WQ6X RiGs another Remote NAQP RTTY GiG

It always seems like the NAQP RTTY GiGs slip into the schedule when I'm not looking. 
Then again, according to the BLAST from the PAST BloG Entry, they always happen on the
last weekend of February; which THIS year was on the 29th.  No one seemed to be up for a
Multi-2 operation, leaving open my running SOP remotely from NX6T as WQ6X.  Then, after
the 10-hour max single-OP operating period, I made a new log for NX6T and started over.

[Bracketing] the NAQP event were two state QSO Parties; one for South Carolina (before)
and one for North Carolina (on Sunday).  My bitch with QSO Parties like the SCQP & NCQP
is that they are over by the time W6 stations even get a shot at them.  15:00z (7am PST) is too
early for ANY kind of QSO party; by the 02:00z time of its ending, 40 & 80 are JUST warming up.

Because NAQP RTTY is purposely a low power event, amongst other problems, running the K3 @100 watts full duty would likely produce enough heat to FRY the PA unit.  The solution was to dial the K3 down to around 4 - 5 watts into an Expert-2K amplifier, producing 88 - 99 watts output; low enough to produce full-duty RTTY.  Frequently the reports were that the signal was QUITE LOUD. 
A 3-el Stepp-IR yagi, a 2-el Shorty-40 and 80-meter coaxial inverted Vee (all at 39') made all the difference from the 900' above sea-level Fallbrook location, proving that running LoTs of power
is unnecessary to produce a penetrating signal.

Upper band conditions were quite frustrating.  In between slow frequency runs on 15-meters and finally moving down to 20-m, I made what seemed to be a futile "CQ NA Test" call on 28.088.88.  Returning to 21089.89, a call was received from KH6CJJ.  After the QSO he informed me that he
had heard the 10-meter CQ call, loud and clear in Maui, but evidently he couldn't be heard in Fallbrook; not surprising since he was off the back of the Stepp-IR yagi.

 I told Kent to QSX on 28088.88 and switched the antenna to its 180-degree setting.  A single CQ

call resulted in what turned out to be the ONLY 10-meter QSO.  Usually when I make a single 10-meter QSO, it is via ground wave with someone local.  Redirecting the antenna eastward, I wasted another 15 minutes futilely calling "CQ NA Test" - NOBODY!  As I've often said about 10-meters:
"If everyone is listening and no one is transmitting, the band can certainly APPEAR to be DeaD", when in fact it is WIDE-Open.

My BiGGest BEEF in this NAQP RTTY contest was written up in the original Role of Respect in Radiosport BLOG series - a composite of BEEF #2 & BEEF #4 - Stations who work me (get them QSO points FIRST), then IMMEDIATELY start calling CQ on my run frequency.  HuH?  WTF is

THAT all about?!  The BiGGest violators of this were KK6P and AA2MF, altho this occurred nearly a dozen times throughout Saturday.

On Sunday while taking screen shots, submitting 3830 Scores and writing up material for this Blog,
I remembered the NCQP was scheduled for today.  After a 1/2 hour of S&P, a whopping 4 stations made it to the WQ6X log.  My points about NCQP are exactly the same as SCQP: not enough in-state stations playing in their own QSO party and the operating time is WAY too short.  The QSO party sponsors for these GiGs should learn a lesson or two from the California QSO Party (CQP).

Being lazy this weekend I chose to run frequencies most of the time.  While I would occasionally
go mult hunting, it was so much nicer to let the stations come to me.  For this contest, judicious use
of the F-10 "NOW" key really sped things up.  Unfortunately, when stations heard me work someone else, they often would not stick around for the NOW-key, wasting everyone's time.  If you can't wait
15 seconds, I dunno whut to tell ya'.  Do you REALLY have "someplace to be" 15 seconds from now?  REALLY?

When my 10 hours of OP-time were used up, I made a new log and ran as NX6T. 

Instead of "RON CA" (as WQ6X) I was "PAT CA" as NX6T.  Because we sometimes have

a multi-gender operator mix @NX6T, the use of "PAT" covers anyone sitting in the OP chair.

For this NAQP GiG I was persuaded to join the SCCC#1 Team consisting of: WN6K, W6ZL, N6GP, KI6VC & WQ6X.  While we turned in some nice scores, the OPs in the NCCC teams trounced us royally.  Nevertheless, for me, it was a lot of fun and a good test-evaluation of a Rockville Line 8 audio mixer being test-driven first in Alameda.  Who nose, with a few adaptations it may be adaptable for use with my FT-1000mp setup adapted to W7AYT's QTH.

DiD YOU work the NAQP RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?