NX6T takes 2nd place in NAQP CW

H u H?

For serious contesters who did not play in the Jan 2nd/3rd RTTY RU, the NAQP CW GiG is the first "real" contest of the new year.  Having run RTTY RU remotely from Fallbrook the weekend before, it was time to sit down in front of a radio with knobs I can twiddle; even if it was a K3 (I prefer my FT-1000mp).


I used Friday evening as a time to settle in and scan the lower bands (160, 80 & 40), giving me an idea of what things will be like Saturday evening.  Luckily no space weather anomalies occurred during the weekend.


While I normally don't drive all the way to Fallbrook to participate in a 12 hour Multi-OP contest, this year  I was already in Burbank for the week; another 2.5 hour drive on Friday was no big deal.



We had a relatively small crew for this event; namely: N0DY, N6CY, N6KI, W6JBR and myself.  Nevertheless, we were all in top form.  Together we turned our Multi-2 operation into a 2nd place finish behind K7JR (manned remotely by KL9A & N5RZ).

N6CY w/N6KI looking for mults

At 10:00 am (local) I opened the contest for the 1st hour on 10 meters.  By 11:30 N6CY made the scene and put STN#2 on 15 meters.  Because we were both running a frequency NX6T ended up on many spotting networks.

By 12:30, N6KI joined us to S&P on 15 meters from STN#3 interspersed with Rick (N6CY) while I mopped up 10 meters via S&P before finally heading to 20 meters to run a frequency.  By 2:00 we lost N6CY, and added N0DY to spell me on 20 allowing N6KI to take over running 15 meters.

After a short nap I came in at 5 pm (01:00z) to see N0DY on STN#2 running a frequency on 40 meters.  Moving him to STN#1 to continue the pileup run allowed N6KI and I to dual-op 80 meters, which was wide open by 5:30 (local).
By 6pm we included a look at 160 into the game altho 160 wouldn't deliver until later in the evening.

N0DY & N6KI running frequencies

By 7:30 N6KI drove into town to bring back some Italian food while I worked 80 and eventually found a nice opening on 1.818.18 mhz to run the frequency.  Using the bandmap and 2nd VFO I was able to sneak in an occasional S&P QSO on 160 during lulls in frequency running.


An important note about 160 meters and NAQP: Just Do It!
I think of 160 meter QSOs as "free" QSOs and in the case of NAQP "free" multipliers; all just for showing up.
160 meters was worth 52k points to us.


Because the C-31 and Stepp-IR yagis are gain antennas and this was largely a North American contest, during the daytime we left the masts in their lower position.  As we moved down to 40 meters, the main tower was raised to 70', enabling the 80/160 inverted V's and taking the 2-el 40 meter yagi to the next level.

For the evening shift W6JBR joined us to wrap things up.  By the time 06:00z (10pm) arrived we were contested-out.  As you can see, our QSO total was quite an impressive 6-band score.

While I was not part of NX6T's NAQP GiGs last year, it is clear that our gang-of-5 operators easily surpassed last year's NX6T score.

DiD YOU play in this year's NAQP?
Is NX6T in YOUR Log?

WQ6X Ron runs RTTY RU Remotely and Robustly

It's hard to believe that it has been two years since N6GEO and myself engaged in a 1st place (worldwide) RTTY RU event as WP2/WQ6X.  Last year (2015) operating as N6GEO we took 1st place for East Bay (EB) section operating from George's Brentwood QTH.

Since last year the Brentwood QTH has been sold.  While George has been working on a remote operation setup from his cabin in Twain Harte, it was unfortunately not ready for this year's RTTY RU.
Client commitments made it impossible for me to make the trek to the NX6T site in Fallbrook so I looked into the possibility of operating remote from Fallbrook's Stn#1 altho actually setup at the W7AYT qth.

With incredible assistance from JR W6JBR we eventually made that happen; altho unfortunately, the 1st QSO didn't happen until 02:15z (8 hours into the contest) - meaning that I missed out on a days worth of access to the 20-15-10 meter bands.
 
On Sunday, either 10 meters opened up before I rolled out of bed at 10 am and then quickly closed or in fact the band never materialized into the San Diego area.  Either way, missing 10 certainly didn't help my score.  Surprisingly, 20 meters was the worst band of all - missing Saturday afternoon cost me a lot.

40 meters was more packed then I have seen in many a RTTY RU.  I felt sorry for the CW guys; especially that lone station on 7.045 blindly calling CQ at 15 WPM.  I don't know if he ever got a QSO, but he certainly was a brave man to attempt such a feat amidst the cacophony of RTTY signals surrounding him.

Remotely, this was my 4th experience (1st RTTY experience) operating "from" NX6T in Fallbrook.  Because internet latency is at the core of remote operations, for me personally, remote operating an SSB contest is NOT going to happen.  I get confused enough on CW and even more so running RTTY remote; attempting to run SSB would probably spin out my sanity.


One of the secrets to remote operation is PATIENCE, coupled with no negative self-labeling.  Running the 10-meter contest remote was tricky enough running only CW; I purposely chose NoT to run SSB.

Once I got into action, my biggest BEEF was the fact that most of the spots in the bandmap, while they yielded signals, the offset was wrong giving no decoding.  On my FT-1000mp I would just turn the tuning knob until the decoding starts.  Using a "tuning knob" over the internet is tricky enough on CW, however add to it a little internet latency and tuning RTTY becomes nearly impossible;
which is why some companies sell a remote operation tuning knob.

My solution to the tuning problem was to pick a "quiet" frequency and call CQ.  After awhile WQ6X was spotted by the skimmers.  (Because the WQ6X callsign is embedded in every lookup database, recognition of my callsign was automatic.)  Stations lined up and I would get an hour run here and there.
In the end, I probably made 15% of the QSOs by way of S&P; I let the rest come to me. The rest as they say is history.

Because I had to be in Burbank on business, I was originally going to make the drive at noon or 2:00.
Then the internet latency again set in.  To make up for lost QSOs I operated all the way to the 00:00z contest end and was on the 680 freeway at 4:40.

While the 273 QSOs is not all that impressive, research on 3830Scores.Com indicates that after all this I may actually sneak a 1st place win for the San Diego section - GO Figure.


 As I said in my previous blog entry, you never know when submitting a "marginal" log will win an award; so, just DO IT!


DiD YOU play in the 2016 RTTY RU?
Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

The Importance of Submitting a Log for every contest

In May of 2013 I wrote a Blog entry about the importance of submitting a log for every contest you participate in, regardless of how few QSOs you actually make.  (Click here to read that Blog entry.)
Recent events have inspired me to revisit this point.

Submitting a log after every contest has its benefits.

1. It actually makes the log checking process EASIER and FASTER when everyone sends in a log.  Callsigns are less likely to be considered "unique" when they are from a station who also submitted a log.
   
2. Your callsign is more likely to be included in the callsign lookup database(s) for future contests making it easier for operators to conclude that your call is valid when they see it pop up on check-partial lists.
3.  You might actually win a certificate or plaque - which is what this blog entry is all about.

From a competitive contesters' point of view, #3 is the most important.
My attitude USED to be that I would not submit a log unless I thought it would be a clear winner, or at least a contender.  Because we used paper logs and dupe sheets in those days getting a log ready for submission was quite a chore.  Needless to say, I rarely submitted a log.

One year while checking the Sweepstakes results I discovered I would have won a certificate for East Bay (EB) section if only I had submitted a log - my competitor's log ended up being disqualified and became a "check log".  Oooops.  Had I submitted a log, my 2nd place score would have become a 1st place winner.

In the 2014 Sweepstakes phone contest while there were several school club stations on the air evidently none of them submitted a log - no plaques were issued for that category.  A school making 1 QSO could have submitted a log and received a piece of wood - go figure.

Today, thanks to the Cabrillo log format, submitting a log could not be easier.
As I said in the [original blog entry] on this topic, now I submit logs for EVERY contest I play in.
Because I like to piddle around in the numerous "mini" contests, in recent years I have submitted DOZENS of logs for those events.  From time to time I receive unexpected envelopes at my P.O. Box with certificates like this one.

The important thing to note about this contest entry is that I spent barely an hour making those 12 QSOs (9 on CW and 3 on SSB) while waiting for 10 & 15 meters to open up during the tail end of the All Asian SSB contest.  That evening I web-submitted the contest log and then moved on to other things.
100+ days later I am rewarded with the above 1st place certificate.

While we ran 1.3kw for the SSB contest, for TNQP I simply ran one of NX6T's auxiliary K3 radios barefoot into a sufficiently high C-31 yagi, offering lots of signal gain.

From the NX6T Fallbrook location there didn't seem to be a lot of TNQP activity.
In desperation I switched from CW to SSB to make 2 final SSB QSOs before hearing 15 meter Asian signals waft into the Station #2 speaker.   By the time the All Asian contest was over so was TNQP.
After wrapping up the All Asian log I made a Cabrillo file for the TNQP and web-submitted it before
leaving the mountain and heading back to the "real world".

Because QSO party hosts like those running TNQP make it so easy to submit a log, in my opinion there is no legitimate reason to not make a submission.  Wherever possible I submit logs on the same day a contest ends to get it out of my mind.  I also begin writing up the text for what will be the next entry to the WQ6X contest blog.  Before submission I write up a SOAPBOX entry for the log which can also be used for my contest summary submission to the 3830 Scores website.

Contrary to popular belief, contest organizers DO read soapbox entries and sometimes even use them in their results write up for the contest.  N6GEO and I discovered this to be true when we read the 2014 RTTY RU contest result - they printed a quote right from the soapbox comments I wrote for our WP2/WQ6X 1st place (worldwide) finish in that event.  You can see this write up at the WQ6X.Info/WP2 page.

The CQP organizers went one step further by putting operator pictures from our 2013 CQP event page on the CQP home page for nearly 6 months in 2014.  How cool is that?!

Another point should be noted about log submissions.  Some contests (like All Asian) allow you to work stations on multiple bands and then submit the entire log as a single band entry.  Because 20 meters was my best band, for the 2013 All Asian phone contest I ended up submitting the log as a single band 20 meter entry which gave me a 1st place win for USA.
I truly did not see that coming.

While the log submission was a single band entry, the remaining QSOs in the log become a "check log" (making the contest log checking duties easier for the contest organizers), and I ended up with an unexpected 1st place certificate.

The above points are all things to consider when you engage in contest activities.  The bottom line is - ALWAYS SUBMIT A LOG - you never know when it will turn out to be a winner.

Do you dabble in radio contest activities?
Do YOU submit a log for every event?
If not...... WHY NOT?!

WQ6X test drives the 1000MP for 2015 10-meter contest

2015 marked one of the most dismal ARRL 10-meter contests I've ever been a part of.
Between work commitments, a hastily assembled 2nd story portable operation and horrible
space weather, I amassed only 3 dozen QSOs.

In order to make things easier to setup, I chose to run CW only.
To computer run CW I use a West Mountain Plug-N-Play unit for keying the Yaesu FT-1000MP.

Because I operated from a 2nd story hotel room, antenna-wise a Cobra dipole was draped 1/2
across the ceiling, and 1/2 hung out the window.  While the 1000MP was able to tune this dipole sometimes the tuner gears needed some grinding before a match could be worked out.   When
I later encountered problematic RFI floating around the room, that the tuner  took so long doesn't
now surprise me.  At one point I got a laser-point RF burn when my hand bumped one of the wires
on the 4:1 balun.  Indoor antennas always have some nice surprises.

While I ran only CW, I made use of the DUAL receive capability in the 1000MP by putting the 2nd receiver into phone band looking for area openings.  The 1000MP has excellent audio mixing abilities; one receiver in each air.  Because I ran as ASSISTED, the bandmap helped me locate new multipliers.

I was not able to setup before the contest and missed whatever band opening existed in the first 4 hours of the contest.  So in fact, I made the 1st QSO mid Saturday morning.


10-meter band conditions were poor
all weekend from my east bay location.

As it turns out, most Californians had
a similar experience.  During my hours on the air Europe and Africa never materialized; either in the receiver
or on the bandmap.  I saw many VK's ZL's and JA's in the bandmap but
never heard any of them. 


While I could work everyone I heard,  that reach was only as far as Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Bonaire.  Because the signals were often weak, I made extensive use of the Yaesu's contour control and pair of 250-hz filters to pop stations above the noise.


Due to a late morning band opening and afternoon work commitments I barely had time for 90 minutes of operation on Sunday.  When I arrived back at the hotel at 23:30z 10 meters was already gone for the day leaving me with a grand total of 36 QSOs in the log.


While this year's 10-meter contest was a ho-hummer (years past events have resulted in 1st place finishes from EB section), what was important is that the newly acquired
FT-1000MP was put through a number of difficult situations which needed to be tested.


 For example, the previous radio owner had installed a pair of 250 hz filters yet never enabled them via the menu system.  I was not aware these filters were even installed until I attempted to menu enable them and found that they existed and worked.

This year's 10-meter contest provided verification of the fact that solar cycle 24 is nearing its end.
While summertime brings increased 10-meter activity, the winter months ahead will find fewer/poorer band openings.  However just because 10 meters sounds dead does not mean there is no available activity.
If everybody is listening and no one is calling CQ, the band may appear to be dead.
When in doubt, put in a call yourself - you may be surprised at who returns that call.

During last year's 10 meter contest, while the band seemed rather quiet at 3:30z (7:30 pm local time),
a "CQ contest" flushed out over a dozen stations lurking about.  When you work a station calling
CQ contest at times like this, be sure to spot the station in one or more DX clusters.
Operators seeing it popped into their bandmap will then be more likely to spend
more time on the seemingly "dead" band - something to THINGK about.

Even with declining sunspot activity, 10 meters can be a lot of challenging fun.

Did you work this year's 10 meter contest?

Is WQ6X one of the rare QSOs in your log?

WQ6X runs 2015 ARRL 160 contest remotely

For the 2015 ARRL 160-Meter contest I was unable to make it to Fallbrook for an NX6T multi-OP GiG.  Evidently neither could anyone else, so Dennis N6KI opted to run solo.  He offered up STN#1 for me to run remote after 1am local time.  Unfortunately, Saturday morning, the remote hookup was out of commission which left me with 6 hours Sunday morning for WQ6X to make an appearance on 160 meters.

Equipment-wise, I ran a K3 radio thru a KPA-500 amplifier into a 160-dipole @ 70 feet broadside Northeast / Southwest.  Running the amplifer during a remote operation was a risk because if an operational fault were to occur with the amp not only would I not have 500 watts but would be running at the 30-watt drive level the K3 was set at. 
Luckily, that never happened.



Because I started at the tail end of the contest I  decided to spend my first operating hour running stations on 1.806.  Everyone was so desperate for new callsigns that they lined-up to work another RARE California station.  During that hour I handed out nearly 60 QSOs.

For those stations who heard me, if my operation seemed a bit erratic  it was due to internet latency disrupting an otherwise orderly operation.  A number of times the internet connection would deteriorate requiring me to quickly reestablish the connection; at which time the internet latency would drop to under 0.8 seconds.  Nearly a dozen function key macros allowed me to run as if I was using a keyer paddle at the radio itself.

When the contest ended at 7am,  I had managed 156 QSOs in 48 sections; not bad for under 6 hours of OP time.  While I win no awards for this operation it was fun to work 160 and even more exciting to run it remotely from the SF bay area.

Did you work the ARRL 160 GiG?
Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

WQ6X runs CQ WW CW Remotely from Nashville

This weekend's CQ WW contest was one of the uniquely WILD contest runs I have ever done.
What made this weekend different is that instead of a long drive to Fallbrook to operate the NX6T station (aka "Nashville"), I chose to run as WQ6X but REMOTELY from the NX6T location.
Friday evening I ran 80 & 40 meters from the  Pismo Beach Quality Inn.
Saturday evening and all day Sunday I operated from the Burbank Quality Inn.
As it turns out, while I was running STN#1 remotely STN#2 was being retrofitted with
"Version 2" of remote access.

With remote operation, internet latency is a primary concern.   Because of latency issues, had this been an
SSB contest I don't think it would
have worked.
Luckily, for CW, all transmission originations occurred on the NX6T
end of things; the only audio
transmitted was from the receiver.
 I typically experienced latency of approximately 0.5 - 0.8 seconds.


When it would slow down to 2 - 3 seconds, I would disconnect and reconnect to bring it all back.
Because the contest was function key driven, I didn't need to figure out how employ an external keying paddle.

For logging WinTest was the program of choice.
Like N1MM, function key macros allow 95+ of contest activity to be handled with no problem.
For unusual situations using Alt-K to type takes care of the rest.


The radio was an Elecraft K3 running barefoot into a C-31 Yagi for the upper bands, a 2-el 40 meter yagi and a semi inverted Vee for 80 meters.  Being that Fallbrook is already 900' above sea level, my low power signal held its own. 
I was able to bust major pileups on the 1st call over 70% of the time.   Rarely did I have to call more than 2 or 3 or more times.

I believe one thing that helped is WQ6X callsign recognition from other contests, including CQ WW from last month.
This is another reason to submit a log, not only to the contest hosts but also to SuperCheckPartial.Com.

My biggest beef this year is with stations like OL5T who call CQ and then wait 0.5 secs before calling the next CQ.  Not surprising they made few QSOs during that period because by the time we take 1-second to decide if we should press FK-4, they are calling CQ again.

I hear this kind of behavior in most major CW contests and wonder what the operators behind this are or are not thinking.  Frequently when I look up their callsigns I see that their QSO total is not in the top 10 - gee I wonder why?!

Another beef is a station who is running a frequency and disappears every minute or so.
I now realize that means the station is either running SO2-R or multiple transmitters with a lock-out mechanism.  If I were not running remote I would have done what I now do in these situations.
If the station makes no reply to 3 calls and does not call CQ I send "QRL?" twice.
If still no reply then the frequency is now mine and I begin calling CQ.
Should the station come back I remind them that they stopped using it so now I am.
On CW I simply send "QRL - QSY" and then continue running the frequency.

My main beef with the above scenario is that the bands are already crowded during contest periods.  Unless you are running Multi-2 or Multi-Multi, to hog 2 frequencies concurrently is a violation of contest ethics, or at least overall fairness.

Region wise I was disappointed in
the turn out from Oceania - in the
SSB contest they were everywhere.
Conversely, I was also surprised by the plethora of Canadian stations on the air.
While they are only 2 points for us Californians, they are an easy 2 points.
South America and European stations were everywhere this year.
As usual, I heard few stations from Africa but worked virtually everything
I heard.

QRM-wise, I was disappointed in the filter system of the K3 this weekend, making me wish I could have been running the FT-1000MP.  The rig control software for this operation didn't make it easy to invoke the DSP & shift facilities in the K3.  The 500hz filter seemed like a 1800hz filter in the presence of S9+ signals.  Oh well you can't have everything.

Amazingly, there was very little weird 40-meter QRM; no belches or VFO swoops or strange
RTTY - I didn't even hear the illegal South American SSB stations in the CW band.
What DiD stand out however was a BUZZER sound on 7004.72 @ 14:00z - WEIRD!

In total, I managed nearly 24 hours
of actual operating time.  I was able to make a presence on all bands (80 - 10 meters) when propagation permitted it.

Shortly after the contest the SFI went
on a decline and the atmospheric noise worsened.



During the contest because I had no way to rotate the antennas, any positional-related noise could not be eliminated by turning the antenna(s).

As you can see 15 meters was the top band for my operation, followed by 40, 20, 80 & 10. 
Zone-wise I worked some incredibly "rare" zones (such as Iceland - Zone 40), however overall I managed only
22 out of the 40 zones.


While getting setup for remote operation requires a lot of software downloads/installs, once done it seems to flow rather smoothly; although for the future extending the desktop onto an external monitor would make things a LoT easier.

So now, the question is: which contest do I run remote next?

Did you work the CQ WW 2015 CW contest?
Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?

WQ6X wins another Sweepstakes phone GiG from East Bay Section

For Sweepstakes phone this year, at the last minute I decided to run as Single-OP Assisted. 
In retrospect, I should have run the CW Sweepstakes as assisted.  Running a low power operation with marginal antennas, I need all the assistance I can get.  Unfortunately, having assistance is no guarantee of improved success.  Knowing what frequency a needed multiplier is on does no good if propagation doesn't support that path.



As I did in the CW Sweepstakes, operation was from KK6YRL's QTH in Concord, Ca.  I used the same HF2-V and Cobra Inverted Vee used in CW Sweepstakes. 
While the A & K solar indexes were extremely low,
the atmospheric noise was very noticeable; especially
with the HF2-V.

Using the IPO feature of the 1000MP compensates for the noise increase somewhat, while running the eDSP contour control through its settings is often enough to "pop" a voice up above the noise level long enough to copy the exchange information.

Compared to the Elecraft K3, this is much easier to accomplish quickly thanks to a contour control with
detents giving me tactile feedback, even when not
looking at the radio.

Because this was a voice contest,
I had to make a decision as to which microphone will produce the best results: a classic Electro Voice 664
or a Heil HC-4 headset.  Saturday morning during testing I happened across a station who suggested that
the EV-664 had more punch.

Listening to myself using the monitor facility of the FT-1000mp, I agree.
(In the past, the 664 did poorly with the TS-450, ICOM 7000 & FT-920 radios.)


Then again, thanks to the 1000MP's transmit audio eDSP & speech processor, my signal possessed an incredible punch, considering the power and antenna configuration.

On the receive end of things the eDSP contour facility brought unintelligible signals through,
time and again.  Comparing this facility with the Elecraft K3 equivalent is a no brainer; the
1000MP wins, without question.  Compared to the Yaesu, in my opinion the K3 Shift/Width
and DSP adjustments cannot quickly bring a signal through.  Unlike the K3, the 1000MP
uses real knobs to accomplish these functions.

One of the reasons I am now using the FT-1000MP is because of its dual-receive capability. 
While calling CQ on a given frequency I used the Yaesu's sub receiver to look for multipliers. 
Quickly switching VFOs allows me to work the station immediately or store it in the band map for calling later.  Because I was running as assisted, I was able to make use of internet spots to load up the bandmap for later S&P (Search & Pounce) action.  Then again, if I wait too long, the station may well have changed frequency.

In general, conditions were way down this year. 
I know it is a slow time when my contest CQ call is
answered by KP2, KH6, KP4 , VY1 & VY2 stations. 
Unfortunately, I was unable to work obviously easy
sections such as IN & SFL - wassup with that?

This year 73 sections marked my lowest multiplier total in years.  Because I worked everything that I heard, I attribute missing those 10 sessions to not being on the right bands at the right time.

One of the most important factors towards success in Sweepstakes is to know which bands to be on at what
time and whether to run a frequency or search and pounce.
Of course this is all influenced by the SFI numbers and actual propagation conditions, which this year changed suddenly numerous times.

Band-wise, 10 meters was almost a no-show and 75 meters wasn't much better.

Because this was a domestic contest it is not surprising that 40 meters yielded the largest contact total.

This made up for the < 100 QSOs on
20 & 15 meters.




This year, voice-keying was quite a challenge.  Attempting to run the laptop sound into the microphone line resulted in a weird feedback loop in which the CAT control polling showed up as
a ticking noise in the transmit audio.  To resolve that I used a separate laptop to play the .WAV files
for transmission.  Unfortunately I then had to key that laptop separately as there is no way to link the N1MM function keys across laptops.

QRM-wise, there was the usual bevy of tuner-uppers and microphone testers. 
There was a weird "WHOOSH"ing noise on 7187.78 and a number of Fft-Fft-Fft sounds
across the band.  There was also a visit from the Woodpecker radar.  Because we often
operate Sweepstakes above 7.200, we then get to dance around the numerous broadcast carriers.  Sometimes the best place to operate is zero-beat with a broadcast carrier that has weak audio.

This year I was surprised by the low turnout for QRP station operations
and even more surprised by almost
no school stations (using the "S" precedent).  Last year there were no school stations, so any school making
1 QSO would have won a wooden plaque - WAKE UP people!

For Sweepstakes 2015 I was amazed
at the number of East Bay stations on the air; nearly twice that of the CW Sweepstakes.  Despite the activity, it looks like I am the top station in the low power assisted category; altho we will not know for sure until next year.

You can view my 3830 website submission HERE.


 I was pleased to hear over a dozen
YL operators this year; YL's add variety to the operating experience.   On CW, unless we know the operators behind the callsign there is no way to determine YL's vs. OM's.


Did you participate in this year's Sweepstakes phone contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR log?

WQ6X joins NX6T for another JIDX contest win

As I did last year, I decided to join the team at NX6T for another JIDX GiG from Fallbrook.
Because JIDX is a Japanese only event we simply point the yagis more-or-less Northwest and forget them.
Now that we are out of daylight savings time, in California the SSB JIDX contest begins at 11pm local time.

En route to Fallbrook I made a side-trip to Inglewatts to gas up and refuel at Randy's Donuts.

Later in the afternoon I drove up the hill to the W6HCD site in time to assist with some last minute antenna tweaks and then catch a couple of hours sleep to make my 1st 2am operating stint a little easier.




I setup the FT-1000mp in the operator apartment next door to the shack with the idea that I  can play in the OK/OM contest Saturday nite between the time period when 20 meters disappears and 40 meters opens to Asia.  As it turns out, the 160-meter dipole I was to use for JIDX (by way of the FT-1000MP's awesome tuner) had a shorted balun.

Instead, I configured Station #1 into a CW setup and turned the 2-el yagi to Europe in order to work 30 OK/OM stations on 40 meters by way of an ACOM-2000 amplifier.  You can view my 3830 contest submission HERE.  In addition to OM/HA5RT, there were some interesting WPX-style callsigns like: OM200TC & OL90IARU.

Waiting for JA's to make the scene at 11:00z

 QRM-wise, both evenings we encountered the usual plethora of intentional belches, VFO swishes and tuner-uppers, along with high-speed RTTY on 7.135 - WTF is THAT all about?

For JIDX, as always we ran a multi-single operation employing three K3 radios; STNs 2&3 sharing a band (one calling CQ and one S&P'ing) while STN-1 looks for multipliers on another band.
The secret to JIDX high scores is to snag as many "other band" multipliers concurrent with running a frequency.

Behind the scenes we employ an orderly set of cables to connect the three K3 radios, two ACOM 2000 amplifiers, a pair of WX0B 6-pack switch boxes, a pair of rotor controls and 3 laptop computers with a bevy of display monitors.

Altho it looks like a morass of cables, there is a method to the madness in this behind the scenes layout.


While we don't use them much in JIDX, it's nice to know that Mr. Bill and the EASY Button are there for us if we wish.

Antenna-wise we ran a C-31 yagi on one mast and a 3-El Stepp-IR & 2-el 40-meter yagi on a 70-foot tower.


The tower also supports 80 & 160 meter dipoles, altho 160 doesn't happen in JIDX SSB.

  

Thanks to a total of 7 operators we ended with 593 QSOs which is almost 300 Q's shy of last year.  However because HG7T chose to play in the OK/OM contest instead of JIDX, we have a significant opportunity for another worldwide 1st place plaque.

We managed to work all prefectures that were on the air.  As usual, there was no activity from prefectures 47, 48 & 49.
You can view our 3830 score submission HERE.

This year, we made most of the contacts on 40 & 15 meters.
Due to poor space weather conditions, 10, 20 & 80 meters gave us very little action.

Did YOU play in the JIDX contest?
How many prefectures did YOU work?

WQ6X returns to East Bay for Sweepstakes 2015

For the 2015 CW November Sweepstakes I combined old with the new to create a unique operating experience.  For location I chose to again operate from the QTH of KK6YRL in Concord - East Bay (EBAY) section.


 Unlike previous years, for SS-2015 I brought a new radio into play; namely a Yaesu FT-1000MP.  The MP did an outstanding job.  It coupled nicely with a 4 year old Toshiba laptop running N1MM+.  For CW keying I used the RigBlaster Plug-n-Play unit; in the past it worked beautifully with the ICOM 7000, and now also with the 1000 MP.

I erected the HF2-V vertical using an umbrella stand as I have done in years past.  However this year I hoisted one of my Cobra dipoles up about 25 feet into a  tree making a shallow inverted Vee fashion to work on the high bands and offer an additional access to 80 & 40.
Considering the limited resources I had to work with these antennas worked amazingly well.

The coils on the HF2-V were not designed with the kind of portable operations I do on a fairly routine basis.  Over the years they have been "squished" out of perfect circular shape.  The MFJ 259 antenna analyzer allows me to "squeeze" the coils into proper shape for both 80 & 40.
The 1000MP supports 2 antenna inputs and an excellent auto-tuner allowing use of both antennas on any band; altho HF2-V performance was rather horrible on 15 & 10 meters.  While the HF2-V lowered the radiation angle & increased receiver gain, being a vertical the noise level went up also.  Using the IPO button helps somewhat.  Next in line, the eDSP contour control made all the difference.

Space weather wise the atmospheric noise was only a problem on the high bands.  Because Sweepstakes is a domestic contest, signal fading is not nearly the problem as experienced the weekend before when I single-OP'd the CQ WW contest from Fallbrook.
Then again, as the weekend progressed, the noise levels quietly crept up, looking theoretically rather horrible by contest end.


For this year's Sweepstakes I was elated over how "easy" it was to work sections like NH, VT, SC & MAR, and perplexed by the virtual lack of Nebraska (NE) as well as the NL and NT Canadian sections.  WV was back on the endangered list.
While 80 sections is rather good, in my opinion, it don't
count unless I make a clean sweep with all 83 sections.
Oh well, maybe next year for that one.

QRM-wise, on 40-meters the usual intentional belches
VFO sweeps and RTTY stations were not present . 
Because we don't normally run much below 7.025 the
South American SSB stations were not a problem this year.

WQ6X's Operating Hours by Band

My biggest complaint this year were high power stations that moved within 1 kc of my running a frequency to call CQ (after snagging a QSO from me first of course).  The entire weekend I heard less than a handful of stations ask QRZ? before jumping in on a frequency.


I have the F1 Search-Pounce key in N1MM+ programmed to automatically make that query.
I believe the REAL reason stations don't ask QRZ? is because operators like me
will reply QRL - QSY.

The bottom line is, if the area of the band you are looking
to run a frequency from is already crowded out, adding your kilowatt signal to that mess is actually a violation
of contest ethics.

Evidently, nobody seems to care about proper operating ethics and as a result just muscle their way through.
This brash attitude is one
of the reasons non-contest operators hate us so much.






Let us remember that sweepstakes is above all a traffic handling exercise - getting the message through w/o QRMing others in the process.  In the overall scheme of everyone getting the message through, it accomplishes little if I get the message through while QRMing you so that your message either can't be gotten through, or is erroneous.

Remember - QSOs don't count if the wrong information is put into the log.
Luckily for me, the 1000MP's roofing filters and eDSP reduced the QRM effects considerably;
however, never enough.

WQ6X in action w/assistance of Negra Modelo

While I didn't get the message through to all ARRL sections I did incredibly well for the ad hoc station I lashed together.  In years past using the TS-450, ICOM 7000 or an FT-920, I would pile on a bunch of filters in the audio line to process the sound towards being more QRM free; altho sometimes those DSPs would make the signals sound "weird" - relatively noise free, but weird.

Although I brought along the NIR-12 outboard DSP unit, thanks to the 1000MP's eDSP I never needed it.  I have a hunch that will be true for the Sweepstakes Phone GiG as well.

During my Sweepstakes preparation, my friend Dennis was in Oakland taking
(and passing) his Technician license exam.
He is now KK6YRL. 
Congratulations OM. 
Dennis is also the cameraman behind these blog photos.

Did YOU play in the 2015 CW SS contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?