WQ6X Wangles Another WEIRD Cinco-de-Contest Weekend.

 Last year, I wrote a BLAST from the PAST on what I call the "Cinco de Contest" ([CLICK HERE]
to read that).  After the contest weekend was over, I proceeded to write up the contest weekend
itself ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  This year's Cinco-de-Contest week was similar yet different.

The Weird Prefix Cw contest is 3 weeks away, and yet, a whole buncha WEIRDNESS
managed to invade the traditional radiosport contest weekend.  From the beginning, this
was a weekend of ironies.  Originally, I was going to modify this to a Quatro-de-Contest,
until circumstances derailed WQ6X submitting a log to the Delaware (DEQP) QSO Party.

Originally scheduled for the weekend were the following events:

1. [X] - The Italian ARI DX contest.
2. [X] - The 7QP 7th area QSO Party.
3. [X] - The INQP Indianna QSO Party.
4. [X] - The DEQP Delaware QSO Party.
5. [X] - The NEQP New England QSO Party.

Prior to the contest weekend, IP address problems with the RRC-1258 internet interface box
were finally resolved.  At the Concord location, using the STN-2 laptop computer, internet access
was once again resolved, with fewer internet dropout problems than previous runs from the QTH.
My goal was to run the QSO parties using QRP power and put in a couple of operating shifts
for NX6T in the NEQP QSO party.

As usually happens, I overslept the 15:00z opening of the ARI DX contest.  Had I at least started there, it is possible that there would be a Log file to submit.  Unfortunately, the ARI GiG once again didn't happen this year.

The 13:00z opening of the 7QP QSO Party found 40-meters open - somewhat.  After 90 minutes,
with only 21 QSOs in the log, it was time for 20-meters and scouting 15/10 for openings - 10-meters never materialized and 15-meters was barely a "Blip" on the radar.

As you can see, this weekend was LITTERED with Space-WX storms, allegedly caused
by a solar PROTON event.

K6RC (Dave) and I split the duties of looking for a DEQP Ssb station for WA6TQT to work for
his 5BWAS award.  Unfortunately, after 3 hours of searching before the NEQP event start, no
DE stations were found - top that off with dismal propagation on 15 meters and 20-meters
actually became the band of choice for BOTH NX6T and WQ6X.

Throughout the day, WQ6X (running QRP) encountering considerable difficulty being heard
on the east coast, with only a handful of INQP contacts along the way.  Quite the contrary, NX6T's 1.3kw signal was being heard in New England, way better than we were hearing them in return.    

At 00:45z, the move was made down to 40-meters, with perfect propagation to the 7th-call area. 
The 2-el Shorty-40 yagi beamed the signal nicely as a sweep was made from N to NE to E and back again.  Only a few contacts made it into the 80-meter section of the log.  The last 2-hours were frantic, calling "CQ 7QP WQ6X /6  WQ6X /CA".  Now it was time for some sleep to be ready for any 
weirdness on Sunday.

Sunday morning, with INQP & 7QP GiGs "one for the logbook", the focus shifted to NEQP Part 2
and finding a Delaware station (turned out to be AA1K) on 15-meter Ssb, so that station owner John (WA6TQT) could put a 15-meter finish on his 5BWAS award search.  

The irony of this exercise is that when I sent "SSB?" to AA1K (on 14.047), he replied "QSX 21.340" and QSY'd..  It turns out he ended up on 21.360 and John got his QSO.  It never occurred to me to put a QSO in my DEQP log first.  This year there was no (typically) 3-QSO log submitted. 
I guess that means I really only worked a Tres-de-Contest.  From 11am to 2pm, I OP'd NX6T leapfrogging bands (15 & 20) and modes, while looking for that illusive band opening on 10-meters.  (10-meters DiD offer a brief opening on Sunday around 22:00z).

With all my perfunctory duties complete, it was time to put some NEQP QSOs into the WQ6X log.  Unfortunately, similar to Saturday, it was mostly "one-way skip" from New England - I could hear

their Kilowatts and the could not hear my QRP pip squeak, despite a 3-el Stepp-IR yagi @55'.

Bottom-line, no NEQP QSOs made it to the WQ6X log.  

After the 00:00z NEQP ending, a call came in from team leader Dennis (N6KI) confirming the discovery that the DXLOG software was scoring the multipliers incorrectly.  Later, running the
log thru the IN7QPNE log parser reduced the alleged 104 multipliers down to 59 - almost half.

In the end, it would seem that NX6T took 1st-place for the NEQP GiG, while WQ6X took
2nd-place for mixed mode QRP mode in the 7QP contest.

DiD YOU work any of the state QSO parties?
How many counties did you work?
Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?