Wednesday, February 4, 2026

WQ6X Weasels another Weird NA SPRINT Ssb Contest.

Logistical screw-ups in my operating world found me starting this GiG late (1st QSO happened at 00:52z on 20-meters).  The original idea was to run the NA SPRINT contest GiG from my Alameda office, except that the RRC-1258 (internet interface) box was left in Concord.  The solution was to bring the K3/0-Mini control head to Concord and run from there, except the internet connection in Concord was horribly spotty, especially compared to the barely passable internet access in Alameda.


During Ssb contests, spotty internet can be worked around by properly recording the transceiver's four voice memories in advance using a "clean" internet connection.  While on Sunday I rewired the external audio filter conglomeration in Concord, using the pair of MFJ-752 "Signal Enhancer" units on the K3 audio line was enough to dramatically improve Ssb intelligibility.

The "difficult" aspect of the contest was not on my end, but on the other end of the QSO connection.  WQ6X's QRP (5-watt) signal was often QSB'd out of existence.  Stations all too often, gave up, all too soon.  If I suddenly disappeared on you (only to come back 5 minutes later as if nothing happened), disappearing internet was behind that.

While the operating goal was 100+ QSOs, considering the contributions from poor Space-WX
and nasty internet, managing 54 logged QSOs was indeed an operating miracle.

IRONICALLY, while conditions and internet were HORRIBLE, according to 3830 cores, WQ6X
managed a 1st-place win for the QRP category, valid until an OP submits a higher non-3830 score.

DiD YOU work the NA SPRINT Ssb contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?