contest provided the opportunity to operate four different style Sweepstakes operations:
- Run QRP as W6R from Ramona (SDG Section)
- Run LP as WQ6X from the SF Bay area (EB Section)
- Run LP as K6QLF briefly from EB section.
- Put hours in for NX6T's Multi-OP operation from Anza (ORG Section).
Starting @21:00z (1pm), the decision was made to begin by running WQ6X from the East Bay (EB) section. 10-meters was open domestically encouraging swinging the yagi to different directions and calling CQ.
The usual $13 eBay purchased
hi-fidelity mic developed a cable problem. The question was how to replace it with the Heil-Pro headset without having to wear it as a headset considering that I prefer wearing classic OWNZONE wireless headsets.
a classic Heil-Pro headset on a classic Electro Voice 664 turned into a cute microphone stand. Because N1MM plays .WAV files, most of the contest was run by function keys. Eventually,
54 QSOs made it to the log.
About the time 10-meters was fading, the Ramona station became available for operating as W6R
to fire-up on 15-meters running QRP. The goal was to S&P and then run frequencies when it was clear that W6R was being heard. A recent addition to Sweepstakes allows us to self-spot our callsign in order to be seen on the bandmaps.
site in Anza. Everything ran fine until I attempted to rotate the KT-36 yagi to work KP2M at Radio Reef (where we won the ARRL RTTY-RU contest in 2014). The antenna switch software dropped
out, requiring a complex restart. It turns out a recent software update was poorly tested. The switch server (on STN-1) would randomly terminate itself - first the RX would go silent, then the SWR would skyrocket. Time lost troubleshooting this problem made for a barely productive operating session.
previous 2-hours. The evening was spent bouncing between 40-meters (2-el. Shorty-40)
and 80-meters (Inverted Vee) - both @55' atop the hill in Ramona.
By 07:45z, most of USA was sound asleep so I also caught some sleep to be ready for a 1-hour operation @11:00z (3am), ideally looking for mults. Just like the CW Sweepstakes 2 weekends ago, my operating stint was a complete HO-Hummer except for VE9KK calling in on my CQ, giving us the NB (New Brunswick) multiplier.
After another sleep break, because the Ramona station was committed to a new operator, I found time to put a few QSOs in the log for WQ6X before taking the 18:00z (10am) to 22:00z (2pm) shift for NX6T.
The goal during running NX6T was to run frequencies and then S&P when no one was calling in. 10-Meters was quite open as was 15-meters when 10 was worked out. A few S&P QSOs on 20-meters made the quiet periods at least a bit productive. Unlike the early morning, 120 QSOs made it into the NX6T log during my 4-hour shift.
About every 25 minutes, the antenna software server would stop working requiring going through the restart procedure which we had down to approximately 2-minutes, altho occasionally a couple of stations were stranded in the process.
Afterwards I made a brief Sweepstakes entry as K6QLF putting 4 QSOs into its log before discovering that the Ramona site was again available to wrap the contest as W6R.
Within an hour, after 20 QSOs the band "went long" encouraging the exodus down
to 40-meters, where after an hour only 7 new callsigns made it to the log. At 02:38z there
was just enough time to call CQ on 3779.79 for 8 west coast QSOs in the log and snag SB section (Santa Barbara) as a final multiplier (#45).
The amazing thing is how many stations told me that W6R was their 1st (and maybe only) contact from San Diego (SDG) section. Likewise, when running as NX6T, I was also amazed at how many times we were the 1st-station for the Orange (ORG) section. Other "rare" sections in California were LAX and SF - HuH? wOw!
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When it was all over, it would seem that W6R took 1st-place for San Diego (SDG)
section, while NX6T took an overall 1st-place for Multi-OP running low power.
DiD YOU work the 2025 November Sweepstakes phone contest?
Is NX6T, W6R, K6QLF or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?
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