WQ6X Runs 4-out-of-7 October Contest GiGs

Making this last weekend work radiosport-wise took some careful orchestration, beginning in Alameda and wrapping it all up in Concord; both QTH's at opposite ends of the EB (East Bay) ARRL section.
To further my 2019 journey to participate in 100+ Contest GiGs, I have run a bunch of dual-OP operations from W7AYT and my Alameda location remote into the San Diego Contest Club's
NX6T station in Fallbrook (North of San Diego).

On the "lets'givit-a-shot" list were the following 7 radiosport events.

• [x] - Makrothen RTTY Contest
• [x] - Nevada QSO Party
• [x] - Oceania Dx Contest
• [x] - Scandinavian Activity Contest
• [x] - Arizona QSO Party
• [x] - Pennsylvania QSO Party
• [x] - South Dakota QSO Party

The Makrothen GiG is fast becoming one of my FAVorite RTTY contests.  According to the Makrothen website, the word "Makrothen" is Greek for "great distance" - we score more points for working stations further away from our operating location. 

This contest showcases the following uniquenesses:

• There are no multipliers
• QSO points are not fixed at 1, 2 or 3 points.
• QSO points are computed by the Km (kilometer) distance between the two stations.
• Contest operating periods are 3x 8-hours each, sandwiched around two
  8-hour off periods in between.

1. - 00:00z to 08:00z on Saturday
     08:00z to 16:00z - Off Period
2. - 16:00z to 24:00z on Saturday afternoon
     00:00z to 08:00z - Off Period
3. - 08:00z to 16:00z on Sunday morning

As a result of the above, a Million point score is JUST getting started.
What makes this contest fun is that with every QSO I get immediate feedback on the distance between my California location(s) - the SF Bay Area and San Diego area - and each station worked.

Altho Space-WX condx were rather dismal, a 40-m QSO run to JA early Sunday morning followed by a 20-meter opening to EU during the final hour of the contest provided nearly 1/3 of the final score.

A major reason for this weekend's operation was to thoroughly test-run the Elecraft K3/0 for
remote operation to Fallbrook as NX6T, in conjunction with WQ6X operations from W7AYT. 
For this operation, nearly everything went extremely well - the new operating mantra being "IPCONFIG/Renew".

Interspersed with the Makrothen contest were several state/area QSO parties for AZ, PA & SD. 
I heard virtually NO SD stations other than the ONE I worked.  PA stations were more plentiful,
but where were the rover stations activating county lines. 

While there were no AZ rover stations that I am aware of, there were at least a reasonable number
of fixed stations that at least we had someone in Arizona to talk to.  I am so used to the 100's of Californians activating ALL 58 California counties that it surprises me when other states don't
play in their own GiGs.

For the AZQP, because there were so few Arizona stations calling CQ, I found a frequency and called: CQ AZ de NX6T, NX6T/Ca.  Instead of calls from AZ stations, I received calls from KY, GA, TN, TX, UT & W6.  HuH?  Per the Why You probably should not call me BLOG, if you don't know what "CQ AZ" or "NX6T/Ca" means, then you should not call me.  If I send "AZ stations only",
unless you are in AZ, you should not call me. 

In many state QSO parties this year many stations with call prefixes not reflecting the state were operating from were calling CQ, making it sound as if they were NoT in that state but looking for stations in that state.  When I asked "are you in AZ/PA/GA", they would say "Yes".  I shouldn't
have to ask - you should make it clear from the beginning.  For example, if you ARE in Arizona
and your callsign does not make that clear, then  add the county to your callsign, such as: WQ6X/MCP or NX6T/PNO.

After all the contest events are over I am then faced with all the administrative things to do such as: taking pictures and screenshots, posting 3830 scores and  submitting the .Log files for each contest event.  To make things a bit easier, I used the above checklist.

Did You play around in any of the above contests?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in Your LoG(s)?