For WQ6X it's all about All Asian (& W. Virginia-Kinda)

The weekend before Field Day, the Asians host a DX party known as the All Asian DX Contest. 
Last week I wrote a Blog about why I still like to play in the All Asian Dx contest.  In last year's
Blast from the Past Blog about the All Asian contest, I described the different venues I have
used to run this GiG, which include from a 4 story office building (Ca. 1982), a campsite on
Mt. Abel (June-2013) and a sailboat in Alameda's Aeolian yacht harbor (2019).

In preparation for last weekend's dual operation, I glanced thru the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, getting the low-down on what to expect activity-wise on the bands.  It turns out there were
4 contest events of interest to me, altho the Asian contest is always Priority 1.

1. [x] - The 61st All Asian Dx Cw Contest
2. [x] - Ukrainian DX Classic RTTY Contest
3. [x] - Stew Perry Topband Challenge
4. [x] - West Virginia QSO Party

While NX6T usually participates in the Stew Perry GiG, this last weekend we had enough headaches from running the All Asian GiG; adding a 160 meter run to the confusion woulda been too much. 

From time to time I tuned around the RTTY sections of 20 & 40 meters looking for some significant
RTTY activity.  Less than a handful of RTTY signals were heard, with no evidence that they were even working the Ukrainian GiG.  As WQ6X (but from NX6T-Stn1) I managed a SINGLE QSO (WA8KAN) in the WVQP event, echoing my beef that (outside of CQP) not enough stations play
in their own QSO parties.  While I heard WA8KAN on 40 from the SF East Bay, unfortunately he
could not hear WQ6X calling him.

The All Asian webpage was a bit confusing as the browser title-bar labeled this year as the 60th running of A.A. whereas the web text correctly designated this as the 61st running of the event.

The goal for the All Asian contest is for us non-Asians to work as many Asian prefixes as we can throughout the 48 hour contest weekend.  For NX6T our 4 operators (N6CY, N6KI, N6NC & WQ6X) ended with a prefix count of 333 (190 unique) from our 878 QSOs, giving us a 294k point score.

Friday began things as a BiG disappointment.  By 06:00z only 58 QSOs made it to the 20 meter log.  By the time I took over (around 09:20z) N6KI had managed a total of 131 QSOs.  After a short stint
on 20 meters, I moved on down to 40 meters working one pile up after another.  More multipliers
were logged in those 3 hours than the rest of the contest.

Because this is an Asian contest, it makes a LoT of sense to check the Russian Letter Beacons on ~7.039 - in the middle of the 40-meter Cw band. 

I've recently written about these beacons:

[x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons?

[x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

For the All Asian contest these beacons become important for tracking 40-meter propagation to Asia.

= The M-Beacon give us an idea of Propagation
    to UA9 / UA0.  Azimuth 330-Degrees

= The K-Beacon give us an idea of Propagation
    to UA0 / JA8.  Azimuth 300-Degrees

= The F-Beacon give us an idea of Propagation
    to BV / BY / JA / HL.  Azimuth 270-Degrees

This weekend the F / M / K beacons were heard in Fallbrook and the M / K beacons were heard in the
SF East Bay.


At one point I made a listen for the Letter Beacons on 7.508 hoping to check middle-east propagation; unfortunately, none were heard.  Then again, the Shorty-40 antenna mismatch @ 7.5mhz probably attenuated beacon signals significantly giving me a false indication of band openings to those areas. 
At 20:00z I gave a listen for the NCDXF beacons (14.100 & 21.150) looking for Asian propagation indications.  On 15 meters, nothing was heard and on 20 meters some IDIOT was transmitting RTTY
ZERO-BEAT with the 14.100 NCDXF beacon frequency - WTF is THAT all about?

80-meters was almost a no-show were it not for N6CY bagging 6 contacts after 12:00z Saturday morning.  We never checked 160 meters; probably just as well, considering the Stew Perry GiG
was going on at the time.

At 09:54z Sunday morning while running 20-meters the Cw band was obliterated by your friend
and mine - the Woodpecker (on about 13.950).  About the time I had enough of 20, the Woodpecker stopped.  (Note: earlier this year the Woodpecker was logged zero-beat with 6.996 - HuH?)

At 11:55z N6CY took over 40 meters so I could get some sleep.  At 20:00z I came back to STN-1
and began that almost-futile search for Asian stations.  When it's mid-afternoon in California,
in Asia, operators are either sleeping or beginning the commute to work (if they still do that). 
Making use of the DX-Maps helped get an idea of the band openings as they happened.

Of the 23 stations worked Sunday afternoon, 19 of those operators raged in age from 59 - 81. 
We DEFINATELY need to bring some young blood into the All Asian event.  Youth operators were:
UA9P (15), BY1CY(15), JO4FDC(16), JS2FLS(16), RK9Q(17) & the youngest OP JK1ACA(12). 
We also need more YL Op's. 
The 8 YL QSOs made were with: 7L3PFH, JF1UOX, JQ1ARQ, JH1ACA & JA6CNX.

When it was all over, it would seem that NX6T took 2nd place for North America

and 4th place worldwide in the Multi-Single category.  While I submitted WQ6X's

6-QSOs as a 20-meter log to the JARL contest committee, it will win no awards;

however it serves to keep the WQ6X callsign in next year's callsign files.

Did YOU work the All Asian Dx Cw contest?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR Log?

Why YOU Should Listen BE-4 You Transmit

Without a doubt, more on-the-air havoc and chaos is caused by OP's who DON'T listen before

they transmit than just about anything else.  If NoT Explicitly stated in Part-97 of the FCC rules & regulations, the ARRL Operating manual (and just common sense) dictates that before you EVER make a transmission of ANY kind, you should FIRST ensure that the frequency you are about to unload on is a CLEAR Frequency.

From one point of view it would seem like writing an entire Blog about this subject should be completely unnecessary.  Then again, with over 1,000,000 radio amateurs licensed to operate
a radio transmitter, I guess it is safe to assume that a not-insignificant percentage of them will
have not yet gotten the message.  Last weekend's All Asian Dx Cw contest is proof of THAT.

While there are many different times I should listen before transmitting, included in the Top-3 are:

• BE-4 tuning up a transmitter or amplifier.
• When contemplating jumping into a pileup for a "rare" station.
• When contemplating calling CQ.

Let's begin with the tune-up process.

Now, I hear many voices saying something on the order of "...but dewd, of course I need to tune

my transmitter before I transmit and that can ONLY be done on the air".  NoT Quite - have you

ever heard of a Dummy Load?  Somebody once said "You can learn a LoT from a Dummy Load...".  Much of the time dummy loads allow 90% of the tune-up process to be done OFF THE AIR.

 

Another mindset says "my transceiver has an auto tuner, so it doesn't matter" - WRONG!  
While your auto tuner is auto-tuning, it is putting out a signal over the air; even if it reduces
power before tuning, a signal is STILL be radiated.  If you're tuning into a 9.5db-gain yagi,
whatever power the auto-tuner cuts back to is being AMPLIFIED approximately 8X; 50w x 8
is 400; 25w x 8 is still a respectable 200 watts of world-wide hearable carrier while you tune.

Next UP is attempting to work a pile-up.

In MY mind, it goes without saying that when considering calling a DX station amidst an already existing pileup, you should ALWAYS listen before throwing your callsign into an already rampant
mess of calling stations.  When I was running as WP2/WQ6X from St. Croix, I would only have to 

put out a CQ for 15-seconds before the DX-skimmers would report my call.  This was very noticeable when running 30-meter Cw.  Before I had a chance to sip my Kona coffee, seemingly out of nowhere would come the screeches of a dozen simultaneous callers.  

 

Running a pile-up is no problem - AS LONG AS calling stations follow my instructions. 

The difficulty comes when stations randomly send their callsign while attempting to copy
a much weaker (and more deserving) QRP station.  I wrote this up during my visit to WP2.

([CLICK HERE] to read that write-up.)  LooK for an updated write-up on this soon.

Last but not least, the time to listen before you transmit is when you are contemplating calling CQ.  Consider this, if I am already using the frequency and you blindly send a CQ, the SDR-skimmers will pickup on that CQ call and notify spotting lists all over the world.  Within seconds the frequency which I have run for nearly an hour will be barraged with callers expecting to work you.  HuH? WTF? 
A simple ragchew will be turned into a catcall bedlam like the above.

While calling CQ in and of itself is about as simplistic as it can be, it is the steps PRIOR
to the first CQ call that are most important.  
Breaking them down we have:

1. Listen FIRST.  If it seems quiet then listen Again to be sure.
2. On Cw, Send "QRL?" or on Ssb QUICKLY say "is the frequency
   in use?".  Then, repeat step #1.
3. Then and ONLY then, make your first CQ call.  Someone on the frequency trying to copy a weak one may finally be able to send "QRL"; in which case find another frequency and start over.

Proper operating ethics is to ALWAYS yield to the station who was already transmitting on a given frequency.  Just because I don't immediately respond does not mean the frequency is open; it more likely means that I am LISTENING to the station I was attempting to work when you blasted 1500 WATTS of "QRL?" on top of him.

Last month I wrote the 3rd installment in the
series about Why You Should NoT Call Me. 
([CLICK HERE] to read that).
In that 3rd Blog, I detailed 6 important ideas.

Paraphrasing point #5: There is NOTHING WORSE than a caller being significantly off frequency with horribly choppy Cw, requiring several repeats on their callsign, only to find out that they are a DUPE or otherwise NoT workable in that contest.  (If they had read the contest rules they would already know that I can't work them and not waste their time calling me.)

WHAT a COMPLETE WASTE of MY TIME; and, more importantly, what a WASTE of time for the 10 other stations (who already read the contest rules) and are patiently awaiting their turn.


Remember folks: amateur radio is about communication and communication is ALL about LISTENING.  If you don't listen first, how can you possibly be able to communicate effectively. 
It amazes me how operators who frequently participate in traffic net activity and are willing/able
to follow the net control "rules", yet when it comes to working a DX pileup ignore the fact that the DX station (ME) is the net control of that frequency.  If traffic net callers start behaving the way DX station callers do, the ENTIRE NTS (National Traffic System) will come crashing onto it's knees, right before our very eyes (and ears).

If you want to get the MOST out of amateur radio communication,
remember the most IMPORTANT first step:  LISTEN!

Why All Asian is STILL Alright With Me

While NoT necessarily my favorite radiosport contest, the All Asian GiG is one of the earliest competitions I've ever engaged in; beginning back in my General Class days as WA6LKB. 

Today I would rate All Asian Cw in my Top-10 list of radiosport competitions.

As detailed in the Blast from the Past write up, All Asian has given me the opportunity to operate from different venues, including: office buildings, a campsite on Mt. Abel, N6GEO's cabin in Twain Harte, sailboats, NX6T in Fallbrook and various portable setups in the SF East Bay.

Around this time last year a pair of BLOG entries was made about the All Asian GiG

(the above picture is from this GiG):

• [x] - WQ6X Blast from the PAST: All Asian Cw Contest
• [x] - WQ6X Triple-OPs the All Asian DX Contest via Maritime Mobile

As contests go, the All Asian exchange is a no-brainer: a Signal Report (most always 5-9 or 5-9-9) and your Age (YL's send "00").  For non-Asian stations, multipliers take the form of unique callsign prefixes.  In recent years some rather "exotic" Asian prefixes have made the scene in this contest.

While I love playing in the All Asian GiGs, my BIGGEST BEEF is:
NoT ENUF ASIAN STATIONS PLAY in THEIR OWN CONTEST!!

• On the "Left Coast" we "should" have the easiest access to the Asian stations just a
  "skip across the pound".  All too often, what should be a "pipeline" to Asia comes up short.  Beacons often indicate wide-open conditions to Asia, yet few if any Asian signals are actually heard.
• During the last 8 to 10 hours of the contest, Asians are either sleeping or "driving to work"; certainly NoT on the radio.  Most stations still on the air are age 65+; usually retired so having to work is not an issue.

Not only are there NoT enough Asian stations playing in this GiG, noticeably lacking are operators
20 - 30 years old and younger as well as YL ('00") OPs.  This situation should be given considerable attention; then again, I've been writing about this problem for years and the operators keep getting older with virtually no younger operators to counterbalance the age increase.

In recent weeks I've been reinvestigating the Russian Single Letter Beacons (SLB's).

• [x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons?
• [x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

For the All Asian contest these beacons become important for tracking 40-meter propagation to Asia.

Unfortunately, most 40-meter Cw operators are unaware of the Single Letter Beacons (and 40-meter Ssb operators don't care one way or the other). 
7.039 is right in the middle of the NA Cw band.
For the upper bands, the NCDXF Beacons on
14.100, 21.150 & 28.200 can give us a look at
Asia and the surrounding Oceania areas.

Of course the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) can also be utilized for propagation purposes - point the antenna to the desired geographical area (ex: Asia) put out a "CQ AA Test" call and then check for RBN spotting messages.

Unfortunately, the Solar Flux is back down in the doldrums.  While we've had nearly no solar storms in the month of June, an SFI of 67 means we will be relying on 160, 80 & 40 meters for the long hauls.

While the 20-meter openings have been on the "improve" this month, most of those openings have been more to Europe (with Oceania off the back) than anywhere else.

This means we will have to be more resourceful.


My goal is to dual-OP this weekend; remotely with NX6T and single-OP as WQ6X from the SF
East Bay, once I repair the rope to re-hoist the center insulators of the 8JK Inverted Vee @ W7AYT (the wires are draped over the trees lying on the ground).

Are YOU going to be participating in this year's All Asian Dx Cw contest.

If you are an Asian station, LooK for NX6T and WQ6X on the bands.
If you are NoT an Asian station; then, you should not call me.

Why I still love the ICOM 7000

You should know, I'm involved in a love affair; not with another woman, but with a radio. 
Lemme explain.
Back in the mid 90's ICOM brought several "flavors" of the IC-706 transceiver to the marketplace; what has been called one of the best-selling radios of all time.  Around that time, Icom also released several versions of the Icom 756 PRO.  The 706 radio was intended for mobile/portable operation, whereas the 756-PRO is a rather large base station transceiver.

What if we could have the best of both worlds?  In 2005, Icom released the IC-7000, a radio that takes the 706 to the next level while offering the most essential features of the 756-PRO in a unit approximately the same physical size as the IC-706.

While the radio itself is rather compact, the operating features are easily on par with the considerably more expensive Icom 756-PRO models.  The DSP capabilities (DNR, DNF & Dual-PBT) are top notch.  The Dsp-filtering is so complete that I rarely find value in running the radio thru external
filters.  The built-in DVR & CWR features eliminate the need for expensive external units.

In 2007, while I ran a fully loaded Kenwood TS-450s as the main radio (later replaced with Yaesu FT-900 and FT-920 transceivers) for base station operations, the IC-7000 became an excellent mobile rig, portable rig and a perfect candidate for Field Day operations.  The addition of a Sharper Image 7" external display turns the 7000 into a near-desktop installation as can be seen from some of the above pictures.

During an incorrect equipment hookup during the 2014 Field Day exercise, internal diodes in the 7000 were burned out, putting the radio on the shelf for several years.  For last years Field Day exercise with K6QLF, Tom (WB6RUC) told me his IC-7000 had a non-working control head.  Swapping in the control head from my 7000 gave us a working unit.  We eventually sent my unit with his control head to Icom service.

Because the control head is detachable, the unit itself can be hidden under a car seat or even mounted in the trunk.  In preparation for last years Field Day exercise, we ran the IC-7000 with
the radio in the compartment beneath a seat cushion and only the control head visible.  However
to make the radio installation more visitor friendly, during FD itself, the 7000 was setup on the galley table and fed into Autek QF-1A and MFJ-752 external audio filters, altho they were probably not necessary.

Back from Icom Service in Arizona the IC-7000 is now configured as a backup radio for my portable installation @W7AYT.  For now, the radio is being run w/o the Sharper Image external monitor; altho after its 2nd sailboat Field Day in Alameda's Aeolian yacht harbor in 2 weeks, the 7" monitor will be added to the Concord setup.

My BIGGEST BeeF with the Icom 7000 is that it runs VERY HoT.  Unlike the onsite FT-1000mp which can run 100w full-duty RTTY, at best, the 7000 should run only 50 watts; for more power an external amplifier should be utilized.  Instead, with its AWEsome DSP and over 500 memories the 7000 has been currently reassigned as an excellent SWL receiver in Concord.

While it is a shame the Icom 7000 is no longer manufactured, the radio can easily be found for sale online.  The Icom radio is so feature-packed, make sure your purchase includes the extremely well-written equipment operation manual.  Purchasing a NIFTY Quick Reference guide is also a good investment.

My love affair with the Icom 7000 is nearly 13 years and still going strong.

Do YOU own an Icom 7000?
Are YOU having an affair?

BLAST from the Past: External Audio Filters I have Known

Over the last 50 years a gradual transition has taken place inside the transceiver end of things
as BOTH transmit and receive audio processing shifts from analog to digital, and even a hybrid combination of the two technologies.  Always on the lookout for the "ultimate" in signal-copying solutions without investing $10k to get there has prompted me to consider external audio filtering
as a viable solution.

It does not matter how much power
I run, or, how Super-Duper the antenna system is, if signals on the receive end are unintelligible, quality point-to-point communication is all but impossible.


During simple ragchewing, compromised signal intelligibility can be tolerated to some degree.  In radiosport, primo-intelligibility is why so much money is invested in transceivers with the latest Doop-de-Doop DSP circuits built-in. 


For those of us with a more limited budget, external audio filters are frequently almost as effective as the built-in IF-based filters found in the $5k+ to $7k+ radios.  Not only is my radio budget somewhat limited, on the other end of the spectrum I like to experiment with ad-Hoc equipment configurations;
if one configuration doesn't work as hoped, sometimes all that is needed is to swap the equipment into a different configuration to achieve a more effective result.

Additionally, because I absolutely love to knob-twiddle, external filters completely satisfy that
knob-twiddle need; and, I don't have to feel guilty for spending $5,200 or more to make it all happen. 

As you can see, the above graphic illustrates the variety of different filter combinations I have made use of over the last 15 years.  What to me is amazing is the fact that I still possess all of the above-listed filters, while the TS-50, TS-450, FT-900 and FT-920 have all moved on to other venues. 

I have yet to test-run the English Datong analog filters, or the highly coveted TimeWave DSP filters. 
If you are aware of any of these devices available for chump-change, lemme know.

In recent years I have written up the various filter combinations attempted during a myriad of different Cw, Ssb & RTTY contests.  To make things easier, I recently posted a Blog that made a reference to these write ups.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

The first external audio filter I ever encountered was the [then] JPS NIR-12 External DSP unit. 

It's not surprising that JPS biggest customers were/is the military; the NIR-12 weighs several pounds and is all but bullet proof.  My only issue with the NIR-12 is that those 2 large DSP chips generate a LoT of heat.  I have currently pulled the NIR-12 from active service to add a dual-fan cooling system under the hood, made with the fans rescued from a repurposed laptop cooler.

The NIR-12 makes an Excellent DSP add-on for the FT-1000mp sub-RX.  The eDSP unit in the Yaesu radio works only with the Main-RX; the sub-RX is relatively wide-open.  The NIR-12 adds adjustable selectivity, dynamic signal peaking, digital noise reduction (DNR) and an Auto-notch filter (DNF) to
the sub-RX, all on par with the main-RX's built-in eDSP.

Sometime later a pair of MFJ-752 (a Model B and a Model C) "Signal Enhancer II" filters were found on eBay for chump change.  Descended from the original Signal Enhancer - the MFJ-751, the 752 units provide reasonable results, altho the peak filtering was never quite what I hoped it would be.  Then again, used in manual notch filter mode, the MFJ-752 performs rather admirably.

Out of frustration, an experiment was undertaken to cascade the MFJ-752C into the JPS NIR-12.  While that configuration worked alright, the major benefit came from the NIR-12, not the MFJ-752.  What was needed was the CW filtering capabilities of the NIR-12 without having to cascade the

entire JPS unit to get it.

Remembering that an old CWF-2 filter was languishing in storage, a project was undertaken

to move the circuit card from the CWF-2 into the MFJ-752B (leaving the 752C intact for further experimentation).  While this was certainly an improvement, it wasn't long before a pair of Autek

QF-1A's made their way to the operating position, one for each of the receivers in the FT-1000mp, bumping the 752's to the back of the storage cabinet.

If you have been following the WQ6X contest Blog over the years, you know that I've become
quite enamored with the Autek QF-1A filter; so much so that I now own 4 QF-1A units: 2 for remote access to Fallbrook from Alameda and 2 in permanent operation @W7AYT.  Evolved from the original QF-1 filter, the 1A provides a significant improvement in performance. 

While the MFJ-752 and QF-1A units are functionally similar, the QF-1A peak and notch filter circuits are far superior.  The 40+ year old Autek QF-1A audio filter is more functional than most built-in APF filters found in transceivers from that design period.  I personally appreciate the built-in power supply in the QF-1A; no need to search for a 12-volt source.  One of the 4 QF-1A's has been modified to provide power for the MFJ-752's and an MFJ-751 that I stumbled onto last year.

The next progression came from removing the 752-C and replacing it with the NIR-12 cascaded
after the QF1-A in the FT-1000mp's sub-RX audio line.  Variations of this combination have been in use for nearly a year until recently when an MFJ-784 DSP was brought in, temporarily replacing the NIR-12.  The MFJ-784 has been languishing in storage for years, motivating me to search for a .Pdf operation manual.  The MFJ-784 is nearly twice the size of the NIR-12 however with an aluminum chassis (instead of steel) it weighs about 1/2 as much.

Unlike the MFJ-752 or even the Autek QF-1A (both analog filters), the MFJ-784 is TRULY a fully

functioned DSP unit.  To get the most out of the MFJ-784 several read-thru's of the instruction manual was required.  The concept of "storing" DSP settings is new to me and required a bit of imagination to wrap my brain around it.  Compared to the NIR-12's noise reduction circuits, the 784's noise reduction capability is Truly AWEsome; even surpassing (in my experience) the main-RX's eDSP DNR circuit in the FT-1000mp.

I am not used to seeing an audio-AGC circuit; however compared to the NIR-12's DYN-Peaking, the AGC is incredible; almost too good.  It is easy to overload the MFJ-784 causing distortion; especially with the AGC enabled.  The solution of course is to back off the transceiver receive audio.  Because receive audio is currently routed through a ROCKVILLE 4-channel stereo mixer @W7AYT, audio to/from the 784 is easily adjusted for the most effective DSP action.

During the German DRCG RTTY contest, work commitments kept me in Alameda the entire weekend.  This offered up the opportunity to test-run the MFJ-751 with the Autek QF-1A filters evaluating unit compatibility.  You may remember the center-channel concept in stereo audio, configuring a 3rd speaker between the Left and Right channels.  I am experimenting with a similar idea using a 3rd audio filter between the outer two.  When the concept has been properly and thoroughly tested, I will write it up as part of this series.

As you can see, I have a love of external audio filters and the signal-recovery rescue they can provide.  In addition to giving me more knobs to twiddle, the ability to pick signals out of the oblivion
is truly AMAZING.

Do YOU make use of external audio filters, Analog or DSP?

What combinations do YOU use?

WQ6X & N6ERD Run DRCG RTTY to a Fabulous Finish

The German DRCG RTTY contest is relatively new to me.  The DRCG contest follows an 8-Hours on 8-Hours  off time format, which is twice-repeated.  This gives the single-OP operator the opportunity to keep the doctor happy by getting a full 8 hours rest in between operating shifts.  Out of 40 hours clock time, we are allowed to operate for 24 of those hours.

My Biofeedback client schedule in my Alameda office kept me in Alameda all weekend, requiring that I run NX6T's STN-1 remotely from Alameda as well using the RCForb software to run the K3-radio on the other end and VNC Viewer to run N1MM+ on STN-1's DELL Inspiron laptop. 

Running from Alameda also gave me the opportunity to test-run an old analog MFJ-751 Signal Enhancer in conjunction with the pair of Autek QF-1A filters designated for use in the Alameda operation.

So many different "little things" needed to be done in order to get started, NX6T was nearly an hour late getting down to the action.  20-meters was somewhat open to Europe, at least in the beginning.  Probably the MUF was quickly headed below 14-Mhz, taking the band out more rapidly than I had hoped.  After 46 QSOs it was time to move on down to 40 meters and eventually a brief look at 80.  For this contest 80-meter activity was quite a disappointment.

Hoping for a useful opening to Asia,
the Shorty-40 yagi was turned to ~315 degrees and a listen was made on ~7.039 for the Russian Letter beacons
I have written so much about recently.

On Friday evening, only the M & K beacons were heard, which would explain why no Chinese stations were heard in the DRCG contest; in fact NO Asian QSOs were made Friday evening.  Saturday evening @09:30z only the 2 beacons were heard; then, 30 minutes later the F-beacon made its way thru the noise, altho still no Chinese stations were heard.  The usual panoply of JA stations made it into the log, including: 7L4IOU, JH6QIL, JR1NHD, JH3WKE, JA1PCM, JA1SJV, JA1AYO, JH4UTP, JA2HYD, JA7MAD & 7N2UQC.  Somehow R0JD slipped through as the only 49-meter Asiatic-Russian station in the NX6T log. 

Because the 1st-leg of the contest was over @08:00z (1am), I was spared the usual intentional QRM that usually happens on 40-meters around 10:00z.  Saturday morning I began operations @16:20 on 20 meters running frequencies and S&P'ing. 

At exactly 18:15z what I will call a "data heckler" showed up on the 14104.04 run frequency. 
After every CQ call, this idiot would send a burst of random data.  Moving back and forth between 14104.04 & 14104.24, this ding-dong would leap-frog with me.  When a move was made to 14083.83, the QRM stopped; possibly his antenna had such a high-Q that the move to 14083 took the SWR over the top.  I shake my head in amazement over these intentional QRM Dingle-dorks.

Saturday evening looking for an open frequency to call CQ, 7042.42 seemed to qualify as open. 
As soon as the first CQ DRCG Contest call was made and spotted by the SDR skimmers, a swarm
of FT8 stations surrounded the run frequency.  Several opened up EXACTLY on the RTTY Mark-frequency.  When I stopped calling they stopped QRMing, making their intentionality quite clear.  When I resumed the CQ, so did the QRM.  Message received: get out of THEIR neighborhood.

Moving to 7052.52 the run frequency was wide open until exactly 10:10z when Asian Ssb stations moved 200hz away making RTTY operation all but impossible.  I was grateful when Dan, N6ERD made the scene exactly at 11:00z freeing me from all the pandemonium.

It turns out, from the DRCG standpoint, 40-meters was largely worked out.  At 12:00z Dan found that 20-meters was already open to Asia and South America (with a taste of EU thrown in).  Amazingly, at 15:00z a 15-meter opening was discovered and exploited until 15:35 when Dan made it back to 20-meters to wrap up the contest.

When it was all over I logged back in to STN-1 to capture all the relevant contest stats and produce a Cabrillo file for e-Mailing to the DRCG contest committee after first posting our score to the 3830 Scores website.

Did YOU work the German DRCG RTTY contest?

Is NX6T in YOUR LoG?

What should I Do during Radiosport Downtime?

As you know, I am in Love and that Love includes the world of Radiosport.  For me, when

life is moving along quite nicely, all the different aspects of my world feel more in alignment. 
How do I know when it all lines up?  I've often said: "FEEDBACK: It's Allll About FEEDBACK!"

In Radiosport we know IMMEDIATELY whether or not we are "in the groove": is the QSO-Rate
UP? or Down?  Are unnecessary repeats necessary?  Are we on the "right" Band? Etc.  Based
on our interpretation of operating Feedback, a GooD radiosport operator makes adjustments to
their operating-style, accommodating that short-term shift in contest conditions.

In short: we LIVE for the feeling of Connectedness we Experience from an intense radiosport operating-period during a contest; and, hopefully, there will be several throughout
the weekend.

However, what do we do with ourselves in between contest GiG periods?  While catching up on
sleep is always a GooD thing, there are all kinds of things that can be done in preparation for the
next event.  Off the top of my head, some ideas which come to mind include:

• Test run new Filter options for BOTH IF-Based & AF-Based filtering
• Inspect, modify and implement NEW antenna configurations.
• Inspect/update/modify the current equipment configuration.
• Listen to SWBC and Utility station transmissions to gain a greater
  practical understanding of propagation to/from your contest location.
• Study propagation reports.
• Study past contest results.
• Test all contest software macros and verify memory/DVR content.
• Test-run "new" logging software features you've been curious about.
• Make a Band Plan for upcoming contest events.
• Practice operating technique improvement.
• Do a LoT of listening around the bands several days in advance
  of a contest weekend to get a feel for what band conditions will
  hopefully be like.

For Part 1 of this BLOG Series, I'm going to focus on the audio end of things.



TEST-RUNNING EXTERNAL AUDIO FILTERS
I am a knob-twiddler - I love to twiddle knobs during radio sport contests; not only to improve signal-copying quality, but also to alleviate boredom (or as I sometimes call it BoreDumb).  Over the years
I have happened on to a myriad of external audio filters, putting them in several [often] cascading configurations.  To make sense of all the experimentation BLOG entries have been written about
what was done and often what the results were.

In between contest events I am often test-running a number of different IF/AF filter

combinations to improve operator performance in the next radiosport GiG.  Because they

usually require no modification to my FT-1000mp, I have been fascinated by the myriad

of different audio filter combinations that can be integrated with the average transceiver. 

Over the last 3+ years, I have written a series of articles about this, including:

• [x] - WQ6X SOUND PROCESSING: Stereo-CW - it's EASIER than You Think
• [x] - Some Further Thoughts regarding Stereo CW
• [x] - Q-Filtering for Fun and Profit
• [x] - Q-Filtering for Fun and Profit - Part 2: What I've Learned So Far
• [x] - Q-Filtering for Fun and Profit - Part 3: The Journey Continues
• [x] - The DR. Validates Cascading Filters
• [x] - WQ6X SOUND PROCESSING: Maximizing the Art of Experimentation
• [x] - WQ6X SOUND PROCESSING: SOUNDING OFF about SOUND
• [x] - Analog or Digital Audio - Which should we choose?

Currently (June 2020) an MFJ-784 super DSP filter has been added to the portable setup at W7AYT.  The 784 was originally tested in Alameda to enhance SDR receiver audio while listening for Russian Letter beacons with the Dutch SDR receiver.  Like the Autek QF-1A analog filter, the MFJ-784 DSP
is highly underrated and therefore unappreciated.  In preparation for the upcoming All Asian Cw contest, cascading these two filters seems like the thing to do.

What preparations do YOU make for upcoming radiosport events.

Do YOU Experiment with external filtering systems?

Tell me about it.

BLASTS from the Past: The CQ W.W. Cw Contest

In reviewing previous "Blast from the Past" Blog Entries, it was noticed that the CQ W.W. DX contest has not been given a retrospective.  This Blog entry is a step towards remedying that oversight.  LooKing back, my serious participation this event goes all the way back to 2011, altho the CQ W.W. Cw event wasn't documented until 2013.  I recently wrote up the CQ W.W. Ssb contest. 
[CLICK HERE] to read that.  For the Cw GiGs, according to the WQ6X Contest Blog, these are
the events WQ6X has participated in:

• [-] - 2011 -WQ6X SOABLP - 7th-place W6
• [-] - 2012 - NX6T SOABLP(A) - 7th-place W6
• [x] - 2013 - NX6T - Multi-2 - 1st-Place W6
• [x] - 2014 - N6GEO Multi-Single - 2nd-place W6
• [x] - 2015 - WQ6X SOABLP - Didn't place very high
• [x] - 2016 - WQ6X SOSB(A)/40 LP - 1st-place W6, #3 USA, #5 NA, #10 WW
• [x] - 2017 - WQ6X SO(A)/40 HP - 1st-place W6, #3 USA, #5 NA, #59 WW
• [x] - 2018 - WQ6X SOABLP - Didn't place very high
• [x] - 2019 - WQ6X Works another Wiley Wonderful World-wide Contest
  Multi-2 - 1st-Place W6

While there are only 5 BiG wins in the CQ W. W. Cw GiG, they are all memorable;

especially when you consider the obstacles up against in each of the events.
The events span a period of 9 years and therefore several different periods in Solar Sunspot Cycle.

Operations were made from 2 portable locations in Alameda, NX6T and a remote operation from the Clarion Hotel in the SF East Bay.  Although each of these operations were quite different, individually they represented leveraging often marginal equipment setups, all good experience for emergency preparedness.

Do YOU work the CQ W.W. Cw contests?

Is WQ6X, N6GEO and NX6T in YOUR Logs?

BLASTS from the Past: The CQ W.W. Ssb Contest

In reviewing previous "Blast from the Past" Blog Entries, it was noticed that the CQ W.W. DX contest has not been given a retrospective.  This Blog entry is a step towards remedying that oversight.  LooKing back, my serious participation this event goes all the way back to 2011, altho the CQ W.W. Ssb event wasn't documented until 2013.  According to the WQ6X Contest Blog, these are the events WQ6X has participated in:

• [-] - 2011 -WQ6X SOABLP - 33rd-place W6
• [-] - 2012 - NX6T Multi-Single - 3rd-place W6
• [x] - 2014 - WQ6X Multi-Single w/N6GEO -1st-place W6
• [x] - 2015 - WQ6X Runs CQ WW Contest Solo from NX6T
  1st-W6, 2nd-USA, 2nd-NA, 14th WW
• [x] - 2016 - WQ6X operates the CQ W.W. Contest that BARELY happened
  SOSB(A)/10 LP  - 1st-W6, 2nd-USA, 2nd-NA, 6th WW
• [x] - 2018 - WQ6X Wanders thru another CQ W.W. SSB contest weekend at NX6T
  2nd-Place W6
• [x] - 2019 - WQ6X Teams Up w/NX6T for Triple Team Training - Multi-2 1st-Place for W6

While there are only 5 BiG wins in the CQ W. W. Ssb GiG, they are all memorable;

especially when you consider the obstacles up against in each of the events.  The events span a period of 9 years and therefore several different periods in Solar Sunspot Cycle.

Operations were made from the W7AYT, N6GEO and NX6T QTH's, as well as a remote operation from the Clarion Hotel in the SF East Bay.  Although each of these operations were quite different, individually they represented leveraging often marginal equipment setups, all good experience for emergency preparedness.

Do YOU work the CQ W.W. Ssb contests?

Is WQ6X, N6GEO and NX6T in YOUR Logs?

WQ6X Dual-OPs another WPX Cw Contest

While WPX Cw contests are ALWAYS the last weekend of May, usually that coincides with
Labor Day weekend; which THIS year preceded the WPX GiG.  Because more people were indoors during the weekend, there was an apparent and obvious increase in the number of
entrants for the CQ Weird Prefix Contest - works for me.  I recently wrote a Blast from the
Past Blog about this event - [CLICK HERE] to review that.

Altho the Solar Flux (SFI) was still in nowhere land, it was surprising to actually find and/or create openings on 10-meters.  You've heard me say, "if everybody is listening and nobody's transmitting, the band will appear to be dead".  This weekend, because we were running as a Multi-2 operation, having an aggressive CQ Caller and an assertive Search & Pounce operator, multiple hourly-goals were accomplished throughout the 48 hours.

Most of this weekend's operation was run remotely, as it increasingly
is being done worldwide. 

However for Robert (K4RB), it was largely business as usual as he managed B-i-C (Butt-in-Chair) both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

In years past when I was the B-i-C nightshift operator, K4RB would relieve me around 7:30am, bringing an Egg McMuffin or a Breakfast Jack for a before-bedtime snack at 8am.


Some OPs are day people and some OPs (me) prefer the quiet and intimacy of the after-midnight shift.  While I miss the B-i-C moments @NX6T, I DON'T miss the 10 hour drive from the SF bay area to Fallbrook; altho a 12 hour train ride can be an enjoyable warm-up to operating when I don't feel like driving. 

Conversely, remaining in the bay area allows me the capability of dual-OP'ing contests such as
the WPX, enabling the opportunity to be a part of TWO weird prefixes in the Weird Prefix contest. 
For 2020 I found the opportunity to dual-OP both WPX GiGs (Cw and Ssb).  With the recently revamped station setup @W7AYT, dual operating (by way of the Elecraft K3/0) occurred near-flawlessly, altho short internet dropouts clipped Cw characters, requiring an unfortunate number
of repeats.  It's frustrating asking an S9+ station for several repeats because the internet chops
their otherwise loud signals.

The Score difference between NX6T and WQ6X was of course quite dramatic.  However in
BOTH cases I was amazed to make QSOs on 10 meters for both operations.  For NX6T I used
the 14mh Stepp-IR and 1400 watts to make 34 QSOs.  For WQ6X it was 100 watts into a 10mh
3-el Long John yagi to make 13 QSOs.

For WPX, contacts in other countries are often worth 6-points apiece (not to mention the new multiplier value for individual prefixes).  It was amazing to hear from other W6 operators that they heard/worked very few JA multipliers.  We put dozens of Asian stations in the log; most specifically
on 40-meters after midnight both evenings.  Am I missing something?

One of the ways to notice Asia band openings on 40 meters is by way of the Russian Letter
beacons on ~7.039.  I've recently written about these beacons:

• [x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons?
• [x] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

When it was all over, the 3830 stats showed a surprising result.  It would seem that:

• NX6T spent 42 hours amassing a 6.5-million point score placing 12th-place worldwide,
  7th-place for N. America, 6th-place for USA, 2nd-place for Zone 3 and 1st-place for W6.
  
• WQ6X spent only 8 hours on the air and from that amassed a nearly 5-k point 40-meter score placing 5th-place worldwide, 2nd-place for N. America, 2nd-place for USA, 1st-place
  for Zone 3 and 1st-place for W6.
  

DiD YOU work the Weird Prefix WPX Contest?

Is both NX6T and WQ6X in YOUR Log?

Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

When I wrote Part 1 of this recent BLOG topic, it certainly didn't occur to me that I would have so much more to say about it so soon.  It would seem that this is the fourth installment of my [seemingly] random thoughts on the Russian Single Letter Beacons (SLB's).

As reported in last week's 3rd post, the Kamchatsky "K" beacon has been recently observed altering its transmission ID, for at least a 3rd time in less than a month.  This weekend's observation got me to wondering what else may be going on with regard to this beacon network.

Saturday evening while listening on 7.039 for the "F", "K" & "M" Asian beacons, I almost missed

the "K" beacon because its format was even more different than I've ever heard it.  In the previous BLOG installment I raised the question of whether the Russian beacons run completely unattended, or are they in some way easily manipulated by human operators.  With the "K" beacon, someone is obviously changing the transmission content.

While considering material for this Blog entry, I checked out the beacon frequency list documented
in the previous Blog ([Click Here] to see it.)  I wondered what the Russian Letter beacons must sound like in Europe.  Remembering there is an SDR receiver in the Netherlands, it made sense to make
use of it's prime European location.

As shown in this Blog's opening graphic, the EU beacons were not hearable @NX6T and the
Asian beacons could not be heard in Europe.  In many respects, this observation was not surprising.  However what DiD surprise me was hearing a signal on the 7.039 channel not documented on any of the websites.  What was heard repeated over and over again was:
          "V V V  V V V  V V V  DE FDE2  FDE2 FDE2 AR" - [CLICK HERE] to hear this station.
What is THIS all about?  Some sort of traffic marker?  The station never stops the repeated transmission, nor does it transmit anything else.  There is no indication of QSX (listening for a
calling station).  Is this JUST another beacon?  Or, is there more to this station than just marking
a frequency?

As it turns out, it is a good thing a recording was made of the FDE2 - 3+ days later it is no longer heard on the ~7.039 frequency.  My observation suggests that FDE2 was deliberately run on that frequency and for whatever reason, the transmission was deliberately ended.

The more I learn about these Russian Single Letter Beacons, the more there is to learn. 
In the meantime, while these beacons seem to be used by Russians for propagation purposes,
they are also valuable to radio amateurs for the same purpose.

For the next part of this BLOG series, I'm going to listen in from other SDR receivers around the
globe to get a better understanding of how to leverage this free beacon resource.

Do YOU make use of the Single Letter Beacons?

What have YOU learned?