What Do We Say about Weekend 3?

The 3rd weekend in April is a weekend FULL of small/short (but nevertheless significant)
radiosport events.  Beginning Friday evening, I set up the array of contest logfiles for 7
contests, altho only 5 events ended up with a logfile submission.

While setting up the logfiles and testing the different antenna configurations, I found time to
watch the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch at 11:48pm (PDT) from Vandenburg base in Southern California. 
I used to watch all the rocket launches when I was a kid, so this takes me back to those excited feelings once again.

Of the 7 available radiosport GiGs, the "no shows" were of course the Holyland event (Jerusalem is one of the most difficult-to-reach QTH's from N. California) and the WAPC (Worked All Provinces of China) - while I saw a handful of internet spots on the bandmap, they were almost always spotted by other Chinese stations, or heard only in Europe - neither of which does us any good.  With the above two GiGs a non-issue, that left 3 poorly attended QSO parties, a poorly participated (outside of Europe) YUDX contest, and of course, the weekend favorite: the CQMM Cw Contest.

Space-WX throughout the weekend was reasonably cooperative with an SFI between 150 and 170.  With a K-Index, while there were no major ionospheric disruptions, a low-to-medium ionospheric background noise made 1st-time 100%-copy nearly impossible.

Slow contest weekends allow time for testing reconfigured audio and control cabling for the portable setup in Concord.  With so many different audio devices (whether switched inline or not), chasing down (and eliminating) ground loops is always a monumental task.  Recent experimentation resulted in a pair of blog updates to the Stereo-Cw / Stereo-Ssb topics (an update for Stereo-RTTY is next).

In addition to proper stereo-filtering at the Concord location, it seems like there is always some sort
of RFI audio disruption on 15 & 40 meters when transmitting into the [ladder-line fed] 8JK Cobra array.  In years passed, the RFI invasion only occurred on 20-meters, however it was often strong enough to overload the RigExpert PLUS device and sometimes even resulted in a Windoze-7
"Blue Screen"

When it was ALL over, it would seem that 100 QSOs made it into the WQ6X CQMM LoG.

DiD YOU work the CQMM Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Reprises W6J and assists NX6T to 1st-Place

Prior to the 2023 JIDX contest, I searched the WQ6X contest blog to review WQ6X's past participation in the April JIDX Cw contest.  This of course led me to review my use of the W6J
callsign back in 2012/2013.  From there I wrote up the Retrospective on W6J that precedes this Blog. ([CLICKI HERE] to read that.)  In 2019 I wrote a "BLAST from the Past" LooK at JIDX.  The rest is
(as they say) HISTORY.  Since then I have run every JIDX Cw GiG since, which brings us to the 2023 GiG.

[X] - 2022 - WQ6X Works a 7.5 Contest Weekend

[X] - 2021 - WQ6X Wangles another Weird Multi-contest Weekend

[X] - 2020 - WQ6X fakes another (JIDX x 2) + 5 Contest weekend

[X] - 2019 - BLASTS from the Past: JIDX Cw

The 2023 JIDX contests bring us the new Multi-2 category.  Instead of NX6T running as Multi-2,
we waited for our competition to "take the bait" and switch to that category, leaving the Multi-Single category to NX6T to win, as we have done in numerous recent JIDX contests.  It would seem that it was a sound strategy - a WiN WiN for everyone involved.

We had quite an array of Operators and GUEST operators.  VE4EA (Cary) gave KL7SB (Steve)
a tour of the WA6TQT Super Site.  Later (as you can see in the header-PIC) KL7SB also found himself in the OP seat doing an INCREDIBLE run on 20-meters.

When it was all said and done, NX6T made a resounding 1st place - our highest score EVER.
Because most contacts were on 10-meters, WQ6X as W6J submitted a 1st-place SOSB-10 score.

DiD YOU work the JIDX contest?

How many different prefectures made it into YOUR LoG?

A WQ6X as W6J Retrospective

I run so many ad-HOC radiosport weekends, it is a MAJOR undertaking, not only remembering
them all but remembering many of the significant (yet seemingly insignificant) details from each event.  This is why I publish what I do in this WQ6X Contest Blog.  Long after the Alzheimer's kicks-in, these Blog posts will serve to document the nonsense I spent my weekend-time with during the last 20-or-so years.  Additionally, truth be told, next time around I will probably do something like this
ALL OVER AGAIN.  (He Who does not Learn from the Past is DOOMed to Repeat It!")

Over the years, I have registered a number of different 1x1 callsigns for different reasons. 
Beginning in 2012 (before this Contest BLOG was begun), I made use of the W6J callsign
to make for a more unique JIDX Cw Experience.

• [X] - 2022: WQ6X Works a 7.5 Contest Weekend.
• [X] - 2021: WQ6X Wangles another Weird Multi-contest Weekend.
• [X] - 2019: BLASTS from the Past: JIDX Cw.
• [X] - 2016: W6J takes North America for JIDX 2016 CW contest.
• [X] - 2014: WQ6X operates 2014 JIDX Cw solo from SF East Bay.
• [X] - 2013: WQ6X Operates as W6J in the 2013 JIDX Cw Contest

During the years in between the above events, WQ6X joined up with the NX6T crew to create
a number of 1st-place operations.  The 2015 & 2017 operations were run onsite from NX6T when
we were operating out of the Fallbrook location.  From 2018 and beyond, WQ6X has put in operating time with NX6T running remotely.

I love using the W6J 1x1 callsign as it sounds very sonorous acoustically.
My theory is that if it sounds "melodic" it will attract more calling stations
due to the aesthetic nature of the W6J callsign

As it turns out, using a "simple" 1x1 callsign made a not-insignificant difference in 2023's
running of W6J at the QRP-level.

Have you ever heard or worked W6J during a JIDX contest?
Stay tuned - I may reprise the callsign again next year.

Stereo-CW Revisited (Yet Again)

It would SEEM that the topic of STEREO Cw (or even Stereo-anything in amateur radio) keeps coming up in the varied radiosport activities I engage in.  While distantly different, running a radio remote from Ramona or Anza (both in So. California), or running the FT-2000 locally (in Concord),
the audio output of ALL these devices end up connected to the SAME switch panel, and eventually find their way to the pair of Autek QF-1 a filters, which create the "Stereo Radio" effect.

The audio frequency "direction of movement" (low-to-high or high-to-low) can be reversed/altered
in 2 different ways:

• Switch between sidebands (Lower / Upper) on the transceiver.
• Set the audio filter frequency different for each ear (Ex.: Low on left - High on right)

Spend an afternoon tuning around the Cw bands and notice how the different audio filter frequency settings affect the direction and rapidity of tuning through Cw signals.  Then again, next time you are running a frequency, pay attention to how the stations spread out AROUND your listening experience, depending upon their offset from your run frequency.

I wrote motr

If need be, you can use the RiT/Clarifier control on your transceiver to shift the station you are working to a different "position" in the received passband.  With logging software like N1MM+ you can declare the F3 ("TU") key macro to "CLEARRIT" after each contact, returning the receive passband back to your original settings.

Because the QF-1A filters ALSO come with an auxiliary notch filter, you can remove offending
carriers (or other junk) as needed; something the digital notch filters can do w/o also eliminating
the Cw signals themselves.

Additionally, several filters can be series-cascaded to provide any additional filtering needed.   
I have accomplished this by way of MFJ-752 & MFJ-784 filters (for the left ear) along with JPS
NIR-10 & NIR-12 filters (for the right ear).  Because any of these filters can be switched out-of-line, virtually any combination filtering and Stereo-Cw effects can be created to enhance the listening experience.  I wrote more about this in September-2021 ([CLICK HERE] to read that).

Cw has been with us for over 100 years.  Stereo-Cw brings us a 21st century solution to a 20th century problem.  Have YOU ever played around with Stereo-Cw?  If NoT, you're missing out.

WQ6X Wanders thru the EA RTTY contest and 3 State QSO Parties

The 1st weekend in April brings us the EA RTTY contest and several state QSO parties in between the previous weekend's WPX Ssb contest and next weekend's JIDX Cw contest.  Throughout the weekend, listening was plagued by leftover atmospheric noise, even tho the major solar event occurred on Thursday.

It is a good thing that the EA RTTY GiG allows us to work anyone (not just EA stations). 
I never heard a single EA station; the bandmap spots were all from the East coast, which
does California operators no good.

The state QSO parties were even MORE of a disappointment.  Because of the HUGE turnout in California's QSO party every year, I guess I hold a HIGH standard for other state/province QSO
parties throughout the year.  The more successful QSO party GiGs send out e-mail notification
of upcoming events to those adding an e-mail address to the previous year's log submissions.

While radiosport opportunities seemed limited, I took the opportunity to test-run a new bare-minimum audio mixing unit which is installed on the audio output of the filter arrangement in use.  Because the unit requires external DC power, being 5-volts, it came with a USB power plug to obtain that voltage.

When it was all over, at LEAST I had a reasonable score to submit ti the contest committee.
To quote that old song: "It's NICE to KNOW that YOU were THERE".

DiD YOU play around in the above radiosport events?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?