WQ6X Survives another QRM-ridden WPX CW Contest

Weird Prefix Contests are ALWAYS weird; however, they don't get any weirder than the 2024
weird prefix weekend.  For this GiG, the WA6TQT Anza station was pre-committed for an SO2-R operation.   As a result, N6KI ran single-OP from his home QTH while I ran the WPX GiG QRP from Ramona.  This offered up the opportunity to run remotely from my Alameda office Friday to Saturday morning, then from the Oakland Yacht Club (in Alameda) conference room, culminating in the usual remote setup from the Concord location, with its intermittent pulsing internet dropouts.

Prior to the contest, horrific Space-WX conditions have plagued the HF spectrum off-and-on for nearly 2 weeks.  During the WPX contest, the 40m to 10m noise-levels were reasonably quiet, while signal-fading effects we quite rampant; running QRP over 50% of QSOs made required Callsign/Serial-# repeats.  Using pre-programmed N1MM function keys reduced the frustration considerably.

Throughout the weekend, considerable non-contest related QRM added to the signal-copy
difficulties most infamously notable include:

• RTTY station QRM (2 stations) @06:47z on 14001.54 and 14002.47.
• OTH RaDaR GRINDing noises obliterating the entire 40m Cw band both (Saturday/Sunday) morning around 10:00z.  RoTaTing the 2-el Shorty-40 yagi
  confirmed the RTTY origin to be E. Russia.
• SCADS of Indonesian  Ssb QRM (not legal below 7.050 Mhz).

Listening for the Russian military beacons (~7.039) found that BOTH the "M" Beacon (Magadan) &
the "F" Beacon (Vladivostok) to be AWOL for several weeks/months.  The "K" Beacon (Kamchatsky) was not only active, it changed its transmission format several times during the weekend, confirming that human intervention is indeed happening with this beacon.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 3rd place in the SOAB Assisted QRP Category.

The Soapbox I posted on 3830, picks up where this BloG left off.

DiD YOU Work the WPX Weird Prefix CW Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?