WQ6X fakes another (JIDX x 2) + 5 Contest weekend

Somehow, another year has come and gone, taking us to this weekend's 2020 JIDX contest and
other GiGs.  Only so many contest GiGs can be accomplished in one weekend leaving the choice

of what to run and what to give last consideration to.  Last year's JIDX weekend brought a number

of operating opportunities - ([CLICK HERE] to read that).

 

Evidently, the IP-settings cobbled together during the visit 2 weeks ago was actually the proper

setup (altho it didn't seem like it at the time); when the Elecraft K3/0 was started up on Friday,

access to both STN-1 & STN-2 @ NX6T were fully functional from the beginning.

 

Radiosport contest events happening this weekend included:

• [x] - JIDX Cw Contest
• [x] - OK / OM Dx Ssb Contest
• [x] - New Mexico QSO Party (NMQP)
• [x] - Georgia QSO Party (GAQP)
• [x] - North Dakota QSO Party (NDQP)
• [x] - Yuri Gagarin Dx Contest (GC)

For this weekend, because we had a ToTaL of 5 operators, the demands on my OP time were reduced, compared to other contest weekends.  This allowed more time to be spent rerouting

audio cables and testing the nuances of the Elecraft K3/0 installation to Fallbrook.

 

 

All three QSO parties were quite a disappointment; as usual, the in-state participation was VERY poor.  I've heard all kinds of excuses why operators don't participate in their own QSO parties;

most of them rather lame.  However with people electing to say indoors, I was expecting TRIPLE

the participation as a result - NOPE!

 

Due to poor signal levels from Europe in Concord, the OK/OM contest was bypassed. 
While Eu signals were plentiful @ NX6T, both stations were dedicated to the JIDX contest;
attempting to slip-in an Ssb contest (amidst a Cw weekend) would probably have created more problems than it was worth.

Being that this was mainly a JIDX weekend, time was found to update the WQ6X Prefecture Tracker software giving a detailed look at the prefecture distribution of stations worked during the

30 hour contest period.  The number of stations worked in each prefecture is surprising in many ways and in others, not at all; especially when broken down by each band.

 

An unfortunate situation occurred when running 80-meters.  Most of my CQ calls seemed to go unanswered.  As it turns out, an SDR Rx in KH6 was hearing dozens of JA stations calling me.  Unfortunately, our cheesy 80-m inverted vee could hear very few of them.  At NX6T it often

seems that stations can hear us much better/easier than we can hear them.  It would seem 

the S-8 noise-level obscured many of the 100-w (and less) stations - Bummer Dewd.

 

The Yuri Gagarin contest was a nice respite from the diddle-diddling of RTTY, altho internet

dropouts clipped dits/dahs requiring a not insignificant number of repeats.  Adding variety
to the contest weekend encouraged me to run the GC contest, first as NX6T in Fallbrook
and then as WQ6X from Concord when the NX6T QSO total waned. 
At least I can say I wuz there.

 

On Monday, well after the JIDX GiG was over, I took a look at the 3830 Stats for this contest.  Officially, it would seem that we took a 2nd place worldwide until I displayed the SOAPBOX comments from K3EST as follows:

"First of all we announce that we were NOT MS. We were M2. We know this category does not exist in the JIDXC. We decided to have as much fun as possible. This log will be submitted as a CHECK LOG so that it can be used for QSO verification. MS was too restrictive for 6 guys to have fun. By going M2 not only would the ops have a good time but more JAs would be worked which is also more fun for them. Almost always, only 2 bands were active towards JA."

 

Based upon the above explanation, it would seem that NX6T has become (what the Japanese call) "ToP Mop" for 2020; one of our lower winning scores, but a win nonetheless.

 

Did YOU work the JIDX Cw contest?

 

How many JA Prefectures are in YOUR LoG?