WQ6X Kicks-It in another King-of-Spain Cw Contest

The King-of-Spain (K-o-S) Cw contest is one of those events I never know what to do with,
except operate; luckily, it's really that easy.  The original plan for the contest was to run the GiG
from W7AYT's QTH in Concord as a low power station.  A text from N6KI on Friday evening gave
me the go-ahead to run STN-2 @WA6TQT at high power (opening up the possibility for a newbie
San Diego operator to have a shot at a 1st-place for low power); how can I go wrong there? 
Other than a brief SWR glitch mid Saturday evening, the operation ran essentially flawless.

Friday evening found me competing in the Toastmasters District-57 International Speech contest, followed by an ARCA radio club board meeting and the District-57 annual conference and Evaluation contest on Saturday.  Running the K-o-S contest while attending conference sessions helped me survive the BORING business meetings on Saturday morning.

Because the King-of-Spain GiG is a European-based contest the 12:00z (5am for me) starting time
is of course to be expected, altho I didn't actually roll out of bed until around 5:45am.  With a solar flux of over 160, 20-meters became THE go-to band this year, while 40-meters turned out to be quite a disappointment, as did the JA participation in this event.  Encountering solar storms all weekend certainly didn't make my day (or my weekend for that matter).

Also happening during the weekend was the Arkansas QSO Party (ARQP), which explains the dozen+ callers in the K-o-S contest sending me 599 + their State; then again, several stations sent me their name and QTH (probably wondering why I didn't do the same).  This of course takes us back to previous blogs where I ask: Do you know what "CQ EA TEST" means?  If not, then you should NoT call me - it's as simple as that. I've written about this problem many times before.
([CLICK HERE] for the latest thoughts on this topic.

What amazed me for that weekend was the number of stations who desperately called multiple times and then disappeared after I sent the exchange.  HuH? Am I missing something??  You drown out legitimate callers and then disappear?  WTF was THAT all about?  (They probably realized they had no CLUE what an EA Test was and just quietly slinked away.)

By 00:00z, the District-57 conference was largely over, allowing me to focus 100% on the King-of-Spain GiG.  Unfortunately, the number of callers nearly-completely disappeared.  10 & 15 meters were largely a no-Show, no new stations were found on 20, and 40 meters was not yet open. 
Bummer DewD!  Low turnout marked the rest of the contest period.

Literally, out of boredom (bore-dumb?), at 05:00z I switched the station over to 20 meters, discovering yet another opening to Europe (EU); amazing when you consider that the low bands had been largely obliterated due to a solar storm also unfolding at that time.

Every year I hope for a large turnout in the (3-Point) Spanish stations; this year only mildly satisfied that desire.  One thing is certain - running frequencies most of the time is what resulted in the EA stations in the log; it seems very few were actually calling CQ themselves.  40-meters was largely
a disappointment.  Lack of Asian stations certainly didn't help the score.  The "K" and "M" beacons certainly indicated the propagation paths to Asia were WIDE OPEN, despite lack of actual stations
to take advantage of it.

When no one is around to play with, in radiosport GiGs can quickly devolve into being tedious and boring; at least, calling CQ helps keep me awake in the middle of the night.  Once in awhile a surprise caller calls in, making it all worthwhile.  Then again, when a band falls apart, that is what the bandswitch is for.  ([CLICK HERE] for the contest scores.)

2022's 287 QSO log certainly surpassed last year's run from Fallbrook.  According to the 3830 Scores, this year, WQ6X managed 12th place overall, 6th place for USA and 1st-place for the
Left Coast; not bad for just screwing around.

Afterwards, I submitted an 8-QSO log for the AR QSO Party to at least say I was there. 
WQ6X is on the "Logs Received" list on the King-of-Spain website.

What about YOU?  Were YOU there?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wings and Wanders Thru a Vague VOLTA RTTY Contest

While you've no doubt heard the phrase "a Wing and a Prayer", you may NoT be aware of "a Chip
and a Chair" (attributed to Jack "Treetop" Strauss' comeback WIN in the 1982 World Series of Poker).  It is a metaphor for going-for-it - NoT Giving Up.

This last weekend sported 3 notable radiosport events:

1. [X] - The CQ-M Cw/Ssb Contest
2. [X] - The VOLTA RTTY Contest
3. [X] - The Prairie QSO Party (Cw & Ssb ONLY)

Altho I liked the idea of the Prairie QSO Party, they didn't give enough advance notice for me to work their event into an already ad-HOC operating schedule.  When I heard PQP signals, I was in "RTTY Mode"; when done w/RTTY mode there were no QSO Party stations left - adding an [optional] 3-hour extension to the event would make more sense to me.

The Russian-based CQ-M GiG leaves me with mixed feelings.  From the Concord location in the
SF East Bay, CQP is a DuD at best - the last log submission of any value was in May of 2015. 
The "correct play" would've been to obtain permission to run remotely from Anza STN-2. 
With the stacked arrays as well as the 3-and-4 Squares (for the bottom bands), even
running 99-watts, a reasonable entry could've been made.

Because stations in Anza are not setup to run RTTY (FSK or AFSK), the recently added
Yaesu FT-2000 runs 100-watt full-duty RTTY, with no after-effects. 

The VOLTA RTTY contest is an Italian-sponsored event, not surprising considering Alessandro
Volta was Italian.  The VOLTA GiG has a unique exchange: - the obligatory "5NN", a Serial#
(Rx: 001) and the CQ-Zone #.  A typical WQ6X exchange might look like:

WD6EWD 5NN (079 03) (079 03).  

When numbers are being sent in an exchange, I send "5NN"(not 599) for the signal report,
contrasting it from the numeric sequences (which are ALREADY in parenthesis).

While there were no solar storms to speak of
(and an SFI of 150+), contest activity was noticeably absent.  I even went to bed "early" Saturday nite in hopes of an opening to Asia as Japan moved into Sunday's sunset.  I didn't recall hearing the Russian "F" and "M" beacons, altho the "K" beacon finally wafted into the headphones with its repeating
"K K K K" (followed by a 1.5-sec pause).

I should've know it would be a weird RTTY contest, when QSO #1 (on 15-meters) was with KH6CJJ.  What made it weird was realizing that the contact
was made off the back of the beam - a 3-element
10-meter Long John yagi.  

Amazingly, the MFJ-949E manual tuner and the FT-2000's internal tuner can give a near 1:1 match - probably more akin to a rotary dipole (a Buddi-Pole?) than a yagi.

 

In addition to poor contest turnout, the big challenge came throughout Saturday afternoon. 
Any attempt at transmitting any mode on 20-meters (Cw, Ssb or RTTY) would cause the
Windoze-7 laptop to just shut itself off as if it had lost power; the problem being stray RF
from the nearby ladder line.  

With no contest activity happening on Sunday, the MFJ-949E was moved closer to the window,
routing the ladder line away from the computer.  While all the tuner settings have dramatically changed, the RFI is hopefully gone forever.

When the weekend was all over, I got to submit a log for the VOLTA RTTY contest and resolve
a months-long RFI problem in the portable radio shack.  The coming weekend will allow testing
the configuration by way of the King-of-Spain Cw contest; 20-meters being the heart of the contest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DiD YOU work the Alessandro Volta RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Contest BLOG - ToPiCaL INDEX

SOMETIME AGO i PROPOSED MAKING BLOG POST #501 AN INDEX PAGE FOR THIS CONTEST BLOG SYSTEM, OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT IS NECESSARY TO ACTUALLY MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

IN ORDER TO PRESERVE BLOG POST #501, FOR NOW WE WILL HAVE A "PARKING PAGE"
WHILE i FIGURE OUT HOW TO CREATE AN INDEXING SYSTEM.  MEANWHILE BLOG POSTING WILL RETURN TO ITS REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING.

STAY TUNED!

WQ6X Posts Contest Blog #500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we move squarely into the 10th year of the WQ6X Contest Blog, reflecting on the different
topics posted, I am amazed (if not amused) by the variety of topics (with their myriad of pictures)
that has been posted in 9 1/2 years.  

During this time, several "Blast from the Past" posts have been posted.  I've even posted a Blast
from the Past about Blasts from the Past.  I guess we could call Blog Post #500 a Blast from the
Past about past Blasts from the Past about Blasts from the Past.

This Blog began as a simple contest activity diary of sorts, augmenting my Facebook page which
is a sort of diary about the happenings in my life overall.  There are people in the vicinity of my life who (I believe) don't believe that I say and do the things and events I claim to say and do.  NoT only
do I Say and Do these things, I publish the Blogs and pictures to back everything up.

Often, Blog posts beget blog posts.  What begins as just a collection pictures and ideas under
one topic header often becomes 5 or 6 parts as the years produce different events to engage with.  Contest blog material has frequently been used as a part of various presentations I have given for various radio clubs; the classic being from the 5-Part "The Role of Respect in Radiosport" series.  Thanks to the search engine built-in to this Blogspot system, I a can find things to reminisce about.

To date, there have been over 60,000 page views from the WQ6X Contest Blog.
I trust you've received as much enjoyment from the posted material as I do from actually
posting the content.

1. 001 to 100 - 2013 to 2016
2. 101 to 200 - 2017 to 2018
3. 201 to 300 - Thru all 2019
4. 301 to 400 - Thru all 2020
5. 401 to 500 - 2021 to 2022

Look for Blog Post #501 to serve as an index of sorts regarding many of the major blog topics.
The increased rapidity of blog posts over nearly 10 years leads me to wonder when blog post #1000 will make its appearance.  What will be happening in the world, and more specifically the world of radio at THAT time?

Somebody once said: "The only REAL way to know the future is to CREATE IT".
With the WQ6X Contest Blog, that is EXACTLY what we will do.

 

If you have benefited in any way from this Blog series, please let me know.
If there are any topics you would like for me to address, lemme know and I will see what can be done.

Creative Competition in Radiosport and Toastmasters Part-7: Content - It's ALL About Content

In Toastmasters speech contests, speech content is of course what it's all about.  Then again, every speech needs a beginning and an ending to the content.  Many would-be speech contest winners do not grasp the importance of a connective speech title.  I remind members of my Toastmasters club (the Alameda Tongue Twisters) "Your Speech Title is your Calling Card - it should connect with me and Grab Me".

If you can work your speech title into the speech content, so much the better.  To win this year's District-57: Division-A contest, I referenced the speech title 3 times; the 3rd time serving as a dramatic bridge to the end-segment of the speech.  Ramona J. Smith won the 2018 World Championship of Speaking with a 2-word speech title: "Still Standing".  Not only did she work the title in throughout the speech she motivated us to say it at the end.  Darren Tay won the 2016 event with a speech entitled "Outsmart and Outlast".  In some way, the speech content should link back to the speech title; unless of course, the content has been designed to purposely contrast with the speech title.

The use of "props", properly done, can add extra dimension to the speech.  Darren Tay pulled out a pair of blazingly white Kalvin Kline underwear and wore it over his 3-piece suit; Ramona Smith came out boxing.  In this year's Division-A contest, my competitor Joseph Stegner smashed several filled wine glasses, adding an element of surprise to the speech; something that can be quite effective. 
I held up a "No BULLYING" sign and ended my speech opening my shirt to reveal a pink "Stop Bullying" t-Shirt.

Content is just as important in radiosport contests but in a different way.  Contest exchanges are meant to be short, direct and succinct.  In Ssb contests, when you speak your callsign, it should be said SLOWLY and SUCCINCTLY.  Like a speech title, your callsign is your calling card.  You should recite it proudly EVERY time you use it.  Foreign stations for whom English is not their primary language should rehearse saying their callsign succinctly and then even capture it in a digital voice keyer, to be replayed the same way every time.  If we can't understand your callsign, we will log it incorrectly and you won't get proper credit for the contact.

With Cw, while it's effective to run at a reasonably quick speed, 38+ wpm is NoT the way to go about it.  As a single-OP, 24wpm is my preferred operating speed.  When running as NX6T, I am encouraged to step it up to 28wpm.  In either case, if a station calls in at less than 20wpm, I SLOW DOWN to match their speed, make the contact exchange and then return to my "normal" operating speed.  While rapid exchange is important, information accuracy is crucial; incorrect exchanges DING these QSOs.

In RTTY radiosport contests, I find it more effective to use lengthier yet succinct exchanges.  Remember that it takes operators a few seconds to tune you in to decode your CQ call properly.  A typical call for me is something like "CQ RTTY RU Test WQ6X - WQ6X   CQ".  If a RTTY contest requires a 599 response, I use "5NN" instead, which separates it from numbers sent afterwards.  If I can't decode your call, I have a button specially programmed to send "UR Callsign Agn?".  While a bit verbose, it guarantees the station understands what I am looking for.  If I JUST send "CL?",  Those 3 letters could be easily garbled on the other end.

No matter what kind of competition you engage in, if the content is lacking, the likelihood of success will reflect that lack.  Content is continuously critical - carry it correctly and you can catch the continuous wave of creative accomplishment.  How does content figure into your creativity quota?

What the Reverse Beacon Network can Do for You

Have you ever run a contest or operating event and wondered who was actually hearing your signals?  I have learned that just because they are NoT spotting me does NoT mean they are NoT hearing me.  With the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) we can visualize more clearly when/where we are being heard on a given amateur band; all that is required is to make a series of calculated CQ calls and check the RBN website entries for the callsign.  This is one of the 8 things I do after EVERY radiosport weekend.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that original Blog.)

If you go to the RBN website and look up my callsign (WQ6X), you will receive a list of last 100 SPOTs from my more recent on-the-air operations.  

If you read the Blog entry I wrote about that given weekend it may be possible to correlate my descriptions (bot GooD and Not so Good) with RBN stat data.  

RBN stats often seem to be at odds with empirical experience; more noticeable on 10-meters than other HF bands.  

I'll make a CQ call and receive a number of RBN spots from a given area, yet no human-OP'd stations seem to be listening, or even seeing the WQ6X spots for that band.  

Then, a station will call in from a different area altogether for which there were no RBN spots.  

Just because RBN stats and reality don't always match, I don't blindly ignore RBN data.  RBN data (like Space-WX information) are simply sources of data I can utilize to modify my immediate operating strategy.  Somebody once said "know before you go"; additionally, I add:: continue to know as you continue to GO.

Do YOU make use of the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) facility?

If NoT, you are TRULY missing OUT!

WQ6X Wangles a Weird Cinco-de-Contest

 

 

 

 

 

This year's Cinco-de-Contest was WEIRD from the beginning.  This weekend opens with the
ARI (Italian) DX Contest.  Years back, N6KI and WQ6X took 1st-place in that event.  Since then, NX6T's focus has been on the 4 QSO Parties that accompany the ARI GiG.

1. [X] - 7QP
2. [X] - DEQP
3. [X] - INQP
4. [X] - NEWQP

Our main goal was to take 1st-place in the New England QSO Party and a 2nd in the 7QP GiG
(the other two events take care of themselves).  As it turns out, for 2022 we made an inverse win:
1st-Place for 7QP and 2nd-Place for NEQP.  When we factor in the HORRIBLE propagation conditions, it is a miracle we accomplished what we did.

In 2016, by accident, WQ6X managed to win the Single-OP (outside of W7) plaque; I guess the competition was (to use a phrase) "asleep at
the wheel".  For the 2022 event weekend, my
goal was to again dual-OP the major events,
as I did last year.  

NX6T's goal was to win another New England QSO Party plaque with a 2ndary goal being the 7QP GiG.  We ran frequencies by calling:
"CQ QP NX6T NX6T/CA".  

Using the N1MM+ software allows logging all
4 QSO parties to one CABRILLO file.  That same file can be submitted for each contest and the LCR software can sort it all out.  

Additionally, there exists a freebie program
that can parse the log file and separate out the individual contest QSOs for each of the 4 events.  Once these files are created, you should manually inspect each created file insuring that it accurately reflects the operation you conducted for that contest.

What I dislike about using one log for all contests is being unable to ascertain individual contest scores during the contest weekend.  When running as WQ6X, I purposely create 4 separate contest entries for n1MM+, switching between the 4 logs as needed.  While a bit tricky, it allows me to post each score via the 3830 Scores website with having to massage the files later.

Band conditions was the determining factor in our win-placement.  Being on the East coast, NJ4P
had a perfect North-South pipeline to New England on 10-meters (as well as 15m).  On the Left-coast, we were unable to leverage a 10-meter opening (except to South America); the MUF barely made it to 20-mhz for us.  NJ4P took 1st-place for NEQP, while NX6T took 1st-place for 7QP.

We are certainly, finally, in the throes of Solar Cycle 25; the lowest of the monthly-low was only down to 115 - after the weekend, the SFI jumped to 133.   In general, as the solar cycle continues to peak, we get more intense/frequent storms, that dissipate quickly.  The WPX Cw GiG is coming up at month end.  Let's keep our attention on what we can expect by then.

DiD YOU play in the Cinco-de-Contest weekend?

How DiD propagation work out at your end of the contest spectrum?

A Dozen+ ways to Say: "You Should NoT Call Me!"

As I look back on the 2022 Cinco-de-Contest weekend, I am reminded that during the last
5 years of Blog posting, I have discussed the issue of "why you should NoT call me" 9 times. 
While stations calling me when they should NoT is still frustrating, increasingly I just shake
my head in amazement.

Here is a COLLAGE of things I have said about this topic.

If it all looks jumbled, I guess in a way it SHOULD; reflecting the incredulous confusion
over how people sometimes JUST don't GeT It.

From 08/7/2019:

• If I send "CQ SS" and you don't know what the "SS" means, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.  If you have read the Sweepstakes rules, then you know EXACTLY the six pieces of information I am expecting; if not, ask.  Otherwise, DO NOT CALL ME.
• If you hear me calling "CQ California QSO Party" (or "CQ CQP") and you
  are looking for a 20-minute ragchew, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.
  If you have read the CQP rules, then you know that what I am looking for is
  a QSO # and what State/Province you are located in - that is all I need and want. 
  I could care less how much power you are running, what kind of antenna you are feeding into, what the weather is like, what you had for dinner, or what kind of beagle dog you have.  (I may be interested in those things AFTER the contest, but for now, if you can't give me the required CQP information, then, DO NOT CALL ME.)

Bottom-Line:
If you do not know the contest rules, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME - read the contest
rules first and THEN call me when you know how the game is played.

From 09/7/2019:

I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA"
Later I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/6"
From those CQ's I received calls from MO, 2 W7's, a K9, a WB8, a K6 and a KG5 - NONE
of them in CO (Colorado).

Then I defined the F-10 key to send  "I wrk Colorado Only"
Based on this I ask the following Questions:

• Do You know what "COQP" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know the rules for the COQP?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/CA" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/6" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that "WQ6X/CA" or "WQ6X/6" means I am in California and NoT Colorado?  If so, then in the COQP contest, YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "I wrk Colorado Only" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT 
  CALL ME.
• Do You know what it means to listen before responding to a COQP contest call? 
  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that when I  send "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA" that I am NoT looking to ragchew?  If so, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.

While I understand that you may be looking to work a WQ6 station, or a station in California, the Colorado QSO party is NoT the time to do that; there are other California stations making a general CQ call - call them instead.

 

From 10/21/2019:

For the AZQP, because there were so few Arizona stations calling CQ, I found a frequency
and called: CQ AZ de NX6T, NX6T/Ca.  Instead of calls from AZ stations, I received calls from:
KY, GA, TN, TX, UT & W6.  HuH?  Per the Why You probably should not call me BLOG, if you don't know what "CQ AZ" or "NX6T/Ca" means, then you should not call me.  If I send "AZ stations only",
unless you are in AZ, you should not call me. 

In many state QSO parties this year many stations with call prefixes not reflecting the state were operating from were calling CQ, making it sound as if they were NoT in that state but looking for stations in that state.  When I asked "are you in AZ/PA/GA", they would say "Yes".  I shouldn't have
to ask - you should make it clear from the beginning.  For example, if you ARE in Arizona and your callsign does not make that clear, then  add the county to your callsign, such as: WQ6X/MCP or NX6T/PNO.

From 2/20/2020: 

As the contest proceeded, either out of boredom or chronic I-Don't-have-a-Clueness, stateside
and even VA7 stations were calling me.  HuH? Dewd, this is a DX contest, go LooK for DX. 
Lemme address the reasons they call me, explaining this to my mythical friend DEWD - WD6EWD

• Hey Dewd, if you don't know this is a contest, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, if you DO know this is a contest, then you know that you can't work me in this event; therefore YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, do you know this is a DX contest? If so, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, just because you're BORED doesn't make a QSO valid; therefore YOU
  should NoT call me.

Are amateurs really as Clueless as WD6EWD?  WoW!  I thought EVERYBODY knew this was
a contest weekend; they're either busy participating in it or openly BITCHING about it in their
mindless ragchews.  Or, am I missing something?....
To refresh your memory, here are links to what I wrote about this "Problem":

• [x] August 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [x] September 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

Now that We got this all straight....

Evidently, we DIDN'T get it all straight.

From 5/5/2020: 

For this last weekend, rather than giving a discourse on WHEN you SHOULD call me, I shall explain when you SHOULDN'T call me, using the 7QP QSO Party as the example; the same points apply to the NEQP, DEQP & INQP.

1. Have You read the RULES for the QSO Party? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me. 
   If You HAVE read the rules, then you know that I am listening for callers ONLY in: WA,
   OR, MT, ID, UT, WY, NV, therefore, You should NoT Call Me.
2. Do You know that CA is in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th? - If SO,
   then You should NoT Call Me.
3. Do You know what /6 means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
4. Do You know what /CA means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
5. There is NOTHING WORSE than a caller being significantly off frequency with horribly
   choppy Cw, requiring several repeats on their callsign, only to find out that they are a DUPE
   or not in the 7th call area.  WHAT a COMPLETE WASTE of MY TIME.
6. Stations like N5RGH called in 3-times on 20 meters alone.  What was his point in doing that? Did he have a reason for calling me?  Was EACH contact actually entered in some sort of log?

Here's the bottom line - if you're bored and want stations to communicate with, go to the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, look up this weekend and click on the rules for a given contest event.  Before you know it, you will be contesting like a pro.  Otherwise, blindly calling contest stations when you are NoT actively participating in that event will leave you and everyone else FRUSTRATED.

Can I make it anymore clear?

Evidently NoT!

From 3/21/2021: 

On Sunday, the 4th contest opportunity came in the form of the North Carolina QSO Party - NCQP.  While there was a smattering of activity, only SIX 20-meter QSOs made it into the NCQP Log, followed by ONE more on 40.  To resolve this, I elected to call CQ on 14041.41 as follows:
            CQ NC de WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA
This brought callers from virtually every area of the country EXCEPT NC. 
You may remember a 2020 Blog I wrote about this problem. 
Based on that Blog, I ask you the following:

• Do you know what NCQP means?
  Then unless you are in NC, you should not call me.
  If not, then you should not call me.
• Do you know what /6 and /CA means?
  If so, then you know I am in CA and not NC, so you should not call me.
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
• When I ask you CTY? , do you know what that means?
  If NoT, then you should NoT have called me.

When one particular non-NC station called.  I sent him the CA exchange
and then asked "CTY?"; to which he replied "OOPS".

Bottom-line: READ the RULES BE-4 EVERY CONTEST EVENT.  If you don't really know why 
you are calling me, then you probably should NoT be calling.  On the air, EVERY transmission
you make should have a specific purpose.  If you don't know why you are transmitting, then you probably should NoT.

 

From 5/07/2021:

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.

 

From 4/06/2022:  

Of course, my "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA" calls were responded to by stations who OBVIOUSLY didn't get it.  I have written up this problem up before ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  Let's review this situation, shall we?  When I call "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA":

• Do you know what CQ MO means? 
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
  If you know that I am looking for MO and you are not in Missouri,
  then you should Not call me.
• If you DO know this is the Missouri QSO party
  If you don't know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am not in Missouri,
  then you should NoT call me.
  If you DO know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am NoT in Missouri,
  then, you should NoT call me.

It's REALLY that simple.  Am I MISSING something?

 

WQ6X Flops around in another FLQP QSO Party

This being the "extra" weekend in the month of April, somehow, the Florida QSO party slips right
in with opportunities on Saturday and Sunday.  The REAL QSO party weekend of course happens NEXT weekend with the 7QP, NEQP, INQP, DEQP and ARI GiGs.  Being a lone QSO party, run against a backdrop of marginal space-WX, last weekend's FLQP event became a background activity, giving me the opportunity to check out the audio and power connections in order that I run a "fuel-efficient" dual-OP contest weekend, this coming weekend.

If you look at the post dates of the last 8 entries in the WQ6X contest blog system, you'll notice
they were all released for publication this last weekend.  The material was already word-processed, simply waiting visual images for enhanced readability.

Hoping to "force" a propagation opening to Florida on 10-meters, the 3-el Long John yagi was fix-pointed to 87-degrees latitude (East) both days calling: "CQ FL WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA".  Fortunately, Billy-Bob and his brother Barney never called in, but WQ6X (and 2 other W6 stations) received
a call from LU1AW (in Argentina).  As a Test of their log-checking system, I logged the contact anyway.   It will be interesting to find out if the WQ6X log gets "dinged" for that LU1 QSO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I often bitch that not enough in-state operators participate in their own QSO parties. 
This weekend there were DOZENS of Floridians in the CW spectrum (I didn't check Ssb);
at least if the dozens of internet spots reflect reality.  The difficulty this weekend was the
receive-vortex which seems to surround this portable location.  Only 25 contacts actually
made it to the log; many of them stations worked on other bands.

The 8JK Cobra array antenna does very well eastward.  Unfortunately, on 20-meters, the ladder-line spills all manner of RFI around the shack, taking out the USB devices (the Yaesu CAT connection and the RigExpert PLUS unit) often locking up the transmitter.  The CH-250 vertical being coax-fed does not exhibit this problem; then again, even with a 3-wire counterpoise, it is not a gain antenna, like the 8JK Cobras.  I guess it is time to check the 8JK wires outside and give the dozen year-old MFJ 949-E antenna tuner a thorough spring cleaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was bummed that the FLQP ended at 02:00z on Saturday evening, at LEAST
they gave us a second shot at putting FL counties in the log again on Sunday.

Last but not least, this weekend allowed me to publicize editorial comments published
by Radio World in response to K1OIK's atrocious letter to the editor in early April. 
([CLICK HERE] for a link to that issue - Pp. 29-30)

As you can see, radiosport weekends are not always about radio operating itself.

What DiD YOU Do last weekend?

Propagation Beacon Tracking: By Way of SDR - Part 4

This is the 4th part (actually the 6th Blog) on the subject of Beacon Tracking.  Another approach to beacon tracking recently occurred to me - namely, the use of internet accessible Software Defined Receivers (SDR's).  While I don't normally like being dependent on the internet, having access to different listening vantage points can in fact be quite useful.

Another approach to beacon tracking is to use a TRIO of SDR receivers, allowing a triangulation
of a specific beacon frequency.  This provides three ways of determining:

• If a given TX is on or off the air.
• If the TX can be heard from some geographical "angles" (azimuth).
• With 3+ SDR listening-points, we can determine/better-predict the actual "atmospheric ducts" to the beacon location(s) - there are 3 Russian beacons in East Asia, alone.

With occasional exceptions most (if not all) NCDXF beacons are on-air, all the time - somewhere
in their 3:00 minute cycle.  Using SDR receivers we can triangulate in much the same way as with
the Russian beacons, except that any given NCDXF beacon frequency is heard for only ~5 seconds, every 3 minutes.  Writing our own "decoder" for SDR data streams, we could probably sort it all out.

With the Russian military beacons, unless they are having serious operational problems, the "ID" letter is sent every 1 - 2 seconds.  Then again (as has been noted in my previous blogs on this subject), occasionally (albeit rarely) a given Russian beacon alters the style with which the
ID is sent.  There has been considerable speculation on why the change in "ID" is made
(when they are made); there seems to be no real pattern to those changes.

To aid in tracking the Russian beacons, I've added a specific screen to the WQ6X Beacon Tracking software.  At the very least, this screen is a reminder that there is a considerable amount of on-going Russian beacon activity all over Europe and Asia, all of the time.

In recent weeks, the "F" beacon has been AWOL and the "M" beacon has been on and off. 
For a couple of weeks, the "K" beacon shifted from sending the ID-letter every 1.5 seconds to
sending "K K K K" and then pausing for 2 seconds.  Then, it was back to ID'ing every 1.5 seconds.  

I have been wondering what effect the Ukrainian conflict conflict would have on beacon operations.  Listening around the bands on the Dutch utwente.nl recently found the "P", "S" and "C" beacons operating as I would expect, however the "D" and "A" beacons seem to not be active.  I will check back later this week to see if that was just a fluke-day.  A couple of evenings back, listening to 7038.8, the "K" beacon has again become AWOL, while the "M" beacon (Magadan) is now back, just as if it
had never left.

 

I do not understand what all of this means, however it DOES seem to be a fascinating mystery, looking to be deciphered.

What about YOU?

Have you ever tracked propagation beacons via SDR.

What DiD YOU Discover?

Stereo-RTTY: How can We Leverage It?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last evening, I finally found time to find graphic images for Part 1 of this Blog topic. 
In reviewing the text of Part 1, it occurred to me that there is more to say about using
the  Stereo-RTTY concepts as an enhanced tuning aid.  I still remember a dozen years
ago working towards "getting the hang" of tuning in RTTY signals.  Properly tuning-in RTTY
signals is TRULY an ART.

Today, my decoder of choice is the classic Freebie App MMTTY and it's FIR tuning display. 
When a signal with sufficient signal/noise ratio is properly tuned in, the tones align perfectly
with the "goal posts" and happiness, more-or-less reigns.  What follows is an edited cut/paste
from Part 1 of this Blog, explaining this a bit more succinctly.

With RTTY, in order to achieve proper/accurate decoding, the station must be precisely tuned-in
more-or-less on the EXACT frequency in order for the individual tones to be properly decoded. 
Stereo-RTTY makes this operation more quickly accurate.

Remember: the essential benefit of the "Stereo" concept is to have calling stations arranged
"around" the operating position in a more-or-less 180-degree azimuth arc.  As it turns out, Stereo-RTTY is most useful when calling stations are considerably off frequency.  When you think about
it,  if several stations are calling on EXACTLY the correct frequency (as technically they should be), they will jumble over each other, making proper decoding tricky at best.

With Stereo-RTTY, the idea is to adjust the Peak Frequency of the external filters (which for WQ6X
is a pair of Autek QF-1A's) such that the signal "appears directly in front" of the operator; the idea being that the Mark/Space tones should be PEAKED by each QF-1A filter.  From that moment forward, tuning in other callers becomes considerably easier.  Off-frequency calling stations will
then appear "to the left" and "to the right" of the listening experience.  We of course use the (CLAR) control for tuning-in the station until property RTTY-decoding is achieved.  

With Stereo-RTTY, the listening "position" of that station should shift more-or-less towards the center of the listening experience.  The individual RTTY tones should "appear" more-or-less on either side of the center listening experience, peaking precisely over the goal posts and giving us a near-PERFECT "+" decoder icon.

During the intensity of a contest, it's easy to forget reset the Clarifier after each QSO.  Luckily,
many radios (such as the Yaesu FT-1000mp and FT-2000) have an easily-accessible CLEAR button.  Additionally, logging software (such as N1MM+) have a MACRO command ({CLEARRIT}) shifting the radio back to the original RUN frequency.  I have added this Macro to the F3-Key.

I've yet to conduct the RigExpert audio intercept (as mentioned in Part 1). 
That gives us something to look forward to.

Have you ever tried futzing around with Stereo-RTTY?

It's actually a LoT of FUN!

Stereo-RTTY: Is It Possible? (What can We Do with it?)

Since January, I have been learning the In's / Out's of a newly acquired Yaesu FT-2000 Transceiver.  Like its predecessor (the FT-1000mp) it effectively utilizes in-band dual-RX, making possible an operating technique known SO2-V: Single-OP 2-VFO's.  When running Cw or Ssb, I can either operate SO2-V (with RX-A audio to the Left-Ear and RX-B audio to the Right-Ear) or, I can run
things using the Stereo-Cw/Ssb method(s) I have written so much about.

With both the FT-1000mp and the FT-2000, SO2-V is largely a no-Brainer, regardless of the mode; even mixed-mode (Cw / Ssb for example); I can run a frequency with one VFO while S&P'ing
with the other.  The array of external audio & DSP filters enhance these methods considerably.

However when it comes to actually decoding RTTY, by default, external audio filters are of no
use as RTTY decoders (like the RigExpert Plus unit I use) take their audio input BEFORE the
audio is sent to the audio output jacks on these radios.  In preparation for Part II of this Blog
series on Stereo-RTTY, I will find a way to intercept the RX-audio line for the RigExpert decoder. 
By redirecting this line to an RCA plug/jack arrangement the external filter array can be "inserted"
into this audio line, enabling peaking/notching the audio-data stream to make it more QRM/QRN
free and therefore the data becomes more easily decoded.

Using the Stereo-Cw method, with the filters properly adjusted, multiple calling stations seem to appear (spatially) at different "locations" in the listening experience.  While I can use the clarifier (CLAR) knob to position a signal at an audio frequency that one of the PEAK filters can peak into "better" readability, usually it isn't necessary, in order for my brain to "decode" a given Cw station.

With RTTY it is a different situation altogether; in order to achieve proper/accurate decoding, the station must be tuned-in more-or-less precisely on the correct frequency for the individual tones
to be properly decoded.  It is for this reason that Stereo-RTTY has different operating objectives.

Because the essential benefit of the "Stereo" concept is to have calling stations arranged "around" the operating position in a more-or-less 180-degree azimuth arc, I have questioned the value of stereo audio in a RTTY contest.  As it turns out, Stereo-RTTY is most useful when calling stations are off frequency.  When you think about it, if several stations are calling on EXACTLY the correct frequency (as they should be), they will jumble over each other, making proper decoding tricky at best.

With Stereo-RTTY, the idea is to adjust the Peak Frequency of the external filters (which for WQ6X
is a pair of Autek QF-1A's) such that the signal "appears directly in front" of the operator.  Off-frequency calling stations will appear "to the left" and "to the right".  We of course use the (CLAR) control for tuning-in the station until property RTTY-decoding is achieved.  With Stereo-RTTY, the listening "position" of that station should shift more-or-less towards the center of the listening experience.  The individual RTTY tones should "appear" more-or-less on either side of the center listening experience.

Because all this is being accomplished using the PEAK function of the external filters, theoretically the signal/noise ratio should improve, enhancing the decoder software's ability to interpret relatively weak signals.  Prior to inserting the QF-1A's into the RTTY audio line, the improved listening-aesthetic was discovered which led to the question of whether or not [so-called] Stereo-RTTY
could actually improve operating efficiency.

I invite you to use a pair of (ideally identical) audio filters to hear what Stereo-RTTY actually sounds like; if you like it, then insert those filters into the decode-audio line and take your RTTY operations
to the next level, in the same way we did with Stereo-CW.

[CLICK HERE] to read Part 2.