WQ6X WPX (Weird Prefix) ConTesT after-ThoTs After the Fact

June 1st of each contest year marks the end of the CQ WPX contest Trio (RTTY, Ssb, Cw).

As it turns out, I didn't watch the Q5 Video about the [then] upcoming WPX contest until AFTER

the contest event was well behind us.  In a way, it is preferable to have done it that way.  It was interesting to note (after the fact), the accuracy of many projections made during that 45-minute discussion.

A write-up about the contest and how it turned out has already been posted ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  I also posted some brief thoughts about WPX before the contest.  ([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

However, WPX being a truly WEIRD contest event often finds me musing over it, usually after Field Day is safely behind us.  The original goal was to put in hours for NX6T running high power at WA6TQT while leveraging the full array of stacked yagis plus TRI-Square (160) and 4-Square (80) arrays on the low bands.

Because we there was a sufficient number of operators, there was time throughout the week to put
the "rare" weird prefix "WQ6" on the air, running another QRP event from KN6NBT's Ramona QTH. 
All the above certainly happened, altho with a number of last-minute changes as the weekend progressed.

For openers, our thoughts of running as a Multi-2 operation quickly vanished when Anza STN-2 developed operational problems and needed to be put on the sideline.  This reduced us to running
as a Multi-single operation with no Multiplier station to back up the immensely frequency runs that NX6T is so well known for.

One way to streamline operations and reduce the tendency for things to go wrong is by way of a dozen robustly-defined N1MM keyboard macros.

Virtually most anything needed during a QSO exchange can be accomplished with these macro definitions.

Have you ever heard "W E I R D"
out of the noise?

NX6T began the WPX GiG with an operator switch, relegating me to run the first two hours from my Alameda office, with horror-of-horrors no Stereo-CW yet configured at that location.  Once you get hooked on the wonder of running fully functional Stereo-CW, operations without it are almost excruciatingly B-O-R-ing. I couldn't fire-up at the Concord QTH fast enough.

I usually start a contest w/high (over-inflated?) hopes, usually supported by a nice QSO run to
open that contest event.  The same thing happens when I open a contest for NX6T, as I did for 2o26.  Thanks to an amazing array or CW operators behind NX6T, we usually ride the QSO-wave thru most
of the contest unless a solar storm hits or something "breaks".

Running Single-OP as WQ6X (and QRP on top of that), it is not nearly as effortless to ride the QSO wave.  If even one extra operator steps in to bail me out, the game instantly becomes multi-OP.  Running multi-OP at QRP power in the WPX contest is prolly not a good idea - besides, there
is no such contest category in WPX.  For multi-OP stations, the definition of Low Power (LP)
is ~ 0.3 - 100 watts.

For future WQ6X Blog write-ups I researched was to look at RBN STaTs from a former time
period - in this case the may WPX contest.  I found the RBN Spot Analyzer and an RBN Mapper facility which can produce an overall map from a given contest day.

The above pictures confirm what I had already observed, which that conditions were better
(and signals more far reaching) on Saturday than on Sunday.  While this information doesn't
change the outcome, it helps me to understand how the outcome ended up the way that it did.

Overall, the 2o26 WPX CW contest run as a another dual-OP was an incredible lot of fun.

DiD YOU work the WPX CW contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?