WQ6X Wanders around a WEIRD Saturday-contest WeekEnd

For THIS weekend, it was NEITHER the Best Nor Worst of times - but certainly was the Weirdest, no 
matter how you look at it - at least for ME anyway.  Lesse if I can document some of the weekend's weirdness.

We could say that this contest operations qualified as an "Almost" weekend, all weekend.
The contest agenda showcased:

• ILLW - International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend
• SARTG - Scandinavian Amateur Radio [Teleprinter Group]
• NAQP - North American QSO Party (Ssb)

Behind the different radiosport events the weekend opened and closed with the annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.  During the NAQP Ssb GiG several lighthouse stations made it
to the WQ6X and NX6T logs.

The SARTG RTTY GiG is one of several [RTTY] contests which break the contest operating
period into three 8-hour operating slots: 8-hours ON, 8-hours OFF, 8-hours ON, 8-hours OFF,
ending with 8-hours ON.

My BiG OOPS for this event was failing to pack a DB-9 gender changer adapter for the RigExpert PLUS external RTTY decoder/encoder.  Rummaging thru my "THERE-KIT", a couple of 1/8" patch cables enabled cross-directing the audio between Laptop #2 and the K3/0 Mini control head mic and
audio ports.  Because the SARTG GiG has no QRP category, the K3 was dialed back to 75 watts, running as a Low Power (LP) operating entry.

Unfortunately, client commitments kept me out of the operating chair for the first six hours,
probably missing a juicy 40-meter opening.  The Sunday morning opening (to Asia?) was
marred by the ubiquitous East Asian OTH RaDaR NoNsense.

The 9am restart of the SARTG GiG offered 2-hours of RTTY running until the NAQP Ssb contest started @18:00z (11am PDT).  I checked back with RTTY throughout the day, blissfully unaware
of the pending solar activity slowly tweaking upper bands.

Amongst the different WEIRDNESS encountered throughout the contest weekend I include:

• At EXACTLY 20:00z, my 28417.77 QRP Run Frequency became the National Tuneup Frequency (NTF) for about 10 continuous minutes.  While the auto-notch filter (ANF) worked on the Ramona end, potential calling stations may not have been so lucky
• OTH RaDaR with its carrier ZERO-BEAT at 7.033 INSIDE the worldwide 40-meter
  Cw band segment - wassup with THAT?  Rotating the Shorty-40 yagi toward East Asia confirmed its geographical origin.
• The real question is why there was [English-speaking] Usb ragchewing happening
  on 14.080 (middle of the RTTY spectrum) - with no callsigns, of course.  I'm used to
  the usual Spanish-speaking ragchewers (w/o callsigns) on 40 and 75 meters, however hearing English in the RTTY band is a new experience.
• Internet dropouts on Laptop #2 resulted in "Blue Screens" every time the decision was made to restart the computer - but FIRST, the BLUE Screen.

When it was ALL OVER, it would seem that WQ6X took 1st-place over WC7S, while NX6T
took an overall 3rd place, pushing N6RO into 4th-place.  For SARTG while I submitted a log,
I believe I will end up in 50+ place - not bad for just screwing around.

 

DiD YOU work the NAQP Ssb Contest?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?