WQ6X Works another Perplexing RSGB IOTA Contest

Every year, the RSGB IOTA contest (like so many Euro-based events) presents me with an abundance of hope that THIS TIME, we're actually going to hear and work 100+ IOTA islands.  Instead, what REALLY happens is nearer to the opposite end of the spectrum.  I wrote about
this in last year's BLOG; pre-CoViD 2019 actually delivered on it's promise.

Being an RSGB contest, the usual 12:00z start time requires I somehow roll out of bed at 5am to check these things out.  Calling CQ on 40 & 80 returned no callers, making it easy to find an excuse to go back to bed, getting up in time for the monthly ARCA (Amateur Radio Club of Alameda) club meeting.  Calling CQ on 20 afterwards was also a disappointment.

The RBN STATs illustrate the degree to which WQ6X called CQ IOTA throughout Saturday and Sunday morning.

Last weekend in the NAQP RTTY contest, altho there were no RBN Spots for 10-meters, a total of 20 RTTY QSOs made it into the 10-meter section of the log.

During IOTA, while there were a handful of RBN Spots, only 2 "local" W6 stations were workable on 10-meters.

On 10-meters, the yagi was rotated 30 - 60 degrees followed by a lengthy call and then another rotate.  

15-meters was a complete no-show; the same as
80-meters.  Tuning around on Ssb, I heard no stations working the IOTA GiG, relegating the log entry to Cw only.

 

Amazingly, 40-meters represented the majority of the IOTA QSOs; quite surprising since usually,
20-meters is THE band for Island working.  Hoping that 15-meters would produce some islands,
a LoT of time was devoted to the band; in the end, yielding Nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a nice surprise to have island stations returning my "CQ IOTA" calls;
they gave me 15 points, while receiving only 2 points in exchange.  In desperation,
I turned to the EASY Button, altho I dunno if it really made a difference or not.

Looking through the log, the most noticeable country missing from the log was JAPAN. 
Normally JA stations FLOOD DX contests.  Because Japan qualifies as several IOTA islands,
I would have expected DOZENS of stations, not ZERO.  Despite the problems in Cuba, CO8NMN managed to copy WQ6X on 40 meters.

While Canada hardly qualifies as an Island over all, such locations as BAFFIN Island (I believe VY1) and Prince Edward Island - P.E.I. (VY2) should have been all over the place - instead, ZERO.

BUMMER DEWD!

Oh well, this IOTA GiG is more-or-less what I have come to expect.
Maybe next year will be different - I've been saying that every year. 
One year I may actually work 100 IOTA islands - it CAN happen, ya' know.

What about YOU?

Did YOU work the RSGB IOTA contest?

How many IOTA islands made it into YOUR Log?