WQ6X Dual-OPs a Different 160-meter Contest

For the last contest weekend of 2020, I wanted to do (as Monty Python would say) "something completely different".  It couldn't get any more different than this last weekend.  One of the most different differences of this year's Stew Perry December contest is that for the 1st time in about
5 years, the GiG was run with a non <69 solar flux index (SFI); in fact the SFI peaked at 87
(less than 60 days ago it was stuck at 70).

The SP-160 contest was my first operation from the San Diego contest club's alternate operating
site in the Anza Valley (altho 4,000' ASL).  As Fallbrook was officially "dark" for the SP-160 weekend
I decided to also run a remote operation from STN-2 (instead of running 160 from Concord), giving me the advantage of running HP from a QTH 900' ASL (altho NoT as noise-free as Anza).

I had originally planned to run as W6M, which (not finding any other ops) never happened. Instead, WQ6X made a High Power appearance on 160 in between a couple shifts running ANZA Station #1
for NX6T.  LooK & FeeL wise, Anza seems just like the setup in Fallbrook - EXCEPT, being away from dozens of RFI producing homes and buildings the noise-level is AMAZINGLY Quiet; at least on 160 for the SP-160 GiG.  Next time I remote into Anza, I will make it a point to give the other bands
a THOROUGH Sweep.

What makes the SP-160 contest unique amongst 160 GiGs is that the point score for a given contact
is computed based on the relative Km distance between your Grid Square and the square of the station you are contacting.

Another reason the noise-level at Anza is so low is thanks to the use of a 3-el "Tri-square" vertical arrangement with 120-degree beamwidth to NE, SE & W.  I heard (and worked) JA stations as NX6T that I had no hope of hearing with the Inv. VEE in Fallbrook.  In fact only JA5DQH was worked from Fallbrook.

Because there are no multipliers, SP-160 scores seem considerably low, in comparison to most other contests; a score's relative BiGness is relative to the contest itself.  As you can see, my 201 QSOs netted a WHOPPING 814 points.

NX6T netted a 4th place for USA and a 6th place overall.  While we were tops on the West
coast, the contest organizers probably don't recognize that as anything special.

Another unique aspect of the TBDC contest is the wide-variety of plaques that can be won. 
I've never seen such an array of sub-categories in ANY radiosport contest.  I thought CQ
magazine contests had a LoT of options until I submitted my log for the SP-160 contest.

DiD YOU participate in the Stew Perry Top Band Distance Championship?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Stumbles thru another December triple-contest WeeKend

Triple-contest (and more) weekends are not new to me; neither is the RAC Winter Contest. 
However in past runs of the Winter contest, it has usually matched up with the Stew Perry
160 contest, not the OK RTTY and Croatian Cw GiGs.  Imagine my surprise at seeing all
three events intertwined with each other; a couple irrevocably.

Running from Alameda and NoT Concord, the choice was made to NoT run any Ssb mode
operations; only Cw and RTTY (which can both be accomplished more-or-less "silently").

Last weekend I used the ARRL 10-meter contest as a vehicle to test-run various audio cable configurations.  The way the equipment was laid out in the beginning is not what it became
by contest end.  Along the way, I experienced dozens of "audio-shocks"; while another name
for howling-feedback, audio shock-effects can often be just as severe as an electrical-jolt.

For this tri-contest weekend my goals were to add 3 more contest events to what's left of 2020, taking this year's ToTaL to 140; not bad for mostly just screwing around as I learn new operating techniques and equipment configurations.  In the process a lot of attention has been given to maximizing use of the QF-1A filter pair I use in Alameda operations.  I dunno which came first, the pair in Concord or
the pair in Alameda; or, was it 1/2 and 1/2?  My SPLIT-Brain can't remember when, but certainly
can leverage a pair of QF-1A's together during "fierce" QRM conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Autek QF-1A filter was meant to be an external add-on to receivers and transceivers
not possessing an APF (Audio Peak Filter).  While dual-receive transceivers may come equipped
with an APF or DSP filter, unless you purchase a high-end transceiver like the FTDX-5000, those filters usually apply ONLY to the MAIN receiver, NoT to the SUB receiver.  I've written about Stereo Cw many times.  If you review those BLOGs, you will notice that I make use of QF-1A filter pairs to make the listening experience more "fluid" (experientially).  ([CLICK HERE] to learn more about using these filters.)

While running the remote Elecraft K3 radio at approx 400-hz bandwidth on Cw, within that 400-hz window, stations can actually be WaY OUT of the audio passband, and nearly impossible to copy. 
Tuning the Frequency knob with the QF-1A in PEAK mode will JUMP those stations right into the headphones, while atmospheric noise and the other stations (at different frequencies in the passband) are de-emphasized.  This weekend alone, the QF-1A probably salvaged 2-dozen+ QSOs.

This weekend brought me an interesting conflict.  While I love the Canadian RAC contest events,
this weekends RAC GiG shared the SAME time slot as the  OK Dx RTTY contest, a simple GiG
I have come to enjoy.  In the end, most of my time was dedicated to the RAC GiG; RTTY operation wasn't begun until Saturday morning, over 1/2 thru the OK event.

Alternating between search & pouncing and running frequencies, it was a wonderful surprise to have "rare" provinces come back to my "CQ RAC Test" calls.  At other times, the 800 - watts slipped the WQ6X callsign in during lulls in frantic pileup callers, giving me a 1st-in 1st-out.  I wish it coulda been this easy last month during the November Sweepstakes.

NoT having a lot of time for the OK RTTY and Croatian Cw GiGs, the decision was made to submit the logs as single-band entries; 20-meters for RTTY and 40-meters for the Cw GiG (I came on too late to work Europe on 20).

In recent weeks, most of my 40-meter contest activities have little-included Asia reducing the
need to make use of the Russian military beacons.  

Since I wrote up the May BLOG entry on these beacons, the "K" beacon (Kamchatsky) as been AWOL for sometime.  Saturday evening in preparation for possible operation in the Indonesian PADANG contest, a sprint thru the ~7.039 area brought us
the usual "F" & "M" beacons.  On the "K" beacon's frequency offset over and over was sent:
"T  S-E-T-T-T".  HuH Wazzat?  

I've been planning another installment in the Russian beacon Blog-series; but first, it looks like I have some "homework" to do.  Do YOU follow these beacons? 
Do you have any idea what the above character sequence is supposed to signify?

 

Overall, I got out of this weekend what I put into it.  Confirming the workability of the audio system
in Alameda was a big PLUS.  It is SO nice to have the Radio Shaft graphic equalizer back in action during radiosport activities.  What about you?  What measures do YOU take to process QRM during crowded band conditions?

DiD You work the RAC / OK RTTY / 9A Cw contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Wangles a weirdly-Wild 10-meter contest

I've been calling 2020 the year of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride".  Another variation of this wild ride has
been this weekend's ARRL 10-meter contest.  Having survived the ARRL-160 contest from Alameda,
for THIS 10-meter contest a major goal was to give the 3-el 10-meter Long John yagi a thorough run. 
Prior to contest operations time was spent behind the radio (the table is on wheels) cleaning up the audio-splitting cables and making sure all the external audio filters were functional within the formal construct of what has become a dual-OP'ing station.

10-meter and 160-meter contests share one particular trait - they are BOTH single band contests.  When the QSO-rate drops, I can't just switch to another band for refuge.  Instead, I get to think of things that can "induce" more QSOs into the log.  Sometimes, just taking a 20 minute break and starting over is all that is needed.

Because this was a "daytime dual-OP" I put in 2-hours (19:00z - 21:00z) remotely to NX6T on Saturday leveraging the opening to South America (SA) on BOTH Cw and Ssb.  Being engaged in audio cable re-routing Friday evening, I missed out on what turned out to be an extended 10-meter opening, which did NoT repeat itself Saturday evening - bummer dewd.  WQ6X officially logged the first 10-meter contact at 18:00z Saturday morning and then again at 21:07z after my shift w/NX6T.

While NX6T's 669 QSOs were impressive (thanks to 1400 watts and a 14mh Stepp-IR antenna), signal levels in Concord left much to be desired.  Calling CQ while sweeping the yagi to various
hoped for locations produced disappointingly dismal results.  When RBN entries are next to none,
I know that W7AYT's Concord location is TRULY a signal-vortex.

When it was all over, NX6T clearly took a 1st-place for San Diego section and prolly a 2nd-place
for the Southwest Division.  Overall, most important overall is the fact that suddenly (yet undeniably)
we have been ushered into Solar Cycle 25 - FINALLY!

While I missed out on Friday evening, soapbox comments all across the continent confirm that
Friday was FAR-Out [man], and, Saturday wasn't so bad either.  What about You?  DiD YOU play
on 10-meters in the ARRL 10-m contest?  DiD You catch some those (until now) rare 10-meter openings?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Wangles another Weird ARRL-160 Contest

The ARRL-160 Meter Contest for me is alawys a mixed experience. 
LooKing back to previous blogs I've written this time of year would seem to confirm that.

For 2020 I wondered how different (if any) the contest would be this year.
Doing a Blast-from-the-Past LooK-Back, I've played the 160 Contest for the last 5 years.

• [x] - 2019:WQ6X teams up w/NX6T for Wonderfully Quiet 160 GiG
  
• [x] - 2018: WQ6X joins crew-NX6T for ARRL 160 contest
  
• [x] - 2017: WQ6X joins N6KI for ARRL 160 Contest
  
• [x] - 2016: N6KI & WQ6X dual-OP 160 Contest as NX6T
  
• [x] - 2015: WQ6X runs 2015 ARRL 160 contest remotely
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all that history and the weird events of 2020 leading up to December, I had no clue what to expect.  Adding to the wonder of it all is the recent sudden increase in the Solar Flux Index (SFI)
as planet Earth emerges into solar cycle 25.

Unlike other contests the ARRL-160 GiG begins early at 22:00z on Friday afternoon - 2pm PST. 
In my opinion the start/end times for this event clearly favor east coast operators as the contest begins just as 160 meters opens up there.  On the left coast 160 doesn't open up for at least
3 hours.  Dennis (N6KI) and I were the principal OPs in this GiG altho as I was not ready to
start immediately, Axel (KI6RRN) put 78 QSOs into the log and over 2/3's of the multipliers.

By 03:15z I worked out a remote connection from Alameda by way of VNC Viewer and RCForb
to run the k3 on STN-1 @NX6T in Fallbrook.  For nearly 3 hours I managed to take the QSO
count to #209 before turning it over to N6KI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time of my 1am wake up call Dennis had taken the QSO count to #352.  I was anxious
to keep the trend going until sunrise.  Then, after 7 QSOs a strange thing happened - while I could type characters into the QSO line, suddenly none of the function keys nor the enter key worked.   

In attempting to resolve the problem, the computer was inadvertently shutdown rather than rebooted.  It was then we discovered that the reboot switch for STN-1 in Fallbrook had failed.  Being this was a remote operation, in the middle of the night there was no one to restart the hardware; essentially, we were down for the night.  The only upside of this was my getting a full nights sleep for a change during a contest weekend.

In the early afternoon, a visit was made to Fallbrook to reboot the computer and prevent accidental shutdown from becoming a problem.  By 01:00z I was back in the remote operating chair dividing time between running frequencies, S&P'ing anyone in the bandmap and occasionally adding a new section to the list.

Because we were off the air after midnight on Friday->Saturday, we were in a way spared from any intentional-QRM.   I-Q (Intentional QRM) is a strange thing - it rarely happens in the daytime (on the upper bands), but as soon as evening sets in and/or we switch to 40/80160 meters, the I-Q lurkers are ready and waiting.  We've of course had the "F-U" guy and RTTY QRM in Ssb contests and the auto-senders after every CQ call in Cw GiGs.  

For this years 160 contest an incessant dit-Sender showed up; a local station I have encountered before.  I should not be surprised by this as "everybody knows" that 1818.18 is the international DiT frequency; at least in the San Diego area.  More than likely we are SO LOUD at the Dit-stations' QTH he merely has to turn on his spectrum analyzer and THERE we are.  I have a pretty GooD idea who this IDIOT actually is - we have a spectrum analyzer (and directional antennas) as well.  As for the IDIOTS on the 1805.05 National Tuneup Frequency (NTF), it's not so easy to determine the culprits.

For the rest of the contest, N6KI & WQ6X were on the LooKout for those illusive 11 multipliers and maybe a few countries while we were at it.  The country bonus came on Sunday morning just before sunrise.  Signals from: 4A50RH, JA5DQH, HL5IVL, JA4CQS, and JE1CKA faintly made their way to Fallbrook and thankfully into the log.  Having spotting assistance available as a multi-OP operation made it easier to know where to look.

Section-wise, by contest end we still needed: CT, NNY, WTX, WV, MAR, NL, MB & NT. 
Surprisingly enough, previously rare sections like ND, NE and NH were plentifully easy. 
Previously WV has no longer been tough, altho WTX & NNY continue to frustrate us.

When it was all over, according to the 3830Scores website, NX6T took an easy 1st-place for
San Diego (SDG) section and a 2nd-place for the SW Division; not surprisingly we were trounced
by the Arizona Outlaws (AOC).

DiD YOU work the ARRL 160-meter contest?

Is NX6T in YOUR LoG?