WQ6X Wanders thru an Experimental Contest Weekend

This weekend was another "off" radiosport weekend
in April.  Last weekend, I swapped the RRC-1258 remote interface units between the Concord and Alameda QTH's.  Running the remote setup from Alameda off/on all week confirmed that the unit
swap worked.

Recently, a brand new condenser microphone made its appearance in Alameda for initial radio-compatibility testing.  The audio test results were remarkably positive, encouraging similar tests @W7AYT, with
the additional benefit that I can run on-the-air comparison tests between the EB-Con mic and
the old "classic" Electro Voice "664".

Ironically, the microphone testing had nothing to
do with the radiosport activities happening this last weekend.  SP-DX RTTY, FLQP and Helvetia GiGs
are a world unto themselves.

Another irony is the fact that while the SP-DX RTTY contest is a POLISH contest, not one single solitary SP station made it to the WQ6X remote-operation from Alameda to Fallbrook.  Running
the KPA-1500 amp at ~1360 watts guaranteed a stronger signal, altho with the FUNKY Space-WX,
I was continuously being asked for repeats. 

Also weird were S9+ stations who frantically call in and then DISAPPEAR after I give my exchange.  Was that due to flaky-operators
or Space-WX anomalies or something else
I can't now think of?  I guess I'll never know.

A similar HuH? comes from the stations with
marginal signals that I ask to repeat their information and the give up after the 2nd try.  That's NoT the way it works - you keep repeating until I get it; otherwise, you
will be NIL - NoT In Log.

The secret to putting contacts in the log
during ANY radiosport event is of course ACCURACY - you don't give up the exchange of data until BOTH sides are confident they have exchanged the required data correctly. 
While speed is important, it is secondary to accuracy.

After the contest activity was over,
a move was made down to 75-meters
on Sunday evening giving me the opportunity to make Ssb QSOs soliciting audio-quality reports, comparing EV-664 audio (1st) to the EB-CON audio (2nd).  

Overall, most radio hams agree that while the EV-664 has a better higher frequency response, the $11.00 EB-CON seemed fuller and louder.  This may have everything to do with a poor impedance match between the 664 and the K3/0.

Weight-wise, the EV-664 weighs several pounds (like a small dumbbell) whereas the EB-CON is under a pound - wOw!

The Florida QSO Party (FQP) was a nice surprise; I would certainly rate it on my Top-5 list for State QSO parties.  40 meters was FLOODED with stations Saturday afternoon/evening.  On Sunday, other commitments kept me off the air until the last 20 minutes of the FQP GiG.  Luckily, 20-meters was LOADED with Florida stations - well done Y'all.

While I enjoyed the SP-DX RTTY, what it was lacking was Polish stations being heard on the
Left Coast and activity beyond about 04:30z.  Despite frequent CQ's, absolutely NO 80-meter activity
was heard at the NX6T QTH. In the last 7 hours, rotating the Shorty-40 yagi and calling CQ (followed by random S&P activity) put less than a dozen QSOs in the log.  The band was clearly open and yet no one was playing in the contest.  HuH?  What am I missing?

DiD YOU play in the SP-DX RTTY and/or FQP contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

Creative Competition in Radiosport and Toastmasters - Part 4: Practicing for Perfunctory Performance

In Part 2 of this Blog series I detailed the 6 P's: Planning, Preparation, Practice, Persistence, Presentation & Protocol.  While I gave a useful overall of Practice, there is much more to say
about it.  Part 4 of this series details things that have come to mind since then.

A common theme w/both radiosport and speech contests is LACK of practice; many contestants
are not well-enough prepared for how the actual event will actually go.

In speech contests, it's often clear who has not rehearsed their presentation; in radiosport, it's often clear who has not read the contest rules.  In BOTH cases, it all begins w/reading the rules, as well
as the judging criteria.  Then, having done that, devising a training / rehearsal schedule.  With most events, there is ample time to practice/rehearse your art; yes, speech contests and radiosport competitions are an art.

In preparation for an upcoming speech contest, I find opportunities to present different aspects of my speech before clubs or other audiences, altho I avoid clubs I may be in competition with (so as not
to give away what I am up to).  

Doing trial runs via Zoom allows me to get immediate feedback as well as video the presentation, allowing me to observe the presentation (from the audience perspective) and fine-tune the minute details.  During speech practice, I pay special attention to the time for each segment, as well as
the speech overall.  While there are timing APPs available, I chose to write my own custom Windoze APP allowing me to focus on and track details that are important to a superior delivery.

In radiosport because there are different modes (Ex: Ssb, Cw & RTTY) each mode requires a custom practice exercise unique to that particular mode.  In preparation for Cw contests, I find it useful to monitor Cw traffic handling on 80-meters and/or Cw SPRINT contests in order to get used to fast-clip Cw exchanges.  A few rounds with the various contest trainer programs can also be useful.  

I know of two upcoming operators who turned the power down and ran on 6-meters taking turns "running a frequency" while the other sent callsigns/exchanges from old logs for that contest. 
A slightly more advanced trick is to slightly vary the call-in frequency for each "caller", potentially requiring the run operator to "tune the calling station in".

For Ssb contests, spending evenings on 75-meters monitoring nets (esp. during roll call) helps me
to better discern callsigns and basic quick-exchanges.  For BOTH Cw and RTTY, tuning to W1AW's evening code practice and RTTY bulletins yields practice in correct copy.

In BOTH speech contests and radiosport, perfecting the art requires Listening - LoTs of Listening.  The more we Listen, the more we Learn.  Then, when We learn something new, it's time to again practice, Practice, PRACTICE.

Do you get how important it is to Practice?

WQ6X co-OPs another CQMM Cw Contest

This last weekend being another quiet one (radiosport-wise), the main interest was in the Brazilian-sponsored CQ MM contest.  Only after-the-fact did I decide to revisit the 4 previous CQ MM GiGs
(ala Blast-from-the-Past Style).

1. [VIEW] (2017) - CQMM Sets the Stage Weirdly for WQ6X
2. [VIEW] (2018) - WQ6X survives contest weekend with Filtered-Frustration
   
3. [VIEW] (2019) - WQ6X runs CQ-MM & 4 other Radiosport GiGs
   
4. [VIEW] (2020) - CQMM Confounds and Confirms WQ6X @ NX6T
   

Altho CQMM was the main focus, there were a number of other events happening
during the weekend including:

1. [X] WAPC (China)
2. [X] YUDX Contest
3. [X] MIQP - Michigan QSO Party
4. [X] ONQP - Ontario QSO Party

Because I was mostly invested in the CQMM contest, it seemed too complicated to include the WAPC and YUDX GiGs in my operating schedule.  Likewise for the MIQP and ONQP.  The MIQP being a mere 12-hour event makes evening operation in that GiG all but impossible.  While the ONQP at least gives us 24 hours, it would seem that more VE3/VA3 stations were working the CQMM event than their own QSO party - GO Figure.

Putting out a call for operators brought only WM6Y into the operation.  Phil (PJ) and I swapped operating shifts throughout the 40 hours, while contending with the horrible Space-WX all weekend.  Nevertheless, we managed a number of satisfying RUN periods, clearly at odds with the Space-WX predictions; remember, predictions are just that.

Aside from the CQMM operations, I used this weekend to test a newly swapped-in RRC-1258 at the Concord location, this unit sporting its own internet access capability; altho ironically, I was so busy operating, there was no time to test that capability - maybe next contest.

Being the [so-called] night-shift guy I was elected to start up the CQMM contest which began at 09:00z (2am), altho in all honesty I was not in "contest form" until 09:45z when I first checked the Russian military beacons; finding the usual "F" and "M" beacons and the "K" once again AWOL.
Replacing the K-Beacon was our recently acquired new "friend" the "motorboat Woodpecker".

Calling CQ on 7035.35 brought very little activity - I guess stations were later in getting started
than even *I* was.  After searching and pouncing a bit, I parked the VFO on 7037.37 and pointed
the antenna to 120-degrees (South America).  Because SA multipliers are important in this contest, first I let them come to me and then went on an S&P hunt for SA stations calling CQ MM.

My biggest frustration Saturday morning were the "juicy" (but weak) stations who would call-in just above the noise level and then give up after only 2 repeat requests.  

Other CQMM stations kept moving
in on the run frequency necessitating
a move to 7013.13 (@10:50z), 7019.19 (@11:15z) and finally 7023.23 (@11:37z) where pointing the Shorty-40 yagi back to 300-Degrees (Asia) encountered Instant Indonesian Ssb-QRM.

At 12:05z refuge was taken on 7025.25

At 12:36z, after working all available CQMM stations on 40-meters a move was made to 3517.17 where I encountered Ssb-QRM moving in on me within minutes of NX6T's 80-meter arrival.  Moving
to 3515.15 resulted in relief from that QRM, but resulted in only 1 QSO - where WAS Everybody?  

Moving back to 7025.25 kept things alive until I took a break at 13:00z.  After a coffee-IV, I came
back at 13:36 to S&P, finishing the morning on 7027.27 @14:00z.  Phil (WM6Y) largely ran the day shift allowing me to do other things in the office before heading out to W7AYT where the RRC-1258 swap occurred.

WQ6X was back in the chair at 03:00z on 7012.12. 
I immediately encountered a new approach to intentional-QRM - the high-speed CQ idiot.  Every time a weak signal (mostly from South America) would call-in, this clown would call CQ (not CQ MM, just CQ) at 40+ WPM, obliterating the weaker station.

Eventually, stations stronger than him would call in, putting QSOs in the log.  He would usually leave for a couple of minutes, allowing me to work the weak ones.  After a lengthy S&P run, at 03:44z he was back at it. 
He never DiD work anyone, so the QRM was clearly intentional.

I devised a special F-10 N1MM key for the next time he showed up and unfortunately never got a chance to use it.  While I know the callsign of the offender, for legal reasons, I have chosen not to document it here.

 

At 04:40z a move was made to my favorite 80-meter Cw frequency: 3535.35.  Later, when the QRM moved-in on me, I moved-in on 3515.15 where it was MUCH Quieter.  Running out of energy I took
a sleep-break at 05:45z, coming back to 80-meters at 09:45z where I encountered several SA and Asian stations.  Running 3515.15 brought even more, as well as e-coast stations (the 80-meter inverted VEE is hardly directional).

At 10:00z it was back to 40-meters to S&P and eventually settle in on 7012.12 once again, but w/o
the Cw Idiot; I guess it was past his bedtime; mommy and daddy wouldn't let him stay up that late.  Unfortunately, he was replaced by the motor-boat Woodpecker now parked on 7015.15.

What I glean from these STATS is that the "day shift" had better band condx. available for QSO volume.  Then again,
if I hadn't slept those 4 hours Saturday evening there might've been more 80/40 activity - the usual woulda/shoulda/coulda.

Nevertheless, when you consider what we had to work with, our numbers are reasonably respectable.

The BiG Secret to this GiG was largely to run frequencies, encouraging callers to come to us.

Breaking things down by band,
more or less confirms the above OP stats.  20 meters was clearly our top band, followed by 40, 15, 80 & 10 meters.  

While I gave 160 a look from time to time, no replies were made to the CQ calls there.  I guess when it comes to CQ MM, 160 meter operators are clueless - Amazing.

Considering the horrible Space-WX condx, our success on 10 & 15 meters as minimal as it was, is commendable.

 

While I ran QSOs much of Sunday afternoon, WM6Y came in for the final shift to put the last QSOs in the log, giving WQ6X the opportunity to make the scene from STN-1.  I began things on 20 meters, while Phil, ran 10 and then 15 meters.  Eventually we switched, with WQ6X on 15 and NX6T on 20.  To end the contest, we swapped bands once again; altho in retrospect, I probably should have gone
down to 40.

 

 

 

 

Nevertheless, when it was all over, it would seem that our NX6T dual-OP operation took 5th-place overall, 3rd-place for USA/NA and 1st-place for the entire Left Coast, while WQ6X at least got to submit a log, upping my annual contest stats for 2021.

DiD YOU work the CQMM contest?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wangles another Weird Multi-contest Weekend

                                   As they say.... "...Be Careful whut You WISH For...".

The 2nd contest weekend of April qualified on this one in all respects.  LooKing at my hand-written contest calendar sheets (inspired by the WA7BNM contest calendar), I thought all the workable GiGs had been identified - until I turned the radio(s) on and discovered otherwise.

The identified radiosport events this weekend included:

1. [X] - Japanese JIDX CW Contest (as NX6T & WQ6X)
   
2. [X] - DIG QSO Party
   
3. [X] - IG-RY Worldwide RTTY Contest
4. [X] - OK/OM Ssb DX Contest
   
5. [X] - Nebraska QSO Party (NEQP)
   
6. [X] - New Mexico QSO Party (NMQP)
7. [X] - North Dakota QSO Party (NDQP)
8. [X] - Georgia QSO Party (GAQP)
9. [X] - Yuri Gagarin DX Contest (GC Test)
   

Now, there is only so much time during a given 48-hour contest weekend; the choice of which GiGs
to participate in depend on a number of subjective factors on my part.  The OK/OM and DIG GiGs didn't happen because I was either in the wrong place (not on Ssb) or at the wrong time (missed the specific time slots for the DIG party).

The MAIN focus was the JIDX contest; joining team NX6T from the WA6TQT Super Station (in ANZA) and running WQ6X as SOAB from the Nashville location.  Starting this year, the JIDX contest has been expanded to include the Multi-2 operating category.  With 9 available operators, running as Multi-2 seemed like the obvious thing to do.  Unfortunately, K3EST (@N6RO) chose to compete
with us in the Multi-2 category; altho the ANZA low band antenna setup (in my mind) rivals the
setup @N6RO, somehow they managed to sneak in more 160 contacts to Japan; probably by
virtue of geographically being 500+ miles North (and a bit more West) of NX6T.

 

 

 

 

As usual, the state QSO parties were (for me anyway) a complete BUST.  I submitted logs for
each of them just to up my contest participation total.  Tuning around the bands on Saturday I heard "CQ GC" calls which sounded familiar.  GC is short for Gagarin Cup, which I have dabbled in before; last year WQ6X made 10x this year's QSO count.  The propagation to EU for this last weekend was dismal, at best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

While tuning around 40 for the GC GiG, I kept hearing unexpected RTTY signals.  Bringing
up N1MM+ under RTTY decoded "CQ IG Test" calls.  Looking it up in the WA7BNM calendar,
I found the rules, downloaded a contest file for N1MM and jumped in for a couple of hours.

 

Because I frequently run the night shifts, I am privy to all kinds of QRM (intentional or otherwise).

This weekend brought us the motorboat woodpecker squarely on 7028, as I tried to continue the 7026.52 run frequency.

After over 30 minutes of having the Cw copy constantly pecked at, moving down to 7021.21 created enough distance that shifting the I-F "to the left" a bit all but knocked it out.  

 

Of course, with minutes of doing this the woodpecker stopped altogether; only to show up less than an hour later on 3528, while I attempted to run 3535.35.  Beacon-wise, the 40-meter Russian military "F" & "M" beacons came thru nicely, while the "K" beacon was again noticeably AWOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was all over, K3EST snuck by NX6T and took a resounding
1st-place, while we took 1st for So. California and 2nd worldwide.

DiD YOU work the JIDX contest?

How many JA prefectures made it to YOUR log?

WQ6X rocks another RTTY Contest Weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1st weekend of April is usually a rather quiet time on the WQ6X contest calendar. 
While 5 radiosport events were on the possibility list, only 3 yielded log submissions;
and, of the 3, only the EA-RTTY contest was worthy of my time.

• [X] - Mississippi QSO Party
• [X] - Louisiana QSO Party
• [X] - The SP-Dx Cw Contest
• [X] - EA-RTTY Contest
• [X] - North American Ssb Sprint Contest
  

Similar to the YB Dx contest, the Polish SP-Dx Cw contest is usually an operating promise that rarely (if ever) actually delivers.  Stations on the east coast and in EU have more-or-less easy access to each other.  On the Left coast, all too often, working EU seems like a more-or-less random event, except that mornings on 20-meters and mid-evenings on 40 seem to be more likely times to add EU stations to the log.  

The MS and LA QSO parties were complete DuDs this year; so much so that they are not even worth commenting on.  They hold QSO parties and then don't show up for their own event - HuH?  Am I missing something?  Altho the Ssb Sprint contest caught my interest, unfortunately I was at my office in Alameda with no time for radio action.

Although Space-WX forecasts were reasonable it seemed like the main ("missing") ingredient was B-i-C (Butt-in-Chair) activity; either actually, or remotely.  Fortunately, I use contest weekends as an opportunity to test the efficacy of logging software updates as well as tweaks to the audio cabling system for my portable operation @W7AYT's QTH in Concord.

Because the main operating focus was RTTY , the N1MM+ / MMTTY macros were all inspected and verified to be functional, altho I always miss one or two and find out at the last minute.  With the EA RTTY contest, while the focus (ie. the bonuses) is Spain, we are allowed to work anyone/anywhere once per band; altho DUP callers were annoyingly rampant this weekend.

This RTTY GiG being only 24 hours, we only get one opportunity for each band opening. 
15-meters was barely productive and 10-meters was completely dormant, altho I DiD put
out several lengthy CQ calls.  Not surprising, 20-meters (and then 40) produced most of the
RTTY activity.

Both evenings, looking for Asian propagation assistance I turned to the Russian military beacons
on ~7.039.  On Friday evening, the "F" and "K" beacons were clearly heard.  On Saturday evening, the "F" and "M" beacons were reasonably trackable, while the "K" beacon was once again AWOL.  This was not really an indication of propagation; it was clearly an indication of the usual hardware problems in Kamchatsky, which I have written about in numerous blogs before.

Because this is a RTTY contest, I have a number of thoughts that are worth repeating.

• In order for a proper RTTY QSO to be made, it is imperative that calling stations are on frequency.  While I DO have an R-I-T control, at any given moment, I may be too lazy to use it.  When *I* call a station, I go to great lengths to be EXACTLY on frequency, allowing me to get-in and get-out.
• Calling CQ EXACTLY on my run frequency is NoT OK.  You can say it happened by accident however I PURPOSELY choose oddball operating frequencies such that it won't be picked by accident.  Therefore if you are CQ'ing exactly on my run frequency, you are there ON PURPOSE - it is NO ACCIDENT.
• When I ask "UR NR AGN?" I Do NoT want you to send your entire exchange again.  During the time spent sending information I could now care less about, by the time you FINALLY get around to sending your number, QSB and/or QRM may have set in garbling your NR, requiring me to ask "UR NR AGN?", creating an unnecessary vicious circle.
• When you hear me work a station on my run frequency, do NoT attempt to call him afterwards.  To begin with, most likely that station worked me and already moved on.  Therefore your worthless/unnecessary call simply causes QRM obscuring other callers who have been patiently waiting their turn to work me.
• DUP callers were highly noticeable during the EA-RTTY contest.  It is frustrating to have
  a station repeat their callsign 6-times only to discover they are a DUPE.
  A) If they read the contest rules, they would know they can only work me once per band.
  B) If using contest logging software (such as N1MM, WINTEST, WRITELog, etc.) the dupe checking facility should have notified them of the dupe.  If you're NoT using logging software then it is your responsibility to know (somehow) which stations are dupes
  and which are not.
  C) If you KNOW you have worked WQ6X before, then why are you wasting everyone's
  time by calling-in again (sometimes less than 15 minutes later)?
  Just-in-case, I defined N1MM's F12 key to send "WQ6LID QSO-B4"
• D) FT8 is the newest form of intentional QRM; more heard on 40m, but sometimes encountered on 20.  FT8 stations use pre-defined cluster frequencies, which I purposely avoid.  Therefore if a swarm of FT8 stations conglomerate on my run frequency, I know it is no accident.
  

While my score was hardly award-winning, it was my best EA-RTTY submission thus far. According
to 3830 Scores, WQ6X took 23rd place overall, 17th for NA, 16th for USA and 1st-place for the Left coast - not bad for just playing around.

DiD you work the EA-RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?