BesT LaiD PlaNs of Operators and Radiosport

This Blog title is of course a variation on an old theme.  For the 1st weekend in May, I dub it
"Cinco-de-Contest", altho some weekends have 6 or more events all happening in under 48 hours. 
For the 2o26 Cinco-de-contest weekend, despite thorough planning, what the insurance companies
call "acts of God" can occur at any moment, as the weekend so fortuitously demonstrated.

This weekend brought us the Italian ARI Dx contest and four state QSO parties:

• [X] - Italian ARI DX Contest (AR) - 12:00z
• [X] - 7th AREA state QSO Party (7QP) - 13:00z
• [X] - Indianna state QSO Party (INQP) - 15:00z
• [X] - Delaware state QSO Party (DEQP) - 17:00z
• [X] - New England states QSO Party (NEQP) - 20:00z

When running remote, there are four considerations that can become deal breakers:

1. - Operator fatigue
2. - Internet and/or equipment failures at the remote location
3. - Internet and/or equipment failures at my originating end.
4. - Power failures on my end.

Using a Toshiba Tecra Z-85 laptop at the Concord location, while giving me 5-Ghz internet
access requires running the WI-FI troubleshooter to reset the internet adapter which periodically
"trips over itself".  

My original plan was to run the 7QP, INQP and the ARI contest throughout the day until my 1st
2-hour shift for NX6T in the New England QSO Party at 00:00z (5pm), spending the rest of the
evening chasing stations in New England (until 05:00z) and the 7th call area until 07:00z when
7QP ends.  Afterwards, moving to 20-meters, the ARI Dx contest can be run as long as there are
stations to be heard.

Being asked to fill-in Saturday afternoon for NX6T shifted my attention away from Ramona
to the stacked Yagi's at the WA6TQT superstation where we ran STN-2 at nearly 1.5kw with
the yagi stacks all pointed to New England.  Ready to run again as WQ6X (QRP instead of QRO),
at 23:00z - WHAM - power outage at the Concord location - a tree toppled onto a power line, plunging several neighborhoods into darkness.  (You're probably wondering where the ubiquitous UPS backup power system was - so am I.)

With power resumed at 07:47z, the only thing left was the tail end of the ARI Dx contest - which for simplicity, was run as Cw only.  Pointing the 3-element Stepp-IR towards Europe, a total of 18 QSOs made it into the log before the 12:00z contest end.  While WQ6X made few actual contacts, the Reverse Beacon Network certainly heard the WQ6X QRP CQ Calls.

After some sleep, WQ6X was back in the OP chair running the NEQP at QRP power.  A quick
hour for NX6T at 19:00z gave me two frustrating hours looking for unique (i.e. not yet worked)
New England stations.  Back as WQ6X in Ramona for a couple of hours, the number of New
England stations were quite limited (many NEQP ops don't do Sunday).

I spent the last 2-hours running mixed-mode (Cw and Ssb) for NX6T. 
Out of desperation, I called CQ for NX6T as follows:  CQ NEQP  NX6T NX6T/CA. 
Of course, Billy-bob and his brother Barney called right in, not just on Ssb, but Cw as well. 
(I didn't even know that Billy-bob and his brother Barney could work Cw).  On voice, I said, "I'm working New England only", while on Cw I typed "NEONLY" into the callsign field and pressed F5.  When cousin Bozo kept on calling me, I sent: "KB4LID - 5NN CA".  He sent back "5NN GA" - using Ctrl-W wiped him from the log.

After the contest ended, working with N6KI (our team captain), Dennis vetted the log for any non-NE QSO party contacts, submitting what promises to be another 1st-place win outside of New England.  While the original goal was to run a Cinco-de-Contest (with NX6T in NEQP as a bonus), INQP and DEQP never happened this year.  With only marginal operating time, the hope for reprising last year's 1st-place 7QP Mixed-mode QRP win never materialized; for NEQP, at least 18 stations made it to the WQ6X QRP log.

DiD YOU work Cinco-de-Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

XYZZY