WQ6X Raucously Renovates Portable Operations from East Bay section

For many people "Spring Cleaning" is an annual affair; others do it only when the situation demands it.  For WQ6X operations, this weekend spring cleaning came in many forms.  Equipment like the Rockville mixer and the OwnZone wireless headsets underwent an overhaul in Alameda before reintegration into the new equipment layout.

As it turns out, WQ6X's King-of-Spain Cw operation from [NX6T] Nashville was the LAST and FINAL transmissions from the NX6T hilltop station overlooking surrounding Fallbrook.  Non-amateur use
has relegated us 2nd class citizens; i.e. - EVICTED.  All that REALLY means is that the BEST
of Fallbrook operations are being "blended" (merged) with the best of ANZA.  Look for a walloping NX6T presence in the upcoming WPX-2021 Cw contest.

For unrelated reasons, my portable operation in Concord was in a sense "Evicted" to a different
space at the W7AYT location.  This required a complete dismantle of the equipment morass cobbled together over recent years.  Transforming the equipment layout into a more orderly operation was accomplished by Dennis (W7AYT) and I (watching) upgrading the operating desk with multiple shelves, allowing the equipment to be laid out in a more conducive dual-receive (aka stereo) operation.  This should streamline remote operation, as well as local station usage.

Keywords important to this equipment setup include: Aesthetics and Ergonomics.  The goal is
for the equipment layout to look reasonably organized and well-ordered, which then also contributes to efficient operating ergonomics.  Bottom-line: if it don't look good or it is too confusing to operate, eventually, the station setup will be gathering dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally, having the ability to switch and mix audio from several radios opens the possibility
for SWL'ing along with ragchewing and contesting.  Thanks to the 500+ memories and a thoroughly functioning DSP, the ICOM-7000 has new life as an SWL receiver, as well as a backup transceiver.

As much of a hassle it has been to reorder virtually EVERYTHING, the UPSIDE of doing so has allowed me to cleanup the audio interaction between the different takes on the radio world (IC-7000 - K3/0 - FT-1000mp).  It is no secret that I love to knob twiddle.  This current equipment layout makes
it easier than ever to twiddle those knobs.

Have you ever conducted a complete overhaul of your radio equipment setup?

What Changes DiD YOU Make?

HoW DiD it Turn Out?

 

WQ6X Wangles King-of-Spain GiG into another Training Exercise

In anticipation of a major equipment reorganization at the W7AYT QTH, the 3rd weekend in may was perfect for troubleshooting a number of the audio connections that make up the WQ6X operation in Concord.  I've been annotating what works and what could be improved.  The only HF contest on the WA7BNM Calendar was the King-of-Spain Cw GiG.  Until last year, I made only a handful of QSOs
in the KoS event.  I decided this year will take things to the next level.

What made the difference in this year's score was camping out on RUN frequencies and calling "CQ KOS" or "CQ EA ".  The amazing thing was receiving calls from several EA stations, making the CQ's worthwhile.  South American participation was quite noticeable during the K-o-S contest.  Altho non-EA QSOs are single-pointers, new countries add to the multiplier list making it worth turning the antennas to 120-Degrees.

What amazed me was the number of callers who thought this was a QSO party or something as they would send me their state. If I couldn't coax a number out of them, I randomly assigned one, on the assumption they wouldn't submit a log so it doesn't matter what value I put in there.

As it turns out, this event was the LAST contest operation from the Fallbrook location.  After a dozen years, we our moving our entire operation to the Super Station site in ANZA; overall an improvement.

Because this was a 24-hour contest, the opportunity for intentional QRM was reduced considerably.  Unfortunately this GiG's QRM came in the form of a "Woodpecker" signal @13;10z which was tracked down to 6841.45.  While tuning around, I encountered some sort of a traffic handling station calling "NR5U B5 NR5D45" and "NR5U 7A NR5DD 33" - HuH?  Broadcast stations were also heard on 6850.05 and 6865.05.  Later on Saturday, RTTY marking was heard on 14003.93 @23:09z and then full-blown RTTY on 14007.97 @07:23z - HuH?

Russian beacon-wise, the "F" and "K" beacons were AWOL, while the "M" beacon was unusually weak, altho Asian stations were being copied during this time period.  There was a time when I bitched about having military beacons invading our 40-meter Cw band; now I lament their disappearance.

When it was ALL OVER, according to 3830 Scores, WQ6X was 35th worldwide, 13th in USA
and 1st-place for California; other Californians were worked, yet evidently they never posted a score (and therefore presumably never submitted a LoG).

DiD YOU work the King-of-Spain contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wakes Up from a WEIRD CQ-M+VOLTA Weekend

It's a GooD thing this was only a 3-contest weekend; I don't think I could stand any more Weirdness.  What kept things more-or-less on track was not giving up and pure focus on my part.  After a rewire of its internally inserted stereo amplifier the Rockville mixer was back @W7AYT, along with a complete reevaluation of the complex audio-cabling that allows WQ6X/6 in Concord to integrate audio from an ICOM-7000, a Yaesu FT-1000mp and an Elecraft K3/0; not to mention, the inclusion of background music streamed via Pandora.

Being another mild contest weekend, the events I played around with easily overlapped:

1. [X] - The CQ-M International Dx Contest
   
2. [X] - The VOLTA RTTY Dx Contest
   
3. [X] -  The Arkansas QSO Party

An inadvertent "warm-up"  QSO occurred at 12:50z with VR2BLEE on 28 watts (I forgot to take the KPA-1500 amp off STBY - Ooops).  With the antenna pointed to Asia, without further ado 7027.27 was found to be a [relatively] Quiet place to park a "CQ M Test WQ6X WQ6X" call.

With the audio problems fully resolved, that left only the obligatory early morning 40-meter intentional-QRM IDIOTs to make running a frequency difficult.  It all began at 13:43 when out of nowhere a station starts sending "NO TEST" after every "CQ M" call.  Ironically, he never hassled me while actually working stations; only while calling CQ.  This modus-operandi is all too familiar - I've certainly encountered this IDIOT Be-4.  (The IDIOT at the END of the contest on Sunday wouldn't be so kind.)  

At 14:10z, with 26 Asian stations in the log, it was time to check the AR QSO party.  Sure enough, there was already a swarm of AR stations.  Eventually ten AR stations made it to the log on 40-meters; eight of them from running frequencies (7043.43, 7039.39 & 7042.42) calling "CQ ARQP WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA".  Eventually Arkansas dropped out, so after 30-minutes of shut-eye it was off to 20-meters to S&P in CQ-M before settling in on 14018.18.  Afterwards, 7 more  Arkansas stations made it to the log.

Lacking sleep I slumbered enough to be "back in the chair" at 20:30z, alternating between CQ-M
and ARQP.  By 22:15z all the CQ-M and AR stations to be worked from Fallbrook were worked;
it was time to bring the VOLTA RTTY GiG into all of this.

The audio settings at NX6T while adequate for Ssb contests were actually "over-bearing" for running AFSK RTTY resulting in an over-driven GROWLing.  Eventually a compromise was worked out between the soundcard audio and
the microphone gain/comp settings to produce just enough audio to drive the radio into the KPA-1500 amplifier.  

For some reason, the power-levels often "drifted around" on 20-meters (but not on 40).  If my signal-level seemed to fade in and out on you, that might be the cause.  From time to time
(with no fault-indicators) the amp would switch
to STBY.  NoT always noticing this, some QSOs were made at the 28 - 43 watt barefoot power level (depending on the band).

Unique to the VOLTA GiG is the sending TWO pieces of information: a serial # and CQ Zone. 

The number of points for each contact is computed by the distance between CQ zones of the two stations.  To make things easier to understand, the VOLTA website provided us with a spreadsheet (edited above for my CQ Zone 3).  These points make for what seem like ridiculously high scores;
my 15-million points being only a mid-level score.

From 04:00z to 06:00 the choice was made to run the CQ-M and not the VOLTA RTTY GiG.  In retrospect the reverse idea probably would have made more sense.  At 06:00z only 4 more RTTY QSOs made it to the log.  Listening around until the 12:00z contest end times yielded no new RTTY stations - Bummer Dewd.

Lacking sleep, the idea was to take a couple of hours off for some sleep and then run the last
3 hours or so in the CQ-M.  I didn't make it back to to the radio until 11:20z, with 40 minutes to go.  At 11:29z, moving to 7017.17 brought a new form of intentional QRM'er (who sounded local to Fallbrook) sending BG6 VIRUS" over and over again.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was able to work stations thru this IDIOT, when he started delivering several F-Bombs, it was time to find a new frequency.  Moving down to 7015.15 everything seemed quiet; the problem being that no stations followed me down there.  Returning to 7017.17 brought more F-Bombs, forcing a frequency change to 7016.16 to add a handful of Asian stations in time for the end of the contest.

In addition to the F-Bomber, my other beef in BOTH CQ-M and VOLTA were the stations who would work me (gotta get them QSO points first), then move 200hz away and call CQ contest.  HuH?  WTF is up with that?  At the very least, that is RUDE, and certainly a violation of contest ethics.
I DiD notice that these IDIOTs never DiD work anyone (being so close in frequency I guess I was too loud for them to copy anybody); one by one they drifted away to find a clear run frequency.

According to the 3830 Scores website, in the VOLTA contest WQ6X took 19th-place overall, 8th-place for USA and 1st-place for California.  In the CQ-M GiG, having more competition found my score in 42nd-place overall, 25th-place for USA and 1st-place for California.

DiD YOU work the CQ-M and VOLTA RTTY GiGs?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest WeeKend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2021, the Month of May brings us 5 unique contest weekends beginning with the usual
5-contest weekend starting off the month; what I call CINCO de Contest:

1. [X] - Italian ARI Dx Contest
2. [X] -7QP - 7th call area QSO Party
3. [X] -INQP - Indiana QSO Party
4. [X] -DEQP - Delaware QSO Party
5. [X] -NEQP - New England QSO Party

There was also the 10-10 Cw contest beginning at 00:00z.  Unfortunately, every time I checked
10-meters from Fallbrook (and yes, even called CQ) it seemed DEAD to me; altho other stations certainly found people to work.

This year's Cinco-de-Contest weekend was full of Reversals and Surprises.  Being a Target speaker for the Toastmasters District-12 Speech/Evaluation contest required that I remain in Alameda to give the Target speech.  After that, it was much easier to use the K3/0 Mini from Alameda rather than making the trip to W7AYT's QTH (in Concord).  Thanks to the $11 eBay special [microphone] I was able to run both Cw and Ssb, filling in whatever shift/mode needed.  (I even looked for 7QP RTTY signals, considering I/we were operating mixed-mode.)

With the goal of another 1st-place plaque from New England QSO Party (NEQP), NX6T ran from
our Super Station in ANZA.  Throughout the weekend Axel (KI6RRN) and I alternated band/antenna access from "Nashville" (our Fallbrook location); WQ6X on STN-1 and KI6RRN on STN-2.  I didn't expect to "win" anything this year.  The goal was simply to "UP" the 2021 contest count for WQ6X.

Typical for the Cinco-de-Contest weekend, for me, the ARI GiG was all but a no-show.  While I heard plenty of ARI activity in the daytime while running the state QSO parties, by the time I was ready to give ARI a GO, with 8 hours left, nothing was heard; rotating the shorty-40 while calling CQ and checking 80-meters yielded nothing.  I ended up submitting a 3-QSO log (with 2 of those QSOs
made via RTTY - Go Figure).

My personal run-goals for the weekend was for WQ6X to excel at the 7QP contest (considering that California is surrounded by the 7th call area) and put in a reasonable appearance in the NEQP GiG, with Indiana and Delaware on the side.  The INQP/DEQP GiGs garner my usual [annual] complaint:  Where ARE the IN & DE stations? Have they ever heard of ROVER stations?

With the speech contest obligation in the middle of the radiosport contest period, I found time
to run as WQ6X (mixed-mode) remotely from the Nashville STN-1.  When I was speech-contest'ing, KI6RRN was chasing QSO party stations.  When he was on shift @NX6T, I took that opportunity to run WQ6X from Nashville, until my 22:30z Ssb shift.  I closed out the 7QP for NX6T (between 10:15 and Midnight).

While there was plenty of 7QP/NEQP activity, calling "CQ 7QP" flushed out dozens more 7th area stations casually tuning the bands.  The BiG problem was that "Billy Bob" and his brother "Barney" were also tuning
the bands and kept calling in out of sheer boredom (boredumb?).  

On Ssb I would say "Gee, I hope y'all are in the 7th
call area, because I'm working only the 7th call area";
I couldn't make it any more clear than that.  

Their signals usually being weak made it doubtful they were actually in the 7th call area.  Sure enough, they were all in PA, NC, FL, GA, KY and TN.  HuH?  WTF?  DiD you HEAR what I JUST said?  If NoT, then you should not have called me.

 

I've written several Blogs on why you should NoT call me:

1. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
2. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
3. [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should NoT Call Me!"
          (written during last year's Cinco-de-Contest weekend).
   

For this year's 7th area QSO party translating the above blog points goes like this:

1. Do You know what "CQ 7QP" means?  If NoT, then you should not call me.
2. Do you know that WQ6X/6 means I am in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
3. Do you know that WQ6X/CA means I am in California and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
4. On Ssb, if you  hear me say "7th call area only" and you are not in the 7th call area... 
   then you should not call me.
5. Do you even KNOW where the "7th call area IS? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.

Before you BLINDLY call a contest station, please do the following:

• Listen to hear what contest that station is running 
• Look up that contest on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar.
• Read the RULES for that contest.
• If you're not in the geographical location the CQ caller is looking
  for, then MOVE ON - find a non-contester to converse with.

A tragically, if NoT funny example of this was when during my off-time (around 22:50z on Sunday), while tuning around STN-1 in Fallbrook, I encountered N6KI running a frequency for NX6T, calling
"CQ NE QSO Party, this is NX6T in California calling for New England"; something like that.  

I happened onto his frequency because I heard nearly a dozen stations calling in - wOw!  LoTsa New Englanders for our log.  WRONG!  It was just "Billy Bob and Barney", along with their cousins "Cheryl and Connie".  HuH?  You mean I'm NoT the only one this happens to?  I believe 1-outa-10 QSOs was actually from New England.  Do operators even Listen?  Or, do they just blindly call stations, oblivious to what they are actually all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By midnight, the 7QP GiG was over (the INQP was over at 02:00z). 
For Sunday, the DEQP and NEQP GiGs picked up where they left off on Saturday,
ending at 23:59:59z (5pm local time)  

For NEQP, that meant several dozen more contacts made it to the log.  For DEQP, only
ONE new station was on the air; he wasn't actually new, I just missed working him on Saturday. 
It seems like every year ONLY 3 stations are on the air from Delaware.  HuH?  Wassup with THAT?

This year, the surprise was how many 7QP & NEQP stations were on the air.
MY FD-compatriots from years past (W6KC & W6SW) put together an interesting expedition as N7D, activating the RARE Esmeralda county - well done guys.  THIS is how QSO parties should be done.

Expeditions and ROVER stations are often the secret to successful QSO parties; at least, that's how we Doit
in California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was all over, the surprise for NX6T was that we won the M/S category for 7QP, beating out
NV9L (Valerie and her husband).  The reversal was that NV9L clearly took 1st-place for NEQP;
having geographical closeness certainly helps in this case.

What about You?  DiD YOU run the 7QP & NEQP QSO parties?

How many counties made it to YOUR LoG?

P.S.:  As of June 1st the results are in. 
         NX6T took 2nd place to NV9L and her husband in the NEQP contest.
         NX6T took FIRST PLACE in the 7QP GiG (NV9L took 2nd).