BLASTS from the Past: The WPX Weird Prefix Cw Contest - Part 2

In preparation for the upcoming 2o26 WPX CW contest, I realized that the last WPX Blast from the
Past write-up was written up in MaY 2o20 just before that Cw event.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)
Since 2o20, here are the WPX Cw events I spent time with, all of them dual-OP.

• [X] - 2o20 - WQ6X Dual-OPs another WPX Cw Contest
  
  
  For the 2o20 WPX Contest, this was NX6T's last WPX run from the Fallbrook location.
  The issue with my remote runs from Concord, was the usual bevy of internet disruptions which consistently disrupt the operations from W7AYT's QTH.  Because most of my operating time was with NX6T, WQ6X submitted a Single Band 40-meter log, taking
  a 2nd place for W6 in doing so.
  
  
• [X] - 2o21 - WQ6X Wings another Weird dual-OP in CQ WPX Contest
  
  
  For the 2o21 WPX Contest, having relocated the station operation to WA6TQT's 
  Anza QTH, there were numerous benefits and a number of new nuances we got to get used to all over again.  It would seem that we were at the bottom of solar cycle 24 or the start of solar cycle 25.  Calling CQ on 10-meters produced dozens of RBN spots and yet no live operator takers - ya' can't blame THAT on the COVID situation.  Despite those conditions, NX6T managed a 1st-place for W6.
  
  
• [X] - 2o22 - WQ6X Wangles a WEIRD Weird Prefix Contest
  
  
  For the 2o22 WPX Contest, a shortage of operators found me spending most of the
  operating time running as NX6T.  Doing so we we managed another 1st-place for W6
  and WQ6X took 11th place, enough to say that I was there.  For this contest, greyline conditions were AWEsome, enough to reminds us of the importance of pointing our antennas along the grey line.
• 
  
• [X] - 2o23 - WQ6X Stumbles-around a Weirdly-Weird Weird Prefix WeeKend
  
  
  For the 2o23 WPX Contest, this was my 1st time running QRP in this Cw
  contest.  As it turns out, WQ6X managed a 2nd-place for W6 in the QRP category.
  NX6T managed yet another 1st-place for W6.  With a moderate solar flux index (SFI),
  at least we had reasonable solar conditions without too much solar noise nonsense.
  
  
• [X] - 2o24 - WQ6X Survives another QRM-ridden WPX CW Contest
  
  
  For the 2o24 WPX Contest, the WA6TQT station was already committed
  for the contest.  As a result, N6KI ran his usual SOAB HP operation from
  San Diego and WQ6X ran the WPX GiG QRP from Ramona for a second time.   
  The BiG issue was RADAR QRM on 40-meters, as well as Indonesian Ssb QRM
  below 7.050 around 10:00z on both mornings.  Beam headings pinpoint the direction
  of the RADAR to be from Northeast Asia (UA0, or?).  As it turns out, WQ6X took 1st-place for QRP in the W6 call area - not bad for whut I had to work with.
• 
  
• [X] - 2o25 - WQ6X Wangles another Weird WEIRD Prefix Contest
  
  
  
  For the 2o25 WPX Contest, we had a markedly improved solar flux which while nice helped us very little when it came to 10-meters.  For both WQ6X and NX6T, 15-meters
  was THE band, at least in the daytime at any rate.  When it was all over, WQ6X took
  another QRP 2nd-place and of course NX6T dominated the W6 call area for another
  1st-place.

For 2o26, we are riding on a largely downward solar flux spiral as cycle continues its inevitable decline.

Have YOU been playing around in the CQ WPX (Weird Prefix) contest over the years?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in any of your logs?

WQ6X Muses over the Many Methods for Meticulous Manipulation

While the WQ6X Contest BLOG is largely about the contest operations themselves, other Blog entries document the equipment behind the operations, as well as unique operating procedures to leverage different devices towards working in unison.

Having an array of 7-audio filters (front-ended by a Radio Shaft 16-channel stereo equalizer) is
an example of this.  The Stereo-audio concepts I have so thoroughly documented in these Blogs,
are possible thanks to the pair of Old-school, Analog, Autek QF-1A dual-filter units front-ending the stereo audio chain.

I asked Ashley @A-I to pretty up the above picture and she recommended something like this.

It seems that Ashley has a bit of an aesthetic flair to draw from.

I then asked her to put the two units closer together - she suggested this:

On the antenna side of things, not only has the 10m Long John yagi been found to tune
easily as a shortened-yagi on 15 meters, for 20 meters it seems to work as a rotatable dipole. 
On 40-meters, in many situations the configuration seems to be an excellent low-noise RX antenna
(a Beverage Yagi?).

In the middle of a recent slow-dragging radiosport contest, while waiting for the bands to recover
from some NASTY Space-WX, I rigged a coax switch for the Long John Yagi:

• LEFT:  The COAX-2 connector on the MFJ-993B IntelliTuner
• RIGHT: The RX-ANT jack on back of the FT-2000

Since then, the Long John has been "Vindicated" for BOTH receiving and transmitting purposes.

Unfortunately, the lower band neighborhood vicinity noise level seems to have increased in recent years.  The next "experiment" will be to re-insert a languishing MFJ-1026 noise canceler in the receive antenna line, in an attempt to phase-out the noise BEFORE it gets into the FT-2000 transceiver.

In preparation for upcoming radiosport events, I always check the contest website(s) for rule
changes, as well as the score(s) from previous years, to create an estimation of how to run this iteration of the upcoming contest.

It is really easy to come to the wrong conclusion(s) regarding signal reception in a given area.

There are several offbeat (altho useful) things that can be done to improve our operating experience:

• Beacon Tracking - Tracking the NCDXF and Russian military beacons can assist us towards getting a better handle on propagation issues.
• The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) is an excellent way to determine whether in fact our signals are being heard around the globe.  ([CLICK HERE] to read my take on it back in 2o22.)

Bottom-line is that when I am not running a radiosport contest weekend, I am probably trying out new techniques to eek that last 5% of operating performance improvement to make the next major contest GiG an even better success.

What about YOU?

Do YOU experiment with novel techniques?

For WQ6X CW Contests are about Filling-in the GaPs

In preparation for the 2o26 WPX ("Weird Prefix") contest, looking back to the "unfinished Blog" archive, it was noticed that a Blog was started shortly after last year's Cw contest and ended up
on sideline awaiting use.  Then an irony struck me.  Let's begin with what I wrote nearly a year ago:

• Now that the WPX (Weird Prefix) Cw contest is behind us, the 1st couple of weekends
  in June slow down to a near-crawl, at least in the HF spectrum, at any rate.  Co relatively,
  Blog postings largely diminish (altho I am working on a couple of Blog entries soon to be released).  Significant contest activity resumes with the All Asian Cw contest, the weekend
  before Field Day (FD).

For 2o26, the month of May brings us 5 weekends, relegating the WPX contest to the FIFTH
weekend instead of its usual FOURTH weekend, leaving a relatively long GAP before that 5th weekend.  In general, there are 5-things we can do with that "extra time" between events.

• We can catch up on Sleep
• We can conduct hardware/software tests for the radio setup.
• We can seek smaller contests (like smaller state QSO parties) for practice.
• We can clean up the [usually] morass-mess of cabling between equipment units.
• We can listen to EU or JA contest activities happening domestically via way of SDR
  snooping-in on their activities - a "learn by listening" exercise.

While many of the in-between events are mixed-mode (Cw & Ssb), I often opt to run ONLY the CW side of the events, saving my voice and my aural-sanity as weird dialects are often even weirder when the Signal-to-Noise (SNR) increases.  To a large degree, Cw copy is immune from copy-obliteration.

Additionally, running Cw GiGs offers yet another opportunity to play with the Stereo-CW concept,
I have written so much about.  ([CLICK HERE] to see some of those Blogs)

Sometimes it seems like CW is about filling in the GAPS - then again, filling in the GAPS often
leads to better Cw contest operations in the near future.

What do YOU Do between major radiosport contest GiGs?

LeT's share ideas along these lines.

WQ6X Wings a Wonkily-wrung Radiosport Weekend

This was a radiosport contest weekend that got sidetracked by another contest weekend.

The two weekends prior to the classic CQ WPX ("Weird Prefix") Cw contest are relatively quiet
contest periods, depending on what I do with them.  This 3rd weekend in May happened to coincide
with the Toastmasters District-57 final conference prior to being merged into a new District: D-205.

Because the conference was held in Rohnert Park, I made the trek over to the GRATON casino to scout their Blackjack tables (very disappointed) and then check-in with the district speech contest chair in case I happened to fluke my way into the district speech contest at the last minute.

NoT being a contender in the May contest, I high-tailed it back to my Alameda office just in time to
watch the speech contest live video stream while tuning the bands for any ARQP stragglers while keeping an eye out for K-o-S CQ calls.  Eventually, not hearing much, WQ6X put out a series of
CQ calls, attempting to "force the band to open".  (Remember, if everybody is listening and no
one is calling CQ, any band can sound: dead, Dead, DEAD!)

Probably the easiest way to explain the King-of-Spain GiG is to share the score I posted
to the 3830 Scores Website.  This is whut I said about this year's King-of-SPain GiG:

There are certain radiosport advantages to operating from (almost) anywhere in Europe.

When it was all over, the only thing I really have to say about this relatively quiet contest weekend

is - "I WUZ THERE!".  Otherwise, it was nothing more than a remote access training exercise.

DiD YOU work the King-of-Spain CW contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wings a Weak CW-Only Radiosport Weekend

The 2nd radiosport weekend in May is overall a simplistic affair.  To make things easier, it turned
out to be a CW-only operation.  For weekend 2, the 3 radiosport GiGs on the agenda included:

• [X] - Volta RTTY Contest
• [X] - CQ-M DX Contest
• [X] - Canadian Prairies QSO Party

Opening with the Volta RTTY contest, the audio wiring was flawless.  Unfortunately, N1MM's implementation of the contest refused to log USA and VE stations.   As the day moved forward,

I heard very few RTTY stations, vindicating the decision to spend the rest of the weekend running Cw.

Thanks to noticeably declining solar flux numbers (SFI=124), 10 and 15 meters have become largely a pipe dream.

The Canadian Prairies QSO Party always has me hoping this year will have more activity than past CPQP events and yet, every year, another disappointment.  We work many VE4, VE5 & VE6 stations
in other contests, yet when it comes to their own QSO party, we have to enlist an electron microscope
to find the less than one dozen stations we do manage to work.

The CQ-M contest was of course loaded with activity, altho EU had 3X the activity heard in North
and South America while 40-meters was constantly littered with non-contest JA stations (day and night).  Virtually all of them were engaged in some sort of domestic Japanese radiosport GiG which
has been going on for many weeks.  Only one JA station (JG1LFR)- made it into the WQ6X CQ-M log.

The CPQP QSO Party ended at 03:00z (8pm PDT).  Ironically, some of the best CQ-M activity surfaced during that final hour (02:00z - 03:00z) period.  Choosing to run the WA6TQT station
in Anza @90-watts all weekend, stacked yagi's on 40 and 20 meters made for some nice contacts with Europe, which would not have been possible running QRP power or running remote from KN6NBT's station in Ramona.

After midnight, operating time was split, jumping between 20-meters, 40-meters and then back
to 20-meters repeatedly.  Calling CQ brought many EU stations calling in.  At 12:00z (5am PDT)
it was all over.  The only thing left was to come back, gather screen shot stats and produce Cabrillo
log files.

The projected stats are posted on the 3830Scores website, while the logs are sent to the appropriate contest sponsor.  It almost seemed as if the admin-to-Op time ratio is relatively large on slower contest weekends, altho the need for everything to be done properly does not change.

According to 3830, WQ6X took a 1st-place running LP-Cw only for CA / W6 in the CPQP.
For the CQ-M contest, it would seem that WQ6X took 1st-place for North America running
LP Cw-only.

DiD YOU work the CQ-M Contest on CW?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

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?