WQ6X Blast from the Past: ARRL Dx Phone Contest

In preparation for this weekend's ARRL Dx Contest - as I often do - I took a look back along the contest timeline, revisiting the Dx Phone contests I've engaged in since this Contest BLOG series began in 2013 (as well as winning events in 2011 & 2012).  While the actual number of entries were limited, each unique event had something very unique about it.  Consider the following:

• (-) 2011 - NX6T Wins Southwest Division for ARRL Dx Phone
• (-) 2012 - NX6T Wins Southwest Division for ARRL Dx Phone
• (x) 2013 - ARRL Dx Phone - DiD it REALLY Happen?
• (x) 2017 - OPs at NX6T come together for 2017 DX SSB Contest
• (x) 2018 - WQ6X Teams up with NX6T for 2018 ARRL Dx Contests
• (x) 2019 - ARRL Dx Ssb GiG: the contest RTTY Ruined

By contrast, this weekend will yield a completely different operation, based on only a handful of scheduled operators coupled with a struggling Solar Flux Index (SFI=69); altho the A/K Indexes
are pleasantly low.

What I find MOST amazing is that with the exception of the WQ6X 2013 solo event from the SF
bay area, I've been involved with 5 Southwest Division winning operations with NX6T; evidently,
the Arizona Outlaws don't do SSB - they should.

Back in the early days we operated a single transmitter @ NX6T into a TenTec Centurion

amp - a way underrated amplifier.  In those daze, we didn't even have access to an [EASY] BUTTON, altho we DiD have "Mr. Bill" to help us out - for better or worse.

 

By 2012 we ran a near-identical setup except that the Centurion amplifier was replaced with

our first ACOM-2000a amplifier, offering up full auto-tune capabilities.  This was also our first

use of "Tower #2", with a 3-el Stepp-IR, a 2-el Shorty-40 and a hoist point for the 160 & 80

meter coaxial inverted Vee's..

By the time I was running remotely from Alameda in 2017, NX6T had expanded to a 3-station operation with a pair of ACOM 2000a amplifiers.  Eventually the ACOM's were replaced with

the current lineup of Expert 2K amplifiers.

 

The above PIC is NX6T quietly languishing before the fervor of this weekend's ARRL Dx Ssb contest.  Are YOU going to play in the DX contest this weekend?  If you are a DX station, be on the lookout for NX6T - we have a number of upcoming surprises in store for the weekend operation.