WQ6X Works the WEIRDEST September Radiosport Weekend EVER!

SO There I WUZ.....

Coming into this last weekend, I was getting a little bored w/the monotony of certain kinds of radiosport activities (namely, poorly represented state QSO parties) and looking for some variety; altho in all honesty, I was rather vague about what that meant.  When your request(s) are [too] vague, don't be surprised by the seeming-chaos that occurs as a result.  This weekend couldn't have been any more weird; or could it.  (As I begin writing this, the weekend is hardly over.)

Unlike major event weekends (like Dx, WPX or Sweepstakes GiGs), September is littered with a dozen more-or-less 12-hour contests (with an occasional 24-hour GiG thrown in).  This weekend began with the Scandinavian CW contest (SAC), altho I didn't know it at the time. 
Ending up on the activation list was:

• [x]All Africa International DX Contest
• [x]Scandinavian Activity Contest, CW
• [x]IOWA QSO Party
• [x]New Jersey QSO Party
• [x]New Hampshire QSO Party
• [x]Washington State Salmon Run (QSO Party)
• [x]NA Sprint RTTY Contest

All Africa is lined out because no African stations were heard.  NJQP is lined out because
hearing only ONE station in my mind hardly qualifies as worthy of my time.  The 11 QSOs
with New Hampshire was way mo'bettah.  Ironically, K2PWS (running Fallbrook's STN-2)
made a reasonable number of NJ QSOS.  I guess you just gotta know when/where to look.

It was late Saturday when I discovered the SAC GiG on the calendar and enjoyed the solace
found by pointing the C-31 and Shorty-40 yagi's to about 18-degrees and being rewarded by
a flock of Scandinavian stations.

Every month, CQ magazine documents operating awards you've prolly never heard of, which you

can qualify for; if only you can find stations w/oddball callsigns in some rather obscure geographical areas.  For this weekend the Scandinavian Cw contest offered that with station calls containing
a single suffix-letter; such as LN8W, SC3A, SE5E, SJ2W, SM6M, SM0T, OG7A, OG6N, OH8L, OH0T, OH7K, OH7R, OH1F & OH8X, (almost as notable as WQ6X).  Outside of this, Saturday manifested discombobulated weirdness from the minute I rolled out of bed into the radio shack.

Throughout the day, N1MM+ was doing weird things.  In the middle of the SAC Cw contest,
the QSO # would somehow get set to 50 (with only 10 QSOs in the log), requiring a rescore of
the log which would set it back to its real number.  N1MM station interaction was a problem adding stations logged from STN-2 into the STN-1 log.  Somehow I resolved that problem but don't know how.

Somehow, while K2PWS was looking around on 40 meters, by accident, instead of switching to 20 meters, I made a switch to 40 and instantly STOLE AWAY the antenna (STN-2 immediately went dead).  We used to have a 1st-come-1st served lockout mechanism.  That was when I discovered
that a new lockout box had been installed on STN-1, giving it lockout priority - WRONG.  We had
to use cellphone communication to coordinate band changes until STN-2 went QRT in time for
the RTTY Sprint contest.

The RTTY Sprint contest was a lot of fun altho the participation level seemed much less than
what I am used to and what I was expecting.  Because the CW Sprint (last weekend) was a 4-hour pandemonium, I expected much the same with RTTY - Nope.   The decision was made to dial the Expert 2-K amp down to about 585 watts, keeping the shack temperature at a reasonably cool level.

An attempt to put together a Team for SCCC ended up with only N6ZFO and WQ6X in competition with some serious contenders.  When it was all over, WQ6X took a 4th-place for CA and 14th-place across the USA.

After the RTTY Sprint GiG was over I took a short break and then divided the remaining 3 hours between looking for SAC stations and putting S-R (Salmon Run) stations into the log until the S-R ending time of 07:00z.  Luckily we got a 2nd-shot at the NHQP and the Salmon Run on Sunday.

While I normally do not call CQ for other-state QSO parties, after running out of stations to
work Sunday afternoon, the decision was made to give CQ a call on 40/20 Cw and even 40 Ssb,
which is how I ended the Salmon Run.  As a result, 31 QSOs and 5 new counties made it to the log. 
WQ6X worked 37 of the 39 Washington counties; not bad for inventing things as I go.


You know the old saying, "It ain't over until the paper work is filed".  In addition to running 6 contest events this weekend, afterwards 6 posts to the 3830 Scores website were required as well as the submission of 6 logs.  Some were submitted via e-mail, while other logs were allowed to be uploaded online. 

Yes, I even submitted the 1-QSO NJQP Log. 
I learned a long time ago to submit EVERY log. 
The contest hosts really appreciate it and sometimes
(if no one else submits a log in my category), WQ6X wins a 1st-place certificate for California, or more.

For the 2016 7QP QSO party I received the coveted 1st-Place (outside of 7th call area) plaque.  Evidently when others saw how I quietly walked away with the 7QP plaque, since then competition has been fierce.


While this weekend was full of difficulties and unfortunate surprises, making it all work is
what radiosport is all about.  Somehow we always rise to the occasion.  After I shut it all down,
N6KI drove up the Fallbrook hill to NX6T and made a number of quick hardware configuration adjustments (including reinstating the old lockout box) and then put things nicely to bed.

DiD YOU work any of the radiosport GiGs this weekend?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?