WQ6X Wanders thru another WEIRD CQ Weird Prefix Contest

There's no doubt about it, Weird Prefix contests seem to get weirder every year.  Last year there was no lock-down to deal with; this year I was hoping for an increased turnout because of it; we won't of course know until the results are published.

There's a REASON it's called a WEIRD prefix contest, LoTsa weird things happen as well as the Weird callsigns. Nevertheless, working around shack heat problems in Fallbrook (as I ran ~1350 watts much of the time), on Sunday I dialed it back to a mere KW - Oh the sacrifices we make.

For this weekend, a recent change in Ethernet connections all but eliminated dropouts on the W7AYT end of the remote connection. If I disappeared on you it was due to the occasional 1.5-minute internet dropout that sometimes occurs in Fallbrook.  

Saturday AND Sunday I put out CQ calls several times on 10-meters and had no takers; altho somehow I had
a feeling the band was open. With the recent SFI = 71, it ain't no easy thing, but I gopherit anyway. The RBN showed no 10-meter spots; then again it showed no activity on 80-m altho I was running frequencies more-or-less all evening. 

You'll notice I send "5NN" instead of
599 in a contest requiring a serial # afterwards. It's easy to confuse 599
with the serial # as happened when I received: WQ6X TU UR 599 599 599.
HuH? 

 

Overall it was an enjoyable RTTY GiG. I enjoyed all the extra RTTY activity from 14.101 to 14.145
and 21.100 - 21.40. The room is there - use it and enjoy relatively QRM-free contesting.  The biggest problem was the demodulator software (MMTTY) being able to decode signals during periods
of low Signal-to-JUNK ratio.

In years past WQ6X has been the ONLY WQ6 call in RTTY contests.  This year, I was joined by WQ6K, which was probably a bit confusing.  Then again, VE3KTB didn't hesitate to work WQ6K
first followed immediately by WQ6X on 20-meters.

Last weekend in the XE-RTTY contest, the 14.100 beacon corridor was completely QUIET.
This weekend in the WPX GiG I was APPALLED at how it was JAMMED with signals
OBLITERATING the beacon copy - no WONDER non-contesters HATE us.

Beacon-wise, listening around 7.039 during Saturday/Sunday mornings found the "F" and "M" beacons beeping away, and again, the "K" beacon is on the AWOL list.  This is giving me more "data" to complete my next installment on the Russian military propagation beacons - Stay Tuned.

LooKing back to last year's Single-OP event, it would seem that 2020 produced a much bigger score; but then, as I recall, I put more hours in the chair during that event.  While WQ6X hardly set any records for 2021, the time spent was a LoT of fun and gave me the opportunity to test-drive the
"new" remote access facility.

DiD YOU work the CQ WPX RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?