WQ6X Joins NX6T Dual-OP'ing another ad-HOC ARRL Dx Ssb GiG

This first full weekend in March finds me winding down after an intense month of Toastmasters Speech Contests during the week and radiosport GiGs every weekend in between.  I recently compared the two different-but-similar forms of competition.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

This weekend's ARRL Dx Ssb contest finds me in Concord to play around as WQ6X in between remote operating shifts @NX6T.  Lacking operators for a full-blown Multi-2 operation, this weekend's GiG @NX6T is a Multi-Single affair, giving me an opportunity to test-run recent antenna tweaks at the W7AYT QTH.  In preparation for this weekend I wrote another Blast from the Past BLOG highlighting the five SW-Division plaques NX6T has earned for this contest alone.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.) 
Despite our limited roster of operators, there's no reason NX6T can't DoiT again for 2020.

Other commitments brought me to W7AYT later than what I had hoped.  Then for openers, the K3/0's internet connection was rather flaky.  After router resets and network "tweaks" on our end, the internet eventually settled in and WQ6X was off and running for the ARRL Dx Ssb GiG.

Unfortunately, true to 40-meter form, once I got settled in, the Intentional QRM immediately made

the scene.  At 08:56z QRM started in the form of a motorboat and/or leaf-blower sound.  Then at 09:14z we were surrounded with commercial RTTY, followed by some idiot continuously repeating "OK! OK!", and then more RTTY (which was determined to be coming from 300-Degrees relative to NX6T.)  It stopped for awhile immediately after discussing it w/KH6TU.  Later it "followed me around"; first on 7127.27 ==> 7126.26 ==> 7127.27.  HuH?  WTF was THAT all about? 

I guess nighttime non-contest OP's really DO get Bored rather easily - Bummer DewD!

On the other hand, the intrusive Russian military beacons have actually become useful in recent years for Asian propagation prediction.  After midnight Friday, the "F" and "K" beacons (on ~7.039) floated through, suggesting that China and V86 (Brunei) could make it to the log (and they DiD).  Saturday evening the "F" and "K" beacons were heard @ W7AYT, but I was unable to raise

BI4SSB; unfortunately, V86 was nowhere to be found.

N6CY ran the early morning shift (allowing me to "sleep in"), followed by W2PWS keeping the morning shift alive.  Then @ Saturday noon, KN6DLG (Brett) achieved B-i-C (Butt in Chair) with his mom providing transportation and encouragement.  (Now, if we can only put HER in the OP chair for the upcoming CQ WPX Ssb contest - Hint Hint.)  Brett is quickly gaining experience to become a top notch operator - each operating stint provides new challenges to work through.

At 00:00z Brett shutdown Station #2 and I took over Station #1.  After nearly an hour of productive S&P operation, it was time to settle into some BI-Directional operation on 14179.79, working both
JA / SA - alternately interspersing QSOs from both directions.  Then @02:20 it was on to 40-m to
run frequencies (7129.29, 7131.31 & 7162.62).

At 04:00z N6ERD took over to run the Evening AND Night shifts; a nice change for me.

Sunday morning I took the opportunity to put a few QSOs in the WQ6X log; in the end, I managed only 8 QSOs - JA, KH6/WH7 & KL7.  While other locations reported LoTs of QSOs, there seemed
to be a signal vortex in Concord; confirmed by W0WXL, only a block away.

The last 5 hours of the DX contest found me running STN-1 to wrap things up.  Seeing that we had plenty of 20 meter contacts in the NX6T log, 15 meters was given initial priority, with a brief stint on 28.414.14 to work a pair of KH6 stations; calling CQ while beaming South America surprisingly yielded nothing.

Eventually 15 meters died out prematurely, necessitating a final move to 20, just in time for another dual-opening to JA/SA; again, taking advantage of the Stepp-IR's BI-Directional capability. 
When it was all over, NX6T achieved 950 QSOs in 242 country-multipliers.

Aside from the aforementioned intentional QRM problem my next BiGGest BEEF were the stateside IDIOTS who kept calling, oblivious to the fact that this was a DX contest.  This happened in the Cw contest as well.  If they had read the contest rules they would know that I am only working DX stations, not stateside.  You may recall I wrote about this twice last year:

• [x] August 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [x] September 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

 

Sunday evening, after the contest was over, while troubleshooting audio connections to the K3/0,

I heard a Cw beacon-type station on 1.829 - 4OMD.  Every 5 minutes it would send its ID, then
a long DAHHHHHH, then pause and do it again (twice).  I've heard this beacon before and have no clue what its all about.  Tuning the ICOM 7000 (in Concord) to 1.829, nothing was heard - DeaD Air.
Do YOU have any ideas what this is all about?

DiD YOU work the ARRL DX Ssb contest?
If you are a DX station, is NX6T in YOUR LoG?