Triple-Thots about Triple-OP'ing the Ten-Meter Contest

Throughout 2022, I've been on a crusade, looking out for additional ways to "up" the "contests worked" statistics for WQ6X at the 3830 Scores website.  While the possibility of triple-OP'ing
existed w/the Yaesu FT-1000mp, it wasn't until an FT-2000 transceiver was added to the portable
setup in Concord that I began to play around w/the idea of running contest operations as a QRP entry.

To make the 2022-CQP event more interesting, I orchestrated my first triple operation running 

operations as: NX6T, K6Q & WQ6X.  I've written a number of Blogs thus far on the subject of
QRP and triple-OP'ing, including:

• [X] - CQP 2022: NX6T, K6Q & WQ6X
• [X] - SINGLE-OP - 2 STATIONS
• [X] - November Sweepstakes Cw: NX6T, W6Q & WQ6X
• [X] - November Sweepstakes Ssb - No Triple-OP: NX6T & WQ6X
• [X] - Dual-OP'ing Radiosport GiGs as QRP
• [X] - Dual-OP'ing CQ WW as NX6T & WQ6X (QRP)

At the "core" of this year's triple-OP operations has been running WQ6X at QRP power (5-watts).  Initially, I was quite skeptical about running QRP from the marginal antenna setup in the receive-vortex location in the SF East Bay (EB) section.

For the CQP operation, I began the QRP-portion of the triple-OP operation on 10-meter Cw, which offered up use of a properly-heighted rotatable Hy-Gain 3-element "Long John" yagi.  

The reach of the FT-2000 dialed down to its 5-watt minimum was truly astonishing.  Working OM2VL on
40-meters @05:00z w/100-watts is an extraordinary feat
in itself, however, OM2VL at 01:20z running only 5-watts is truly a MIRACLE.

For the Ssb Sweepstakes a conscious decision was made to NoT run at QRP-power.  Running Cw at 5-watts is quite a challenge unto itself.  The time to run a QRP Ssb event will be in January/February when we come back around
to the NAQP events (Cw, Ssb & RTTY). 

 
Being a domestic contest, NAQP will make an excellent
time to make a 5-watt operation into another winner.

Having said all of this brings us back to 10-meters for the upcoming single-band ARRL 10-meter contest GiG.  Last week was the single-band 160-meter contest, at the lower end of the HF spectrum.  This weekend brings us to the TOP of the HF spectrum with 10-meters.  Luckily,
as I write this on Wednesday, the solar flux is around ~150 and the A/K indices are reasonably
low - perfect for a 10-meter event.  Then again, in the next 3 daze, space-WX disruptions can
easily erupt out of nowhere.

Similar to November's CQ Worldwide Cw contest, the ARRL 10-meter GiG gives us one more shot at worldwide activity on 10-meters before the winter doldrums set in.  For 2022, look for me to again run low power as K6T, a callsign I have used before in 10-meter contests.  Then, depending on previous score submissions, look for WQ6X to either run a CW only QRP operation, or take it to the next level and run a mixed (Cw & Ssb) QRP operation.

What about you?  

Will you be running the ARRL 10-meter contest?

Do you have the courage to run QRP?

This year, LooK for NX6T, K6T & WQ6X

Next week, I'll let you know how it all turned out.