WQ6X Dual-OP's Yet Another NAQP Cw Contest

While the above is a typical BLOG TiTLe, there was NoThing Typical about THIS 12-Hour NAQP Cw Contest - NoT a SPRINT and yet, nowhere NEAR a full 24 or 48 hours.  We could say that NAQP GiGs are the Goldilocks of domestic radiosport contest events- JUST Right!  Not since the All Asian contest has NX6T put together a multi-single event and even MORE months before that a Multi-2 from NX6T.  The August NAQP Cw GiG was the logical choice to run a Multi-2, altho we will face serious left-coast competition from N6RO in Oakley (N. California.

The finalized NX6T operator schedule put me in for the 4-hour 5pm to 9pm "Dinner Shift" (00:00z
to 04:00z).  Running this shift solved for me the the question of the single-OP mandatory 2-hour off-time.  Off time is defined as a time-period when NO contacts are being logged; checking for internet spots and manually tuning the bands IS allowed during off-periods.  When it was all over, WQ6X/QRP put ~8-hours in the OP chair, whereas WQ6X as NX6T ran 4-hours in the middle of it all.

Because Anza and Ramona are so close geographically, reasonably identical propagation conditions [should have] existed at both locations.  15-meters was THE Band, while 10-meters offered only a brief opening, not only in Ramona and Anza, but all over California and the West coast.  As usual, calling CVQ produced dozens of RBN spots with very few human operators actually spending time
on 10-meters.

Most of the afternoon was spent jumping between 20 & 15 meters.  When the rate dopped on one band, a switch was made to the other and then back again when that band produced nothing. 
At 00:00 (5pm), my shift with NX6T put me on 20-meters for the 1st 2-hours, while N6KI finished
15-meters and then moved down to 40-meters.  

By 02:30z 20-meters was over relegating my move to 80-meters, using the "crowbar" approach to open the band "early" for the Left coast.  At 04:00z WQ6X was again QRP from Ramona running
40-meters until an 80-meter opening finally materialized at 05:20z, just in time for a CQ call on
the Redwood Radio Roundtable.  Hearing no callers, the last 20 minutes of the contest was spent running frequencies on 80-meters.  When that was over, one last QSO on 7.037 w/N4VI ended the
August 2024 NAQP Cw contest.

When it was all over, WQ6X took 4th-place overall, 3rd-place for USA and 2nd-place for CA.
NX6T (in So. California) surpassed N6RO (in No. California) by a mere 18K points.
The scores are so close, that a not-insignificant number of QSO errors could make all the difference.

DiD YOU work the NAQP Cw contest?
Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?