WQ6X Creeps thru another QRP CQ W.W. Dx CW ConTesT

The month of November in 2024 brings us 5-WeeKEnds, altho only the first four were scheduled w/radiosport activity.  With the clocks turned back to Pacific STanDarD Time (PST), 20-meters (and below bands) open an hour "earlier", which is PeRFecT for a 48-hour DX contest.  CQ W.W. began
at 4pm Friday afternoon and ended at 4pm on Sunday afternoon, just as the sun was in the process
of disappearing behind overhead rain clouds.

While the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was down to around ~150, by Saturday, it had jumped to over 200 (as I type this it is at 221).  While the upper bands were somewhat noisy, 15 & 10 meters were open reliably until past 10pm.  By 8am Saturday morning, 15 & 10 were WIDE-Open to Europe - AMAZing!

(I read numerous reports that there were also EU/AF openings, on Sunday, altho that was HARDLY my experience.)

During the after-midnight time period, the game was to alternate between 2-hours sleep and 2-hours OP-time on 40-meters, which altho open to Asia, was PLAGUED by an OTH RaDaR centered right in the middle of the CW band - HuH?  WTF is THAT ALL About?

At the Ramona QTH, the 3-el Stepp-IR possesses the advantage of pointing the yagi more-or-less Southeast (towards South America), while switching 180-degrees (in <7-seconds) to work VE7, UAO
and JA stations already coming thru [early] on the upper bands.  It seemed like the bands ALL opened "early" and remained open much "later".

In perusing the scribble-notes made during the contest period, it seems the best way to make scents out of them would be to list them bullet-point style:

• At 10:23z Saturday morning out of nowhere another OTH RaDaR suddenly appeared on 7015.69 (my run frequency).  RoTaTing the yagi while checking signal levels confirms that once again, this intruder is located in Eastern Russia - WTF is with THAT?
• 11:02z on 7007.52 a LOUD HL2WA calls CQ.  Numerous stations call him. 
  He DISAPPEARS.  I send QRL?  receive NO response and Call CQ.  Shortly
  after HL2WA is back calling CQ, again, hearing/working NOBODY - HuH?
• On Sunday morning, BRASH, LOUD BA4II, BH4BFS & BU2EO at different times
  jumped on my run frequency calling CQ LOUDER than ANYONE and then they
  Answer NOONE - again WTF.
• A DX station calls in.  I work him, putting him in the LoG.  2 - 3 minutes later he
  calls in again.  DiD he log me the 1st time?  If I work him again, it's a DuP (no penalty). 
  If I don't work him again, we both get DINGED for my not logging the 2nd contact.
• Persistently calling CQ on 3516.69 Sunday morning created a perfect propagation
  opening; even if it was only a quicky, it was PERFECT.

Throughout the weekend, WQ6X busted NUMEROUS pileups, simply by slipping my
QRP signal in between the LOUD callers.  On Sunday, a number of the SUPER stations
came back to my QRP CQ calls as they played the S & P game, looking for new callsigns.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 4th place overall and 3rd-place for NA.

DiD YOU work the CQ WW Dx CW contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

What Do We SaY about Ssb November Sweepstakes?

 

Around this time last year, I wrote a long overdue Blog regarding CW Sweepstakes ([CLICK HERE]
to read that).  As I check the station setup for the 2024 Sweepstakes phone (Ssb) contest on Friday evening, I am prompted to ask a similar question: "What Do We SaY about Ssb Sweepstakes?". 
While the information exchange is IDENTICAL for BoTH contests, the events themselves operate dramatically differently.

Now, it may surprise you to know that Ssb contests are actually my LEAST favorite event from the BiG Three (CW, SSB and RTTY); however, that's a ToPiC for a separate BLOG Post unto itself. 
For me personally, the Sweepstakes phone contest has a timeline of amazing operating events
dating back to the days when I held the WA6LKB and eventually KX6H callsigns.  One of those weekends got me bitten by a dog in Livermore and in the middle of a Sweepstakes event (back
in the day) found me laid up at St. George's hospital in Cincinatti with a potentially serious hand infection.

Last year, WQ6X took a surprising 1st-place running as unlimited-QRP.  In this year's CW GiG
(2 weekends prior), while I probably took the Southwest Division for QRP unlimited, the East Coast "Professionals" left me eating their E-Coast Dust.

My straight-forward Goals for Sweepstakes phone 2024 included:

• Assisting NX6T (Multi-Single LP) to an Overall 1st-place (altho it looks as if we took 4th)
• Reprising my accidental Unlimited-QRP win from last year (it looks like WQ6X took 3rd)
• Perfecting the Art of Stereo-SSB

For the CW Sweepstakes GiG, Stereo-Cw made an at-times unintelligible pile-up of callers actually quite manageable due to the (more-or-less) 180-degree audio spatial dimension.  With Stereo-Ssb, we can adjust the frequency knob of each QF-1A filter unit to create a more intelligible listening experience.  As high/low pitched QRM moves into the audio fringes of the left or right ear,
the frequency knob can be adjusted to "de-emphasize" the splatter individually for each ear.

Because the high[er] bands were littered with atmospheric noise, the aux. notch control for each
ear reduced the noise-grinding fatigue, way better than the K3's DNR facility ever could - sometimes analog audio shaping still surpasses digital signal processing (DSP).  Then again, it's easy to not remember that the aux. knobs on the QF-1A have altered the passband and I unconsciously settle
into that way of listening.  To reduce the possibility of complacency, it's useful to occasionally set
both notch knobs fully CCW and "start over" (when in doubt, "ReSeT" is my motto).

My BiGGest beef during this weekend was the OP's who speak WaY TOO FAST - with QRN & QSB, rapid voice speaking rapidly requires repeats of the report.  Before EVERY Ssb contest, I actually REHEARSE saying the exchange(s) properly and then load up the 4 DVK channels in the K3 radio. 
Speaking your callsign SLOWLY is important, because if I type the wrong callsign into the log,
YOU get dinged.

The OP's at NX6T turned in a not insignificant score again this year.  Unfortunately, missing section #85 (VE9) and 100+ QSOs relegated us to a 4th-place, while WQ6X took an overall 3rd place.  However, in BOTH cases, a Southwest Division win was secured.

Here is a random sampling of WEIRD things which happened throughout the November
Sweepstakes weekend:

• Out of carelessness, at the start of the Sweepstakes GiG, I failed to notice that the 3-El Stepp-IR antenna was still pointing 180-degrees from its azimuth heading.  Nevertheless, WQ6X was spotted by TI7W (Costa Rica) - unfortunately not allowed to participate in our domestic contest.
• It was discovered that my 21.358.58 run frequency was ALSO the National Tuneup Frequency (NTF).  Audio DSPs eliminate the tone(s) in my ears, but NoT the passband AGC-affects from the still IF-present carrier signal.
• My near-doppelganger WQ6Q was active during this Ssb contest, often confusing Billy-Bob and his brother Barney (NoT to mention Cousin Bozo).
• While SEARCHhing and POUNCing, on 7.153 I overheard a VA3 station working a VE3 station BOTH using Cw.
• A PULSE RaDaR station suddenly appeared on 14.172 - OBLITERATING 14.150 to ~14.230
• K1KP signed his callsign as Kilowatt 1 Kosher Pickle.
• When I ask for ONLY your Section and you send me all the information before it AGAIN, if signal fading is occurring, by the time you get around to saying "NFL", you will have faded out requiring me to say "AGAIN? AGAIN??".  Just give me ONLY what I ask for and we'll be done in less than 5-seconds.

One COOL thing about Ssb Sweepstakes is getting to HEAR the actual Voices of the OP's I worked earlier in the month on RTTY and CW.  While I always enjoy Ssb Sweepstakes, I am also glad it is OVER, so my ears don't have to listen to lower-pitched or higher-pitched splatter anymore.

DiD YOU work the 2024 November Sweepstakes?

IS WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Sprints thru another JIDX + WAE RTTY WeeKend

The 2nd contest weekend in November always brings us a variety of different activities to wrap
our operating skills around.  Because this is a 5-weekend month, things line up a little differently
than previous years.  This contest weekend brought us 4 radiosport GiGs of varying length:

1. [X] - Worked All Europe (WAE) RTTY - 48 hours
2. [X] - JIDX SSB Contest - 30 hours
3. [X] - OK/OM Dx CW Contest - 24 hours
4. [X] - NA Ssb SPRINT - 4 Hours

One of the things I like about the WAE contest GiGs is that they begin on Friday afternoons and continue for a FUL 48 hours, offering me numerous opportunities to participate, important when
I am also a shift operator for a concurrently run NX6T contest GiG - during this weekend it was
the JIDX Ssb contest.

Massive shifts in Space-WX conditions made for a challenging multi-GiG contest weekend.

Thanks to being a North America GiG, the Ssb SPRINT was largely not affected, except for
some low-level background noise, which we are largely used to.  The Aux. notch filter built into
each QF-1A audio filter (used to create Stereo-Ssb), made it possible to "shape" the passband,
reducing the noise-fatigue.

In addition to freaky Space-WX, this was yet another Ssb contest loaded with intentional QRM
of many different kinds.  For starters, at 11:20z on 3.805 a Cw signal (presumably Russian military) with the callsign 2JL4 made the scene.  With the 4-Square vertical array, it was easy to deduce the signal as originating from Eastern Russia.  Shortly later OTH RaDaR inundated 3.750 to 3.790. 
Then at 11:42z the 40-meter phone band was littered with RTTY QRM.

At 20:36z while running 14089.89 a repetitive chirping RTTY jammer made the scene.  30 minutes
later while running 14096.69, muffled Ssb could be heard, followed by unintelligible Cw and ending
up with FT8 making the scene - HuH?  Later, what I call a "data mixer" signal made the scene on 21098.89.  These kinds of occurrences seem to happen ONLY during contest weekends.

While I still enjoy the JIDX contest, with the rule change prohibiting me from running WQ6X
as Single-OP (i.e. separately) while also being an OP for NX6T, it's NoT Quite the SAME.  Serendipitously, the opportunity was then afforded to spend more time in the WAE RTTY
contest and keep the NIGHT shift alive on 40 and 80 for NX6T.  Somewhere in the middle
of it all, time was found for making CW contacts in the OK/OM DX Cw contest.

Also in the middle of it all, time was found to work the 4-hour NA SPRINT Ssb GiG - this weekend
was a BiG voice contest weekend, that's for sure.  Switching over to RTTY from time to time, gave
the voice (or should I say the voice KEYER) a break.

DiD YOU work the JIDX, WAE, OK/OM or Ssb SPRINT GiGs?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Successfully Navigates another NEAT QRP November Sweepstakes

Overviewing the upcoming contest weekend, THREE Major Goals were on the Agenda:

1. Reprise last year's S-West Division QRP Win from KN6NBT's
   Ramona QTH (SDG Section).
   
   
2. Join up with NX6T's remote-run low-power operation from WA6TQT's
   Anza QTH (ORG Section).
3. FULLY-Utilize the Stereo-CW facility I talk so much about. ([CLICK HERE])

While BOTH operations seem to have produced high scores for S-West Division, it will be contest committee's last-minute log adjudication that determines whether N4QS remains in 1st-Place - it's
THAT close.

CW Sweepstakes is unique in that the contest begins in the PDT time zone and ends in the
PST time zone (USA operators across the continent experience this.)  This was especially tricky
as I had the 3:30am to 5:30am operating shift w/NX6T, offering access to the east coast w/the 80-meter 4-Square vertical array.

10 & 15 meters were [not surprisingly] wide open, which moves a lot of contest activity AWAY
from 20-meters (now viewed as a "Backup" band during moments of disruptive Space-WX activity. 
For WQ6X, 40-meters was THE band to some degree, due to moving down there before 01:00z on Sunday to end the contest.  Hindsight raises the Question of whether operations should have started on 40-meters on SATURDAY as well.

The navigation secret during this weekend's weird propagation and pile-up effects was certainly the virtually-embedded Stereo CW which resides permanently at W7AYT's Concord QTH.  Transceivers may come and go, however, the audio-out of those radios is switch-boxed to the Stereo-CW system.  Being a Cw contest, when running a frequency, calling stations each call-in uniquely-offset from the
run frequency - the higher pitched offsets appear in the upper-left of my listening experience, while mid-offset signals appear "directly in front of me" and lower pitched offsets appear more to lower-right.

Using the R-I-T control, I can "shift" a calling station to a mo-betta physical location, confirmed by the change in signal pitch.  Function Key F3 in the N1MM+ software sports a {ClearRit} macro call, resetting the offset to ZERO.

After it was all over, it would seem that NX6T took an overall 2nd-place and 1st-Place for Southwest Division, while WQ6X ended in 6th-place and also managed a 1st-place for Southwest Division.

DiD YOU participate in the November Sweepstakes?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?