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?

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