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