WQ6X Joins NX6T for another CQ W.W. Ssb Contest

Ad-HOC wise, radiosport doesn't get
any more ad-HOC than this weekend.  The 48 hour Contest weekend brought us the CQ W.W. Dx GiG - complete
with crowded band pandemonium.

While plagued by space-WX anomalies throughout the long weekend, dogged persistence allowed our four operators
to conduct a more than reasonable operation - all remotely - from Fallbrook.

Work requirements kept me in Alameda relegating use of RCForb radio control software along with the VNC viewer to run the WINTEST program remotely.

We ran the usual bevy of Elecraft K3's & K3/0's into a KPA-1500 (STN-1) and an Expert 2-K (STN-2).  Functionally, the antennas were functional, except on Sunday when an erratic 6-Pack switch box caused the 3-element Stepp-IR yagi to report high SWR when switching over to the antenna on
15 meters.  It was too early for N6KI to be productive on 40, leaving me to run 20, 15 & 10 all
alone; using the C-31 yagi allowed for instant band change.

Despite the horrible space-WX this weekend, a number of reasonably-excellent band openings occurred on 10, 15 & even 160 meters. With the Solar Flux (SFI) consistently around 74, we are CLEARLY on the way up into Solar Cycle 25 (and yes, I've said this for nearly 3 years now). 
From my experience, more solar storms are experienced when the SFI is moving up than
when it moves down; either temporarily, or at the end of a solar cycle.

While I spent considerable focus on South America, that is only because there were band
openings to South America.  My only regret is that running remotely, RCForb would error out
anytime I attempted to trip the vox, making it impossible to run a frequency.  The weekend
in Alameda was spent engaging in an elaborate Search & Pounce (S&P) playing back DVK
(Digital Voice Keyer) files to run the radio.

When all of the equipment and internet connection are in top form, running NX6T at night is an overall exciting affair; with a unique feeling of aliveness.  A thrill is experienced from being able to control a radio 455 miles away.  

Sometimes in Concord I will monitor
an NX6T run frequency as WQ6X in
the bay area, giving me a perspective
on how others hear the NX6T signal.
Likewise, LooKing for WQ6X by
listening remotely is very telling.

One evening during an ad-HOC 75-meter ragchew with another Concord amateur, I connected to Station-1 in Fallbrook for listening to our signals, as well as others  with us on the frequency.

Another way to get a listen to your signal is by way of one-or-more remote SDR receivers scattered about the geographical globe.  The WEBSDR Website can take you into this exciting remote world.  When I was looking further into the Russian Military Beacons, I used several SDR's to get a better triangulation on signal levels.  Running a General Web Search brings you even more options.

Looking for 10-meter openings on Sunday led me to sweep thru the 28.200 - 28.300 beacon area listening for propagation clues.  As the radio was tuned up into the phone band, at 16:18z, out of nowhere (on 28.343) I encountered a CW QSO (I KiD you NoT) between WB6ZFG and K6GVG
(altho I only heard the K6GVG end of it).  

Today, running the numbers thru my calcutator, it would seem that 28.343 is the 4th harmonic of 7.086; not an unusual frequency to be ragchewing on at 9:20 in the morning.  Looking up Roy's callsign on QRZ.Com, it seems he is running a contemporary (but classic) ICOM-7610. 
I guess when we are just a hill or two apart, harmonics or overloads happen. 
I sent him an e-mail letting him know what I heard.

Also weird was seeing a spot (@16:18z on 3.796.11) for BY2RADAR.  Right next to it was a flood
of what was CLEARLY RTTY Data; certainly NoT RaDaR.  Have you ever encountered this before?

Based on the 3830Scores report for Mulit-2 operations, it would seem that NX6T is at the bottom of the heap; alto we took 2nd-place for Zone-3 and 1st-Place for W6 - NoT too shabby considering that we were ad-HOC'ing it all the way.

Did YOU participate in the CQ W.W. Ssb contest?

Is NX6T in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Fudges another WEIRD October Contest Weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Last weekend brought a number of divergent contest activities including:

•  [x] - The JARTS RTTY Contest - run as both NX6T & WQ6X.
•  [x] - The nearly non-existent NYQP event - 1 Ssb QSO for NX6T.
  
•  [x] - The Stew Perry 160 contest - run as both NX6T and briefly as WQ6X.
  
•  [x] - The Worked All Germany (WAG) Contest which I DiD NoT have time
           to figure out.
  
•  [x] - The Illinois QSO Party - run as both NX6T & WQ6X.
  

There were other operating events happening throughout the weekend that not officially being contests, were not listed on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar; including a Cw event known as
"SSS" and an event for contest clubs in New Jersey who would sign their call with a /NN indicating how many years they have been a contest club member.  An example would be W2XYZ/34 - an op with 34 years as a club member.

For WQ6X, this was one of those on-again, off-again contest weekends.  The original idea was to
run the JARTS RTTY contest from W7AYT's QTH in Concord.  Due to work commitments, operations from Concord would not happen until Saturday afternoon.  Not wanting to miss 18 hours of operating time, the plan was to run remotely from Alameda on Friday evening and the rest of the weekend could be run from Concord; except, STN-1 w/RCForb is down and STN-2 doesn't have RCForb installed - Oh what to do.

It occurred to me that being a RTTY contest, audio is NoT necessary on the remote end, as long
as I can see the RTTY decoder screen.  The decision was made to run the Alameda portion of the JARTS contest via VNC Viewer alone.  To do this required Axel (KI6RRN) to make a K3/0 connection to the radio setting the power levels for each band and "manually" adjusting the passband shift/width controls accommodating GooD copy RTTY.  Axel was my on-call control operator should that be required.  At midnight he handed over the on-call duties to N6KI.

 

As it turns out, things ran flawlessly during the Alameda leg of the weekend. 
Because I had no access to a tuning knob, I ran frequencies most of the time; except
when the lure of a juicy multiplier made its appearance.  It's a WEIRD Experience to tune
a station in by typing in decimal-point frequency changes.  Then again...... Whatever Works!

Over the years, RTTY contests have become quite a favorite.  Ssb contests can exact a toll on my voice and Cw requires me to copy code; running remote, a spotty internet connection can make this EXTREMELY Difficult, requiring NUMEROUS Repeats.

With RTTY, while the internet connection may "hiccup" frequently, decoded data is "waiting" to be shown when the internet connection resumes proper operation.  Having an effectively-complex audio-line setup allows the inclusion of Jazz/Classical music streams from my Pandora account (the best $48/yr I've ever spent).  With music in the background, I rarely get bored, even when the QSO rate drops considerably.

Indirectly, this weekend became another re-cabling weekend.  Brought back into service is a specially Mod'd MFJ-752b (to which was added an old MFJ CW-1 filter internally).  This has led me to roll out
a new Blog Entry on Rolling Your Own Audio.  We are so enamored w/built-in DSP's in our radios,
we neglect to consider that sometimes analog is STILL the way to Go. 
I even wrote a BLOG entry about this.

Monday evening, listening and ragchewing on 75-meters, we were plagued with low-level
but grating QRN.  Running split audio, the MFJ-784 cleaned up the Left-ear Experience. 
For the Right-ear, it gets a little complicated.  Earlier DSP radios (like my 1999 Yaesu FT-1000mp) have a caveat; the eDSP circuits are wired ONLY for the Main-RX audio path; the Sub-Rx is usually relatively wide-open.

While running the 5 contests 3-ways last weekend was WEIRD, all that matters is that the operations occurred.  Introducing new audio configurations for trial-run simply made this multi-faceted and more productive.  What about YOU?

DiD YOU have a protective radiosport weekend?

Is WQ6X and/or NX6T in YOUR LoGs?

WQ6X Dabbles in a "Little Bit of Everything" Radiosport Weekend

You've may well have heard me say "When in Doubt - CHEAT! (but within the rules)";
I even wrote a BLOG about that.  Having remote access to NX6T offers me the opportunity to
run one-or-more contest events remotely (as NX6T) and locally from Concord (as WQ6X or K6C).
There is no rule against my being a part of more than one radio operation during a given weekend;
as long as the activities remain separate and NoT Intertwined in any way, of course.

As it turns out, this weekend required a Bit of Everything.  The original operating goal was to stay
in Alameda and catch up on some work while slipping in hours of operating time, from time-to-time. 
A text message from N6KI late Wednesday evening washed-out the bridge from Alameda to Fallbrook (so to speak) - STN-1's hard-drive has failed.  

Unfortunately, we've never had RCForb running on STN-2; Why?  I haven't the foggiest. 
The only way to play radiosport this weekend was to hop near-empty BART trains to Concord;
the upside being that I can finish some of the radio and antenna configuration experiments started
the weekend before.

Radiosport-wise this weekend offered up a little bit of everything for my operating pleasure:
4 state QSO parties, 2 DX contests (one Cw and one Ssb) opening with the unusually fun
Makrothen RTTY GiG.  While I have the upcoming contests mapped-out months in advance,
I rely HEAVILY on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar for linking directly to the contest sponsor's information (website or .Pdf write up).

Altho all different radiosport events were happening throughout the weekend, in starting time order,
the ones WQ6X paid attention to included:

• [x] - Makrothen RTTY Contest as WQ6X from Concord
  
• [x] - Nevada QSO Party as NX6T & WQ6X
• [x] - Oceania DX Cw Contest as NX6T & WQ6X
• [x] - Scandinavian Activity Ssb Contest as NX6T
  
• [x] - Arizona QSO Party as NX6T & WQ6X
  
• [x] - Pennsylvania QSO Party as NX6T & WQ6X
• [x] - South Dakota QSO Party as NX6T

Long before 2020 ever began, I took on a self-assigned challenge to work as many different radiosport contests /modes / locations as I can "shoehorn" into my operating activities from Alameda (all remote to NX6T) and Concord (remote as well as local) - a little bit of everything.  Last year's contest event total was 109 GiGs posted to the 3830Scores Website + 5 events that were NoT on the calendar.  With this weekend behind me, the numbers are 116 + 3.  With 10 more busy contest weekends
to go, it would seem I have set a new personal record.

The original goal was to run all QSO parties from both locations and somehow work the pair of DX contests in
the middle of both the parties.

Over the years, I've probably worked most counties thanks
to the state QSO parties.  I am thankful for the rover stations in QSO parties who activate multiple counties and sometimes straddle county lines for 2,3 and even 4 counties at once.

One of the goals for this last weekend was to further study propagation differences between the East Bay and Fallbrook.  Included in this investigation are the Russian military beacons which give indications of propagation to Asia from the West Coast.  I've been working on another installment of the Blog topic on the Russian beacons to document some new findings.  ([CLICK HERE] to read Part 2 of this series.)

Much of what I've been doing involves nothing other than Listening: Listening, Listening and MORE Listening.

 

You've prolly heard the saying "It's Always Something".  A portion of what we do in radiosport
is, in addition to actual operating, all about troubleshooting operational problems and equipment
failures; i.e. fixing equipment and analyzing antennas.

Unfortunately, with many WQ6X operations these activities don't occur until well AFTER the fact;
after the fun (or lack thereof) is already behind us.  I have an after-contest saying: "We will Do Better Next Time" (whenever "next time" is).

Last weekend a feedline break was found near the top of the 8JK trapezoid.  While the repair helped, some of the tuner settings were still quite sharp; transmitting on 160 would "BomB" the internet router, 3.5' across the room.  Because the CH-250 now tunes on 160 (a pair of long counterpoise wires were recently added), all along, my hope for the 8JK Trapezoid never quite materialized;
and, 160 IS a major goal.

While straightening the 8JK ladder line (traversing thru the closet into the radio room) yet another feedline break was encountered.  Was this NEWLY created, OR, has it been there all along? 
I guess we'll never know, however since the cable-splice, signal levels nearly tripled and WQ6X
signal reports are far more encouraging.  Best of all, a low SWR was obtained on 160 without
a single tweak to the internet router.  Prior to the fix, It would seem that RF was leaking out the
open feedline, filling up that tiny closet and overwhelming the router.

While the major fix attention was on antenna feedlines, thanks to re-cabling the equipment
the weekend before the FT-1000mp and it's bunch of related filters performed near-flawlessly.

When it was all over, 11 radiosport events were filed on 3830Scores.Com, which of course
set a new personal operating goal for WQ6X operations in a single calendar year.

What about You?

DiD YOU work any radiosport events last weekend?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

Nov. 24 UPDATE:  It seems that TWO certificates were won from the NVQP GiG.

WQ6X Dual-OPs another CQP as K6C & K6A

From the beginning, something about the 2020 California QSO Party (CQP) event seemed attractively different.  Heading to Concord Thursday evening, I did a thorough "inventory" of WQ6X's portable setup at W7AYT's QTH in Concord.  Everything from re-routing audio cables to coax swapping between radios was reconsidered.  Throughout the day on Friday, cables were upgraded. 
Just before sundown I climbed onto the roof adding a pair of 80-meter counterpoise wires
to the base of the cheesy Comet CH-250 vertical - oh what a difference that made!

After the Comet CH-250 vertical received its 2-wire counterpoise addition, the decision was made
to route it to the Antenna-B connector on the back of the FT-1000mp, while the Antenna-A connector runs to an MFJ-949E 300-w Antenna Tuner - the balanced line going to the 8JK Cobra-Trapezoid
and the "A" Antenna going to a coax-fed Cobra Sloping-V.  Because of the overall broadband design of the Comet CH-250, the FT-1000mp's internal tuner found a match on all bands, including 160.

There's always something more that can be done.  On instinct, Monday (after the contest was long over), out of curiosity I lowered the 8JK antennas for inspection, noticing a break in one side of the phasing feedline - Oops.  After repairs the 949-E tuner tuned completely different, now with almost
no RFI floating around the shack anymore.

Prior to the CQP weekend, CQP pages on the WQ6X.Info website were updated. 
Pictures from the 2019 CQP page help set the stage for the 2020 CQP page.
Every few years CQP finds additional ways for operators to earn achievement awards. 
You may remember the CQP 2015 GOLDRUSH Bonus.  For 2020, contest organizers
added the SEQUOIA Bonus.

The accomplished goal for this weekend was to put K6C on the air from Contra Costa county throughout the weekend, interspersed with a pair of operating stints (9-11pm & 3-5am) remotely
as K6A.  While I largely ran frequencies, every hour a LooK was made for out-of-state callers
calling "CQ California".

Originally, I had registered the K6A callsign to activate a multi-OP event from Alameda; this was before CQP had announced the SEQUOIA challenge.  However this year, putting a team together turned out to not be a viable idea.  Instead, because NX6T is known for putting out a decent signal, making large numbers of QSOs and can be run remotely, the CQP contest committee contacted me and asked if I would be willing to assign the call to NX6T for this year's event.  K6C (a CQP callsign I've used before) was my replacement; I can organize a K6A event from Alameda next year.

Oh the difference a better station + Multi-OPs make.  While I prefer the Yaesu FT-1000mp
to the Elecraft K3 for CQP, having access to an Expert 2-K amplifier, 13mh antenna towers
and a 900' ASL QTH certainly make for a superior operation.

Being a multi-mode contest, having access to operators who can work both modes is always a plus. 
While K6C ran mostly Cw with brief appearances on Ssb, K6A found considerably more time to make Ssb QSOs, altho Cw still outranks voice, for all kinds of reasons.  The OPs at K6A certainly know how to run a frequency.

Now that CQP is over and most of the relevant scores have been submitted,

it would seem that NX6T took a resounding 1st-place for the Multi-single category. 

It would seem that transferring the K6A callsign to the San Diego Contest Club was

certainly a GooD idea - no doubt about that.

 

While the K6C operation only resulted in a 38.4k point score, it is evidently enough to secure

a mixed-mode 1st-place from Contra Costa county and a 9th-place for California overall - not

bad for just screwing around.

 

DiD YOU work the California QSO Party?

 

Is K6A or K6C in YOUR LoG?

 

FEB 2021 UPDATE - Here is how it actually turned out: 

n

It also turns out that the CQP Results page showcased the K6C/K6A
operations prominently alongside the AWEsome W6E Multi-multi setup.

WQ6X Runs a Raucous but Riske' CQ W.W. RTTY Contest

As I struggled to find a structure for this blog entry, it occurred to me that the place to start
is look into the past to see what was done RTTY-wise prior to this years CQ W.W. GiG.  Time was taken out from this Blog to create a Blast from the Past blog entry about this uniquely timed event.

For the 2020 RTTY GiG I was unable to make a trip to W7AYT's QTH in Concord; instead, I relied on the simple setup in Alameda to run NX6T's STN-1 remotely as WQ6X.  In my mind the previous runs of the CQ W.W. RTTY were a familiarization exercise for how it COLD be done.  The goal for 2020 was to incorporate everything learned and take this operation into the [proverbial] stratosphere. 
As it turns out, WQ6X did JUST that.
I guess I DiD Learn from the Past.

In reading score submissions after the contest I was amazed to hear how many operators said there were no openings on Friday,  WQ6X began the contest with a decent (shock) 15-meter opening at 00:30z; while no Asians were heard, a pipeline South America was wide-open.  The small number
of SA stations worked had nothing to do with Poor Propagation, but simply lack of B-i-C operators.

Learning from past means implementing aspects learned from earlier/former events into the current operation, whether I be in Alameda or Concord.  Alameda is completely IP-Based (no radio hardware) whereas in Concord I have access to an Elecraft K3/0 as well as a 33" monitor, allowing the operation to run split screen.

Because this was a RTTY contest, technically the entire event can be run with the speakers turned
off and the headphones unplugged.  Several times during the weekend the RCForb connection would fail.  It always happened while running a frequency, so I just kept on going.  Without audio, the trick is to pay complete attention to the decoder screen and the demodulator window showing the goal post indicators.  One outage was over 20 minutes and later turned out to be one of the most productive
run hours (according to N1MM+'s after-contest stats).

Although not necessarily well delineated, it should come as no surprise that working hoards
of multipliers is one of the secrets to producing an award-winning score.  I was pleased with the variety of Central/South American zones on the air and yet disappointed with the lack of attendance
by the "smaller" countries.  China & Taiwan were a "no-show" this year, as were Zones 16 - 18 and 20 - 23,  At least VR2CC brought us Zone 24.

Turning to the Russian military beacons sent us mixed signals.  The K-Beacon was again noticeably missing,  The F-Beacon was reasonably strong, suggesting that there WAS propagation to Mongolia and most of China.  Evidently, what was missing  were B-i-C operators.  Bummer Dewd.  I found it amusing that the ~7.039 corridor was littered with RTTY signals, while the beacons kept on beeping away.

The one frustrating situation I encounter in EVERY remote RTTY contest run from Alameda

is stations being off frequency.  The ONE downside of running from Alameda is that RCForb
has no easy way to R-I-T.  I can run split frequency (transmitting with VFO-B), however tuning
signals in then shows the log-frequency as having shifted when in fact it hasn't.

The workaround is by way of pressing F-11 which sends, "YOU'RE OFF FREQUENCY -
TUNE ME IN", followed by F-3 "TU QRZ WQ6X".  I often have to do this SEVERAL TIMES. 
Lemme see if I understand the problem.

• If you can READ my message, then you know you are off frequency,
  so tune  me in properly and try again.
• If you CAN'T read my message, then you are off frequency and shouldn't
  be calling me anyway.

When I run RTTY from the Concord location the Elecraft K3/0 has an EXCELLENT R-I-T system;
IF I feel like turning it on and using it.  The REAL solution (is it not?) is to BE ON FREQUENCY. 
Isn't it ironic that stations who go into CQ mode (on my run frequency) are usually EXACTLY on
frequency.  I'm NoT asking you to intentionally QRM me.  I AM asking you to be on frequency. 
As it turns out, by doing so, you will make MORE QSOs and with LESS effort by doing that.

After the contest was long over, 3830 Statistics began to become relevant.

It would seem that WQ6X took 1st-place for California (W6) and 4th-place for Zone-3. 

I got curious about what set us apart.  The number of QSOs was incredibly close amongst 1st,

2nd & 3rd.  While my QSO count lagged the leader by 40, it would seem that the REAL difference between my 4th-place and the rest was a significant lack of ST/Prov. and DX multipliers.  Ironically, my Zone count was WAY beyond the rest.  Evidently, a high zone count does not a top scorer make.

 

Regardless of how my score eventually ends up, this was the BEST CQ W.W. RTTY I've ever run.  The operation also confirmed that the upgrades to the Stepp-IR control box were overall worth having done.  I really love being able to run BI-Directional between JA & SA.

 

Did YOU work the CQ W.W. RTTY contest?

 

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?