WQ6X fakes yet another State QSO Party WeekEnd

The 3rd weekend in September beginning 12:00z (5am) on Saturday brought us the beginning
of intertwining several state QSO parties, front-ended by the Scandinavian Cw contest. 

With access to WA6TQT's STN-1, the possibility of running QRP was very real; the challenge of course would be inserting my 5-watt "pipsqueak" over the poles, deep into the depths of Scandinavia, despite the incessant signal fading and the unpredictable atmospheric noise on the other end.  Just because I can hear them LOUD and CLEAR is no guarantee they can hear me - our signals likely travel different paths to reach their destination.

The proposed operating agenda for the weekend included:

1. [X] - Scandinavian Activity Contest
2. [X] - Iowa QSO Party
3. [X] - Texas QSO Party
4. [X] - New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP)
5. [X] - Washington State QSO Party (Salmon Run)
6. [X] - NA SPRINT RTTY Contest

Friday evening was spent creating n1MM logs for each contest and importing N1MM function key macro files across the internet from the office computer in Alameda.  Operating STN-1 remotely
from my station setup in Concord gives complete access to the array of filters that make up what
I call "Stereo Audio" - the partial of a book I am authoring on the subject.

With a solar flux (SFI) of only 97, signals on 20 & 15 meters were often marginal at best - 10-meters has been a reliable no-show for weeks.  Stereo-CW (with its enhanced audio peaking) made weak Scandinavian signals highly readable, using the aux. notch filter to "shape" the noise accompanying the desired signal(s).

When 20-meters faded to EU, it was time to look for IA, NH and TX stations.  Only the TXQP could
be heard; 15-meters was all but dead until a handful of [non-Scandinavian] EU stations BOOMED in.  Unfortunately, USA was nowhere to be heard - perhaps the stacked yagi arrays (despite being fixed at 3-degrees) were skipping clear across the Atlantic "pond".  The reprieve came at 16:00z as the Washington state QSO party ("Salmon Run") started up from empty bands to a mild Washington
state pandemonium.

The overall operating goal was to tune the bands (checking bandmap spots) looking for stations to work, remembering to load the correct contest log before calling a station.  Just in case, the SAC contest setup for sending "5 N N  CA" (which was used in all the state QSO parties).

Running out of WA stations to call, it was time to call CQ on Ssb to see who we can "scare up".

The problem was that whether on Cw or Ssb non-Washington stations would call in even tho the
CQ message made it clear that I was in California (i.e. not Washington).

• On Cw: CQ WA WQ6X /6  WQ6X /CA
• On Ssb: CQ Washington State QSO Party - Whiskey Quebec 6 X-RAY,
  Washington Queen 6 X-RAY - QRP in California

I can't make it anymore clear than that.  While I was tempted to pen another "Why you should not call me" BLOG, I will spare you (altho to see an example of this kind of Blog [CLICK HERE]) Bottom-line, nearly 2/3's of the Ssb QSOs were accomplished by calling CQ, NoT from searching and pouncing (S&P).

Wrapped around the state QSO parties was the 24-hr Scandinavian Activity Cw (SAC) contest. 
In this event, the goal is to work only Scandinavian stations.  From time to time the decision was
made to call CQ SAC, looking for Scandinavian station who are S&P'ing rather than calling CQ.

While there was a SPRINT RTTY contest at 00:00 (5pm).  Unfortunately, I could not get the ad-HOC approach that usually works for remote RTTY to actually decode incoming signals altho transmitting RTTY worked FB.  After an hour of troubleshooting, the decision was made to get back to TXQP and WAQP while looking for a 40-meter opening to Scandinavia on Cw.

On Sunday, the goal was to continue TXQP and WAQP, switching between antennas pointed
90-degrees (TX) vs. 0-degrees (WA).

DiD you work the state QSO parties and the SAC Cw contest?

How many MULTs made it into your LoG?

XYZZY

WQ6X SkiDs thru another Quad-conTesT Weekend.

The 2nd radiosport weekend in September brings us the usual bevy of radiosport contest GiGs on Saturday, wrapped by the 48-hour Worked All Europe (WAE) Ssb event from Friday through Sunday afternoons.  The agenda included the following GiGs:

• [X] - Worked All Europe (WAE)
• [X] - Colorado QSO Party (COQP)
• [X] - New Jersey QSO Party (NJQP)
• [X] - NA SPRINT Cw Contest

This year's WAE GiG happens amidst a backdrop of a Solar Flux Index (SFI) down to 110. 
Ironically, last year at this time, the SFI was almost exactly the same as this WAE weekend.
([CLICK HERE] to read about last year.)

After a business trip the decision was made to stay over at the hotel for Friday and Saturday,
finishing the WAE GiG from my Alameda office, with its more reliable internet.  Because the WAE contest is all about Europe, I received permission to run STN-1 @WA6TQT's Anza location running low power (there is no QRP category in WAE).  The Anza QTH gave me access to stacked yagi's on 40 thru 10 meters (altho the 10/15 yagi's were fixed @ 35-degrees due to a tower rotor in for repair).

Band conditions were so poor that evening 20-meters was not open to Europe on Friday evening. Early in the evening, tuning around 40-meters weak signals eventually became strong enough to make QSOs, but certainly not loud enough to consider sending QTC traffic.  Eventually, the yagi stacks pointed to EU on 40-meters made a handful of QSOs possible.  When 40-meters faded
into European sunrise, the hope for a 20-meter opening on Friday never materialized, offering
the opportunity to cash-in on sleep time.

Saturday is when most of thew action happened, beginning with the Colorado and NJ QSO parties, altho it seemed as if the signals were Colorado much of the time.  Sometimes stacked yagi's can actually be a too low-angle detriment - 20-meter NVIS is the way to work Colorado from Southern California.  Then again, while the East coast was hearable, stations in New Jersey were largely nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, because both QSO parties are over before the SPRINT GiG ends, any hope for QSOs is largely futile.  If they would offer us a 2nd-run on Sunday (as many QSO parties do), everyone would be served by that.  However, for me SPRINT takes priority over QSO parties.

Eventually on Saturday morning 15-meters opened to Europe - not great, but enough to make it worth my operating time.  After 90-minutes on 15-meters and 20-minutes on 20, a whopping 20-QSOs made it to the log.  On both Saturday and Sunday, propagation to Europe abruptly disappeared @22:00z (3pm PDT). Coincidence?

For the September SPRINT GiG, I chose to run QRP considering that I had yagi stacks for 20 & 40
and a 4-Square vertical array for 80-meters.  The result was 136-QSOs and 40-multipliers.  Sadly, the only Canadian heard was a VE6.  Wassup with VE/VA stations largely absent from the SPRINT GiG?
Most important was significantly beating the 2o25 score.  It's always good to improve year over year.

Sunday opened with a handful of QSOs and then going to great lengths to solicit receiving stations
for what turned out to be 40 QTC's.  When it was all over, while the results were not as great as 2o25,
at least I can say WQ6X played a role in WAE Ssb.  This was a good prelude to the upcoming WAE RTTY contest (which is truly a worldwide affair).

DiD YOU work the QSO parties, SPRINT & WAE contests?

How many mults ended up in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wings yet another Tennessee-Asian WeeKEnd

imed w/Labor Day weekend, All Asian offers a lazy wandering thru a lazy weekend - just point
the antennas Northwest and let propagation take over.  On Sunday mornings there is no usable propagation to Asia - turn the antennas due-east and look for QSO Party stations in Tennessee.

On a business trip during the week, I ran the radio @KN6NBT (Ramona) remotely from a 4-story hotel room.  Before the All Asian GiG started, the remote K3 radio voice memories were pre-loaded, enabling Search and Pouncing (S&P) to be conducted w/o using the microphone (to run a frequency a microphone is needed to speak the caller's callsign).

Despite the horribly low solar flux (SFI = 102), a brief 15-meter opening to JA & UAO to open the contest (5pm PDT).  When that faded, moving down to 20-meters kept the momentum going, working virtually the same stations worked earlier on 15-meters.  Eventually 20-meters to Asia faded away as well while 40-meters was not yet open to Asia.  Thanks to the "F", "M" and "K" military beacons on 7.039, we can get an advance indication of propagation favoring Asia.

Recently, the 40-meter "Shorty-40" yagi at the Ramona QTH has been experiencing intermittent feedline problems when the antenna is rotated N/W.  Using a back-and-forth rotation, a workable connection can be made with a reasonably low SWR.  Unfortunately, very few Asian stations were heard on Saturday morning.  Calling "CQ All Asia", the only responses were the usual bevy of 40-meter intentional QRM that materializes only during contest weekends.

80-meters into an inverted-Vee favoring N/E - S/E is not going to work into Asia from the Ramona location.  When it was clear that 40-meters was a no-go, it was time to do other things - like sleep. 
For September weekend #1, the Tennessee QSO Party (TNQP) is the way to enjoy Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to rather poor band conditions, Tennessee didn't happen right away.  My TNQP beef
this year is that were it not for roving mobile stations, TNQP would've been a complete BUST.  Fortunately, on Sunday, I happened onto AC6ZM's proposed mobile route on his QRZ page. 
To make for easy mult-catching, the solution was to park on Jose's run frequency and jump in
every time he moved into a new Tennessee county.  Approximately 15-minutes before the QSO
party was officially over, AC6ZM/M disappeared, never to return.

When it was all over, at least it can be said that WQ6X made a reasonable radiosport appearance
during the Labor Day weekend.

DiD YOU work All Asian and the Tennessee QSO Party?

How many multipliers made it to YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wings yet another Weird, Kansas QSO Party (KQP)

The Kansas QSO Party is in itself a weird event in that technically it is held on the last full weekend
in August, which is either Weekend #4 or, in the case of 2o26, Weekend #5.  An advantage to running
on weekend #5 is that there are no other events to crowd the frequency spectrum, other than the
various ad-HOC POTA operations.  (Technically there is the U.S. Islands event, however every
year I listen for them and every year, I hear NOTHING.)

Last year, WQ6X ran the KQP GiG as a QRP entry, taking 1st-place for California (W6) and the Left Coast.  This year, the decision was to run 90-watts (LP) from Ramona, with a concerted effort to work multipliers (counties).  To do that, it will take more than QRP power during this considerably lower Solar Flux Index (SFI) to consistently make that happen.

KQP starts on Saturday @ 14:00z (9am CDT) which is 7am on the Left Coast. 
By 7:30, WQ6X was on the prowl for Kansas stations.  Except for a brief 15-meter opening
on Sunday (17:54z), 15 and 10-meters were largely DOA.  Because Cw contacts are worth
3-points (2-points for Ssb), Saturday's focus was largely Cw with a swarth of 20-meter Ssb
contacts on 20-meters midafternoon.  

To run Ssb without stressing my voice, the K3's DVK memories were pre-loaded,
playable by function keys F1 to F4 with the N1mm logging software.   To make
Searching and Pouncing (S&P) easier, F3 invoked a recording saying, 
"Roger, ROGER, ROGER!!".

My one BEEF with KQP is that Saturday operations end @02:00z (7pm PDT). 
Just as 40-meters opens to Kansas, KQP calls it quits for the day.  We NEVER
get a chance at 80-meters to Kansas as we are still in daylight - Bummer Dewd!

Saturday evening, tooling around the KQP website, county maps were found, one in
color and one in Black/White.  This prompted me to create a separate picture for Saturday
and Sunday. When a new country was worked, using the Windoze Paint program, I issued
a color fill to each county, offering a visual look at what areas we worked and still need.

For Sunday, I came up with the idea to open the county map in the Windoze paint program.
Every new county worked was flood-filled with pink to give a visual of the counties worked.
After the contest, I went thru Saturday's log and did the same thing using cyan flood-fill.

What really made the difference in county hunting was to look at the maps submitted by each rover station.  If I had thought to do that on Saturday, I might well have added another dozen+ counties to the log.  Well, as they say - "next year.....".

When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X took 13th place overall and 1st-place
for W6 (California) and the entire left coast.  34 new counties made it into the log on Saturday,
while 43 new counties made it into the log on Sunday.

DiD YOU work the KSQP State QSO Party?

HoW Many Counties made it to YOUR LoG?

XYZZY