WQ6X Rides another RTTY Roundup: but DIFFERENTLY

"Similar but Different" is the phrase I would use to describe the first ARRL radiosport
GiG of the 2022 contest year.  Differences include (and are not limited to):

• 
  
  SFI of 103+ throughout the weekend; unfortunately accompanied by several solar storms.
• While 10-meters qualified as DEAD (in all respects), 3 (count-em, 3) Brazilian stations poked right thru the nothingness, resulting in PERFECT decode every time.
• A newly acquired late-model Yaesu FT-2000 slipped seamlessly into the operating position, supplanting the FT-1000mp which has been the mainstay of my Concord
  portable operation (for nearly 6 years), activating the East Bay (EB) section.

Because the FT-2000 tuner seems to use a slower (yet more deliberate) tuning algorithm
(compared to the FT-1000mp), it is more "forgiving", yet more thorough, which is to be expected
for a transceiver 2-levels up from the 1000mp.

Friday evening, I determined the latest and greatest antenna tuner settings for the MFJ 949 (300w) tuner, after which the FT-2000 completed the tuning process, storing those settings in the tuner's memory "scratch pad".  The only time the Yaesu could NoT tune properly was when it was discovered (luckily early enough) the short cable connecting the ANT #1 jack to the tuner was in fact defective.  

Additionally, stray-RFI (only on RTTY) was created by the Electro Voice EV-664 mic, plugged into
the radio's front panel mic connector.  Not needing to use Ssb until after the RTTY RU, the cable
was disconnected, lying forlornly on the operating desk.  To monitor the actual transmitted signal,
a TECSUN PL-600 Sw is always nearby.  Setting the antenna attenuator to the lowest "LOCAL" setting is enough to reduce overload.  While the BFO in the PL-600 can hardly be considered
"stable", use of the receiver takes the MONI feature of the FT-2000 to the next level.

While the older FT-1000mp does an adequate job running 100-watt RTTY, the FT-2000 takes everything to the next level.  Simply moving most of the DSP logic from the AF stage to a late IF stage makes all the difference.  Luckily, the cables running from the RIG-EXPERT PLUS to the FT-1000mp easily transferred over to the FT-2000 seamlessly.  Unlike the 1000mp which had a baud rate fixed
at 4800, the FT-2000 allows selecting virtually any baud rate (by way of an easily accessible menu setting); 19.2k seems to work best with the WINDOZE-7 operating system I utilize.

Useful operating time was difficult to secure throughout the weekend.  I was either sharing OP-time with a Toastmasters Leadership (TLI) training presentation or dealing with the effects of a pair of solar storms throughout the weekend, making the OP-time all but worthless.  While I managed 3 Brazilian contacts on 10-meters, that was it for WQ6X on 10; whereas WN6K (Fallbrook) managed 49 QSOs on 10, but No DX - GO Figure.

On a slightly different focus, looking for RTTY stations on 40-meters, without thinking about it in advance, I tuned thru 7038.7 encountering the Russian military "K" beacon.  I've written about these beacons BE-4, noting that of the 3 far east beacons ("F", "M" and "K") in the last year the "K" beacon seemed to be AWOL. c This weekend, of the 3, ONLY the "K" beacon was ever heard.  A 3rd Blog on the military beacons has been waiting patiently to be finished.  The latest "K" beacon anomaly will make the perfect ending to that Blog post.

As always happens with the RTTY RU, the 30-hour ending at 00:00z seems to happen way
too quickly.  The two solar storms cheated us out of precious OP-time, I so desperately wanted
a DO-over; or should I say, an extension.  Of course, that's not how things work.

When it was all over, WQ6X logged 244 RTTY stations on all 5 HF RTTY bands.

DiD YOU work the 2022 ARRL RTTY Roundup contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?