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?

WQ6X Wangles a 160-Meter TRI-Square Vertical Array RBN Evaluation

After a recent QSO party weekend, I switched remote access to WA6TQT's STN-1 in Anza. 
to run a series of 160-meter directional-determination tests. At the last minute, it made sense
to write-up the experiment as a separate Blog.

With the recently refurbished 160-meter "TRI-Square" array, theoretically, there should be some
noticeable differences in signal levels between Northeast (N-E), Southeast (S-E) and West (W)
directions.

To measure this, test messages were sent on 1.816 (NE), 1.818 (SE) and 1.820 (W), then again
on 1.822 (NE), 1.824 (SE) and 1.826 (W).  Because I could not discern any real directional patterns,
I fed Ashley @A-I a the above picture of the antenna layout and the RBN stats from the above tests for a more detailed evaluation of the actually directional characteristics
of the TRI-Square.  Here are the essentials from her system evaluation:

"What you actually have is a 3-element vertical phased array for 160 meters, consisting of three 100-foot towers arranged in a triangular pattern, with three phasing lines running to a central relay/phasing mast. The towers themselves are the radiating elements."

"The antenna was configured in three directional modes:

• North-East
• South-East
• West

The reported Signal-to-Noise (dB) values provide a good indication of pattern performance."

WQ6X Runs another Random RAC Canada Day ConTesT

3-days before the USA celebrates Anniversary #250, Canadians celebrate Canada Day - their equivalent celebration.  The Canadian RAC (equivalent to our ARRL) hosts a 24-hour radiosport competition which for simplicity, I elected to run CW-only.

To keep things even worldwide, the operating period starts at 00:00z July 1st (5pm PDT on Tuesday), ending at 00:00z a day later.  Behind the scenes was solar flare activity that SHOT the Solar Flux Index (SFI) to over 200 (from 111 less than a week before).  As I write this, the SFI seems to have leveled off @203.  Unfortunately, the solar storms littered the bands with geomagnetic noise - no
band was safe from the noise.

While the RAC exchange still retains the 5-N-N opening, sending a Serial-# afterwards is where
the challenge lies.  While any station can work any station, unless the station ius a VE/VA/VO/VY,
the QSO is only worth 2-points.  Canadian stations are worth 10-points and Canadian RAC stations
are worth a whopping 20-points.  Multipliers (Canadian call areas) can be counted once on each band.  This is an incentive to spend time on 80 & 10 meters, (there is no 160-meter access in Ramona)., even
if the bands seem dead.

It turns out, a secret to higher scoring in the RAC contest is to call "CQ RAC" on a frequent basis.  There are dozens of Canadians who are CALLERS not RUNNERS.  It's always a delight when a new Mult or an RAC station calls in.

While I often run QRP from Ramona, when a chaotic solar backdrop occurs, running Low Power
(LP) is a bare-minimum requirement.  Using a 3-el Stepp-IR and a 2-el Shorty-40 yagis is perfect
for 1st-bounce signals into most of Canada.

Predictably, geomagnetic noise
added to the already Randomness 
of Ramona, behind the scenes @KN6NBT is frequent 3/4-sec internet "jitter" creating signal dropouts in the middle of morse code letters.  

A station would call in with an S-9 signal and require 3-repeats when the Serial-#
got "jittered".  When it was all over,
I was completely jitter-noised out - 00:00z was a "welcome relief". 

A reported 29,664-point ending score surpassed my projection of 25-K points. 
I consider this an overall excellent result when you consider what there was to work with.

Looking back, the biggest disappointment was the lack of VE4 (MB) and VE5 (SK) stations.
Bottom-line: only one of each was found, and on different bands.

DiD YOU participate in the RAC Canada Day Contest?

How many VE-Mults and RAC stations were in YOUR Log?