the 2nd weekend in March brought us its near-annual cluster of early March radiosport
contests, front-ended this year by a Toastmasters Alameda Area Speech and Table Topic contest. 
I was representing my club - the Alameda Tongue Twisters (A-T-T).

Prior to the drive to Union City Public Library, I pointed the 10-meter yagi-stacks to ~120-degrees
(S. America) and began operations in the SA-10 South American 10-meter contest.  To make things
easier, the morning run was made on Cw.  Running QRP, the yagi-stacks were rotated between 105
and 141 degrees, depending on whether the stations in Argentina (LT/LU) @141-degrees or Curacao (PJ2) @104-degrees.

For the International Speech contest event, I had been rehearsing delivery all week up until Friday evening.  As I point out in the 6 Ps of contesting ([CLICK HERE] to review that), successfully contesting involves: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

By noontime, Toastmasters contest results found me with a 2nd-place in the Table Topics contest
and a 1st-Place in the International Speech contest. (In 2-weeks I will compete at the Division-level
for the speech contest to be held in Fremont California.)

After the Toastmasters GiG I returned to my office to add Ssb QSOs to the SA-10 contest log before the band dropped out (in my mind) prematurely.  At that point the tripe was made to W7AYT's QTH to continue the remote run, taking advantage of all the audio filters enabling Stereo-Cw and Stereo-Ssb operation.

By the time things were ready to go in Concord,
10-meters had already closed for the day. 
For the West coast that was the end of the SA-10 contest (which officially ended @ 12;00z - 5am Sunday).  With pre-setup for RTTY, I missed
out on the 4-hour RTTY Sprint contest GiG. 
Focusing on the state QSO parties eventually
settling in one the Stew Perry (SP-160) contest.

The 160-meter TRI-Square wire array @WA6TQT recently had the broken phasing cables repaired
with the hope of returning "normal" operation(s)
to the "Top Band" activities in Anza. 

Until the actual performance is confirmed, the decision was to forgo running QRP and run ~90-watts for this GiG.  What is important is simply being there and submitting a log to enable further WQ6X callsign recognition.

Sunday morning, we got a new GiG - the Wisconsin QSO Party (WIQP).  Unfortunately, similar to the IDQP and OKQP GiGs this year, turnout was almost non-existent - Bummer Dewd.  Bottomline with all of these QSO parties, at least I can say that I played in their event.

What about YOU?

DiD YOU play in any of the above events?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?