WQ6X Works another Weird (but WooLY) Winter Field Day

The final weekend in January marked a "collision" of a number of disparate events beginning with
a remote run of the French REF contest Friday evening and wrapping up w/the end of the Winter
Field Day (WFD) on Sunday morning (just like the ARRL June FD).

Because the REF GiG [specifically] has no power classifications there was no real reason to run
QRP - what is the point of making a sacrifice when we get no credit for doing so?!  Essentially,
the REF GiG gave me something to do while waiting for operators on Anza STN-1 to wrap up
their evening run in the CQ 160 Cw contest.

At that point (shortly after 07:06z) I brought Anza STN-2 on the air and setup a CQ-160 run for about 95 minutes, long enough to put 24 QSOs in the WQ6X Log running QRP.  The corrupted phasing-lines on the 160 Tri-Square has yet to be resolved, leaving it a mystery as to which "direction" the antenna array is REALLY favoring - I would simply use the direction button that produced the loudest signal at any given moment in the contest.  If no reply, I would then try the other two directions.  

Eventually, most stations (due-east) went bedtime-QRT, leaving no one new to work.  After 3-hours sleep, I came back in time for points due-east to wake up and work me before their sunrise shuts down 160-meters on their end.  Late Saturday and early Sunday morning, equivalent op-tome was found, resulting in a ToTaL of 69 QSOs making it to the submitted Log.

For the Winter Field Day GiG, the best explanation for what happened can be found
in the 3830 Score Submission for this contest.

DiD YOU work the Winter Field Day and/or CQ W.W. 160 contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Dual-OP's another NAQP Ssb contest - running QRP

It's no secret that I have been running a LoT of radiosport contests remotely from the KN6NBT & WA6TQT mountain top QTH's using QRP power; with reasonably effective
antenna systems, QRP power is NoT as BiG a handicap as you might at first expect.

This year I have already successfully run the RTTY RU and NAQP Cw events,
submitting relatively high-scoring logs in the S-O Assisted QRP categories. 
Running Ssb contests running only 5-watts being w/it a unique set of challenges. 
To be heard more clearly, I tend to run the radio's compression-levels higher than
I would running LP (there is no power amplifier in Ramona).

While the N1MM+software is capable of playing 12 .Wav files, the radio only has four voice
memories (usually controlled by the F1-CQ, F2-EXCHG, F3-TU & F4-CALLSIGN software
function keys).  This leaves 8 function keys to play other .WAV files.  Other logging programs
(such as DX-Log and WINTEST) give us two more function keys.  For people who don't use
logging programs, I have been working on the WQ6X Voice-Player APP giving us 6 or 12
different .Wav file playouts in each Voice Player Group.

Fortunately, for the NAQP contests, we only send NAME and STATE (NoT even a 5-9 or 5-9-9)
which makes it easy to run the majority of the NAQP contest events with only four function keys.

We have been blessed recently with relatively disruption-free Space-WX.  It continued thru the 06:00z (10pm) ending of the NAQP contest, with rain-induced atmospheric noise during the rest of Saturday evening.

From Ramona, it seems that 10-meters came alive from the beginning; only making it eastward
to Anza 30 minutes later.  Reaching the 100-QSO mark on 10-meters (by 20:19z) - w/o Blinking,
I might add - it was time to make the slow trek down to 15 and 20 meters with a short stint on 40-meters, before wrapping up the 6-hours and putting in a 4-hour shift on STN-2 for NX6T.

While Anza (DM13IN) and Ramona (DM13IH) are only 66 miles apart, the difference between
the two hilltops is often quite dramatic during radiosport contests.

For NX6T, most of my operating time was spent running 20-meters while STN-1 kept 15-meters
open way beyond expectation.  Eventually 20m frittered away, inducing the move down to an already explosive 40-meters.  By way of stacked Yagi's and a 40m Stepp-IR, the Anza station is reasonably equipped.  When 15m died for STN-1, I was relieved on 40-meters, sliding down to 75-meters, enjoying the instant band switching afforded by the onsite full-sized 4-Square Vertical Array. 
Running volume QSOs N-E (with the stack) can be quickly transformed into picking off Caribbean multipliers by pointing S-E.

At 8pm (04:00z) back in the Ramona OP-chair, there was no 4-Square for 75-meters, only a 55' high Double Bazooka Inverted Vee.  At least on 40-meters Ramona's 2-el Shorty-40 yagi can be rotated, with a noticeable increase/decrease in signal levels.

When it was all over, I GoT to sort out the STATs and submit the LoG.  By Sundy afternoon, scanning the 3830 Score submissions, it was clear that NX6T made it to 7th-place overall (4th-place for USA)
in the Multi-2 LP category, while WQ6X''s 257 QSOs (33k points) accomplished a clearly-centered 2nd-place in the Single-OP Assisted QRP category.

What about YOU?

DiD YOU work the NAQP Ssb contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wangles another WEIRD NAQP-Cw WeekEnd

For this radiosport weekend, the watch-phrase was "stable internet connection". 
An internet failure at WA6TQT's QTH in Anza on Thursday nearly sidelined NX6T's Multi-2
operation.  Miraculously, by Friday evening, the Anza QTH was QRU & QRV - additionally,
WQ6X was cleared to run QRP from KN6NBT's QTH in Ramona, altho at the last minute,
an operator illness necessitated my running another 2-hours during the [so-called] "Dinner Shift"; something I do frequently when running with NX6T; alto running remotely, Dennis (N6KI) can't
bring me back Italian meatballs like he used to do when we ran live from "Nashville".

During the morning and afternoon WQ6X runs, 15 & 10 meters were WIDE-Open,
with more and louder signals heard on 10-meters in Ramona (using a 3-el Stepp-IR @55')
versus 4-el. stacked Yagi's @ 72'+ in Anza - GO Figure.

With some judicious frequency juggling more-or-less clear "windows" were found for running frequencies on: 28014.14, 28019.19, 28025.25, 21031.31, 14036.36, 7028.28 & 3516.16.

Running as a Multi-2, K4RB AND K7ENA kept 15-meters wildly alive, switching to an already
wide-open 40-meters by 23:00z.  During my 2nd-shift, 80-meters was open to the E. coast by
01:25z (early for the left coast) and surprisingly, 160-meters was quite alive by 02:30z - all this
while STN-1 (on 40-meters) racked'em in during that same period.

Brief internet disruptions were a challenge, along with my access to VNC viewer, which seemed to be resolved by restarting the Windoze-7 laptop; altho the outage may simply have been an apparency.  When it was all over, I missed the operating goal of 300+ QRP QSOs, which was offset by my nearly 400 QSO contribution to NX6T's 7th-place (overall) score, 2nd in California to the might N6RO, in Northern California (about 6.5 miles from the Concord location I operate from).

One of the things I appreciate about the NAQP GiGs is their short (12-hour) full-bore intensity.  Starting at 18:00z, the bands erupt into controlled pandemonium, then, 12-hours later, the bands return to the utter-quiet state they were in before the NAQP began.

LooKing back, I am utterly amazed at how well we are able to run complex radio systems remotely; the transceivers, the logging software and the software-directed antenna switching.  Having a VPN like VNC Viewer is almost as effective as actually sitting at the keyboard in Anza and Ramona. 
When it all synchronizes properly, it is a wonder to behold.  When it doesn't, then it's @#$!x&*@!

One of the cool things about the NAQP approach to radiosport is the exchange of NAME and STATE.  Having YL ops participating always spices things up a bit.  Running as WQ6X, YL's added to the log included: W4CMG(Cathy), KC9YL(Anne), KY4GS (Amanda), AF9J(Ellen) & WA1S(Ann).

While the SFI was high (186+) and the A-K Indexes were low, a number of signals seemed to have 
a "polar raspiness", except they simply E & N-E stations.  I was beginning to think there was an audio filter adjustment problem on the WQ6X end until I realized it was happening only on 10-meters.  KG5VK confirmed hearing this raspiness in his Soapbox comments - just another anomaly of
high sunspot cycle peaks.

DiD YOU work the January NAQP Cw Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?