WQ6X RAC's 1-Up 4 Canada BE-4 DiVing DoWn to 160.

This is the 1st WQ6X RAC Winter contest and Stew Perry SP-160 GiGs run QRP from the mountaintop in Anza.  When I heard that WA6TQT's STN-2 was not committed for the weekend,
I set things up to run the Canadian RAC GiG multi-band QRP, followed by a short run in the Stew Perry contest, again running QRP. 

Client and holiday commitments kept me out of the operators chair until 09:30z (i.e. after 1am PT).  By then, most of America was "snuggled in their beds, with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads".

While I usually run QRP remote from KN6NBT's Ramona QTH, there the 160-meter inverted Vee originally run from Tower #1 in Fallbrook does not properly fit at the Ramona QTH unless the tower
is run up to it's full 70' height (it normally sits "parked" at 55').

From the WQ6X point-of-view (with limited time spent in the OP-chair), Canadian activity in the RAC Winter contest seemed noticeably less than in previous years - I guess we'll know for sure when they publish the contest results in 2024.  Nevertheless, I accomplished the goal of running another QRP GiG having a fantastic array of antennas at my disposal.  Ironically, no QSOs were made on 160-meters Saturday morning; while the RBN receivers heard WQ6X call CQ, evidently no human operators were around to hear it ("if a tree falls in the forest...)

Operationally, the choice was made to run Single-OP Assisted mixed-Mode QRP for the RAC event.  For the Stew Perry SP-160 contest, the rules are very specific about no use of spotting clusters to find stations - I can use the bandmap, as long as I populate it with callsigns actually heard over the air.  Because stations will receive 4X QSO points for working me as a QRP station, encouraging stations to call in was facilitated by the following F1-Call:  CQ SP  WQ6X  WQ6X/Qrp.

Therefore, be patient and work all the weak signals you hear - if they turn out to be QRP,
you will receive a 3-point BONUS for having stuck it out.  Translation?: DON'T GIVE UP
on Us.

The 160-meter "Tri-Square" antenna is currently a real challenge.  One of the dipole feedlines
is broken, meaning when the software tells the switching unit to switch between N-E, S-E and
West, all we REALLY know is that it consistently points SOMEWHERE - we just dunno WHERE
that somewhere is, altho using the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) data may help us sort it out later.

When it was ALL over, 52 160-meter QSOs made it to the WQ6X QRP LoG.

Once again, this QRP operation demonstrated you don't need an amplifier (or even the standard 100-watt radio) to work virtually every station you can hear; altho admittedly, in this contest, the Tri-Square could "hear" way better than other stations could hear it.

Have you ever worked a contest QRP?....  on 160-Meters?

DiD you work the Stew Perry contest to end 2023?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X ASKS: Whut Do We Do with an Off-contest Weekend?

The 4th weekend of December (at least from the WQ6X perspective) is typically a non-contest weekend.  The weekend before was the OK-DX RTTY contest, and the following weekend will
be the Canadian RAC Winter Contest.

This is the time of year when I survey the 3830 Scores list for WQ6X for the current contest year (2023) reflecting not only on the successes but LooKing ahead to the coming contest year (2024), beginning with the ARRL RTTY-RU (Roundup) GiG the 1st weekend in January.  As part of planning for the upcoming RU GiG I made a close look at the high score data for the last 3 years.

Most importantly, it turns out that WQ6X actually set a contest record for East Bay section
and the PAC (Pacific) Division in the  2023 Roundup - and this was AFTER having the WQ6X
score dinged down from 2,277 points to a mere 1,736.

In preparation for a number of WQ6X operations from W7AYT's QTH in Concord, three
different antennas were compared on the upper bands by calling "CQ DX de WQ6X WQ6X"
and then capturing the RBN stats for those calls.  What is amazing is that the 3-el 10-m
Long John yagi tunes incredibly well as a rotatable dipole on 15-meters and to some degree
on 20-meters.

To quote a classic Christmas song.... "these are just some of my FAVorite things..."

What are YOUR Favorite things to do in your radiosport contest off hours?

BLAST from the Past: RADIOWORLD Editorial - Necessary and Welcome

While conducting mandatory end-of-the-year hard-drive maintenance on the several laptops
which make up WQ6X radio operations, I encountered pictures of the two editorials I wrote for RADIOWORLD (published on April 24, 2022, and December 21, 2022).  Because column-inch
real estate is always limited, magazine editors take it upon themselves to edit submissions for interest, legal or space reasons.  While I am overall pleased with the text that made it into print,
it's interesting to contrast the final result with what was originally written.

In all fairness, the above submission was making reference to two different arenas and the editor consolidated it down to one, with a slightly different order of the text, making it more palatable
to the mixed audience who reads RADIOWORLD magazine.  Nevertheless, it's interesting
to see things that I wrote actually making it into print.

Have YOU ever submitted an editorial or Op-ed piece to a newspaper or magazine?

What was YOUR Experience?

Listening Remotely Resolves Receive Randomity

In recent years, I have made considerable use of running radios remotely; first for NX6T operations in Fallbrook and later from Anza and Ramona (both) in So. California.  Accessing these stations require the use of a properly configured K3/0 (from the Concord location), or a K3/0-Mini from my Alameda office.  Even MORE recently, I have been running the Yaesu FT-2000 remotely between my office
in Alameda and its physical setup in Concord.

To simply listen-in (w/o transmitting) on HF happenings around the world, there are 100's of
SDR (Software Defined Receiver) all over the world, accessible using most any internet browser
on a computer w/adequate sound rendering capabilities.  My FAVorite SDR websites include:

• [X] - KFS SDR - Half Moon Bay
• [X] - Northern UTAH SDR
• [X] - K3FEF SDR in Pennsylvania
• [X] - TWENTE SDR in Holland

One of the benefits of using online SDR radios is that waterfall display that most SDR sites utilize.  Radiosport contest operators who appreciate PAN-adapter displays will find the SDR waterfalls to be near-equivalent replicas.

While use of offsite SDR access (to make QSOs) is NoT normally permitted in most radiosport contests, at other times and for other reasons SDRs can be quite useful tools, especially when propagation-checks around the world are needed.  Recently, I was configuring the FT-2000
portable setup in Concord to run by way of the FT-2000RC.Exe APP.  This software can
be run locally by way of a VPN (I use VNC viewer), or it can be run via IP-address using
the same APP on another computer such as the WinDoze-11 system in my Alameda office.

Having proper access to the FT-2000 is akin to having access to yet another SDR - this from
the North-East, East Bay Area.  When ragchewing with the Redwood Radio Roundtable late in the evening on 75-meters, I often listen to our 3830 frequency with the FT-2000, giving me a [so-called] "skip perspective", while running remote from Ramona (in N. San Diego County).

NoT too long ago I was experimenting with running the FT-2000 in Cw mode using the N1mm+ software.  Pre-defined function keys as well as Alt-K (Keyboard entry) is enough to run most any
Cw contest.

However, no matter how you run a radiosport contest, it ALL begins with listening, especially listening before you transmit - I even wrote a Blog entry about that.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

Have YOU ever spent time listening on the various SDR radios located around the globe?

What Discoveries have YOU made?

WQ6X Wields a Wild & Wooly QRP 10-Meter Contest

wOw!  The 2023 ARRL 10-Meter contest was another of those wOw events - to say the LEAST.
It is fortunate this is one of those 48-hour GiGs that I wrote about recently.  The contest weekend
was interspersed with client commitments Saturday morning followed by a holiday brunch for the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) - for which I am currently club president.

On the left coast, the start of the ARRL contest coincides with the end-of-the-day for 10-meters. 
I got a late start (01:36z), running the K3/0-Mini from my office to the KN6NBT station that I run
remotely from Ramona California.  The band was dead to most areas east of Ramona however,
the band was WIDE-open to Oceania (VK/ZL) with Hawaii and what was left of Japan.  The REAL action would have to wait til 15:54z when I came into the office and spent an hour S&P'ing before
client work.

Rather than spend valuable operating time driving to Concord to setup the K3/0-Mini there, the decision was made to run WQ6X from my Alameda office after the brunch event and then, at 00:00z takeover the [remote] "helm" for NX6T.  My job was to keep NX6T active until the band falls apart; which happened by 02:15z.

Arriving at W7AYT's QTH at 03:30z, the K3/0-Mini was setup in a portable fashion.  On the oft-chance there might be any random band openings, CQ calls were made throughout the evening, rotating the yagi to various azimuth headings; unfortunately to no-avail.  In the previous sunspot cycle, I would often encounter late evening 10-meter band openings around this time of year, leaving me the expectation it could happen again this year, which of course DIDN'T happen - Oh Wail.

This is what I posted as part of the 3830Scores WQ6X entry on that page.

This is a WQ6X FIRST - running the 10-Meter GiG QRP from Ramona California. Client 
and ARCA radio club commitments kept me in Alameda Friday and part of Saturday, so I ran Ramona's K3 radio from my Alameda Biofeedback office using a K3/0-Mini. Upon arrival @W7AYT, the K3/0-Mini was installed just in time for a two-hour OP stint for NX6T finishing Saturday for me. Sunday morning, the band started to open around 6am and amazingly enough there was a Greyline opening to EU at 7am (15:00z). When that died, I went back to bed for
a couple of hours and then picked up where I left off around 10am until the GiG ended at 4pm. Condx. to JA and Oceania where MUCH better on Friday/Saturday than Sunday, altho a couple of Asian multipliers Sunday afternoon made up for the lack of QSO volume. There was LoTs of atmospheric noise all weekend, even tho no solar storms were (to my knowledge) indicated so the K3-DNR was an absolute necessity. Running Stereo-CW (see the WQ6X Blogs on that), made CW copy more effective. m

When it was all over, it would seem that NX6T took a 2nd-place (for the Southwest Division) behind the AOCC (Arizona Outlaws), while WQ6X managed a 1st-place for that division running Single-OP unlimited QRP - beyond that will be made known when they publish the contest results next year.

DiD YOU participate in the ARRL 10-meter contest?

IS NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

For WQ6X CQ W.W. IS a World-Wide Wonder

The ONE word I shall use to overview the CQ W.W. Cw weekend this last weekend is

wOw!

Virtually every variety of contest experience you can imagine was in simultaneous play
throughout the 48-hour operating period.   As I wrote in a recent Blog ([CLICK HERE]),
I LOVE 48-hour contests because in a sense they enable what I call DO-overs.

DO-overs are nice when sometimes we incorrectly focus our op-time on a non-producing band
only to discover a nearby band was LOADED with workable activity.  DO-overs are nice when
(like this weekend) solar storms produce temporarily-marginal conditions, such as just after 08:00z
on Saturday morning.

Other than the increasingly worsening Space-WX (see above), virtually everything that is notable about this contest event made its appearance in the 3830-Score Submission after the contest.

Virtually everything else we need to know can be gleaned from the N1MM+ ending screen.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took a 2nd-place (for USA) behind K6JS.

DiD YOU work the CQ W.W. Cw contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Works Another W00LY 160-Meter Contest

This year's ARRL 160-meter contest came out of nowhere - literally - on Thursday, N6KI put the call out for operators.  The only OPs available were Dennis, WM6Y (Phil), N6CY (Rick) and me - WQ6X.  When my 1st operating shift came up (12:30am to 4:00am), most of the 225 "routine" stations were already in the log, while East of California, most OPs were still SnooZing soundly.

Middle-of-the-night contests require accommodation of S&P (Search & Pounce) in between frequency-running to alleviate the Boredom (bore-dumb) Factor.  The recent addition of the self-spotting-allowed rule in some ARRL contests makes for a slight improvement in QSO-rates during frequency runs.  Otherwise, it takes two CQ calls be-4 the RBN (Reverse Beacon Network) stations report/update the CQ's to the internet spotting servers.

After 4 frustrating hours I managed to add a WHOPPING 36 QSOs to the log, altho JA3 and V31 mults were 2 of those log entries.  Ironically, to work VE6 and a K8 (Mi) station, the best signal levels were made by pointing the Tri-square array to the WEST - GO Figure).  (Recent update: being that the Tri-square has been "broken" in the past, the assumption is currently being made that the phasing-cable system is out of "calibration".)

On the following Monday morning, looking back on the weekend, I found it amazing that I/We managed to accomplish what We DiD, when We DiD It as Well as We DiD!  While dealing w/the
solar CME that delivered a glancing-blow to the F-Layer of our atmosphere certainly created a signal challenge, the REAL Difficulty (and has been increasingly so in the last 6+ weeks) are the purposeful MIS-SPOTS being sent to the DX cluster(s).  

At first, I thought it was some sort of server glitch until some of the mis-posted callsigns were "too cute" to have been accidental or algorithmic mistakes.  A not-insignificant amount of operating time was spent deleting those entries from the call lists and bandmap(s).  If I knew what the CORRECT callsign should be, I would spot it properly (and trust that other OPs will do the same for me).
This egregious behavior has prompted me to send an e-mail to the ARRL contest coordinator
(Sean Kutzko) asking what can be done about this, and, can the offenders in some way be sanctioned.

Soapbox comments from the submitted logfile can help fill-in some of the technical details:

In the end, the ARRL 160 contest turned out to be an embodiment of a number of different
operating-factors to navigate thru in order to get the message out.  Unlike most contests,
the ARRL 160 & 10 meter contests are JUST that - single-band events; altho the 10-meter
GiG can be run mixed-mode (Cw and Ssb), whereas the 160-GiG is Cw only (altho the CQ-160
contests run a different weekend for each mode).  No matter which mode, we run in a single-band contest, whenever the band is not happening (for whatever reason), there's nothing left to do but Sit, Twiddle-our-thumbs, call CQ and Wait.

When it was all over, NX6T put 477 QSOs in the log (77 made by WQ6X).  Running as WQ6X
(from the EB section), 23 QSOs made it into the LoG - just enough to say "I Wuz THERE!".

To get a sense for some of the technical details about the WQ6X operation, the 3830 Soapbox comments say it best:

Did YOU work the ARRL 160-meter radiosport contest?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X: Why I like 48-Hour Contests

After the 2023 CQ WW Dx contest GiG, I got to musing through my past
involvement in popular 48-hour contests.  In the process, it occurred to me that
the "Blast from the Past" write-ups on the ARRL Dx contest are 5-years out of date,
which prompted me to write a Blast-2.0 Blog about this event all by itself. 
([CLICK HERE] to read that post.)

In scrolling through the WQ6X Contest Blog entries,
I found the most important 48-hour GiGs:

• [X] - ARRL DX Contests
• [X] - ARRL 10-Meter Contest
• [X] - CQ WPX Contests
• [X] - CQ W.W. Dx Contests
• [X] - All Asian Dx Contests
• [X] - Worked All Europe (WAE) Contests

For W6, starting at 00:00z means that 10 & 15 meter bands are still open to somewhere - most
specifically Asia and Oceania.  As the bands fade, the path becomes moving down to 20-meters
for a continuation of the Asia/S-A run, setting-in on 40-meters for a desperate shot at Europe and
even Africa (before their sun comes up and they fade into oblivion for another 20-hours.

A major secret that is no longer a secret is taking advantage of Greyline DX propagation. 
During worldwide-style contests (DX and WPX contests in particular) some AMAZING short-term QSO opportunities quickly come and go.  Running as an "assisted" entry allows me to internet-see quick in/out opportunities.

A BiG Advantage to
48-hour contests is the hope for an atmospheric-reprieve after receiving
a glancing-blow of CME energy.

While leftover "shotgun" noise may seem to be an annoyance, the hoped-for reality is that we will get another shot at top-notch propagation conditions.  Having an extra 24-hours allows opportunities not afforded in the first 24-hours.

Another advantage of 48-hour GiGs is that it gives me plenty of clock time to dual-OP or even triple-OP a contest event.  For example, CQP-2023 enabled me to run one operation remote from Ramona (W6R), put in some op-hours remotely for NX6T and then even find time to put the WQ6X callsign on the air from the SF East Bay.

 

Just because a contest event runs for 48-hours does not mean I have to operate all of those hours.
For example, running a single-band operation finds me on the air only during the time periods that band is actually open with real propagation to somewhere useful in the world.

Do you enjoy operating 48-hour contests?

What things do YOU like about it?

BLAST's from the PAST 2.0: WQ6X in ARRL DX Contests

While doing some research for another research project researching some of my favorite
48-Hour radiosport contests, the ARRL DX GiGs of course come to mind.  Over 5.5 years ago,
I wrote a Blog looking at the ARRL DX GiGs all the way back to 2013.  ([CLICK HERE] to read it.  Today, it occurred to me that a LoT has happened in the radiosport world along these lines, encouraging me into this current research project.  LooKing back in the WQ6X contest Blog bibliography, since 2018, there have been the following ARRL DX Contest events:

• [X] - (2019) NX6T Nixes ARRL Dx Left Coast Competition
• [X] - (2019) ARRL Dx Ssb GiG: the contest RTTY Ruined
• [X] - (2020) WQ6X Wanders Thru another ARRL Dx Contest
• [X] - (2020) WQ6X Blast from the Past: ARRL Dx Phone Contest
• [X] - (2020) WQ6X joins NX6T Dual-OP'ing another ad-HOC ARRL Dx Ssb GiG
• [X] - (2021) WQ6X Wings 1st Dual-Remote ARRL DX Cw GiG from Alameda
• [X] - (2021) WQ6X joins NX6T remotely for another ARRL Dx Ssb GiG
• [X] - (2022) WQ6X Dabbles in the ARRL Dx Contest
• [X] - (2023) WQ6X Works a Wonderfully WEIRD Dx Contest

wOw! What a Wonderfully WEIRD bunch of contest operations.

What is essentially special about the ARRL (and CQ) DX contest GiGs is that they are 48-hour
affairs, offering up plenty of DX opportunities, while also allowing me to catch up on my sleep. 
With this information in place, I will be able to write a special Blog on why I love 48-hour contests.

Stay Tuned for that one.

Do YOU play around in the ARRL (or CQ) DX Contests?
What kind of wildness have YOU encountered?

For WQ6X SS-Ssb is FULL of Surprises

For me, BoTh Sweepstakes Events (Cw and Ssb) are a function of my radiosport-DNA. 
In recent years, I have gone to great lengths attempting new approaches to taking 1st-place
in a number of different W6 (California) ARRL Sections.  Because I have run so many SS-events
from East Bay section, it surprised nearly everyone this year when WQ6X sent the section as SDG (and NoT EB).

In an attempt to reduce that confusion, when. I recorded the voice memory for Function Key 2
(F2),  I PURPOSELY exaggerated enunciation of the section name "Sannn Dee Aaa G-o-o-o". 
With a 5th function key, it would have been possible to record "SAN DIEGO - Sierra Delta Golf!".

The goal for 2023 SS-Ssb was to put some hours in the remote-OP chair for NX6T's LP multi-single operation (I ran 7-10pm Saturday and 3-8am Sunday) while running a dozen or more hours as WQ6X running Unlimited-QRP remote from KN6NBT's Ramona QTH in N. San Diego County.

It didn't take long to realize there was a dearth of serious activity from the SDG section,
encouraging the finding of clear run frequencies, creating lengthy pileups that often disappeared
as quickly as they began.  5-stations call in at the same time - I work one station (10-seconds max), say "QRZ?" and - NOTHING!"  HuH?  Where'd-j'all GO?  You can't wait 10 SECONDS?  wOw!

Fortunately, a new addition to the SS-Ssb rules allows self-spotting every 10-minutes, creating
an Ssb-equivalency of the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) available to CW and RTTY operators.
Typing WQ6X into the callsign field and clicking the "SPOT" button would bring a flood of calling stations w/in 30-seconds.

A quick summary of a few key highlights (excerpted from the 3830 Score Submission) are useful:

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X running QRP took 1st-place overall and set
a new record for the Southwest Division - NoT bad when you consider what I had to work with.

NX6T (running Low Power) took 2nd-place overall and 1st-place for the Southwest Division. 
Overall, I think this was one of the most successful challenging Sweepstakes I have ever
run - even surpassing 2011 run of SB-section from a tent on Carpinteria State Beach.

DiD YOU work the ARRL November Sweepstakes?

IS WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

For WQ6X: Stereo-SSB creates Quite a Saucy sensation for a Sensational Sweepstakes

To understand the impetus behind this Blog's exuberant title, you should understand a little
bit about a concept that I have overall embraced in many different ways - namely, the idea
of Stereo-audio in HF radiosport operations.  

Over the years I have extolled what to me are the obvious virtues of Stereo-Cw and to a much
lesser extent Stereo-SSB.  With the Sweepstakes phone GiG securely behind us, mentally replaying
the remote operations run as NX6T (from WA6TQT in Anza) and WQ6X (from KN6NBT in Ramona), operating conditions were such that making use of the Stereo-SSB approach became absolutely crucial.

WQ6X's operations always create stereo audio effects by way of a pair of 45 yr.-old analog Autek
QF-1A audio filters; one for each channel.:   LEFT = VFO-A  ---  RIGHT = VFO-B.  QF-1A filters
come equipped with an aux. notch filter built-in to the left side of the front panel.  For the most part,
the audio frequency settings on each unit were set once and then left largely unchanged throughout the entire 30-hour Sweepstakes event.

When Ssb stations would move-in on the run frequency (creating that annoying high-pitched bird-chatter), the aux. notch filters could reduce the grating intensity down to tolerable levels (if there can be any such thing).  Running a K3/0-mini (rather than the usual Yaesu FT-2000) left me w/o a Contour control - something I've come to rely on with the newer Yaesu transceivers.

Another approach was to adjust the shift control somewhat off to the left, accomplishing an equivalent of Yaesu's Contour - except that the Elecraft shift is VERY sharp on the end of the adjustment - it's easy to go too far and dramatically reduce receive levels.  Of course, it has been been well established that the Bestest audio filter is the aural circuits already wired into our brain.

From time to time, the background sound-shape would become monotonously annoying, requiring
an audio frequency adjustment in either or both of the QF-1A's, creating a different listening "feel"
to the operation.  It is clear to me that "shaping the audio" not only makes operating more fun, it also contributes significantly to fatigue-reduction.  Bottom-line: the stereo-audio concepts have many applications in the world of successful radiosport operation.

Prior to an upcoming Ssb contest, I spend time tuning the lo-bands in the evening (40 & 80)
and the high bands in the daytime simply listening to Ssb QSOs while playing around with the
QF-1A controls as I discover the proper settings for the different kinds of voices heard.  Practice tuning in each station, adjusting the filters in your transceiver in conjunction with these external filters.  For a REAL challenge, tune around on 20 or 15 meters looking for a pileup of stations after a RARE DX station.  As you twiddle those knobs, certain voice characteristics will sometimes jump right out of the otherwise unintelligible jumble.

Have YOU ever utilized stereo audio in radiosport operations or even ragchewing?

What Discoveries DiD YOU make?

WQ6X Embarks on another Ssb Sweepstakes

(NOTE: This Blog piece was written while enroute to W7AYT's operating QTH)

It is nearly difficult
to fathom that the Cw Sweepstakes is already
2-weeks past/passed
and JIDX is just another distant DX Memory, until April's epic JIDX Cw GiG.  

The Fall Contest Season is well under way with 6-Weeks left before the New Year. 
The year 2023 has encouraged a LoT of QRP Radiosport activity, that is for sure.

If you look back on the variety of Ssb Sweepstakes Events WQ6X has been a part of,
([CLICK HERE]) the goal is for 2023 to represent yet another interesting chapter in the World
of WQ6X-Sweepstakes.  The 2023 Ssb Sweepstakes is destined to be yet another dual-OP opportunity running WQ6X from Ramona, remotely from the SF East Bay area, as well as
remoting into our ANZA Superstation as NX6T.  

Running QRP Ssb GiGs can be a bit tedious; luckily, this is a domestic contest, with no real
language barriers - only Northern/Southern dialect differences.  This year, the operating challenge comes from the ARRL contest committee's restructuring of some of the Eastern Canadian section names; we survived it two weekends ago - this weekend should be easier.

Because it is so compact, I have repurposed an old laptop bag into service as a "GO-Bag"
for the K3/0-Mini and its related RRC-1258 Internet Interface Box, along with a repurposed
laptop power pack with a 2nd power plug spliced onto the original.

As it turns out, arriving @W7AYT's QTH found me EXHAUSTed, so I began
the afternoon with an afternoon nap be-4 "Installing" the K3/0-Mini installation
into the installation already installed in the Concord installation.

          ( STAY  TUNED  FOR  THE  RESULTS )

WQ6X Works a WEIRD JIDX & WAE Weekend

With the Sweepstakes Cw contest well behind us, the 2nd weekend is all about Europe and Japan; so-called Europe with the WAE (Worked All Europe) RTTY contest with the Japanese DX Ssb contest sandwiched in the middle.  RTTY, I run by way of the FT-2000 in the SF East Bay.  

For the JIDX contest, I put in 2-shifts for NX6T at 2am to 5am and then 6 to 10pm (both on Saturday) running the Anza station (WA6TQT) remotely from the bay area.  WQ6X ran a last-minute operation
on 40-meters before the contest ended.  Here is what I wrote about it in my WQ6X 3830-scores submission:

This TRULY was a last-minute WQ6X ad-HOC JIDX operation.

Running operator shifts for NX6T and numerous commitments in Alameda

kept me out of the OP-chair until waking up @11:00z reminded me that

WQ6X had yet to make a JIDX appearance.  Remembering that the best

openings to JA are after midnight, I settled in on 7131.31 for 90 mins.

Rude stations and purposeful RTTY QRM required I move the run

frequency +/- 100-cycles.

For this Blog entry, I have decided to let the soapbox comments tell much of the story.

...seemed like activity down as many times bands open with good sigs from JA 

but no takers of our CQs.  We missed Friday nite 80 Mtr action as new antenna

management software locked our 80 4 square in NE Azimuth plus knocked us

off air for 30 minutes. Lost another 2 hours due lack of operators at couple time

slots.  20 meters still doesn't yield many QS and 40 Qs were way down for us

this year.

Thanks to WA6TQT for use of great site. 

 73 Dennis N6KI

It would seem that NX6T took another worldwide 1st-place (ToP MoP as the Japanese call it) for
the multi-single category.  (K3EST @N6RO has advanced to the Multi-2 classification, leaving NX6T to dominate the multi-single category.)  Assuming that no one submits a SOSB-40 LoG, WQ6X takes
a 1st-place in that category - by default.

Because this was an Asian-focused weekend, it made sense to look for Russian beacon activity
on their ~7.038 cluster frequency.  The "F" beacon has been AWOLE in W6-land for nearly a year. 
As recent as Friday evening before JIDX, only the "K" beacon has been heard.  Sunday morning,
out of nowhere the "M" beacon makes a mediumly-strong appearance.

What Do We SaY about Cw Sweepstakes?

In a recent blog about CQP beginning with an idea to become a unique operating event, proper research (in advance of the contest event) enabled setting TWO county records: one for San Diego County and one for Contra Costa.  For November Sweepstakes Cw, having set a number of records for East Bay (EB) section, this year, the decision was made to focus on the San Diego (SDG) section and therefore the Southwest Division.

From research, the determination was made to run WQ6X as Single-OP Unlimited (U) QRP,
requiring the submission of a log score with 160+ QSOs for over 25-K points - this would be accomplished interspersed with three 8-hour operating shifts for NX6T running remote from WA6TQT's QTH on the hilltop in Anza California.

When it was all over (assuming no unexpected surprises), it would seem that WQ6X DiD indeed set a new record for the Southwestern ARRL Division.  NX6T placing 9th overall, while taking a resounding 1st-place for San Diego section, was thoroughly trounced by the W8TK team operating from Arizona (AZ) section.  Their unique QTH made for 15-meter band condx. we could only dream about. 
In Anza, from the NX6T point-of-view, 2nd-place is NO-place.

The BiG problem for the CW Sweepstakes weekend was the multitude of nuisance solar
storms that came and went - and came and went - at least they individually rather quick.
This is what I posted in the 3830 Score submission.

This is the 1st-ever WQ6X SS-Cw GiG running QRP from the S-West Division.

Researching Section/Division records it was noticed that the SOA QRP 

record for the Southwest Division was easily surpassed.  Accomplishing

that goal and putting in approximately 8-hours in the remote chair for 

NX6T made for an exciting Sweepstakes weekend.

Conditions on Saturday were quite good.  On Sunday the solar storms plagued

us creating noise everywhere and weird fast-fading of signals that fooled me

into thinking they were coming in from Europe, but were in fact N. America.

An unusual pain-in-the-ass was the DOZENS of purposely FAKE internet spots

being submitted to the 40-meter bandmaps on Sunday morning.  When I saw NX5T 

constantly being spotted on the NX6T run frequency, I knew it was NO accident.

Another issue is the deliberate FT8 signals in the Cw portions of the bands

when those signals NEVER occur during non-contest periods.  These IDIOTs

need grow-up and get a life.  If they spent as much time operating legitimately

as they do disrupting others, the bands would be a different world.

However, overall this weekend was a success and WQ6X seems to have

over-doubled the previous high-score record for the ARRL S-West Division.

While WQ6X only made 10th-place overall, evidently, the actual activity from the
Southwest division was quite lacking, making it possible to easily post a high score. 
Rest assured, someone will wake-up for 2024 and NoT let that happen again.

DiD YOU work the ARRL Cw Sweepstakes Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Teaches HF and Runs CQ WW Ssb

Every 4th Saturday of the month, the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) hosts membership meeting; currently in person from the conference room @ the Oakland Yacht club on the waterfront
in Alameda.  For the September and October meetings, I gave a 2-part presentation on running HF radios, targeting in particular Technician class licensees as well as General/Extras for whom running on HF is new to them.

After the presentation I demonstrated running a Kenwood TS-590s on HF thru an LDG auto-tuner
into a V-shaped Buddi-pole antenna setup outside overlooking the yacht harbor.  The idea was to familiarize attendees with HF in order that we could put together a 5-hour November Sweepstakes multi-OP operation as K6QLF (Kilowatt Six Quebec London Foxtrot). 
Links to the talks can be found at ARCAHam.Org.

Radiosport-wise, I was just screwing around that weekend playing around with a number of station changes.  With so many things going on all weekend, the first QSO didn't happen until 02:50z on Sunday.  Luckily, the FT-2000 ran flawlessly into a 10-meter Long John yagi, which amazingly
enough, tuned AWEsomely on 15-meters as a rotatable dipole.  For 20 & 40 the usual 8JK Cobra dipoles, accomplished the job, although there was rampant RF all over the shack.

The solar storms that weekend sprayed noise all over the bands killing things Saturday evening,
so instead I made time for a 75-meter round table sked at 05:30z and then signed off for the night.  Conditions were only marginally better on Sunday - with the SFI only 135 (altho up from 122) with
A-Index=28 & K-Index=4 - Bummer Dewd!

Sunday morning, at 10:00z, looking for some sort of Asian opening on 40-meters every run frequency
I found was almost immediately BOMBARDED by RTTY QRM and what I call a "data burbler". 
At 11:00z the QRM came from what I call a "Data Spritzer" (that's what it sounded like), followed
up almost immediately by Bill-Bob and his brother Barney having their 6am ragchew up 1.2kc
from me - oblivious to the fact that I had been there for an hour already.  

Then, at 11:13z the7.160.60 run frequency became the National Tuneup Frequency - the NTF.

It certainly is a GooD thing I was just screwing around and not looking to submit any kind of a high score.  In that case I would want to run remote - 'cept I was too lazy to set any of that up; considering that I had missed over 1/2 of the contest operating period already.  The important CQ WW weekend
is the CW GiG, which happens after Thanksgiving.

DiD YOU work the CQ WW Ssb contest?

What WEIRDNESS DiD YOU encounter?

For WQ6X it's JARTS - Pacificon - JARTS

During recent weekends, WQ6X has been back in RTTY run-mode, which can ONLY happen

using the FT-2000 @W7AYT's QTH in the SF East Bay.  48-hour contests like the JARTS RTTY
affair offer-up numerous opportunities for band openings as well as plenty of time for things like
sleep and the Pacificon HamFest, just a few miles away in San Ramon.

Being a Japanese sponsored contest, the operating exchange is identical to the All-Asian GiGs in June and September: 5NN + AGE.  Not surprisingly, the mean-age for Japanese amateurs was 72+.  To make things more easily read visually WQ6X sent: 5NN (55) (55).  Enclosing the age in (parens) makes it easier to double-click JUST the number and paste it into the Age data-entry field of the N1MM+ logging software.

The JARTS radiosport contest brings several ways to earn contest points:

• 3-points each for QSOs on different continents
• Country Multipliers (M1)
• Prefix Multipliers (M2)

Running the N1MM+ software enables all 12 function key macros, while the RTTY decoder window provides another 18 more macros for less-used character strings.

When in frequency-run mode, I chose frequencies that are so unique that other OPS won't pick by accident (Ex: 14088.88, or 21.111.11, or 28092.92).  Therefore, when a station's CQ call lines up perfectly between the "goal posts" w/perfect decoding, I know that choice was intentional - NoT a FLUKE.

One of the ways to reduce RTTY congestion is to run from frequencies above the +100-Kc mark in the bands (Ex: 14.101+, 21.100+ & 28.100+).  These frequency areas not only often quieter QRM-wise, it often seems that atmospheric noise is less at these frequencies, altho admittedly this is a subjective observation.  Unfortunately, it doesn't occur to some operators
that there might be stations "above 100".

In between RTTY GiGs, I found a few hours to wander over to the PACIFICON Event held nearby
at the Marriot Hotel in San Ramon.  It's always a kick to meet up with friends old and new, see the vendors newest radios up-close and personal and schmooze with representatives of nearby radio clubs, being that I am President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA).

When it was all over WQ6X put in a reasonable showing - most notably on 10-emeters. 
Oh, how I love high SFI periods of the sunspot cycle - especially for RTTY operations.

DiD YOU work the JARTS RTTY contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR log?