[The month of] March is often a 5-weekend month. Either way, CQ's WPX (Weird Prefix)
contest wraps things up (radiosport-wise) for the month; just in time for April FooL's Day.
In the BloG Entry PREVIOUS to this one, some of the benefits of WPX operation were detailed.
Being a worldwide contest, the BiG challenge was understanding each other's unique "English" dialects. When running to South America (SA), I frequently resorted to repeating the serial number exchange numbers en Espanol.
The backdrop to the weekend's 48-hour extravaganza was divergent Space-Wx activity.
Condx.-wise, the contest opening was utterly AMA-Zing, slowly deteriorating into Sunday
afternoon's MASSIVE Geo-Magnetic storm. (For awhile on Sunday, things got so chaotic
that the SFI (Solar Flux Index) was reporting in as "0" - HuH?
As in previous recent contests, 20-meters was a HO-Hummer - a DuD! Then again, that is
just my perspective from Ramona. Soapbox comments I read from stations across the USA
(and beyond) claimed 20-meters to be their "MoNeY$" band.
Sunday afternoon a well-known (to be unnamed - YOU Know who YOU are) TRASHED the idea
of my running QRP - calling it "STUPID!". The CQ messages for WQ6X QRP-run events include
/QRP at to let EVERYBODY know that fact, hoping they will offer up some "Breathing Room"
when WQ6X is running a frequency to give operators a BADLY-needed multiplier, such as WQ6
or NX6. NoW in all fairness to my critics, because the 5-watts is coupled into 3-el Stepp-IR and
Shorty-40 Yagi's (@ 55' no less), the LOUDNESS of WQ6X's signals seem to betray the FACT
of QRP operation.
The online Contest Scoreboard was running on a 2nd monitor to keep me focused and energized during those moments when fatigue set in and it was desirous to retreat under the covers for
"Just 10-Minutes".
At 00:00z (5pm PDT) Sunday, it was "another one for the "LoG BooKs".
However, as the old saying goes, "it ain't over until the paperwork (admin) is filed.
For WQ6X operations this includes:
- Making various screenshots of the logging software ending screens,
along with the contest STAT screens. - Creating and filing a CABRILLO LoG file
- Submitting the LoG to the contest sponsor.
- Posting a contest entry write-up on the 3830 Scores Website for WQ6X.
After the contest, I peruse the scribble-notes scribbled throughout the contest weekend.
Some of the most unique Blog-segments originate from barely-readable scribbles made
during the chaos of radiosport operations. In this Blog entry, what stood out from my scribbles
was the numerous INVASIONS of our amateur frequencies by non -amateur operations.
For years, I have Noted that this invasion USUALLY happen during specific contest weekends.
On "minor" contest weekends, they are never heard. Some notable WPX GiG intruders include:
- A Data "SCREECHER - 7.155.36 @ 12:30Z
- High Speed RTTY - 7144.62 @12:45z,
Shifting to 7.141.67 @12:48z,
Then to 7132.67 @12:53z - Russian Military beacons - ~7.039 - altho they are useful for Asian propagation prediction.
- Cw "CODE GROUPS" - 14.179.25 - 16:00z - the same series of alphanumeric character strings for a little over 5 minutes and then GONE. RoTaTinG the Stepp-IR yagi found
the signal strength peak at around 300-degrees azimuth - essentially Eastern Russia (Kamchatsky, Magadan or Vladivostok) - GO Figure.
WHY Do non-Amateur Russians use our amateur frequencies?
DiD YOU work the CQ WPX (Weird Prefix) Contest?
Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?
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