WQ6X Dual-OPs another All Asian Contest

The weekend before Field Day always brings us the All Asian Cw contest.  For the
last several years, the game has been to dual-OP this contest:  For WQ6X and as an
operator (18-hours for 2024) for NX6T's multi-single.  One year, I actually ran an All Asian
Triple-OP by registering W6A for a 3rd run that weekend.

Because the focus is Asia for the most part, antennas can be pointed more-or-less 305 azimuth degrees and left there.  A secondary tower at the Anza location offered a KT-36 yagi which was
more-or-less pointing to ~12-degrees offering over-the-pole access to Western Asia (4X4, P3, etc.)

Prior to the All Asian weekend, various solar storms ravaged Earth's upper atmosphere. 
For Friday's 5pm (PDT) contest start, 15-meters was WIDE OPEN, remaining open to well
past 05:00z (10pm) both evenings.  20-meters seemed to have an opening nearly all 24-hours.

The REAL disappointment was 40-meters and we don't have OTH radar (on 7.033) to blame for lack
of Asian participation.  80-meters too was a relative disappointment and we don't get to blame a funky JA band plan (like they have on Ssb) for their lack of participation.

One single 10-meter opening almost happened as a fluke,  Out of nowhere a CQ call on 28028.28 @02:00z - late for 10-meters - produced a run of 75+ QSOs; a good thing considering 10-meters on Sunday was all but a no-show.

The secret to this year's NX6T success at the WA6TQT super station was running a mult station (STN-1) in addition to a Run station (STN-2)  Because 160 - 20 meters were open during NX6T's
post-midnight hours, the success secret was watching the bandmap for new mults, switching bands
to pick them up, immediately followed by calling CQ to fill out the rest of the 10-minute band time requirement.

In between shifts at NX6T's million-point multi-OP, WQ6X found time to run a casual QRP operation remotely from KN6NBT's QTH in Ramona.  The signal differences between Ramona and Anza were quite striking.  Influencing factors include Anza's geographical location, not to mention stacked arrays vs. a 3-el Stepp-IR @ only 55' high at the Ramona hilltop location.

By Sunday, NX6T had largely run out of stations to work on 20 & 15 meters. 
WQ6X had a plethora  of stations available to work, if only those stations in Asia could hear me.  Nevertheless, when it was all over, it looks as if NX6T and WQ6X took a first place in their related operating categories.

DiD YOU work the All Asian Contest?

How many Asian multipliers made it to YOUR LoG?

The National Tune-Up Frequency Controversy - Part 2

In Part-1 of this Blog-series, I introduced the concept of the National Tune-Up Frequency,
a problem that has plagued radio amateurs since the early 1920's; i.e., nearly 100 Years ago.

Recently, after running several successful QRP radiosport GiGs, I came to realize that the NTF "problem" is largely fueled by people not realizing that even though your transceiver may be tuning
at considerably reduced power (say 20 watts) in relation to its overall 100-watt output, that reduced power is barely 6-db (1 s-unit) down from full power - i.e., your tuning attempt is nearly as loud as your regular signal.  This is why we should ALWAYS listen before we tune-up.
This is ALSO where the use of Dummy Loads become so important.

According to VE3FDT back in 2011:
Just a quick summary of responses as I interpret them. Tuning on someone's
CQ frequency happens for any or all of the following reasons: 

1.  Malice. 
2.  Ignorance. 
3.  Intrinsic inability to think (a.k.a. stupidity). 
4.  Reasons unknown and unfathomable. 

 Clearly the consensus is that nothing constructive can be done about it,
hence the suggested course of action should be: 

1.  Ignore it. 
2.  Disregard it. 
3.  Forget it.

W5DQ had a few thoughts on the subject in response:
"A lot of these what I like to call T.U.T.s (Tune Up Turkeys) think if they don't get that amplifier
tuned down to a gnat's ass exactly on the freq where they want to use it, then it won't work right.
Many seem to think (by their idiotic actions) that their amplifier final tank circuitry has zero bandwidth therefore requiring spot on tune ups.  I agree with your suggestion of pop down the band a bit outside the active bandwidth, listen and do a quick tune-up.  Should take less than 10 seconds to completely preset and tune the amp after a band change.  To expedite my operating, I have my starting points
for each band/mode my amp covers on a small chart.  I preset the LOAD and PLATE to the chart
and then, if necessary, I can tweak the controls during the first couple of calls to the DX in the pileup.
No one is bothered and life is good."

The last 20 years have brought us a number of different approaches to DSP notch filtering. 
The Yaesu FT-2000 & FT-1000mp sport excellent AUDIO DNF circuits.  Unfortunately, while we
may have notched an S-9+ signal out of the audio passband, it is still inside the receive passband, compromising the AGC system, and thereby reducing IF gain, dropping weaker signals below the signal-threshold, when they were perfectly readable BEFORE the interfering carrier started.  

The Yaesu FTDX-5000 and FTDX-9000 transceivers, as well as the ICOM, 7600x, 7700x & 7800x transceivers all notch the offending signal INSIDE the receive passband, eliminating the tone as well
as any AGC dampening normally caused by such an offending signal.  Even my ICOM-7000 utilizes
IF-based DNR & DNF.

Unfortunately, as useful as these circuits are for Ssb operation, being unable to distinguish
a continuous carrier from on/off keying such as RTTY and CW, ANF circuits are largely worthless
for these modes.

As it turns out, when running RTTY, Tune-Up Turkies (TuT's) who park EXACTLY on the Mark frequency often HELP my signal to be decoded on the other end.  It has often helped the MMTTY decoder used with N1MM+ to decode signals with a "weak" mark tone.

The BoTTom-Line is that as long as there is amateur radio, there will be Tune-Up Turkies who live in an unconsciousness universe, completely oblivious to the impact their careless/poor operating habits create in/on the world they play around in.

WQ6X Revises the Radiosport Runner's Revised Rule List

 A couple of years ago I Mindstormed a list of special/optional list of different things to consider governing our behavior during radiosport contest events.  Last month I found that list and revised the notes to include some unique things that often escape consideration in the frenzy of contest activity.

1. No witch doctors are allowed to participate during ANY part of a radiosport contest event.
   
   
   
   
   
2. If Mr. Bill is utilized at any time during the contest, he MUST be treated with absolute respect.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Ouija board use is allowed ONLY before and after a contest, but not during the event itself.
   
   
   
   
   
4. EASY Buttons are allowed ONLY for Single-OP (non-So2R) stations; use by SO2R
   and Multi-OP stations is strictly prohibited.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Channeling Hiram Percy Maxim is allowed; however channeling Katashi Nose (KH6IJ)
   is permitted ONLY by Single-OP QRP Cw stations.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Using dowsing rods for propagation prediction is now permitted; however, use of
   weather balloons is highly discouraged, unless they are accompanied by lightning rods. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. Use of Band Condition Spray is allowed, but only BEFORE a contest begins, NoT during
   the contest operating period itself.
   
   
   
   
   
8. During Ssb contests, using Digital Voice Keyers (DVK's) are of course permitted.
   However, use of talking parrots to send the exchange is expressly prohibited.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Using telepathy to operate a radio directly is NoT necessarily prohibited,
   however, using telepathy to influence the operator on the other end of the
   QSO is strictly VERBOTEN.
   
   
   
   
   
10. In RTTY contests, AFSK is of course allowed; the use of twin parakeets to produce
    the RTTY tones is NoT.
    
    
    
    
    
11. Use of the [WEIRD] Button is permitted only in Cw and RTTY contests, 
    Using it during Ssb exchanges is highly looked-down upon.
    
    
    
    
    
12. Use of astrological profiles on competitor-OPs is allowed,
    however, hacking into their bank records is NoT.
    
    
    
    
    
13. Tossing the I-Ching IS permitted under the condition that you agree to follow its recommendations.
    
    
    
    
    
14. Use of Round TUIT's is allowed, but limited to only once per hour or per band change,
    (whichever comes first).
    
    
    

There are probably MANY MORE Rules to add to the Contest Operator's Rule List.

Stay TuneD for the Next Installment.

WQ6X Wrangles a complete antenna System Workover

The weekend before, the behind-the-scenes wiring at the WQ6X portable setup @ W7AYT's
QTH in Concord was redone, freeing up several wall warts by parallelling several power cable runs.  As well-done as all that was, one audio ground loop still remains.  Fortunately, the array of audio filters in-line can be twiddled to all but eliminate the annoying 440-hz HuM.

For this last weekend, the project was to resurrect the antenna mast system which blew down during the early February windstorm which swept thru Contra Costa County during the rainstorm deluge.  The nearby maple tree literally "grew into" on the the guy ropes, eventually snapping it, creating a chain reaction, stressing the mast mid-level until it buckled over.  Fortunately, the Cobra dipole wires softened the inevitable gravity-induced tumble in the flower bushes, putting a slight bend in the Yagi reflector element - easily remedied.

Largely for safety reasons, the replacement telescoping
mast was moved 15 feet away from its original position. 
Using an MFJ-259b antenna analyzer, the 10-meter Long John yagi elements we properly readjusted resulting in a relatively low SWR between 28.020 thru 28.520 - the FT-2000 into an MFJ-993 auto tuner tweaked it to an SWR of about 1.2:1.  

Operations above 28.555 rarely occur, making this an effective 30' high yagi installation - perfect for effective 10-meter operation.  Being somewhere near the peak of solar cycle 25, this simple yagi installation should be quite effective.  The REAL TesT will be next weekend's All Asian (A-A) DX Contest.

A pully system attached below the rotor unit makes it relatively easy to hoist the 8JK Cobra sloper array with one wire configured in inverted-L fashion.  The 450-ohm ladder line was replaced with
a matching balun terminating into a long run of RG-213 coax into the shack, all but eliminating stray RFI in the ham shack itself.

Once the antennas were functional and decent SWR confirmed from 80m to 6m, the game was
to call CQ DX band-by-band to collect Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) stats while rotating the yagi
in 45-degree azimuth increments, making a handful of calls to get the RBN's attention, repeating the process, ending at 360+ azimuth degrees.  Dropping to the next lowest band, the process was repeated, sweeping the yagi in the reverse direction.

Previous experimentation has demonstrated the 10-meter Long John Yagi can be successfully
tuned on 12, 15, 17, 20 & 30-meters; the verdict is still out on frequencies below 10-mhz. On
bands other than 10m, the antenna is probably function as a rotating dipole - similar to the
well-known BuddiPole.  Also on those bands, looking at RBN spots is suggesting that the
antenna is actually radiating as an END-FIRE Array (i.e. off the end of the elements - NoT
broadside perpendicular).  Calling CQ with the antenna pointed to New England, RBN posts
spots from W4-NC and TI7W (Costa Rica).  I look forward to researching further.  Does anyone
know how to antenna-model a 3-element 10-meter yagi run on the lower amateur bands? 
It also tuned on 6-meters altho RBN could NoT hear me.

Now that the Yagi and the 8JK array is more-or-less back-in-action, I will be looking for opportunities to test the configuration.  75-meters Sunday evening produced disappointing 8JK results due to horrible geo-magnetic noise.  In the spirit of "When in Doubt CHEAT (BuT withing the Rules) ",
I remoted-in to the Sunday evening nets running WQ6X "Remote from Ramona".

While there is major tweaking ahead for this current antenna configuration,

this is TRULY the spirit of amateur radio - EXPERIMENTATION.

What Experimentation do YOU play around with?

What was YOUR last antenna creation?

WQ6X Wangles a Woozy Contest Weekend into a Station Rewire Opportunity

The 1st contest weekend in June is always very quiet with only the TIZA Cw cup and the Kentucky QSO Party (KYQP) on the contest calendar.  I always miss the TIZA GiG because of its Weird  starting/ending time. Recent weeks in May not only produced consistently high (~180+) solar flux numbers, the month was littered w/geomagnetic storms and radio blackouts.  As a result, it's not surprising that the typically quiet KYQP QSO Party was all but a DuD, resulting in only 8 Cw 

contacts in the log.

10-meters was a no-show all weekend, while the only 15-meter opening to Kentucky mid-afternoon lasted less than 30 minutes.  The rest of the op-time was spent on 20-meters.  By the time 40-meters began opening to Kentucky (00:45z), the QSO Party GiG was over (15 minutes later).

This of course underscores my beef with (non-CQP) QSO Parties, many end just as the low bands are coming to life.  Either extend the Sat. ending time or give up a 2nd go on Sunday (as is done in BC, CA, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, KS, ME, NH, NV, OK, ON, PA, SD, TX, VA, 7QP and New England).

Saturday's Redwood Radio Roundtable (10:30pm - 05:30z) on 3849 was quite a challenge due to low-band atmospheric noise.  While 20, 15 & 10 were relatively noise-free, the D-Layer absorption attenuated signals dramatically.  40-meters was again plagued with the OTH radar both mornings around 10:00z, centered EXACTLY on 7033.50 in the CW band.  Wassup with E. Russian RaDaR inside our amateur bands?  At least, back in the day, the original Russian Woodpecker would park itself Just-OUTSIDE the 20-meter CW band (~13.955), altho its pulse was significantly WIDER.

Sunday, being an off-contest day was transformed into a station cable rewire in preparation for
the upcoming replacement antenna installation at W7AYT's QTH in Concord.  Relying on multiple external audio filters to accomplish the stereo audio method encouraged rerunning the various 12-V lines to each unit to eliminate various ground-loops that crept into the system during random cable changes made during the last 18 months.

A recent reinstall of IP-Sound on computer #2 is opening the opportunity for remote running
the FT-2000 with full-duplex audio. 

The stereo audio line for this station configuration consists of:

• a passive 4-channel input mixer branching to a Radio Shaft (32-2059) stereo
  equalizer with 15 frequency settings for each channel (Left/Right), each outputting
  to an Autek QF-1A filter, creating the stereo Cw effect.
• A pair of customized MFJ-752 filters to improve Ssb audio intelligibility.
  
  
  
  
  
• An MFJ-784 DSP for the left channel.
• An NIR-10 DSP into an NIR-12 DSP unit for the right channel.
  
  
  
  
  
• a 4-channel Rockville mixer (using RCA connectors) combining the above-mentioned
  filter lines emptying into a 4-position switch box directing the audio to:
  
  
  
  
  
• A 2-channel (A/B) Yaesu SP-5 speaker
• Speakers built into the monitor that accompanies the resident
  ICOM-7000 backup transceiver.
• A pair of LEKATO JA-02 II usb-powered speakers
• A headset audio line which can be split for wired headphones or a pair
  of OWNZONE wireless headphones.

As you can see, a LoT of Audio Redirecting happens on the WQ6X end of your transmission.
While the above array of devices may seem like over-kill, in actuality, each filter and filter combination have a specific purpose, depending upon the operating mode.  Of course, these external filters are supplementary to the array of filters already built-in to the FT-2000, FT-100mp and ICOM-7000 radios currently in use for WQ6X radio operations.

When the weekend was over, the Kentucky QSO Party was but a brief BLINK in a typically
Quiet radiosport weekend.

DiD YOU work the KYQP QSO Party?

How many Kentuckians are in YOUR LoG?