WQ6X reprises K6T for a 10-Meter triple-OP Operation

Prior to this last weekend's ARRL 10-meter contest, I spent some time reflecting on the 10-meter contest operations I have run over the last 10 years.  This led to putting together a couple of Blogs about different ways to run this Iconic 10-meter contest:

• [X] - Triple-Thots about Triple-OP'ing the Ten-Meter Contest
• [X] - BLAST from the Past:  ARRL 10-meter contest

This 10-meter contest offered up the opportunity to accomplish a handful of goals
over a 48-hour radiosport period.  Among these goals were:

• Reprise use of the "K6T" callsign: "Kilowatt SIX Tango".
• Operate K6T mixed-mode @ 100-watts - taking 1st-place for at LEAST EB section.
• Run WQ6X as a QRP Entry- taking 1st-place for at LEAST EB section.
• Run Cw and Ssb shifts for NX6T - contributing to a M/S Low Power win
  for S-West Division.
• Properly leverage the Autek QF-1A audio filters, not only for Stereo-Cw,
  but for Stereo Ssb as well.

Completely oblivious to the M/S record set by N6GEO & WQ6X (in 2014), I put in several 1-hour
shifts (1st on Cw, the mostly Ssb) for the remote NX6T operation from our low power location in Ramona - [Southern] California.  K6T began the contest locally on Friday evening.  After an hour running Cw, K6T found a latent pipeline opening to W0, W9 & W8 before the 10-meter band frittered away around 06:20z.  Both Saturday/Sunday mornings found me opening 10-meters for NX6T on Ssb - K4RB ran the Cw hours in between my Ssb shifts.

Both days, in between shifts @NX6T, operating time was divided between running frequencies w/occasional S&P as K6T, interspersed w/5-watt S&P'ing as WQ6X.  Running frequencies as WQ6X yielded very few responses to those calls, except on Sunday afternoon, when callers were becoming desperate.  For this 4th WQ6X QRP contest-run, I have been amazed at the geographical reach of a mere 5-watts; then again, 10-meters amidst an SFI of 145+ makes it relatively easier to accomplish. 
We can only muse over what 10-meters will be like with an SFI of 175+ (next year?).

Running assisted encourages the use of virtually any and all available online assistance, including Contest Scoreboard, Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), DX Maps and NCDXF beacon tracking. 

The E. coast operators experienced mediocre access to Europe, while on the Left coast we experienced a mediocre shot into Asia.  In addition to Saturday's opening to JA in the East Bay, on Sunday we had a brief shot at: BD4, HL2, VR2 & 9V7.  The real surprise
was working EA9 & EA8 late Sunday morning.

Running Ssb in the 10-meter contest
is a world unto itself.  While Space-WX disturbances were minimal, there was lots of quick-fading.  Atop that was a local noise-source virtually dead-east
of the 3-element Long John yagi.  

It took a combination of the FT-2000's I-F dual-notch facility, and the Aux. notch knobs on both

QF-1A's to make some voices intelligible.

For the 10-meter contest, Cw has some major advantages:

• Easier to copy signals (versus Ssb).
• Function keys are more easily macro-driven
• Each QSO is worth 4-points (instead of 2).
• Full Stereo-Cw implementation.

While Stereo-Ssb made an important contribution to intelligibility, there's nothing quite like
Stereo-Cw to make running Cw frequencies more enjoyable.

While 10-meter contests are largely daytime events, we experience our share of WEIRD QRM. 
While different from the JUNK we often experience on the narrow 40-meter Ssb spectrum, it is annoying, nonetheless.

• Saturday 18:17z: 28304.63 - LOUD bursts of RTTY.
• 04:30z: 28424.93 - an annoying All-Day Woodpecker signal - with yagi pointed more-or-less Northeast.
• Sunday 17:15z: 28032.32 - another Woodpecker signal - with yagi pointed more-or-less Southeast.
• 19:59z: 28368.92 - FAX / SSTV signal

Overall, this was the most extraordinary 10-meter contest we have seen in about 7 long years. 
Now that the event is way behind us, the 3830 Scores website listings indicate the following:

• K6T (running mixed-unlimited low power), took 1st-place for EB section, W6 (California) and maybe even PAC (Pacific) Division.
• WQ6X (running mixed-unlimited QRP), took 1st-place for EB section and 2nd-place  for W6 (California) and PAC Division.
• NX6T took 1st-place for multi-Single (low power), setting a new record (to beat the record set by N6GEO and WQ6X back in 2014) and probably took the Southwest Division plaque.

DiD YOU work the 2022 ARRL 10-meter contest?

Is WQ6X, K6T or NX6T in YOUR LoG?