WQ6X Walks the Alameda Parade & Runs Marconi Memorial ConTesT

The Marconi Memorial Contest (MMC) is always run the 1st weekend in July which this year
happened to coincide with USA's 4th of July 250th Anniversary celebration.  My weekend goals
included participating in the Alameda 4th of July parade and participate in the Marconi Memorial Contest to eclipse last year's meager MMC score.  ([CLICK HERE] to read about last year's attempt.)

In case you are not aware of the fact, Alameda's 3.2-mile-long 4th of July parade is the longest distance parade of its kind in the USA.  Being a club officer in the Alameda Tongue Twisters (A-T-T) Toastmasters club, I joined other members and other Alameda Toastmasters clubs making that hefty
3.2-mile jaunt as we passed out cards and flyers and even interviewed parade spectators using wireless microphones and a mini boom box.

Before the parade line-up I turned the remote Ramona radio on to 20-meters hoping to hear a flood
of stations calling "CQ MMC" (or some such thing).  Over nearly 90-minutes, 2 Southeastern stations and a single VA3 station made it to the WQ6X log.  As it turned out over the weekend, Space-WX anomalies created havoc with band propagation.  This resulted in 10- & 15-meters being DuDs, while 40-meters never really got started.  In the end, a 20-meter (only) log was submitted.

After the parade a commute to W7AYT's Concord QTH gave me access to the robust array of audio filters that makeup the cool Stereo-CW method I have implemented for running DX pileups and Cw contests.  At 03;19z propagation on 20-meters hadn't really improved and 40-meters had not yet warmed up, affording me the needed time to double-check the recently revamped stereo audio
setup wiring - it all checked out.

As the evening progressed, calling CQ resulted in some informative RBN (Reverse Beacon) stats, confirming that the radio and antennas on my end were bouncing RF off the ionosphere.  Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, EU stations began calling in, many sounding like they were "next door".  The decision was to remain fixed on the same run frequency (14019.69) and keep the CQ's going,
which at the least provided more RBN spots.

Even tho the QSO rate was poor, eventually QSO #50 made it to the log before 20-meters finally faded for the final time.  With a 14:00z ending time, the Marconi Memorial Contest was effectively over in Ramona.  Because all QSOs were made on 20-meters, it made sense to submit a SOSB20 log entry after the contest.  Thanks to Stereo-CW, frequency running during t hose final hours was made more effective (and therefore more fun), making it easier to stay awake as the evening progressed.

When it was all over, those 50-QSOs in 21 countries was worth a whopping 1,050 points. 
While this was hardly much of a score, amazingly, it DiD surpass the previous 2 years. 
If it weren't for the openings to Europe (and a brief shot to SA), the MMC contest woulda
been a complete DuD, as very few USA stations seemed to be actually playing in this event. 
The USA stations who were playing all ran high power (HP), leaving WQ6X to be the lone
submission for SOSB20LP.

DiD YOU work the Marconi Memorial (MMC) contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wangles a 160-Meter TRI-Square Vertical Array RBN Evaluation

After a recent QSO party weekend, I switched remote access to WA6TQT's STN-1 in Anza. 
to run a series of 160-meter directional-determination tests. At the last minute, it made sense
to write-up the experiment as a separate Blog.

With the recently refurbished 160-meter "TRI-Square" array, theoretically, there should be some
noticeable differences in signal levels between Northeast (N-E), Southeast (S-E) and West (W)
directions.

To measure this, test messages were sent on 1.816 (NE), 1.818 (SE) and 1.820 (W), then again
on 1.822 (NE), 1.824 (SE) and 1.826 (W).  Because I could not discern any real directional patterns,
I fed Ashley @A-I a the above picture of the antenna layout and the RBN stats from the above tests for a more detailed evaluation of the actually directional characteristics
of the TRI-Square.  Here are the essentials from her system evaluation:

"What you actually have is a 3-element vertical phased array for 160 meters, consisting of three 100-foot towers arranged in a triangular pattern, with three phasing lines running to a central relay/phasing mast. The towers themselves are the radiating elements."

"The antenna was configured in three directional modes:

• North-East
• South-East
• West

The reported Signal-to-Noise (dB) values provide a good indication of pattern performance."

WQ6X Runs another Random RAC Canada Day ConTesT

3-days before the USA celebrates Anniversary #250, Canadians celebrate Canada Day - their equivalent celebration.  The Canadian RAC (equivalent to our ARRL) hosts a 24-hour radiosport competition which for simplicity, I elected to run CW-only.

To keep things even worldwide, the operating period starts at 00:00z July 1st (5pm PDT on Tuesday), ending at 00:00z a day later.  Behind the scenes was solar flare activity that SHOT the Solar Flux Index (SFI) to over 200 (from 111 less than a week before).  As I write this, the SFI seems to have leveled off @203.  Unfortunately, the solar storms littered the bands with geomagnetic noise - no
band was safe from the noise.

While the RAC exchange still retains the 5-N-N opening, sending a Serial-# afterwards is where
the challenge lies.  While any station can work any station, unless the station ius a VE/VA/VO/VY,
the QSO is only worth 2-points.  Canadian stations are worth 10-points and Canadian RAC stations
are worth a whopping 20-points.  Multipliers (Canadian call areas) can be counted once on each band.  This is an incentive to spend time on 80 & 10 meters, (there is no 160-meter access in Ramona)., even
if the bands seem dead.

It turns out, a secret to higher scoring in the RAC contest is to call "CQ RAC" on a frequent basis.  There are dozens of Canadians who are CALLERS not RUNNERS.  It's always a delight when a new Mult or an RAC station calls in.

While I often run QRP from Ramona, when a chaotic solar backdrop occurs, running Low Power
(LP) is a bare-minimum requirement.  Using a 3-el Stepp-IR and a 2-el Shorty-40 yagis is perfect
for 1st-bounce signals into most of Canada.

Predictably, geomagnetic noise
added to the already Randomness 
of Ramona, behind the scenes @KN6NBT is frequent 3/4-sec internet "jitter" creating signal dropouts in the middle of morse code letters.  

A station would call in with an S-9 signal and require 3-repeats when the Serial-#
got "jittered".  When it was all over,
I was completely jitter-noised out - 00:00z was a "welcome relief". 

A reported 29,664-point ending score surpassed my projection of 25-K points. 
I consider this an overall excellent result when you consider what there was to work with.

Looking back, the biggest disappointment was the lack of VE4 (MB) and VE5 (SK) stations.
Bottom-line: only one of each was found, and on different bands.

DiD YOU participate in the RAC Canada Day Contest?

How many VE-Mults and RAC stations were in YOUR Log?

WQ6X WPX (Weird Prefix) ConTesT after-ThoTs After the Fact

June 1st of each contest year marks the end of the CQ WPX contest Trio (RTTY, Ssb, Cw).

As it turns out, I didn't watch the Q5 Video about the [then] upcoming WPX contest until AFTER

the contest event was well behind us.  In a way, it is preferable to have done it that way.  It was interesting to note (after the fact), the accuracy of many projections made during that 45-minute discussion.

A write-up about the contest and how it turned out has already been posted ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  I also posted some brief thoughts about WPX before the contest.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

However, WPX being a truly WEIRD contest event often finds me musing over it, usually after Field Day is safely behind us.  The original goal was to put in hours for NX6T running high power at WA6TQT while leveraging the full array of stacked yagis plus TRI-Square (160) and 4-Square (80) arrays on the low bands.

Because we there was a sufficient number of operators, there was time throughout the week to put
the "rare" weird prefix "WQ6" on the air, running another QRP event from KN6NBT's Ramona QTH. 
All the above certainly happened, altho with a number of last-minute changes as the weekend progressed.

For openers, our thoughts of running as a Multi-2 operation quickly vanished when Anza STN-2 developed operational problems and needed to be put on the sideline.  This reduced us to running
as a Multi-single operation with no Multiplier station to back up the immensely frequency runs that NX6T is so well known for.

One way to streamline operations and reduce the tendency for things to go wrong is by way of a dozen robustly-defined N1MM keyboard macros.

Virtually most anything needed during a QSO exchange can be accomplished with these macro definitions.

Have you ever heard "W E I R D"
out of the noise?

NX6T began the WPX GiG with an operator switch, relegating me to run the first two hours from my Alameda office, with horror-of-horrors no Stereo-CW yet configured at that location.  Once you get hooked on the wonder of running fully functional Stereo-CW, operations without it are almost excruciatingly B-O-R-ing. I couldn't fire-up at the Concord QTH fast enough.

I usually start a contest w/high (over-inflated?) hopes, usually supported by a nice QSO run to
open that contest event.  The same thing happens when I open a contest for NX6T, as I did for 2o26.  Thanks to an amazing array or CW operators behind NX6T, we usually ride the QSO-wave thru most
of the contest unless a solar storm hits or something "breaks".

Running Single-OP as WQ6X (and QRP on top of that), it is not nearly as effortless to ride the QSO wave.  If even one extra operator steps in to bail me out, the game instantly becomes multi-OP.  Running multi-OP at QRP power in the WPX contest is prolly not a good idea - besides, there
is no such contest category in WPX.  For multi-OP stations, the definition of Low Power (LP)
is ~ 0.3 - 100 watts.

For future WQ6X Blog write-ups I researched was to look at RBN STaTs from a former time
period - in this case the may WPX contest.  I found the RBN Spot Analyzer and an RBN Mapper facility which can produce an overall map from a given contest day.

The above pictures confirm what I had already observed, which that conditions were better
(and signals more far reaching) on Saturday than on Sunday.  While this information doesn't
change the outcome, it helps me to understand how the outcome ended up the way that it did.

Overall, the 2o26 WPX CW contest run as a another dual-OP was an incredible lot of fun.

DiD YOU work the WPX CW contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wanders-thru and Wings [yet] another All Asia Cw ConTesT

Every summer, the weekend preceding Field Day (FD), I use the All Asia Cw contest as an orientation exercise to validate recent equipment/wiring changes.  15 years ago, when Field Day was run from Mt. Abel (8385' N/W from Los Angeles), I drove to the mountain a week before the rest of the W6SW team to run the All Asia GiG from the mountain top.

For 2o26, I joined up with NX6T running remote from WA6TQT's STN-2 in Anza (San Bernardino mountains in So. California) - STN1 was used for mult-hunting and propagation monitoring. 
During the in between shift periods, WQ6X ran single-OP low power (LP) from KN6NBT's in
Ramona, as there is no QRP category in the A-A contest.

The Anza location was relatively quiet with an almost near-latency-free internet connection, while the
Ramona location was much noisier (it's usually the other way around), coupled with a "jittery" internet connection, make Q% Cw copy a challenge at best.  With only 6 operators, we not only has several assigned time slots, we often also filled in for another operator who may have had connection problems.

With a declining Solar Flux Index (SFI was around 118, versus 145 10 days ago), 10-meters was
a weekend no-show until the last 90 minutes when the closing operator (K6PO) got a break and turned in some beautiful last minute mults.  On the other end of the frequency spectrum (80 meters),
I managed 62 contacts (out of 87) mostly with Japan.  The 80m and 10m QSOs were worth Two (2) points instead of 1.

As the main night shift operator, I encounter all manner of unexpected QRM issues on 40-meters. 
For this contest weekend, the issue was unlicensed Indonesian Ssb operations below 7.025 and
a pulse radar station @13:00z that started EXACTLY on my 7007.77 run frequency.  While I was running 80-meters for 25-minutes, the radar stopped; 5-minutes after I came back to the 40-meter
run frequency, the radar was back.  Coincidence?

Because summertime openings to JA on 160-meters coincides with sunrise, I was not surprised
to hear faint signals buried in a wall of D-Layer noise.

It would seem that NX6T has once again taken a 1st-place score, slightly higher than last year.

As WQ6X, only 20 and 15 meters were run this year.

DiD YOU work the All Asia DX Cw Contest?

How many Asian countries were in YOUR LoG?

WHaT TO DO With an off-ConTesT WeeKend

Contrary to popular belief, not all of my weekends are spent engaged in radiosport contesting. 
(Several weeks ago, my weekends were spent engaged in another kind of contest activity;
namely, ToasTmasTers Speech Contests. ([CLICK HERE] to read more about this.) 
The only radiosport event of note for the 2nd weekend in June is the South American - SACW
(aka GACW) GiG.  The actual RULES (in English) can be found HERE.

The original idea was to run QRP from the KN6NBT station in Ramona for which I setup N1MM+ w/those parameters in mind.  Propagation was so poor and Space-WX severe enough, the QRP
idea was abandoned in favor of 93-watts, [almost] wishing I had access to a medium amplifier. 
Client commitments kept me out of the operator chair until 21:14z.  10-meters was already gone
(or never opened at all for the day) and 15-meters barely made a showing.

Running a 3-el Stepp-IR on the high bands, most of the operating occurred on 20-meters
(both day and night).  Of the 84 QSOs made 27 (28%) were 0-point USA contacts.  I was happy
to work them as they provided an adjunct (or confirmation) of the RBN stats.

For a South American contest, the actual [hearable] SA participation was rather poor - then again,
I ALWAYS say that.  Hope for 40-meter salvage, for the most part never occurred, requiring multiple returns to 20-meters to find meaning from the OP time.  While it surely was profitable (pointwise) and double-mult wise) to work EU, South American QSOs were worth 5-points (compared to 2 & 3 points otherwise).  I ended the SACW contest an hour early, finding no new stations for the log.

The rest of Sunday was spent cleaning up the audio and power wiring hidden well behind the
morass of filter units which make up the Stereo Audio configuration, undergoing continuous
evolution as I explore various audio filter combinations.

One of the filter combinations blendable via CHANNEL-4 of a Rockville audio mixer unit brings
in audio from a JPS NIR-10 and/or JPS NIR-12 DSP units.  While these devices can certainly make
a difference, this 30-year-old DSP technology introduces a not-insignificant latency into the resultant audio.  After a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve this situation, I happened on to a little
unit known as an AV "Lip-synch Corrector".  

This device is inserted in the audio line presenting the least (or no) signal latency. 
The idea is to purposely introduce a 125ms to 250ms time delay into the "fast" audio,
delaying it long enough to match the DSP latency in the slower channel.  Because the unit
utilizes RCA jacks, I had to use cable conversion blocks to split the 1/8" stereo plugs to match
the AV configuration.

Eventually, I came came up with the approach shown above.  Unfortunately, the AP-411 would load down the audio line on that side, making it nearly unhearable.

The solution was to feed the output of the circuit in one of the stereo channels of a NADY MM-242 Mini mixer, which contains a modicum of audio amplification to overcome the insertion loss.

An advantage to this approach is that additional audio sources can be mixed in on channels #1 to #3.

As you can see, there are many ways to make an off-contest weekend into a successful time spent.

What do YOU do with an off-contest weekend?

WQ6X Wanders Experimentally Thru a minor Radiosport WeeKend

The 1st three weekends in June bring us a handful of short radiosport contest GiGs, representing
a myriad of different contest objectives.  The end of June we of course have the myriad Stew
Perry 160 GiG, the WV QSO Party, the All Asian DX Contest and Field Day FD radiosport events. 
The GiGs prior to those events not only enable us to play radiosport contests, almost more importantly it offers the opportunity to thoroughly test remote connections, as well as equipment configurations on BOTH ends.

Similar to the weekend before this weekend a trio of events (2-domestic, 1-worldwide)
were offered, which I purposely ran mostly on Cw (saving my voice amongst other things). 
This weekend brought us:

• [X] - The TIZA CUP (worldwide) GiG
• [X] - The Kentucky QSO Party (KYQP)
• [X] - The Atlantic Canadian QSO Party (ACQP)

Putting it bluntly, BOTH QSO Parties were a HUGE disappointment.
The TIZA GiG not only was a disappointment, [for whatever reason] score
submission for this event is not available on the 3830 Scores website - wassup with that?

Those of us outside the target area spend hours wandering seemingly aimlessly through the bands looking for what turns out to be only a dozen stations in the entire 12-hours.  While contest promoters may claim there were dozens of stations on the air, my Question is: WHERE ARE THE BANDMAP SPOTS???  From a recent internet exchange, others said that they saw all kinds of bandmap sports, suggesting that I am using the "wrong" callsign server, or, that the settings I use with the TELNET window are limiting the "vision" of what's out there.

Several months ago, when I called-out a poorly participated QSO Party, one of the promoters
chided me that the reason I couldn't hear many stations is because I am in California and running QRP.   He went on to suggest I should by an AMP and/or move closer to the east coast.  What does the amount of power I am running have to do with a dearth of participating stations in the host state?
They certainly were not in the band map.

Overall, for the QSO parties, while I made barely a handful of Ssb contacts, I used the voice keyer memories built-in to the remote K3.  Making Ssb contact was easy because the exchange was simple
"5 - 9 - California" in both GiGs.  In fact, the microphone wasn't even plugged in - those memories had been pre-recorded WEEKS ago.  While I ran QRP for the QSO parties, during the TIZA Cup contest, propagation was so poor the power was upped to over 90-watts, which of course, didn't bring in any more stations on the other end.

Sunday evening, after checking into the usual bevy of west coast 75-meter traffic nets (WPSS
on 3.952, Golden Bear on 3.975, WARFA on 3.908 and the Western Country Cousins on 3.970),
I switched remote access to WA6TQT's STN-1 to run 160-meter directional-determination tests. 
At the last minute, it made sense to write-up the experiment as a separate Blog. 
[CLICK HERE] to read the results of that investigation when I finally finish that Blog.

XYZZY

WQ6X Wings YeT Another Weird WPX (Weird Prefix) ConTesT

 I was originally intending to entitle this Blog post:
"WQ6X Runs an organizedly dis-organized End of MaY Radiosport Weekend".

WPX Contests (esp. Cw GiGs) are by nature quite weird (yet exciting) events. 
When the choice is made to dual-OP an event like this one, the potential for operational weirdness
all but triples.  The original plan was to join up with NX6T on a multi-single run from WA6TQT's QTH in Anza, while finding time in the middle to run QRP remotely from KN6NBT's station in Ramona.

NX6T was originally considering a multi-2 HP run.  Unfortunately, not enough operators came
on board, making that idea logistically impractical.  As it turned out, weird hardware anomalies required STN-1 to takeover for STN-2 on Saturday morning.  The two stations being nearly
identical in configuration, via a shared log made that transition seamless, except for a 4-QSO numbering discrepancy that was resolved when the Cabrillo log file was created.

I ran the first two hours by way of my Alameda office.  The transition to W7AYT's QTH left
an important USB dongle hub languishing back at my office, requiring a round-trip to pick it up
and restart in Concord.  With a team of only 6 operators, expert resource juggling was an absolute requirement to maximize the performance needed over a 48-hour period.

When running QRP copy can be a bit tricky, s clear frequency (if there IS such a thing with QRP)
and calling LoTs of CQ put the WQ6X callsign on the spotting networks somewhat offsetting the QRP disadvantages.  For me, Cw contests are more enjoyable than Ssb GiGs.  While Cw QSOs require way more repeats, it could be argued a contributing factor is the fact that we endeavor to work stations that are barely S-1 or S-2 - at those signal levels, repeats are inevitable.

While running remote from my Alameda office is fun and convenient, what is missing at this location
is an installation of hardware (a pair of Autek QF-1A external filters) necessary for implementing Stereo-CW.  Fortunately, the Stereo-CW implementation at W7AYT's QTH has been fully vetted
[and] top notch.  It is AWEsome to behold a near-180-degree azimuth of signals orderly arrayed around the operating experience - a 2-dimensional "flat" jumble of callers become magically transformed into a more effective 3-D style operation.

For NX6T, DXLOG software better supports a multi-operator environment. 
Running Single-OP, I find the 12 function keys to be more easily customizable. 
Being in a somewhat "lazy" frame of mind during the weekend, thanks to a wireless
keyboard and track ball, I was able to lay out on the bed propped by pillows when running
frequencies, either as WQ6X or NX6T.  This works until some idiot moves in on the run frequency, forcing me to sit down at the radio, find a new run frequency and start over.

Success in WPX contests is a combination of Frequency Running and Search and Pounce (S&P),
which is why I prefer running Single-OP Assisted.  Running NX6T under DXLOG found the dual
bandmaps to be fully populated most of the time - the exceptions being 80/160 meters.  Thanks
to stacked yagis on 40 thru 10 meters, virtually 90% of those stations were eventually worked.

When it was all over, it would seem that BOTH WQ6X and NX6T turned in respectable scores,
altho nothing spectacular in either case.  AT the VERY least, what is important is that the NX6T
and WQ6X callsigns got plenty of callsign recognition.  

For WQ6X operations overall, the recently revamped Stereo-CW cabling seems to have held up.

DiD YOU work the 2o26 CQ WPX Cw contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X GaThers ThoTs AbouT the CQ WPX ConTesT

In preparation for the upcoming 2o26 CQ WPX ("Weird Prefix") Cw contest, some time was spent researching the contest runs I ran during 2o23, 2o24 and 2o25.  Thanks to the 3830Scores website and the CQ WPX website, information was gathered to glean ideas for how to approach yet another dual-OP contest weekend.

The above SOAPBOX comments are from the 2o24 WPX event which I ran solo as NX6T was "dark" that weekend.  In the year BE-4 and AFTER, WQ6X ran as a dual-OP, in both cases taking a 2nd-place for the W6 call area.

Thanks to data collected from 3830 and the WPX websites, I put together the above notes.
The numbers detail the difference(s) between the scores submitted to the 3830 website,
versus what was posted in the CQ WPX website Results.  

As you can see, all three scores above were "dinged" points for QSO logging mistakes,
in one case as much as a 15% reduction in score.  Because the CQ website sent me an LCR
(Log Check Report) for each of those contests, theoretically (at least) I can look at those reports
for noticeable patterns in the logging errors.  Then again, for this year, the goal is to start FRESH.

One thing that will make the 2o26 WPX GiG more effective is the adherence to my favorite
method: Stereo-CW. This of course assumes that I run the contest from the concord location
where I maintain the full array of external audio filters to make it work.  If I am operating from
some location other than Concord, there is no Stereo-CW yet available.  The receive difference
between the two approaches is dramatic; almost depressingly dramatic.

The goal of the 2o26 WPC Cw contest is to assist NX6T towards some sort of high score
(at least for California) while I run QRP from the Ramona QTH, handing out the "Rare" WQ6
prefix.  Despite running QRP, it IS possible to find holes in the radio spectrum to Call CQ. 
How long a frequency can be kept running QRP is another thing altogether.

Bottom-line: the WPX (Weird Prefix) contest is certainly on my Top-10 list of favorite radiosport
events throughout any given year.  Any disadvantages I have running QRP are somewhat offset by
using a relatively desirable callsign - this is one event where using a 1x1 callsign makes absolutely
no sense.

What about YOU?  What are YOUR plans for the WPX Cw contest?

Stay tuned for an upcoming report on how this event actually turned out.