WQ6X's 2016 Contest Reflections

Because 2016 was WQ6X's most prolific contest year ever, I was moved to look back at the 40 contest entries that had some sort WQ6X involvement.

I have experienced high-activity years before (2013 in particular), however for 2016, WQ6X took things to the next level; in some cases by repeating what had worked in prior contest years, and in other contests doing something radically different.

While I've been an avid contester since 2000 (and before), I didn't pursue awards on my own until 2005; posting scores to the 3830Scores.Com website did not begin until 2010. In January 2013 I began posting entries to the WQ6X contest BLOG here on Blogspot.Com. Recently, I took the opportunity to evaluate contest WQ6X score submissions to the 3830Scores.Com website from 2010 to 2016 that involved WQ6X in some way.


Putting together a custom Excel worksheet I managed to make sense out of what initially seemed like a morass of unrelated data.  One of the things I like about Excel is its ability to graph spreadsheet information just by highlighting the data and clicking on the chart button.

As you can see, during the last 6 years, I have participated in many different kinds of contests, operating from a myriad of locations, with a bevy of different operators. 

I've done numerous single-OP GiGs, dual-OP'd with N6GEO for a number of important events and been a part of the San Diego Contest Club (NX6T) events from "NashVille" in Fallbrook; altho sometimes we used my WQ6X callsign or 1x1 callsigns (like W6H & W6V) that I reserved for Fallbrook operations.


Every contest year has its notable events.  In 2013, notable events included a CQP Multi-Multi 1st place from Modoc county with N6GEO [Click Here] and JIDX 1st-place world plaques operating as part of the NX6T gang [Click Here].


 
For 2014, we took 1st-place world operating as WP2/WQ6X in the ARRL RTTY Roundup (RU).

Our 2013 expedition was showcased for nearly 6 months on the CQP website during 2014 until August replaced us with rules for CQP-14.

For that event, our operation as K6U operation went from initial disappointment to setting a county record for Contra Costa county.

I wrote a blog entry about that event.

I also had the opportunity to join W6V for another JIDX 1st-place world plaque-winning operation and wrote a blog entry about that operation.

2015 gave N6GEO & WQ6X our first CQP win from Tuolumne county[Click Here].
In between award-winning Sweepstakes operations from W7AYT's QTH (which included an SSB plaque for Pacific Division [Click Here]), I was able to again join up with NX6T to earn another 1st-place world plaque in the JIDX SSB contest [Click Here].

With all that behind me, I couldn't imagine how 2016 could do better than that.
As it turns out, success sometimes comes when you least expect it.

 

In March, N6KI & I took 1st-place world for the South American 10-meter contest, submitting a log with a mere 78 QSOs.
 
I ran most of that contest remotely, leaving Dennis to put the final QSOs in the log just before 10-metrs died.

For Sweepstakes, while I did not win any plaques in 2016, I did manage a pair of wins from the East Bay section.



Because I participated in many state QSO parties and odd-ball Dx contests, the opportunity for mixed mode submissions (as we did with the SA-10 contest) increased dramatically in 2016.

Over the years, RTTY operations
have also increased.

In May, for the 1st time ever I chose to operate the multi-contest weekend which encompassed the ARI Dx contest, the INQP, DEQP, NEQP & 7QP QSO parties.

While most of the GiGs were ho-hummers, 7QP gave me the most QSOs and in fact resulted in a non-W7 1st place, if you can believe that.  [Click Here] for a write up.

One of the things making 2016 unique from other contest years was participation in "little contests" from around the world such as the King of Spain and the Yuri Gegarin contests.

In addition to providing practice in contesting skills and often unique DX opportunities, those "little" contests add up and sometimes produce a winning certificate as I discovered in the 2013 All Asian contest. It is also a show of respect - if I want you to play in "my" contests (like CQP), the least I can do is play in yours.

 
If you've read my 2015-2016 blog entries, you may remember that one of my biggest beefs is that not enough people participate in their own contests; particularly true in the case of Asian contests, like JIDX and All Asian.

WQ6X in Sweepstakes CW

One reason to participate in every contest you can find time for is that when you send in your log, your callsign will be added to the callsign history files for that event.

In subsequent years, when your callsign is typed into logging programs for that contest your callsign will pop up in the check-partial window, making it more likely your callsign will be copied correctly.


How many contests did you participate in during 2016?

How many times do you find WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR log?