Stereo Ssb: It's STILL Easier than you Think

For WQ6X, the use of stereo receive audio has revolutionized station operations, especially
when it comes to running radiosport contest events.  While stereo-Cw makes for most stereo
audio processing, I have also found dual-channel audio separation to be effective when running
RTTY contests; and yes, even in Ssb GiGs.  Here is what I have said about it before:

• [X] - Stereo Cw: It's easier than you think
• [X] - Stereo Cw: Advancing the Art of Equalization
• [X] - Stereo RTTY - Is it Possible?
• [X] - Stereo Cw - Enhancing your FAVorite Radio receiver
• [X] - How Stereo-Cw becomes Stereo Ssb
• [X] - Stereo Cw - Learning to Navigate PILE-Ups

Yes, I have found many ways to leverage the stereo audio facility built-in to the Yaesu FT-1000mp, and now this year, the Yaesu FT-2000.  While I have used many different audio filters and DSP units, the Autek QF-1A SSB/Cw AM Filter is in a sense the most versatile of all the filters.  

For the 2022 CQ W.W. Ssb contest, I used a pair of QF-1A's to process the dual-receive audio
from the Yaesu FT-2000 and the remote audio from the K3/0.  As I said in my write-up about the event, the QF-1A's provided notch-filtering and audio shaping that neither the Yaesu or the Elecraft transceivers could match.

With Stereo-Cw, the goal is to have stations arrayed audio-wise around the more-or-less 180-degree (left-to-right) listening experience.  With Stereo Ssb, the goal was to process the audio differently in the left and right ears to make a given voice become readable. 

Bottom-Line: Stereo audio processing can be JUST as useful for Ssb operation as it can be for Cw and RTTY.  And, with devices like the Autek QF-1A's I get more knobs to twiddle, enforcing the illusion that every signal can be copied through all manner of uncomfortable conditions.

Have YOU ever run stereo audio processing in your station operations?

How DiD it work out for YOU?

WQ6X Works the World TWICE in CQ World-Wide Contest

This last weekend took advantage of radio/internet technology at all levels; not only in Anza but equally from my portable setup at W7AYT's Concord QTH.  Anza being a fully featured SO2-R capable station allowed for 2-separate contest operations (N7NR & VE4EA on Stn-1 and N6KI & WQ6X on Stn-2) to run simultaneously throughout the weekend.  Altho there is inter-station chat software between BOTH stations (STN-1 & STN-2), cellphone texting is overall still easier.

Throughout the weekend, I ran several different OP-shifts remotely from STN-2, interspersed with searching & pouncing as WQ6X from Concord; altho on Sunday, WQ6X ran the last 45-minutes calling CQ on 10-meters sweeping the Hy-Gain 3-el Long John 10-m yagi back and forth between Japan and the South Pacific.

While every contest has its difficult moments, world-wide Ssb contests are uniquely challenging
due to what I call the "language barrier".  While the English language (assisted by the use of Q-Codes) is considered the de-facto standard on the air (similar to Air Traffic Control), many
OPs know only enough English to only say "FIVE NINE XX".  Telling a station they are a DUPE
is usually a waste of time, they probably won't submit a log anyway.

Just in time for Halloween, this weekend brought us a mixture of Strange-QRM (intentional jammers) and Strange-QRN (weird Space-WX).  While BOTH the FT-2000 and K3/0 are replete with numerous QRM and QRN filters, what REALLY made the difference was the pair of Autek QF-1A analog audio filters for processing the myriad of different voices - differently for each ear.  The Aux. notch filer knob in each unit accomplished what the IF filters built-in to each transceiver could not.

The contest weekend was riddled with Space-WX anomalies, altho the upper bands were
amazingly wide open.  Missing here on the west coast were European signals.  While the combination of analog/digital filtering helped immensely with the eradication of weird noise
patterns and adjacent-channel QRM, it was virtually helpless in eliminating intentional QRM;
such as non-amateur Chinese/Russian military traffic on 3.749 (@11:48z) and the intentional
bubbly sounds and "PoP" on 28.555 (@22:50z).

This contest brought us a bevy of Tune-Up Turkeys on virtually every band, throughout every day
and evening.  The I-F auto-notch in the K-3 and the audio-based auto-notch in the FT-2000 all but eliminated the careless carriers.  I also announced (to the "Peanut Gallery") that they were wasting their time for that reason.  That was enough to "swat the flies away"; unfortunately, like REAL flies, they came back many times before giving up, putting on their jammies and slinking off to bed.

I have said many times that Ssb contests on 40-meters bring the intentional RTTY-QRM jammers out
of the rafters to exact their revenge against (what they call) "those pesky contesters". 
Their favorite time of night is between 09:30z and 11:30z (2:30am to 4:30am)  

 

In addition to the pesky Tune-Up Turkeys, at 11:38z, out of nowhere appeared what I have often termed a "data cranker", while running a frequency on 7.130.

At 20:55z FT8-QRM showed-up and dominated the station running 21.225.  

 

 

Running the math on this, gives us a 3rd-harmonic from the ubiquitous 7.075 FT8-cluster frequency; the BiG question being whose FT-8 signal this actually was from.  It is hardly unheard-of that 3rd-harmonic signals can sometimes be heard quite a distance away from the transmitting location.

At 10:35z N2KI replied to my CQ calls with "QRZ?".  HuH?  WTF?!!

Later, tuning around 10-meters, a Cw station was encountered on 28425.89 sending seemingly-coherent Cw, but no callsign-ID.  While the 8th-harmonic of 3.553 could account for this, except unless it was "next door", it would be extremely weak; additionally, at 22:00z it is unlikely anyone would be running Cw on 80-meters.

 

At 10:35z N2KI repeatedly replied to my CQ calls with "QRZ?".  HuH?  WTF?!!

 

 

 

 

 

Behind the scenes on 75-meters was an Asian WooDPecker station that centered itself
EXACTLY on top of my 3747.47 run frequency.  While moving to far-removed 3766.66 helped out somewhat, the spectrum analyzer waterfall displayed the wide-bandwidth effects of this station.  Switching the 4-Square array to N-E, S-E & S-W, everything was quiet; switching the antenna
to N-W brought us the woodpecker assault - FULL-strength.

The last thing I have to say about CQ W.W. contests is that this is the only specifically world-wide
DX contest where Billy-Bob, his brother Barney and all their buddies can call-in for a QSO, altho much of the time they didn't know what a CQ Zone-# is.

When it was all over, it would seem that NX6T took 35th-place overall and 1st-place for Zone-3,
W6 (California) and the Southwest ARRL section.  Because most of the WQ6X QSOs were made
on 10-meters, I submitted the log as SOA10m (Single-OP Assisted, 10-meters).  Doing so put WQ6X in 2nd-place for Zone-3 and 1st-place for W6 (California) and N/W.

DiD YOU work the CQ World Wide DX contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR Log?

Rising to the Challenge in Radiosport and Toastmasters

While I discovered Amateur Radio in high school, in those days I didn't think of myself as possessing much in the way of leadership qualities.  Even with that deficit, members of the LHS radio club elected me president for 3 out of 4 years (they were either too scared or too lazy to take on the role).  In retrospect, I simply followed the Joe Walsh (WB6ACU) style of leadership: tell everyone you've got things under control - they will not only believe you, they will assist you in accomplishing the desired goals.

Having been president of the Alameda Tongue Twisters Toastmasters club several times, I used
pretty much the same method.  The most important thing a president can do for their organization
is to envision one-or-more goals for the club, while creating the operating "space" for that to happen. 
I delegate tasks I am not so good at to others who are more capable in that area.

With the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA), I was quietly encouraged into becoming the club president.  In all honesty, any club successes are largely attributable to the other members of the board.  I simply keep the club spirit alive and work with the others to keep this club with a long history, alive and prospering.

With ARCA, I get to find keynote speakers for our club meetings.  This year alone, we have hosted: Bob Heil, Time Duffy (K3LR), president of DX engineering and Ed Fong, a noted antenna expert.  When a speaker can't make it, I give fill-in presentations.  We even have Gordon (WB6NOA) slated
for our March 2023 meeting.  Schmoozing around the recent Pacificon convention allowed me to pass out president cards to attracting future speakers and speaking engagements w/other clubs.

In Toastmasters, one of the joys of being president is handing out ribbons and awards to guests and club members, as they wind their way thru the Pathways program.  As a Toastmaster Area Directors for the San Leandro area, I visited each club venue several times, encouraging them to take their club to the next level, while filling-in as a guest speaker with a hip pocket ("Hot Pocket"?) speech from time to time.

For ARCA, as president I have spearheaded event operations for CQP and Field Day, while other club members keep VHF emergency preparedness nets alive throughout each week, rotating net control duties amongst the members every month.  I just step back out of the way, creating space for them to do what they do best.

I guess in summary, we could say that success is largely based on creating space for others to deliver the best performance.

What about YOU?

What are YOUR Secrets of Success?

WQ6X Muses Wonderfully over the Wonderful Differences between 160 & 10 Meters

One Hundred Sixty (160) meters is in a way the most historic of all HF bands, followed closely
by10-meters.  In the early 1920's, when amateur activity was BANISHED from operating on any wavelength "above" 200 meters and below, 160-meters was our 1st stop.  (As it turns out 1.8-mhz
is harmonically related to 3.6-mhz, 7.2-mhz, 14.4-mhz and 28.8-mhz.)  Following the 1920's, a series
of wars and other military/naval factions managed to BULLY their way into our already small 1.8-mhz to 2.0-mhz playpen.  Fortunately, low-band marine activity has been supplanted with VHF/UHF leaving us with the entire 200-khz spectrum for widely divergent amateur use.

For the most part, 28-mhz (10-meters) has always been with us, altho in 1920 it was labeled
a "waste-land".  In the 20's tube technology was often unstable above the "enormously high" frequencies above ~20-mhz.  As I have written previously, 160 and 10 meters are more-or-less diametrically opposed.  In general, sunspot cycle peaks favor 10-meters while sunspot troughs
tend to favor 160-meters.

We have been emerging from a protracted period in the sunspot cycle "cellar" (SFI: 59 - 72). 
In the last year, the SFI has swung through a wide range (~116 TO 166) and is destined for 200+.

Some of the drawbacks to successful operating on 160-meters include:

• Daytime reception is almost non-existent (except during sunspot cycle troughs).
• Spectrum allocation is only 200-khz - the smallest (non-WARC) HF band.
• Low wintertime noise-levels, offset by weather-induced static crashes.
• Antenna length is 260' for 1/2-wave (130' for 1/4 wave)
• Band is largely immune to most solar disturbances.
• Summertime noise levels are generally quite high
• NVIS ground-wave communication is common.

Then again, by contrast, 10-meters (at the other end of the spectrum) bring us:

• Nighttime reception is almost non-existent (except during sunspot cycle peaks)
• Band noise-level and signal-levels are easily affected by solar disturbances.
• Spectrum allocation is HUGE 1700-khz - the LARGEst HF band.
• Antenna length is 16.7' for 1/2-wave (8.3' for 1/4 wave)
• Auroral and Sporadic-E occurrences are quite common.

As you can see, 160 & 10 meters truly are diametrically opposed.  While this brings diametrically opposed challenges, having an understanding of BOTH ends of the spectrum guarantees that one-way or another, we always have workable access to the electromagnetic radio spectrum.  No matter what time of year, or what point we are in 11/22 years sunspot cycle, there will always be a radio band open to somewhere at EVERY hour of the day - IF you know when/where to look.

Operators who are always bemoaning ".....but the bands are DEAD", are obviously lost in the 80 to 15 meters middle.  When the middle fails us, looking at the bands on the outer edge may often find open propagation paths.

Then again, if EVERYBODY is listening and NOBODY is transmitting, any band will SOUND dead, when in fact it isn't.  I've written about this phenomenon before ([CLICK HERE] to read about it.)  When in DOUBT, find a clear frequency and put out a CQ call for 5 - 10 minutes.  Don't be surprised
if several stations call in at once.

Bottom-Line: Knowledge Truly IS power - in this case band power.  To maximize on-the-air satisfaction in Amateur Radio, pay attention to 160 and 10 meters.  The efficacy of 10-meters
may be no secret (during major sunspot peaks), however the quietly hidden magical wonders
of 160-meters often are. 

For me, musing wonderfully is part of the Magic of Amateur Radio operating - DAY or NiTe.

WQ6X challenges the Stew Perry top-band Distance Challenge

This last weekend was a more-or-less quiet weekend radiosport-wise, which is probably a good thing, when you factor-in a number of solar storms littered throughout the weekend.  With a 15:00z starting time (8am PDT), the Stew Perry SP-160 (Top-band Distance Challenge) brings us unique challenges.  At 15:00z, 160-meters has just shut down for the day, which began at 9am with an ARCA radio club meeting presentation about how the ARCA repeater system works.

Altho I setup Anza's STN-2 on Friday evening, it wasn't until 3pm Saturday afternoon (22:00z) that
I heard any signals coming from the east, altho they could not yet hear my calls to them.  The 160-meter antenna @WA6TQT is a 2-element full-size vertical Tri-square (only 2-elements because the
S-E leg of the array is currently non-functional).

Every time I run 160-meters from Anza, I am always amazed at how "early" the band opens
up on the mountain-top in San Bernardino County.   While seemingly slow to open, it suddenly
opens nicely, at which time I immediately went into RUN mode.  The amazing thing was how quickly
I received a call from P40L (around 01:40z), followed shortly by ZF2MZ.  Unfortunately, aside from XE2S, they were the only "south of the border" contacts making it to the WQ6X log.

While the upper bands were savagely assaulted by the effects of the on-again off-again solar storms, 160-meters remained consistently quiet.  Then again, signals on 160 seemed weaker than expected, with quick fading adding to the reception problems.  With a 1,350-watt signal, it seems that other stations heard WQ6X way-easier than they were heard in W6-land.

It was surprising how few actual-W6 stations were actually heard.  While I heard many calls containing a "6", they were all "transplants" to the S/E area of the country.  80% of the op-time
was spent calling CQ, interspersed w/tuning around the bands looking for new Grid-squares.

By 07:30z, stations on the East coast were sound asleep; Asia and the Pacific hadn't yet materialized.  After 3-hours sleep, 10:30z put JA5DQH into the log.  Other signals from the W/N-W were completely dormant; not even KH6 came thru.  Bummer.  At least a 2nd opening to the East coast occurred.  By 13:00z things were largely over so I shut the AMP down and went back to sleep.

After my morning coffee, I I posted the score to the 3830-Scores website and submitted the log,
so I can now forget about it all.  Awhile back I wrote a Blog about how 160-meters is a different
world unto itself.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.

According to the 3830 scores, it looks like WQ6X took a 3rd place - Amazing

What about YOU?  Do YOU work 160?

DiD you work the SP-160 contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

PIRATE Hunting LooKs GooD on PAPER

(In response to a recent Radio World article on combating the problem of pirate broadcasting,
 I submitted the following comments to the editor of the magazine.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PIRATE Hunting LooKs GooD on PAPER 
Leave it to Congress to pass yet another spineless, barely-enforceable act (the PIRATE Act of 2020), bringing back shades of the worthless 1986 ECPA Act.  While I can see where pirate broadcasting can certainly be a problem, in all honesty, the majority of radio listeners LOVE listening to pirates.  (Radio magazines even run columns devoted
to pirate listening.)

While I don't necessarily disagree with fine-levying, such levies are WORTHLESS if the FCC is in fact powerless (or fund-less) to collect those fines.  Quoting your Oct. 21st article on Pirates: "to date..... no forfeitures have been assessed under the act".

In my "Necessary and Welcome" letter to RW (APR. 17, 22), I pointed out that the
FCC's 2016 $25K NAL judgement against Wm. Crowell (former W6WBJ) has yet to
be actually enforced (transl.: COLLECTED).  Crowell continues to operate w/o a
valid amateur license (the FCC rejected his renewal application).

The W6WBJ callsign was recently appropriated by a close friend of Mr. Crowell. 
The obscenity, sexist and racist JAMMING of the WARFA net on 3.908 has now
DOUBLED with current and former owners of the callsign tag-teaming to JAM
net operations nearly every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday (@8pm to ~8:45). 
Over 100 complaints have been filed through the FCC's website, only to be given
a "Case #", "while the band plays on".

How can we believe the FCC will be capable of enforcing any $100K - $2-mil
judgements in the future, when they can't even collect a 6-yrold $25k NAL? 
Crowell has loudly proclaimed on 3.908 that WBJ = World's Best Jammer and
that the FCC will never collect THE $25k.   He even plays a song on top of the net showcasing the [sic] virtues of being a jammer.  He has been at it for over 10 years.  Isn't it time to bring in the local sheriff and/or federal marshals and shut this clown down?

The longer it takes to enforce current NAL's reduces any future collection attempts
to "I'm going to SIC my BiG Brother on You".

I'm all for the FCC doing their enforcement job, when they do their enforcement job.  

My Question is: "WHEN will that BE"?

Ron Fitch  (WQ6X)
      President
Amateur Radio Club of Alameda
(http://ARCAHAM.org)

It will be interesting to see if this letter is published (whole or in part).
Stay TUNED, as I post further developments on this situation.

What are YOUR views on Pirates and Pirate broadcasting?

WQ6X Works a Mixed-Bag, Mixed-mode Weird Radiosport Weekend

This last weekend brought us a handful of disparate radiosport events, partitioning a more-or-less
~35-hour time-block into one challenge after another.  Behind it all were several bouts of solar noise, making the radiosport portions of the weekend - tedious at best.

As President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA), on the 3rd Saturday of every month
we hold a club board meeting.  (The other members of the board deserve ToTaL acknowledgement
for everything they do and the time they invest.)  After the meeting, certain that ARCA is in GooD hands, after a nearly fruitless search for NYQP stations, Dennis (W7AYT) and I headed over to the Pacificon ham fest, a nearly 20-minute drive from the Concord QTH.

Pacificon is/was a pivotal West coast event in Amateur Radio.  Being close by, Pacificon is the ideal place to hook up w/long-lost radio-OPs and contest fraternal organizations.  Surprisingly, I missed several photo-OP opportunities.  The CooLest part of Pacificon was the W1AW/6 multi-multi station setup hosted by the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association (PAARA) and manned by youngsters from local scouting groups.  Returning from Pacificon, I was given remote access to run the WAG (Worked All Germany) contest event from WA6TQT's super station setup in Anza, just in time for a juicy pair of solar-storms (K-Index=4).  

Being a mere 11-hour event, by 01:00z, the NYQP was OVER.  While a handful of EU stations were heard on 20 & 15 (10-meters was noise-free, but DEAD), communications with Germany didn't actually occur until early-evening on
40-meters. 

Returning to 20m periodically found
N. European stations (OH, LA & EA), yet again, no Germany. 

As it turned out, by midnight (unbeknownst to me) the WAG event was actually OVER for WQ6X.

After a handful of sleep hours, I awoke to check 40 and 20 meters for German activity (already late
in the morning in Germany, 80-meters was long gone on their end); any 80-meter openings on the West coast at this time were to Asia and the Pacific certainly NoT to Europe.

Sunday morning brought us the illustrious ILQP QSO Party event.  Running ILQP from the WA6TQT super station brought-in dozens of W9 stations; mostly Cw, with a not-insignificant number of stations on Ssb - stations were heard in Anza that would not have been copyable from the Concord QTH.

While solar storms were largely over, making 10-meters work was certainly a challenge, which required calling "CQ ILQP" on Cw.  For Ssb, tuning around the phone band I heard a QSO with
a station just-outside of Chicago.  When he was finished a 5-minute QSO put him in the ILQP log
for 10-meters.  His computer records indicated that we last worked during the Dec-2013 ARRL 10M contest - Amazing.  When we finished, a station in N. Illinois called in.  He was moved off frequency
to consummate the 2nd (and final) ILQP Ssb contact on 10-meters.

Moving down to 20-meters, it quickly became evident there were no more unworked ILQP stations
left on the band.  In the phone band, there were no ILQP stations - period.  It became clear that moving early (22:00z) down to 40-meters would once-again introduce new IL stations to work. 
During the last 20-minutes of the QSO Party, moving on down to 80-meters enabled starting over,
one more time.  (Sometimes, timing is everything.)  The final wrap on this radiosport weekend was
to post all 3 scores (on 3830) and submit each Cabrillo log file to the proper contest committee.

As it turns out, WQ6X took 9th-place in the ILQP and 1st-place for California.  GO Figure.

DiD YOU work the state QSO parties and/or the Worked All Germany contest?

How DiD it all turnout for you?

UPDATE:

This JUST came in!

Leadership Lessons Learned from Radiosport and Toastmasters

When I first started serious radiosport activities, I just wanted to operate; actually organizing an event (or even a station setup) DiD NoT interest me.  In Toastmasters, I just wanted to work on speaking-improvement; the idea of becoming a club officer (much less, an Area Director), initially seemed beyond my interest-level and what I perceived my capability-level to be.

Since then (2000 for radiosport and 2014 for Toastmasters) I have discovered that taking a more proactive role in BOTH of these activities has actually upped the excitement-level considerably;
after all, if it ain't exciting, it ain't worth doing.

In radiosport, I have organized Field Day events, made CQP Expeditions to Mammoth, Modoc
and the Sacramento River, as well as regularly making the ~500-mile driving trips to join up with
the crew @NX6T in Fallbrook.  In Toastmasters, I quickly discovered joy from the various "flavors"
of speech contests throughout the year.  Then again, as an Area Director, I have organized and hosted speech contest events.

These events have in common, the need for me to connect-up with (what turns out to be) an innate ability to motivate people and organize events.  It's actually very easy; simply delegate all the tasks
to others, motivating them to discover their innate ability to succeed.  However, overall event success relies on your keeping the momentum happening and stepping-in (where/when necessary) to insure
it all goes right.

In a radiosport contest, we know the starting time, as well as the number of hours allotted for us
to make it all work.  In Toastmasters speech contests, we know the start time and the fact that we
have 5 - 7 minutes to make it all work.  Before each event comes a lot of Practice and Preparation. 
I even wrote Blogs about the 6 P's ([CLICK HERE]) and the 3 P's ([CLICK HERE]).

LooKing back on years of engaging in BOTH Radiosport and Toastmasters, I come to realize that learning leadership abilities is an integral part of success in these events overall.  While competition participation is what it's all about, if no one steps up to organize these events, they don't happen.  

While I was bummed when as Area Director I was NoT allowed to compete, it was an equally satisfying experience to host an event, experiencing it from a [so to speak] behind-the-scenes perspective.  Working "both sides" of the Game is a rewarding way to take radiosport and
speech contests to the next level.

What about YOU?

Have You ever run both sides of the Game?

Why You should LISTEN BE-4 You call Me

I have written so many Blog entries about this situation, you would think operators would get
the message by now; but ONLY if they have been to http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com.  Past installments
on the topic of listening before you transmit have included:

• [X] - Why YOU should listen BE-4 You transmit
• [X] - Do You QRL?
• [X] - Why Calling "CQ Asia" still means that You Should Not Call Me
• [X] - A Dozen+ ways to say: "You Should Not Call Me!"
• [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
• [X] - You're A DUP OL' Man
• [X] - WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest Weekend
• [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should Not Call Me!"

I recently wrote a Blog on SWL'ing (shortwave listening) which goeswith previous entries written on why we should listen before we transmit.  Tuning the shortwave/utility bands teaches us yet again how to listen.

At all times, there should be a purpose for every transmission we make.  When you are about to call me, ask yourself "what is the purpose for making that transmission?"  If you hear me calling CQ in a radiosport contest:

• Do You know the rules of the contest?
• Do You know WHO I am targeting w/my CQ?
• Have You already worked me on this band/mode?
• If I am calling for DX or a particular state/province, are You located in that area?
• If I ask for a certain call area or callsign, are you in that area and/or does your callsign sound like who I am asking for?

If any of the above criteria are not met, then you should NoT call me - it's as simple as that.

While random calling of stations may result in a random QSO, calling stations who are not prepared to work you, is NoT the way to "win friends and influence people".  The way to make new friends over the radio is to listen BE-4 you transmit and then selectively call those stations who are open to conversing with you - essentially the same as in real life.

Therefore, I leave you with this question - Do YOU listen before You transmit?

WQ6X Mixes-Up Makrothen, Oceania and 4-state QSO Parties

Coming off of last weekend's CQP triple-OP exercise, I thot I was due for a radiosport rest,
until I made a closer look at the event listings for the Weekend of October 8/9 in the WA7BNM
contest calendar.  Over the 44-hour radiosport weekend were the following events:

• [X] - Makrothen RTTY Contest
• [X] - Oceania CW Dx Contest
• [X] - AZQP - Arizona QSO Party
• [X] - NVQP - Nevada QSO Party
• [X] - PAQP - Pennsylvania QSO Party
• [X] - SDQP - South Dakota QSO Party

The Makrothen RTTY GiG is unique that the contest period is split into three 8-hour segments,
with an 8-hour rest period between segments.  This offered the opportunity to either sleep or go
on the hunt for stations in Oceania or the AZ, NV, PA & SD QSO Parties.

The PAQP always brings us a decent turnout, with AZ being next.  This year, participation in the NV and SD GiGs were a HUGE disappointment.  For South Dakota I guess I am still comparing things
to the 2010 SDQP GiG I ran from Alameda where the only antenna available was to load up the rain gutters as a low-height dipole, tuned with a classic DENTRON antenna tuner, working over a dozen SD counties.

Overall, operating from the West coast theoretically offers easy propagation-access "across the pond" into Oceania.  Luckily KH6/KH7 qualifies as Oceania, being a slam-donk in that regard; altho overall, there were hardly enough OC stations running the event to keep me awake, aside from the other GiGs.  An upside to this weekend was the overall positive Space-WX conditions, which Similar to last weekend) didn't become disruptive until AFTER all radiosport GiGs were long over.

Later Sunday evening, some time was spent tuning around the [so-called] pirate radio station frequency area.  Having never "officially" logged a pirate station before, during 02:00z to 09:00z
two pirates were logged (on 6.920), along with several hours of classical choral-style music (on 6.935) with No-ID.  While there's more to report about this, that will be covered in an upcoming separate blog topic on SWL'ing.

In retrospect, this radiosport weekend was loaded with what I will call a bunch of
quirky quicky-varietal events.

DiD YOU work the various radiosport GiGs this past weekend?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

Some CQP After-Thoughts about CQP

 

 

 

 

It often seems that more time is spent organizing s CQP event and documenting the aftermath afterwards than is actually spent running the radio(s) during the CQP event itself.  Leading up
to this year's event was the idea of reprising last year's CQP event from Alameda County.  

This year, organizing an Alameda County event became way too complicated, leading me to take
the easy way out and run some sort of operation from CCOS (Contra Costa) County, while putting
in a few hours remotely with the 1st-place NX6T operation out of Anza (RIVE county).  At least,for Contra Costa, the equipment and antennas were largely already set up.

Running as K6Q (W6Q had already been reserved), I managed to surpass the LP (Low Power) category record set by WQ6X back in 2017.  Being curious about QRP created the backdrop for putting WQ6X on the air to set an initial SO(A) QRP county record - it turns out that had never
been done before.

When it was all over, the WQ6X operation DiD set two new county records (pending verification
by the CQP contest committee of course), while the NX6T operation took a resounding 1st-place
for the multi-single classification for California.

While this CQP hardly ran as expected (they rarely do), ad-libbing things every step of the way resulted in a result that surpassed even my expectations, while adding yet another learning experience to the annals of WQ6X contest operations.  Overall, it doesn't really matter what
I do during any given radiosport weekend, as long as I am doing it on the air.

What about YOU?

What kind of learning experiences in radiosport have YOU enjoyed?

WQ6X Triple-OP's yet another California QSO Party

From the beginning, making this weekend happen was clearly an embodiment of what I call the WB6ACU school of contest organization (even tho I believe Joe rarely works radiosport events). 
The original idea was to organize the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) as K6QLF.  Unable
to secure a secure location for 40+ hours eventually the deciding factor, suggesting that ARCA can always come back in 2023.  Using the WB6ACU method is of course never a guarantee, although
it does make success more likely.  As I stated in a previous Blog, sometimes to succeed, we need
a contingency plan as a backup.

Sometimes when you're having difficulty making an operational decision, it could mean that
you are lacking data.  On that premise, I slogged thru the different pages making up CQP.Org. 
What stood out was the all-time score records for Contra Costa County.  While I set a record in
the Single-OP (Assisted) class back in 2017, the number looked low enough to be easily beat.

This turned out to be the 1st of 3 operating goals for this CQP weekend: the 2nd being some
remote OP-time for NX6T's remote operation from the WA6TQT Super station.  The 3rd goal
came as a surprise to even me: run as WQ6X using a QRP configuration.

Accomplishing this goal required I setup some easily modifiable F-Key macros for F1-CQ
and F3-TU messages.  It began as K6Q working stations at 100-watts.  Because I was running
as Assisted, I was allowed to use the info gained from running K6Q to then work the station again
as WQ6X (turning down the power to 5-Watts before calling).  Of course, having access to the (EASY) Button helped things a little.

Compared to previous years, band condx. were quite amazing; the sun waited until 10pm Sunday
(7+ hours after the CQP ending) before BELCHing an X-1 flare.  Amazingly, even in the Concord signal-vortex there were openings to Europe (EU).  Many CA scores submitted to the 3830 Scores website mentioned being called my OM2VL.  NoT only DiD OM2VL make it into the K6Q log; the real miracle came at 05:32z when he called WQ6X (5-watts) on 40-meters and we exchanged exchanges.

Another surprise came around 22:00z on 10-meters.  While the band had been open domestically
all day, suddenly I was working PT7, ZL3, KH6, KL7 and even JA; WQ6X on 5-watts worked into KH6/KL7.  Two remote hours w/NX6T put 200+ Cw/Ssb contacts into their log.  After some sleep
at midnight, I ran the 2am to 5am shift on 40 & 80/75.  While 160-meter contacts were made earlier, Billy-Bob and his brother Barney were evidently sound asleep, leaving 160 a "deathly quiet" frequency morgue in the middle of the night.

For Sunday, I ran only the 1pm to 2pm shift for NX6T, leaving the rest of the contest time for K6Q/WQ6X.  With 55 QSOs in the QRP log, the remainder of the contest was all about K6Q beating the K6T score from 2017.  Overall, due to the nature of the WQ6X operation, I came up with a new callsign phonetic: WHISKEY QRP 6 Xperimental.

Because I typically run NX6T in the middle of the night, I get to experience what I call the purposeful 40-meter intentional-QRM; this event was no exception.  At 10:57z, NX6T was BOMBARDed by RTTY on 7.035.  Shifting frequency, it shifted with me.  Then quickly as it came, it disappeared. 
10-minutes later.  Running Lsb on 7.185, I was BOMBARDed by the "data cranker" (heard ONLY
on 40-meters).  Then again, 40-meters gives us access to the Russian Military beacons.

When it was all over, I sat transfixed, studying the ending stats for both K6Q and WQ6X. 
What began as considerations of running Multi-single from Alameda County, instead morphed
into a Triple-OP operation: RIVE & 2xCCOS.

DiD YOU work the CQP California QSO Party?

Is K6Q, NX6T, WQ6X (or all 3) in YOUR logt?

Confirming CQP (Part-2): Contingency Plans for Contingency Plans

There is no doubt about it, CQP IS [probably] the most progressive of all the state QSO parties. 
The 57th running of CQP takes things even further than ever with the introduction single-day categories.  Because CQP can also be run as a Field Day-like event, not only is it important to
make a myriad of different things happen together, but a backup plan is also needed for those moments when "little things" disrupt the entire operation.

Based on CQP/Portable operation experience, I can certify how important it is to possess a yet-a-separate contingency plan.  A case in point happened during the 2011 Ssb Sweepstakes contest. 
I was setup to run from a friend's townhouse, assured that she had gotten approval prior to my arrival.  5 minutes before starting time, an HOA-representative showed up and said the HF-2V
vertical (with radials run behind the flower bed) had to GO - I was out of there, just like that.

The "contingency plan" become a Coleman "Insta-Tent" purchased at a local mom-n-pop sporting goods store.  I set up a campsite on Carpinteria state beach. just in time for a deluge rainstorm.  When it was all over, I submitted a multi-OP 1st-place from the Santa Barbara (SB) ARRL section.  The multi-op came from a ham who was camped near me; I had him make 2 QSOs for W6K to
qualify as a multi-single operation.

As it turns out several contingency plans have been needed to make CQP-2022 a successful operation.  Operators from last year were NoT available for this year's event.  Finding a location to setup a near 40+ hour operation turned into a no-go.  The offered-up locations lacked equipment security.  While last year's setup at the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) made for an intriguing and fun operation, the rampant RFI from electronic/test equipment there made daytime reception "tedious" at best.

After several e-mail blasts to the ARCA mailing list, it became clear that a CQP operation from Alameda County was NoT destined to happen.  Therefore, in the spirit of Carpinteria, a completely different plan is necessary in order for WQ6X to make event happen for 2022.  The solution I have adopted is a more-or-less hybrid operation, bringing together the "Best of the Best" operations from the past.

In the past, I have run CQP from Contra Costa County (CCOS) and even been a part of setting
two county records.   One year, I dual-OP'd CQP from CCOS while also putting in some hours
of Cw operation remotely into the NX6T log.  For CQP-2022, at the last minute, it occurred to
me that a triple-OP operation can be put together, consisting of:

• Running the full 30-hour contest as K6Q
• Putting in some remote time w/NX6T from the WA6TQT Super station in Anza.
• Running QRP as WQ6X

Bottom-line is that the above 3 ideas were more-or-less easily accomplished.

How it actually turned out, will be reported in the next Blog on CQP.

DiD YOU work the California QSO Party?

Is K6Q, NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?