WQ6X Wanders thru YeT another SARTG - NAQP Ssb and International Lighthouse WeeKend

While the NAQP events are run twice a year, the International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend event happens only once a year at this time.  Back in 2o12, I ran this 3rd weekend in August mobile,
visiting lighthouse stations from Vallejo (north of San Francisco) all the way to Santa Cruz, making QSOs from each lighthouse location I encountered along the way. These also became NAQP contacts, altho just in case, I submitted what is known as a "checklog". 
([CLICK HERE] to read about this.)

Leading up to this weekend, I have written about the NAQP Ssb experience. 
Here are some of the more prominent examples:

• [X] - WQ6X Muses over NAQP Ssb Contest Events
• [X] - WQ6X Blast from the PAST: NAQP Ssb - Part 2
• [X] - BLAST from the Past: NAQP Ssb Contest

On the agenda for the third weekend are 4 uniquely different radiosport events.

• [X] - ILLW
• [X] - SARTG WW RTTY
• [X] - NAQP Ssb
• [X] - ARRL Rookie RTTY Contest

The SARTG GiG runs 8-hours ON (00:00z), 8-hours OFF, 8-hours ON (16:00z), 8-hours OFF,
8-hours ON. (08:00z).  This offers up plenty of sleep time and/or offers me the opportunity to run
other radiosport events in the 8-hour off periods.

Sometime on Friday for reasons that I am unable to fathom, a different K3 radio was swapped
in at the Ramona QTH (the original was to me working just FB).  Afterwards, the left channel audio disappeared.  Friday evening while setting up the morass of cables required to make remote RTTY
a reality, the mic audio-in also seemed to not be functioning.  Unable to resolve that kept me out of the 1st 8-hour segment of the SARTG RTTY contest as well as part of the 2nd 8-hours and the opening hours for the NAQP ssb GiG.

Aside from the radio setup, the KN6NBT's "Medium Pistol" QTH in Ramona a single tower brings
us a 3-el Stepp-IR, a 2-el SHorty-40 and an 80/75 Inverted Vee - all peaked @ 55'.

The mic audio problem turned out to be easily resolved via a menu setting.  From there, the operating plan changed into finishing the 2nd 8-hour segment in the SARTG GiG, run the final 6-hours of the NAQP Ssb contest, take a 2-hour rest break and then finish Sunday with the 3rd 8-hour run of the SARTG contest.  

With the left channel audio missing, the inputs were shorted together to give a MONO starting point.

When running Stereo-CW, Left and Right can easily be sorted out.  However, running Stereo-RTTY required the right channel QF-1A filter to perform "double duty" - the aux. notch filter helped shape the audio passband aa bit to render RTTY demodulation more accurately.  

For Ssb, the K3's auto notch filter knocked out the usual bevy of tuneup turkeys, while the aux. notch could knock out nearby station "crud" (above or below the passband).

For NAQP, 75-meters was its usual left coast disappointment.  By the time 75 opens to W6,
a large number of eastward stations (already reaching their 10-hour limit) shut things down by
03:00z (~11:00 on their end).

While the International Lighthouse event had its tentacles intertwined throughout the weekend, because I ran very little actual Ssb time, I missed most of those stations.  When it was all over,
only 96 QSOs made it to the SARTG log, altho enough to secure an LP 1st-place for the Left Coast.  Making only 232 QSOs in the NAQP log, WQ6X was positioned more-or-less in the middle of the 3830 LP scores.

On Sunday, tuning around the RTTY sub bands, the Rookie RTTY was all but a bust. 
Most of the stations calling CQ were NoT rookies, making them worth 0-points.
Only 2 actual rookie stations made it to the log - this happens almost EVERY rookie contest.
Wassup that people host a custom contest event and then no one plays in their event?  W-E-I-R-D.

DiD YOU work the 3-weekend radiosport contest GiGs  How many Lighthouses did YOU work?

Is WQ6X in any of YOUR Logs?

WQ6X LooKing for Lighthouses: A LooK BacK

Co-parallel with the August NAQP Ssb contest, we have the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW.Net) wrapped around it.  I used to live in Pacific Grove and suggested to the powers that be at the Lovers Point Lighthouse that their location should be activated, the caveat being no tent setup was allowed - which of course terminates the possibility from the beginning.

In 2o12, I came up with a different idea.  Registering the W6L callsign (L = Lighthouse), I drove
a Mercury Cougar (sports car) from Vallejo ending in Santa Cruz, stopping at every lighthouse along
the way.  Using the callsign "Whiskey Six London - mobile", I ran an ICOM 7000 into a weirdly rigged hamstick dipole tuned by a vintage DENTRON Jr. Monitor antenna tuner.

With the NAQP in full swing, stopping at each lighthouse, a handful of QSOs were made on the
20 & 40-meter bands.  Running only Ssb, the Hamsticks were all tuned once for the phone band before the expedition was begun.

 I've not done anything nearly as elaborate as the 2o12 W6L mini expedition.
I've contacted several California lighthouses about setting up a weekend-long event, and thus
far have yet to receive permission for other than just a few hours -which is is simply unacceptable.

Late last month we had the Islands On The Air (IOTA) and now in August, we colloquially have
LOTA - Lighthouses On The Air.  There is of course other "on the air" GiGs such as POTA & SOTA.

Have YOU made contacts during any of the above events?

Have YOU ever considered hosting a unique Event?

WQ6X Wiggles-thru another Wonky WAE Radiosport ConTesT

It seems that for years now the WAE Cw contest weekend always opens full of implied hope
of numbers being larger than they actually turn out by the time it is over.  Then again, it can't be
worse than last year's run when the EU path got blind-sided by a CME blast, "tearing the ionosphere to shreds".   Previously in 2o24, with a Solar-FLUX of 303 we managed 30-QSOs + 30-QTCs more than this year, however as it turns out we found 30 more multipliers than in 2o24, resulting in a slightly higher score.

For 2o26, the event opened with activity on 15, 20 & 40 meters.  When 40 died in Europe, 20-meters quite open for several hours.  It can't get much better than that, so I took a sleep break.   Starting up Saturday morning, there was a reasonable opening to Europe on 15-meters altho 10-was a no-show all weekend.  As morning became afternoon, 15-meters slowly (but quickly) faded into oblivion, never to return - not even on Sunday.

In reviewing WQ6X WAE entries since 2o16, while some of the scores were indeed quite higher,
they were made running high power (HP) - usually around 1-KW.  This year's WAE was the 1st low power (LP) GiG ever run from WA6TQT (in Anza) that actually manifested a purposefully organized EU contest progression.

There are of course variables.  Last year, a CME all but obliterated the LP WAE run from Ramona. 
This year the SFI was down considerably to a Cycle-25 downward low of 94.  Altho the A/K-Indexes started off low, by mid-Saturday they had risen noticeably.  Additionally, Space-WX numbers do not take into account earth-WX, in particular - lightning storms.

In contests involving distance communication (Ex: So. Calif. to EU) my operating preference
is to start high (in frequency) and move lower.  Amazingly, at the start of the contest 15-meters
gave up 3 central EU stations (LY5W, OU2W & RU1A) before quickly fading into oblivion.  Moving down to 20-meters, the band brought us a wall of EU stations, interspersed with even LOUDer statesiders calling CQ WAE.

It didn't take long to determine that the "WQ6" prefix might be a desirable commodity. 
As it turns out, 2/3's of the OP-time was spent running frequencies - an important benefit 
being that the more-aggressive EU stations asking "QTC?".  (Late in the contest, I had to
"Go shopping" for stations to redeem the leftover QTC's.).

While 20-meters was reasonably hopping, by 02:06z it was timer to duplicate this success on 40-meters, with a different set of stacked yagis.  With stacked yagis available on 40 to 10 meters, pointing the stacks toward EU once in the beginning is all that was needed.  For working 0-Azimuth (over the pole into Eastern Europe), there is a KT-36 for the high bands and a 40-meter Stepp-IR.

Keeping an eye on the greyline screen encouraged S&P'ing and calling CQ until it was clear that EU had moved from the greyline into full daylight.  Returning to 20-meters (03:00z), the frenzy was continued until 09:20z when nothing was left to work.  After a sleep break 15-meters was not reliable into So. California until 16:00z.  

Openings to EU on Saturday were sporadic at best.  Only 24 more 15-meter QSOs made it to the log before the band faded into oblivion and could not be resurrected the rest of the weekend.  This was all a function of the SFI and A/K Indexes.  Comparing the Space-WX from 2o24 to this year's event was quite striking.  The major difference of course is the SFI of 303 in 2o24 versus a mere 94 during this August 2o26 weekend.

Bottom-line is Sunday was spent entirely
on 20-meters.  Occasionally switching to 10
and 15 meters to call CQ was pointless - with
only one USA spot, the MUF on Sunday afternoon must've been well below 20-Mhz.  

For the rest of the day, WQ6X called CQ,
went on last-minute S&P journeys and dumped
the last of the QTC traffic: de WQ6X HV QTC - we were stuck with that final QTC message.

Sunday afternoon in the WAE contest always presents a desperate flurry of stations looking to move QTC traffic they have not sent for far-too-long.  This year, rather than get stuck with books of undelivered messages, after running a frequency and unloading 5+ QTC books, the rest were unloaded gradually throughout the contest.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 15th-place
worldwide, 6th-place for USA and 1st-place for W6 (Left Coast).

DiD YOU work the Worked All Europe (WAE) contest?

HoW many QTC Books DiD YOU send?

WQ6X Barely Balances another dual-OP NAQP Cw ConTesT

Thanks to summer solar storm noise, the NAQP Cw GiG is always a mixed bag. 
From one point of view the solar-WX anomalies were "minor", except that doesn't
take into account atmospherically caused noise from such things as lightning bursts
across the continent.  Nevertheless, this weekend's main goal was to replicate the dual-OP
NAQP Cw operation from the GiG in January.  ([CLICK HERE] to read the write-up on that.)

Normally NX6T runs high power (HP) in most contests, except that the NAQP contest purposely 
does not allow for a high-power category (only LP and QRP).  What NX6T has going for it in
a low power contest is WA6TQT's massive antenna farm up on the hill outside of Anza.

With its minimal Name/State exchange, I think of NAQP GiGs as the PERFECT introduction to domestic radiosport contesting.  On the other end of the spectrum is the November Sweepstakes (domestically) and the Worked All Europe (WAE) contests on the DX end of things.

NAQP Cw/Ssb is scheduled twice each year - in January and again in August.  (The NAQP RTTY GiGs materialize in early February and late July).  All events are scheduled to run during "winter propagation" conditions and then once under "summer propagation" conditions.  Frequently the difference between the two periods are dramatically different.  Just looking at the Space-WX numbers tells us a lot. (More on that later.)

WQ6X Evaluates: CQP 2026: Rules Updates

You've heard me say - When in Doubt CHEAT! (But w/in the Rules)

To cheat within the rules means to say / do something that technically is not prohibited in a radiosport contest, altho next year, things may be different.  Technically, this is what happened as a result of the 2o25 CQP contest.  An operator who was CLEARLY running Single-OP (i.e. Solo) submitted his score as a Multi-OP and pushed the NX6T win into 2nd-place.  The CQP committee allowed the Single-OP's Multi-OP win to prevail while at the same time making it known that the loophole would be
sewn shut for CQP 2o26 - which indeed it has.

Being a part of the NX6T Multi-OP event, I certainly raised my concern over our drop to 2nd-place, as did team leader N6KI.  In other contests, I have submitted a Multi-OP log after first recruiting another person (licensed or not) to make a few QSOs under my supervision.  I send them on their way and continue the contest as a Multi-OP entry - this is cheating within the rules.

The CQP contest committee in all their wisdom came up with what I believe is a perfect
non-discriminatory solution.  To claim Multi-OP status, you must indeed have multiple operators running the transmitter(s).  No longer can a single operator be classified as multi-op simply because he operated for more than 24-hours.  As with other radiosport contests, now, if you operate for more than 24-hours, other stations will receive QSO credit, however you will not - it couldn't be simpler than that.

With the 3-point Ssb-QSO rule change, we can now look forward to more Ssb QSOs,
especially on Sunday afternoon when it is overly quiet on the bands.

To read the Frequently Asked Questions for CQP - [CLICK HERE].

The CQP 2o26 contest is shaping up to be one of the best yet.

Are YOU planning to operate in the CQP?

Look for WQ6X (QRP) and NX6T (RIVE) throughout the CQP weekend.

XYZZY

WQ6X Wanders thru a WONKY IOTA ConTesT WeeKend

The RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) contest is in a category all by itself, even tho it isn't.  As contest exchanges go, in IOTA we send 5NN and a contact serial #.  Islands stations additionally send us their numbered island designator.  EX: JR2PMT sends 5NN 247 AS007 (one of seve3ral island designators for Japan).

Starting at 12:00z (noontime in England), requires that I wake @4:45am, brew a pot of black
coffee and in the chair by 5:05.  Prior to the contest weekend the Solar Flux Index (SFI) moved
on up to ~148 with a relatively low K-index.  Amazing for So. California, 15-meters opened early
to EU and remained open much of the day.  Ironically, shortly after EU faded into oblivion, 15-meters was gone - there was virtually no afternoon opening to Asia - Bummer Dewd.

The Island designator system is unique to IOTA.  After much searching, the list of designators
was finally located.  ([CLICK HERE] to see the list - which is broken down by continent).  In the IOTA contest, multipliers are accumulated on each band for each island designator added to the log - each new band enables "starting over" with mult collection on that band.  While mults ASRE important, even MORE important is the fact that contacts with island stations are worth 15-pointsa per log entry, whereas contacts w/non-island stations are worth only 2-points each.

Running Low Power (LP - 93-watts), the decision was made to call CQ a LoT.  It was gratifying 
that many island stations called in to the run frequencies.  Using the Stereo-CW method made
running frequencies much easier.  Unfortunately, this method cannot overcome internet "jitter"
which creates momentary dropouts in reception.  Having dealt with this problem in recent weeks
has required me to develop the ability to anticipate and read Cw between the dropouts.  Operators with S9+ signals would be frustrated when I ask for repeats - it wasn't weak signals or QRM/QRN that was the problem, it was internet dropouts.

After the IOTA contest was over, I was surprised to discover that over 18-hours of OP time had been logged.  Submitting the log as a 12-hour entry would've cut off some of the juiciest multipliers which occurred in the final hours of the contest GiG.

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X's Cw-only entry took a 3rd-place overall and 1st-place for USA/North America.  Ironically, the 1st-place station (JA6GCE) was one of only a few JA stations actually participating in the contest.  While 40 and 20-meters were littered with JA callsigns in the 
bandmap, most were operating in some domestic JA competition, not the IOTA GiG - GO Figure.

DiD YOU work the RSGB IOTA Contest?

How many Islands did you work from the IOTA List?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

RADIOSPORT and TOASTMASTERS: Decision(s) of the Judges is FINAL

Thus far 10 Blogs (and a Blast from the Past) have been written contrasting/comparing
Toastmasters' speech contests and radiosport contest operations.  Behind the scenes of both
activities is a judging system, the specifics based on the structure and layout of each contest event.
I've written about contest judging before ([CLICK HERE]) altho it was rather brief.

One thing common to BOTH forms of competition is:

"DECISIONS of the JUDGES is FINAL"

Whether we like it or not, the bottom-line is the bottom-line.
Here are a few examples:

• In a recent California QSO Party radiosport, the San Diego Contest club (running
  as NX6T) took 2nd place in the Multi-OP category to a single-OP station who admitted
  he ran solo and yet submitted a Multi-OP log.  Had he not said anything his 1st-place would've been uncontested.  However, when he admitted being a Single-OP, members
  of our team filed a grievance with the CQP contest committee.  They eventually awarded
  him the 1st-place and suggested that next year would be different.
• Several years ago, the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) running as K6QLF thought we had a slam-dunk 1st-place win for Alameda County until W6TCP also submitted a log for Alameda County.  Their station was on the hills overlooking the bay area; however, I thought the actual station location might just be over the county line
  in Contra Costa County and filed a grievance. The powers that be did their geographical research and said their hilltop location was in fact, in Alameda County.
• In a recent Toastmasters Division-level speech contest, it was clear that my speech delivery clearly won the audience over way beyond any of the other contestants. 
  ([CLICK HERE] to see the video).  However, from the point-system used for scoring speech contests, my delivery technically made a number of errors which got me marked down pointwise giving my presentation a 2nd-place.
• Years ago, for the Islands on the Air (IOTA) contest, I attempted to persuade the RSGB contest committee that Alameda qualified as an island - 100 years ago it was called Alameda Island.  Unfortunately, in 100 years' time, all manner of geopolitical changes
  can occur to an area, changing its [island] status.  Near Alameda is of course Alcatraz
  and Angel Islands.
• Then again, it can sometimes work in our favor.  In recent years I have been competing in the QRP classifications during such GiGs as the CQP, NAQP and Sweepstakes.  Posting my score to the 3830Scores website often listed me in 2nd-place.  Then when the contest results are released, WQ6X ends up taking a 1st-place.  Either my competitors posted a fictitious score on 3830, or the Log Checking facility dinged enough of their contacts to significantly reduce their score below the WQ6X submission.

If I dig back far enough, over a dozen similar kinds of occurrences can be found. 
That would only serve to make me right about how I had been wronged.  Those events
are LONG GONE.  The real lesson(s) to be learned in all this is for us to do the best we can
during each contest event.  Radiosport and Toastmaster speech contests are highly ethically run. 
No matter what my "monkey mind" may have to say about things, the way it turned out is the way
it turned out.

Will I do it all again next year?

YOU KNOW I WILL!

Still Continuing Reasons why YOU Should NoT Call ME

Often, when I run a contest frequency I get:

• the WEIRDSET Calls at

• the WEIRDEST Times for

• the WEIRDEST Reasons

• Creating the WEIRDEST Results

Why would stations literally BLINDLY call me? 
Are they:

• DRUNK?

• UNCONSCIOUS?
• OBLIVIOUS?

• 1/2 Asleep?

• LoST?

• ConFused?
• Under Hypnosis?
  
•  FILL-IN the BLANK

One thing is certain, even if they send me the WRONG exchange information, I will enter what it SHOULD BE into the log.  They are so clueless that they will never figure out how to submit a log.

Let me be clear here: I love putting VALID QSOs into the log - 1-point is better than 0-points.
However, it often seems like the stations who don't have a clue require 2x to 3x the time and
effort to get that QSO point, then it does with callers who call-in, send a QUICK exchange and
then quickly move on.

I have written about this Ad-nauseam ([CLICK HERE]) and yet new variations on the theme
manage to surface in nearly every contest weekend.  And then of course we have the Tune-Up
turkeys who are always oblivious to who is actually using a frequency and for what purpose.

The OP's who really amaze me, are those who reply to my contest CQ and then go into RAGCHEW mode.  I at least am usually able to determine "Name and State" which we are looking for in GiGs like NAQP and some state QSO parties.

Successful radio communication all begins with listening.  Before calling CQ, we should first listen for the frequency not being in use and then ASK if the frequency is in use.  With no reply to our query the frequency is available for whatever purpose we choose.

When calling other CQ'ers we need to first ask what we are looking to accomplish by initiating communication.  When we hear a station calling CQ we should ascertain what that station is looking for.  Assuming the two goals are compatible then give them a 1 x 2 call (their callsign once, and your callsign twice).

If the station is calling CQ for a contest intriguing but not known to me, if necessary, I will look
the event up on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar.  Using N1MM+ to run contests, after first reading
the rules, the next step is to setup a new contest event under the logger.  With logging ready to go,
I type the caller's callsign into the callsign field and press F4 to send my callsign announcing myself. 
All this can happen in under 5-minutes.

Over the years I have encountered a plethora of Japanese (JA) stations who always tune-up approx. 500-Hz offset from my run frequency - at LEAST they give me a QSO after the annoying carrier.  

Because I utilize a pair of Autek QF-1A filters to create the Stereo-CW method, the Aux. Notch filter in each unit can manually take out the carrier w/o disturbing CW copy - something DSP DNF (Digital Notch Filter) units cannot do w/o obliterating the Cw as well.  So-called "analog" technology is still quite viable in modern day radio installations.

Let's consider the other side of working WQ6X.  Occasionally a station will call-in asking what the contest is all about.  

I am quite willing to make time and explain the procedure - what I get out of doing that is a QSO-point and possibly down the line another callsign has been added to the radiosport world - future QSO points.

Bottom-line is to take each situation as it presents itself and then move forward. 
There is a time and a frequency for you to call me.  I look forward to adding your callsign
to my contest log - just doit in the right way at the right time.

QRZ?

WQ6X TipToes through another NAQP RTTY ConTesT

Because NAQP contests allow us to operate only 10-hours out of the full 12 for the event,
the question is always WHEN to take those 2-hours.  Some operators start an hour or two later
and then end an hour or two earlier.  Some operators take an hour break when the propagation gets
dicey, on the hopes that it will again improve, or QSY'ing to the next lower band will make up for it.

In my situation, client commitments kept me out of the char for nearly 4 hours.  I started up in the afternoon just as 15-meters was closing-out for the day.

With the starting time "pre-ordained", the major focus became how to maximize the more-or-less
~8-hours remaining in the contest event.  For this remote operation, the decision was made to use
an MSI gaming-oriented (4-Ghz) laptop, with its relatively stable internet access.  The downside to
this approach is that N1MM+ was unable to establish CAT control of the RRC-1258 interface unit, requiring that operating frequencies required manual entry, an encouragement to run frequencies
as much as possible.

A goeswith in remoting to Ramona was the periodic drop in internet signal levels from the remote
end, creating a sort-of "internet jitter" effect.  Similar to running remote-Cw a couple of weeks earlier was the need to be able to decode signals in between the dropouts.  

 

I frustrated a number of S-9+ calling stations by asking for multiple repeats.  I lost count of the stations who weren't waiting around for a "mere W6" station, altho I really dunno what their hurry really was.  Adding a 2nd RTTY decoder is of no use when the difficulty is due to dropped audio.

Switching to Search & Pounce (S&P) mode enabled entering the other station's exchange
(name and state) into the N1MM+ entry screen BEFORE calling in.  This at least insured the
correct data made it into the log when the QSO was made.

Thanks to a significantly lower Solar Flux Index (SFI) 20-meters became THE band - same
as in the NA SPRINT contest which usually opens on 20-meters, working down to 40 & 80 later.  Around 02:30 it was time to make the transition downward running 40-meters until no new stations could be worked.  The rest of the evening was spent "leapfrogging" between 80 & 40 and then back again.

Using a Shorty-40 yagi allowed slowly sweeping between 30- and 100-degrees azimuth. 
On 80-meters the inverted-vee (@55') offered reasonable coverage between Illinois and Texas
(and all points in between).  On the higher bands the 3-el Stepp-IR offers the option to instantly
switch a N-E pointing antenna 180-degrees to pick up a quick KH6 multiplier or run BI-directional.  With the Shorty-40, a F/B ratio of 20db means that my 69-watt RTTY was often heard somewhat
off the back end.  (The Front/Side ration of yagis are usually quite exceptional.)

By the 06:00 contest end, only 142 QSOs made it into the log on 80 to 15-meters after 7+ hours
of OP-time.  Let the 3830Scores score entry document the actual operation.  While an 8.7k score
isn't much, it keeps WQ6X callsign recognition very much alive.

 

As much a struggle as the contest, a side-benefit of operating physically from the Concord location
was the availability of the necessary filters required to run what I call Stereo-RTTY.  The essential idea behind Stereo-RTTY method is to utilize the peaking function of both external audio filters to specifically PEAK the MARK/SPACE tones (effectively deemphasizing the frequencies surrounding the tones).

When running AFSK, my choice of MARK frequency is quite low: 915-Hz (with a SPACE frequency
of 1085-Hz). Running S&P early in the contest enables the opportunity to determine the best L/R filter settings providing the most legible/intelligible RTTY decoding.  When running a frequency the aux. notch control in those filters can knock-out single tones from joker's attempting to disrupt legible copy.  Also when running a frequency, using the R-I-T control, the desired signal can be centered between the "goal posts".  Stations calling slightly off frequency will be shifted away from the goal posts.  

When 2 or more stations are perfectly aligned
with the MARK frequency, their tones often "collide" resulting in garbled copy.  By shifting the R-I-T, one of those signals might "jump out of the jumble"
just enough to be copyable over the other callers.  

Each station worked will reduce the layered jumble somewhat unless new stations show up and add more jumble to the jumble.  Because the internet dropouts were so annoyingly problematic, w/o Stereo-RTTY things would've been utterly hopeless.  

Theoretically Stereo-RTTY could be applied to the transmit audio eliminating the potentially troublesome 2nd-harmonic (1830-Hz).  A multi-band equalizer slipped in the transmit audio line
can make for a simple yet effective approach to cleaning up transmit audio.  However, remember
to check the audio drive BEFORE and AFTER the filtering - overdriving will of course create new
(and potentially worse) harmonics.

When it was all over, WQ6X submitted a 142-QSO Low Power Log - enough to say we wuz there.

What about YOU?  Were YOU there?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Waxes and Wanders Wondrously thru 2o26 Radiosport

As we slide thru the middle of July, looking back to January 1st through the myriads of 60 all-different radiosport events that in some way involved the WQ6Xcallsign, I am amazed by the operating results accrued from all those near-unique contest events. 

Because I don't run FT4/FT8 and use VHF only for repeater access, we can break all contest operating down into 3 overall categories:

• CW Contests (my overall Favorite).
• RTTY Contests (my 2nd Favorite).
• SSB Contests (often FUN yet can become quite tedious in DX contests).

CW Contests

CW contests (especially when running remote) have numerous advantages.  To begin with, Cw contests are largely run by computer., sparing my voice.  Because the Cw code is sent from the remote side of the connection, brief internet dropouts don't disrupt the logging software from properly keying the radio

To make it work properly, after setting up a new contest under N1MM+ the function key macros are customized for this contest event and then saved in the function key macro folder, to be automatically invoked next year when a new run of this contest is setup under the software.

Properly run, Cw contests enable me to slip into a sort-of meditative contest flow.  Often during such a flow, I can switch to various screens on the computer, checking things such as Space-WX anomalies or recent RBN stats.  Doing this helps reduce what I call ACB (Acute Contest Boredumb) syndrome.

RTTY Contests

RTTY contests are somewhat similar to Cw GiGs in that they can be largely computer-run and my voice is again saved.  During remote runs to Ramona (KN6NBT) or Anza (WA6TQT) because they are technically not RTTY equipped on the remote side of the connection, the RTTY tones must be generated on the control-side of the radio connection.  Internet disruption while transmitting RTTY tones will garble the message.

When a contest sends a fixed exchange of information (such as that sent in the NAQP RTTY contest), before the contest those messages are pre-loaded in the remote K3 radio's Voice Keyer memories with the proper RTTY tones to call CQ, send an exchange, send a TU message and send the WQ6X callsign.  Running the contest is largely a function of function keys.  Other macro messages are sent "live" and are subject to internet jitter.

RTTY decoding on the control side of the connection is accurate to the degree that the data coming down the "internet pipeline" is jitter-free.  Utilizing a 2nd RTTY demodulator is of no value when the data has been corrupted enroute to the control site during transfer.

SSB Contests

Ssb contests are a mixed-bag overall.  More than any other mode, running Ssb remotely relies
heavily on the remote side of the connection.  When utilizing voice memories on RTTY or Ssb,
the initial recording must be jitter-free.  My issue with Ssb contests largely involves worldwide (DX) contests where English is often people's 2nd or 3rd language.  All too often the least understandable voices tend to speak way too fast.  Operators need to dial it back a bit and speak S-L-O-W-L-Y. 
I have much the same issue with Cw operators (mostly European) who think that 35+ wpm is
the way to run a frequency and then wonder why very few stations come back to their CQ's.

Domestic Ssb contests (such as NAQP, Sweepstakes or state QSO parties) can be a lot of fun because we are often working stations who are likely known to us and who can be reasonably understood, unless the Southern Twang makes that difficult.  Assuming the Space-WX factors are compatible with running QRP, I dial the power down to 4.9 watts.  This works reasonably well during Sweepstakes and NAQP Ssb contests in particular, but also in many state QSO parties.

DX ConTesTs

Throughout the 1st-half of 2o26 there were a variety of so-called DX contests - some more involved than others.  The ARRL DX and CQ WPX contests are both 48-hour events, even tho I rarely work anywhere near all 48-hours.  I put in many hours for NX6T (running from Anza) in these contests in conjunction with running as WQ6X single-OP QRP from the Ramona location, altho if band condx.
are not conducive to QRP, the power is pumped to about 95-watts.

While not specifically stated in their name, the WPX contests are truly worldwide DX contests.

Running single-OP, there is a variety of barely 24-hour Gigs such as the CQM, the CQMM,

the ARI Dx contest, the King of Spain (K-o-S) contest and the Marconi Memorial to mention
only a few.

State and Area QSO Parties

In the 1st 6 months, there were various state and area QSO party GiGs.  It is through these contest
events that we can work the numerous counties and provinces needed for various operating awards.
NX6T has taken 1st-place in the NEQP for BOTH 2o25 and 2o26, while WQ6X has taken 1st-place running mixed-mode QRP in the 7QP QSO party for those years (while putting in numerous hours
for NX6T in NEQP).

Running Multi-OP Radiosport

In addition to running Single-OP modes from Ramona (and sometimes Anza), during key contests
I join team members from the San Diego Contest Club (SDCC).  Running as NX6T usually happens from WA6TQT's superstation in Anza.  With the exception of NAQP GiGs (which are 100-watts max.) the team tends to run just under 1.5Kw into the wide array of stacked array antennas and vertical arrays for 80 & 160 meters.

Major contests run as NX6T include NAQP (Cw and Ssb), ARRL DX (Cw & Ssb), WPX (Ssb and Cw), All Asian (Cw and Ssb) and of course Sweepstakes (both modes).  We used to run 160-meters contests as a team, altho in recent years I have run the 160-GiGs as an assisted Single-OP.

In previous years, NX6T has taken 1st-place in the JIDX and All Asian contests. 
As you can see from the above collage, the JIDX contest committee has labeled us
the TOP MoP.

Have you worked some of the above radiosport contest GiGs?

IS NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X offers further ThoTs on the IARU HF Championship

It is difficult for me to fathom that the once far-off IARU contest is now several days behind
us. 10 days ago, the Solar Flux Index (SFI) soared briefly to 208.  Then, for the IARU weekend,
the SFI was 1/2 that (109), altho allegedly the A&K indices were quite low - tell that to the geomagnetic noise that was a constant weekend backdrop.

The IARU GiG revolves around the UTC time clock.  The 12:00z (NooN) starting time was perfect
for the WRTC competition, unlike the 2o14 WRTC Boston-event which began at 5am local time.  During multi-OP contest weekends, I am often running the 2am to 5am shift, going to bed @12:00z, instead of just starting out.

At 5am on the left coast, 40-meters is open to Asia for another hour or so. Twenty meters is "wandering around" looking for an opening, while the MUF has not climbed high enough to enable
15-meters.  By 14:30z, 40-meters was back to "local" communications while 20-meters was showing inklings of propagation possibilities to EU.

Unusual for a radiosport weekend, my OP-time was shared with a 4-hour Zoom conference. 
Due to the way the various segments of the conference were organized, I found plenty of opportunities to work 20-meters and exploit the 15-meter EU opening.  

A success secret for IARU GiGs is
to start on the highest band providing
QSO-runs and work our way down as the MUF drops throughout the day
or the A/K indexes increase.  

For this IARU GiG, 10-meters
was a no-show. 

Perusing the 3830Scores submissions,
it would seem that most operators
(in the USA at least) shared my experience.

While there is already a contest online scoreboard ([CLICK HERE] to go there), because the WRTC station callsigns are assigned just minutes before the contest starts, the unique one-time callsigns did not figure into that system, altho those callsigns eventually made their way onto our spotting band maps.

Instead, the World Radio League (WRL) maintained a separate leaderboard dedicated to the
50 WRTC stations updated every few minutes as each station added new contacts and multipliers
to their ever-increasing scores.  I was so hyper-focused on operating and the separate online conference that by the time I first checked the leaderboard (some 8-hours into the event), the top
10 contenders had already settled into the top-10 - the only real question was what final place these teams will finally land.

After the IARU event was long over, was determined a picture was published detailing the WRTC callsigns which had been assigned. As you can see, the callsigns all shared an "MB" prefix

In all honesty, while the idea of being one of the 100 competitors sounds intriguing, what is required and involved to make it all happen is way out of my league.  While I certainly possess advanced contesting skills, what is required to operate at the WRTC level, requires commitment, time, money,
and nearly obsessive hyper-focus.  To begin with, just getting radio equipment through customs is only one of many things to resolve even before the operating period commences.

Each team is randomly assigned a callsign and an operating location, which as I understand it
they were like Field Day tent setups. Additionally, a referee is randomly assigned who validates
their  setup before the event begins and monitors their operation with audio from both stations split between the Left/Right ears.  After the 12:00z ending, teams have only a short amount of time to reconcile the log before turning it over to the contest committee.

The WRTC event is several days behind us.  Overall, the top 5 teams are I guess no real surprise.
The 2030 event location has yet to be determined.  It will be interesting to find out where that will actually be.

DiD YOU work the 2o26 IARU contest?
How many WRTC "MB" stations are in YOUR Log?

WQ6X runs another Mixed-mode Mixed-BAG IARU Contest

My only beef with the annual IARU HF Championship event is that it is only 24-hours;
Then again, this is what makes it into a championship event.  As there are no 2nd-day
DO-overs, every band/mode choice needs to be considered carefully.

Prior to this event, I wrote up some of my thots on IARU.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

This year's IARU contest event was parallel run with the 2o26 WRTC Team Championship
competition with 50 teams (and hundreds of support personnel) converging in England for
this every-4-year event.  Just before the event began, the 50 teams were randomly handed
a randomly assigned British callsign, along the lines of "MB" and "MD" prefixes. 
The rest of the world anxiously anticipated hearing the first WRTC callsigns on the air. 

 

For those who were interested, the World Radio League maintained a scoreboard enabling
us to watch the progress.  Bye the time I brought up the scoreboard, contenders for the 1st
7-places had been established - it was simply a question of which order they would end up.

The IARU GiG commenced at 13:00.  After a couple of logistical screwups, I made the 1st
contact at 13:30z and ran rather seamlessly until the start of a Zoom conference I was involved
in @9am local time.  Because much of the material was mundane, I was able to position the Zoom screen next to the VNC viewer (VPN) screen and slip a few QSOs into the log during presentations. 
Openings on 20 & 15 meters into Europe made the time spent doubly productive.

After an hour break, the focus was on 15-meters, with marginal but adequate openings to Asia
and even down under.  Unfortunately, 1-second internet jitter made calling CQ not very productive.  Most of the afternoon and evening was spent searching and pouncing on 20-meters.  

At 01:00z, running out of stations to work on Cw, the switch was made to 20-Ssb where eventually
35 Ssb QSOs made it into the log.  Thanks to loading up the K3/0 voice memories before the contest,
all Ssb contacts were made by using function keys - no microphone was needed.  Later, while tuning around 40-meters and then on 75-meters no IARU Ssb activity was heard.  Even later, returning to 20-meters produced no more Ssb entries for the log.

Just before 07:00z, the internet connection failed requiring a restart, after which the internet dropouts
all but disappeared.  Band openings
to Asia made running frequencies very productive once again.

 
At 09:30 with 20-meters all but
gone on the west coast, it was time
to move down to 40-meters, just in
time for the first of several JA pile-ups throughout the early morning until the IARU contest ended at 12:00z once again.  

With the east coast waking up, many USA QSOs made it to the log even tho the Yagi was pointed
at 300-degrees azimuth.  A handful of VK stations also called in, yet surprisingly, no ZL stations
were ever heard - seeing internet spots (only 2) is not the same as actually working them. 
Amazingly, an LU5 station called in via long path - wOw!

When it was all over, capturing the 3830 stats and contest scoreboard, it would seem that WQ6X managed a 4th place for the USA and North America overall.  The details on how the WRTC competition turned out have yet to be announced.  I may well post a follow-up blog on this very topic.

Meanwhile, DiD YOU work the IARU HF Championship?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Offers ThoTs on the IARU HF Championship WeeKend

Being that the IARU is "subsidiary" to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the IARU HF Championship is a reminder that we should leverage the upcoming IARU HF Championship into an opportunity for global interconnectedness between all countries.  As I recall, there are teams competing from Ukraine and Russia and about 30+ other countries.

In brief, we could say that the IARU HF Radiosport contest is a perfectly unique 24-hour compromise between the 48-hour CQ WW and ARRL DX contests events.  Some of the differences include:

• IARU uses the IARU zones instead of the 40 CQ-Zones, states, or power levels.
• Being a 24-hour contest (instead of 48), there are no 2nd-day "Do Overs" - if we miss something, we miss it.
• The IARU championship leverages BOTH Cw and Ssb in one 24-hour period.
  Of course, one of the IARU contest challenges is which operating mode to use and when.
• Every 4-years the IARU contest coincides with the WRTC championship (the Olympics
  or World Cup of radiosport).

Because this is a worldwide
event, solar disturbances will distribute unevenly around the globe, favoring
(or disfavoring) different areas at different times. 

The REAL challenge for radio operators worldwide is navigating the geomagnetic effects by changing antenna direction(s) or making a sudden band change to leverage current ionospheric conditions.  

We often rely on reasonably consistently predictable propagation shifts to specific areas of the world at specific times - solar disturbances can either shift the shift or distort it altogether.

Running a multi-mode event offers the opportunity to leverage both Stereo-SSB as well as Stereo-CW methodologies.  Having decided to reprise the Ramona QTH again this year, the question becomes what power level (5-watts or 99-watts) to run. The influencing factors behind the decision include Propagation, Space-WX and Antenna settings.  

Even when they are available to me I don't turn on KW amplifiers when running Single-OP. 
For me, amplifiers are just one more thing that can go wrong.  At Anza, occasionally an amp has failed during an NX6T multi-OP run, requiring we switch to the backup station or revert to Low Power (LP); however, once you begin with HP, that is the classification the log will be submitted in after the contest.

Whenever possible in ARRL contests, I am always looking to be a part of setting Section and/or Division records.  In the IARU contest, in recent years, I have been a part of 5-records, with some
of them from running Single-OP of some sort.

This year, for me, plopped in the middle of Saturday morning is the first Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) Zoom training session during 16:00z to 20:30z of the IIARU contest - some screen juggling may be in order.  Thanks to a 32" monitor, the goal will be to position the VNC viewer and Zoom windows next to each other during those 4+ hours.  I guess we can call this SO2E (Single-OP 2-Events).

Prior to the contest, the 4-voice memories ion the remote K3 have been loaded, such that theoretically, we can Search & Pounce (S&P) w/o needing a microphone during the entire 24-hour contest period.

To use more than four voice memories,
I can turn on the VOX and use a locally
run copy of N1MM+ to play out local .WAV files, offering 8-to-12 additional verbal expressions.

When running Ssb, the N1MM function
keys F1 to F4 map to the M1 to M4 buttons
on the K3 radio series.  Voice memories
are recorded during a time when there is no internet jitter during the recording process.  Later, when jitter sets in, the memories will play correctly anyway.

Having a microphone connected to the radio along with a foot switch enables saying things that were not pre-recorded.  However, in general, using the voice memories most of the time reduces voice fatigue - especially near the end of the contest.

For Cw, the function key macros become a set of 12 messages that like the voice memories
will play out correctly even if there is internet jitter on my side of the connection.  Notice some
of the more unique function messages like "ROGER" and "WEIRD".  When operators do dumb
things, I salute them with the "W E I R D" key.  On Ssb, function key F-12 can play out the WEIRD.Wav file.  When asked if they got my exchange correctly, function key F9 sends: "R-R-R"

as in "Roger, Roger, Roger".  Otherwise, the necessary correction is sent and we go-round again.

With barely 13-hours remaining before contest start, it would seem that WQ6X is ready for yet another annual installment in the on-going saga of the IARU HF championship, with this year's attendant WRTC 50-team competition.

Are YOU geared up to run the IARU HF championship?

LooK for WQ6X on HF bands EVERYWHERE.

 

WQ6X Walks the Alameda Parade & Runs Marconi Memorial ConTesT

The Marconi Memorial Contest (MMC) is always run the 1st weekend in July which this year
happened to coincide with USA's 4th of July 250th Anniversary celebration.  My weekend goals
included participating in the Alameda 4th of July parade and participate in the Marconi Memorial Contest to eclipse last year's meager MMC score.  ([CLICK HERE] to read about last year's attempt.)

In case you are not aware of the fact, Alameda's 3.2-mile-long 4th of July parade is the longest distance parade of its kind in the USA.  Being a club officer in the Alameda Tongue Twisters (A-T-T) Toastmasters club, I joined other members and other Alameda Toastmasters clubs making that hefty
3.2-mile jaunt as we passed out cards and flyers and even interviewed parade spectators using wireless microphones and a mini boom box.

Before the parade line-up I turned the remote Ramona radio on to 20-meters hoping to hear a flood
of stations calling "CQ MMC" (or some such thing).  Over nearly 90-minutes, 2 Southeastern stations and a single VA3 station made it to the WQ6X log.  As it turned out over the weekend, Space-WX anomalies created havoc with band propagation.  This resulted in 10- & 15-meters being DuDs, while 40-meters never really got started.  In the end, a 20-meter (only) log was submitted.

After the parade a commute to W7AYT's Concord QTH gave me access to the robust array of audio filters that makeup the cool Stereo-CW method I have implemented for running DX pileups and Cw contests.  At 03;19z propagation on 20-meters hadn't really improved and 40-meters had not yet warmed up, affording me the needed time to double-check the recently revamped stereo audio
setup wiring - it all checked out.

As the evening progressed, calling CQ resulted in some informative RBN (Reverse Beacon) stats, confirming that the radio and antennas on my end were bouncing RF off the ionosphere.  Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, EU stations began calling in, many sounding like they were "next door".  The decision was to remain fixed on the same run frequency (14019.69) and keep the CQ's going,
which at the least provided more RBN spots.

Even tho the QSO rate was poor, eventually QSO #50 made it to the log before 20-meters finally faded for the final time.  With a 14:00z ending time, the Marconi Memorial Contest was effectively over in Ramona.  Because all QSOs were made on 20-meters, it made sense to submit a SOSB20 log entry after the contest.  Thanks to Stereo-CW, frequency running during t hose final hours was made more effective (and therefore more fun), making it easier to stay awake as the evening progressed.

When it was all over, those 50-QSOs in 21 countries was worth a whopping 1,050 points. 
While this was hardly much of a score, amazingly, it DiD surpass the previous 2 years. 
If it weren't for the openings to Europe (and a brief shot to SA), the MMC contest woulda
been a complete DuD, as very few USA stations seemed to be actually playing in this event. 
The USA stations who were playing all ran high power (HP), leaving WQ6X to be the lone
submission for SOSB20LP.

DiD YOU work the Marconi Memorial (MMC) contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?