BLAST from the Past: Memories of Marconi Memorial

As the July 4th weekend nears, I am gearing up for my 3rd entry into the Marconi Memorial Cw contest, along with the DL-Dx RTTY Contest GiG.  While these European-based radiosport GiGs are relatively new to me, what brings me back is the relative ease in making it all happen in 2018 & 2019, even taking a Single Band-40 1st-place in last year's Marconi event.

Here is what I originally wrote about the Marconi Memorial (MM) and DL-Dx Contests:

• [x] - WQ6X Runs another DL-Dx RTTY & Marconi Memorial Contest Weekend
• [x] - WQ6X Dabbles in Marconi Memorial & DL-DX RTTY Contest

In both events, the QSO totals were disappointingly low.  In fact, during the 2019 DL-Dx GiG,
no German stations ever made it to the log; not that the bands weren't open to Europe. 
What good is a European opening, when no one in Europe is participating in their own
contest?!  (I have the same complaint with State QSO Parties - except CQP of course).

Because more people are staying indoors worldwide, I am postulating that there will be an EXCESS of operators on the air during BOTH of these radiosport events.  Now is NoT the time to be staring at a powered-off radio.  Now is the opportunity to use these two radiosport GiGs as a way to check out your amateur station performance.

The above picture from my Alameda remote-operating location shows the latest audio filter combination being test-run: an Autek-QF-1A for the left ear and a QF-1A cascading into an old MFJ-751 (the single-filter predecessor to the MFJ-752 series).  While the 751 will probably never make it to the Concord portable operation, running cascade from the RCForb radio-control software
is better than running wide-open.

At least we have quiet geomagnetosphere for
this weekend.  While the WHOPPING SFI of 70
isn't much, indications are 20/40 will be the bands to pay attention to.

While in Concord, I will
be putting the ICOM 7000 (used during FD) back in operation @W7AYT's QTH, allowing me to troubleshoot its COM2 radio keying problems.

Overall, the ICOM 7000
is an Excellent CW performing radio.


Do YOU anticipate operating in the Marconi Memorial and/or DL-Dx RTTY GiGs this weekend?

LooK for NX6T and/or WQ6X on BOTCH Cw and RTTY.