WQ6X Wangles a Weirdly Different ARRL DX Cw ConTesT

 

For numerous reasons (too complicated to elaborate on at this time), instead of running QRP
remote from Southern California, the decision was made to run low power (LP) assisted using
the Yaesu FT-2000 that has been languishing @W7AYT's QTH in the East Bay (EB) ARRL section.
Having recently revamped the audio lines for this setup, it made sense revamp the computer/antenna
cabling inside the shack.

The weekend operation was plagued by two issues. unfortunately, not actually resolved
until Sunday evening (after the contest was long over).

• RFI in the shacking BOMBing the USB cable to the RigExpert CAT interface unit
  (solved by shifting the USB cable to a port several feet away from the MFJ-993b IntelliTuner).
• HORRIBLE internet "jitters" (Solved by a thorough / lengthy modem/router restart.)

Of course, the advantage of running locally is no need for internet access to run the radio.
Then again, there are no RFI issues at the KN6NBT and WA6TQT remote installations.

As mentioned earlier, RFI was a HUGE problem on 80, 40 and 20 meters when using the "infamous" WQ6X 8JK Cobra wire array.  Dialing back the power from 90watts often down to 30-watts in some cases seemed to resolve the overloading somewhat.

For the high bands (20-15-10), a 10-meter Long John yagi worked superbly on 10-meters
and performed remarkedly well when tuned as a rotary dipole on 20 and 15 meters.  Compared
to the 8JK array, the yagi on receive resulted in relatively noise free reception, altho the 8JK array probably produced a stronger signal on transmit.

Similar to recent radiosport weekends, the ARRL DX contest was plagued by numerous
geomagnetic storms throughout the weekend.  Reading numerous soapbox comments,
there seems to be a general consensus that Friday evening and most of Saturday, propagation conditions were quite good, especially when you take into account the [relatively] low SFI (111)
and K-Index floating between 3 and 4 much of the time.

Sunday morning the high bands were so quiet (dead?) there was a concern that either the radio equipment (and/or the antenna system) had failed.  Around 20:00z conditions dramatically improved (relatively speak), altho there seemed to be a dearth of "NEW" stations for the log.  It was at this time
I switched to wireless operating the radio while laying out on a comfortable bed.

With all the different effects induced by the drastically changing Space-WX, using the Stereo-CW method made signals more readable, reducing the number of "repeats" necessary to complete a CW communication.  Making the decision to run SO2-V for this contest, Stereo-CW became an absolute
MUST, to keep the signals properly "sorted out" in each ear.  When running pile-ups, there is no need for SO2-V.  Then again, on days like Sunday in this contest, at the very least, SO2-V helps alleviate the boredumb in between QSOs and RUNs.

When it was all over, WQ6X was largely at the bottom of the heap, except for California (CA), 
East Bay (EB) Section and Pacific (PAC) Division.

DiD YOU work the ARRL DX ConTesT?

How many Countries or States/Provinces DiD YOU Get?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?