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.