NAQP: 10 Fantastic Hours of EM-Comm Training

One of the reasons some operators dislike radiosport contesting is because 24-, 30- & 48-hour
events are JUST TOO LONG - Enter the North American QSO Party (NAQP).  NAQP events,
be they Cw, Ssb or RTTY are 12-hour events (Single-OP operators are allowed to operate 10 out
of those 12 hours).  To make it relatively easy (and more fun), the Exchange sent for each contact
is NAME and QTH (State or Province for NA stations), which makes it more personal (and therefore more satisfying).

To assuage the hate of us "pesky contesters" by Ragchewers, the contest rules dictate
that maximum power output be 100 watts or less and no use of internet spotting is allowed. 
Stations running more than 100-watts who submit a log will receive the BiG DQ (disqualified). 
This is appropriate as in the REAL-world access to amplifiers is often limited, if available at all.

And yet, the 3830 stats still indicate a dozen or more stations who ran high power (HP).

Unlike the 4-hour NA Sprint contests, we are allowed to run frequencies, during the entire event
if we wish.  When I remote in to join the NX6T multi-OP GiGs, we typically run frequencies, resorting to S&P when we run out of calling stations on a given band.  Multi-OP stations are allowed to run the entire 12-hours of the contest event.

Contest time period is from 18:00z to 06:00z the following UTC Day.  Single-OPs have the challenge of determining which 2-hours to NoT operate.  I used to start at 20:00z, allowing me to operate the last 2-hours on 160 & 80 meters.  The problem with that approach is that many stations shutdown operations at 04:00z.  My current strategy is often to begin at 18:30z, taking 30-minute breaks when solar storms hit, or the bands seem to quiet down for a while.  Because we are in an ascending solar flux, 10-meter and 15-meter openings are no longer rare, making available more daytime multipliers.

 

During summertime NAQP GiGs many years ago, I setup portable operations from hotel rooms in
the San Francisco East Bay area to simulate what would be needed to setup a last minute "stealth" operation.  (Notice the use of a classic "Slinky" antenna and an MFJ apartment antenna pointing out the 3rd-story window.)

Prior to the 2019 Field Day GiG, I wrote a Blog questioning whether or not radiosport
contesting qualifies as Emergency Preparedness Training.  [CLICK HERE] to read that.

Last year, in preparation for the California QSO Party (CQP) event from Alameda county, I wrote
a quick Blog on CQP as EM-Comm training.  [CLICK HERE] to read that Blog.  While I love CQP, NAQP with its Name/QTH exchange makes it more personable and therefore for many people more fun.  EM-Comm training SHOULD be fun - if NoT, then why invest the time?

Are YOU into EM-Comm activities.

Have you ever considered NAQP to be a valid training exercise?

When the summertime NAQP GiGs come around, check it out.

WQ6X Dabbles in the ARRL Dx Contest

It's hard to believe another ARRL DX Cw contest has come and gone.  Awhile back, I wrote a
Blast-from-the-Past Blog about this contest.  While this year's event was dramatically different
(It was a Dual-OP), there are some similarities to previous Cw DX contests.  As it turns out, even veteran contesters are often unaware of the fact that the ARRL Dx contest since its inception in the 1930's was to give amateurs from other countries the opportunity to work all (then) 48 states, as well as Canadian provinces.  (Even today, Alaska and Hawaii are considered DX countries rather than states for the purpose of this contest.)  In this GiG USA and Canada are the desired targets.

Being a Cw contest,
using Stereo-Cw fit
right in with the
operating goals.  

The audio cabling
is run such that either
the Yaesu FT-2000 or the Elecraft K3/0 is switchable into CH-4 of the Rockville mixer which feeds a pair
of QF-1A filters cascading into separate DSP filter combinations for each ear.  

 

Because I ran frequencies much of the time, using Stereo-Cw allow the calling stations to surround my listening experience rather than jumble atop of each other.

While the solar flux dropped into the low 90's during the contest period, the weekend was Space-WX free, altho bracketed by solar storms BE-4 and immediately afterwards.  A BiG surprise were the openings on 15 & 10 meters.  Europe from the SF East Bay area was sparse.  Several Scandinavian contacts were made on 15 meters (not 20 as is usual for the area) as is typical during lower SFI periods.  As it turns out, fewer contacts were made on 20-meters (27) in this contest than made
on 10-meters(54); then again, having a 3-el Long John yagi made all the difference.

Propagation-wise, there seemed to be a "signal tunnel" to South America and much of the Caribbean from the Concord location.  Throughout the day, many times 10-meters would sound like a noise-free yet DEAD band.  Calling CQ TEST w/the yagi pointed more-or-less to South America would suddenly yield a flood of calls from that direction, then go quiet again.  More stations were made from this direction on 40 & 80 than from OC/Asia; a reversal from previous ARRL DX GiGs.

In the ARRL DX Contest, for the exchange, WE send our State or Province, while DX stations send us their power level.  Therefore, WHY do Dx stations ask me for m my NR?  Technically, MY Nr is 599, while my STATE (ST) is CA.  If you read the rules, you KNOW what province a VE/VA/VO/VY station is in; therefore, no need to ask.

A noticeable problem was the spot-posting of incorrect callsigns.  While I can usually spot an incorrect callsign and delete it from the bandmap, it comes back after ~7 minutes later - Bummer Dewd.  Also confusing are the FT8 stations spotted as being on Cw, when in fact they aren't. 
The tip-off that they aren't really Cw is their listed frequency (usually up 75-khz from the bottom
of the band), when in fact the last legitimate Cw station is usually around 62-khz (max) from the bottom of the band.

For WQ6X, as a Single-OP, band focus was on 10 & 15 meters; 20 meters offered only poor
(at best) openings.  JA and Central America produced the most DX activity.  The BiG surprise
was the plethora of K6/KH7 stations, which from the Waste Coast are largely no-Brainers.

While the 8JK Cobra array produces 160-meter contacts in 160-meter contests, for this contest, nothing outside the continental USA was ever heard on "Top Band".

When it was ALL over with, WQ6X managed 193 QSOs in 30+ countries; not bad for just trying things out.

The BiG bands this year were 15-meters, 10-meters, 40-meters, 20-meters; with only a handful of contacts on 80-meters.

QSO-wise, overall, this year seemed to
lack activity, compared to the last 2 years, despite the fact that the SFI is WaY Higher than previous years - Go Figure.

The upside is that the major solar storm didn't plaster planet earth until just AFTER the contest event was ended.  Feeling-wise, it seems that solar storms always hit in the beginning or middle of weekend, NoT afterward.

For the most part, even the "worst" day (Space-Wx wise) with a higher-SFI is in general a GooD day (unless of course the K-Index is 6+).

 

DiD YOU work the ARRL Cw contest this year?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Works a Weirdly Wiley Weird Prefix (RTTY) Contest

All three WPX contests (RTTY, Ssb & Cw) have in common various flavors of weirdness; hence the "Weird Prefix" moniker.  For 2022, the RTTY GiG exemplifies what we can likely expect to occur in
the March (Ssb) and May (Cw) variants of the WPX concept, considering the considerable increase
in Solar Flux index (SFI) numbers between this time in 2021 (72?) and this last week (~114).

An increase in SFI numbers brings with it more frequent/reliable band openings on 10 & 15 meters.  With more bands open, opportunities to work some stations multiple times (across multiple bands) increases exponentially.  If you look at past WPX scores during the last two solar cycles, you will notice an increase in point scores, commensurate with where we were in the sunspot cycle at that time.  Unfortunately, an increase in SFI also means an increase in the frequency of solar storms. 
Although the frequency and severity of storms increase during an uptick of the SFI, the storms
seem to NoT last as long.

While I am BORED with including "5NN/599" as part of a contest exchange, I DO like the challenge
of accurately sending/receiving Serial #'s, finding it an interesting challenge to get it right every time.  There is of course operator controversy as to whether we should send "599" or "5NN" largely based historically on the 60+ yr. old fact that sending "599" with mechanical teletypes rather than sending "5NN" (requiring a shift-key sequence in the middle) is more efficient.  However, with today's digitally produced RTTY, the argument is superfluous.

• When you receive an exchange like "599 599 599" or "599 599", is this all a signal report,
  or is there a serial number in there somewhere.
• However, when I send "5NN 599 599" or "5NN 599", we can determine, with just a glance,
  what sets the [alleged] signal report apart from the Serial # to me, sending an extra byte or two of data is NBD (No BiG Deal) thanks to our 2-Ghz+ computers processing the RTTY data.

Instant visual readability is what is important.  Noise and fading can often obliterate a
shift-character (byte), making a group of characters look like numbers.  Example: "216X"
for "WQ6X".  Sending "5NN" (instead of "599") allows it to stand out as such (and therefore
be IGNORED).  I even wrote an entire Blog about this.  [CLICK HERE] to read it.

An advantage of RTTY over Cw is that I don't have to think in order to make sense out of what is
being sent.  Even if I "Zone out" for a few seconds, the data is still lingering in the RTTY decoder
RX-text window.  With Cw, if I miss it, I need to ask for a (time-consuming) repeat.  A downside
to RTTY is that during signal-fading (lacking an adequate S/N ratio) most decoders are unable
to translate the barely readable signals into anything but "garbage"; whereas, with Cw, my ears
can often eek out enough intelligence that my brain can deduce the rest.

In an attempt to solve the "RTTY fading problem", the antenna cabling was re-routed,
allowing a quick switch between the 8JK Cobra array and what I call a Cobra "Trapezoid".   
The 8JK array being a tuned-feeder system is routed through the MFJ-949E tuner, while the Cobra Trapezoid being coax fed, runs directly to the ANT-2 socket on the back of the FT-2000 transceiver. 
The antenna tuning unit of the radio "remembers" which antenna was selected on which band, alleviating my need to remember to switch to the proper antenna; an insignificant (yet crucially important) operator action.

Both evenings, after 07:00z was quite a disappointment; 20-m was NoT open on the Waste Coast, 40-meters was open to JA (altho there were only a handful of active stations), and 80-meters was technically wide-open but no one playing there except for a handful of already-worked W6/W7 stations with an occasional W8 or K3 popping thru, nearly S-9.  Having the weekend littered with solar storms was probably the contributing factor to poor nighttime propagation.

While the array of audio filters and DSP units at the station work extremely well for Stereo-Cw/Ssb, until I figure a way to intercept the RX-audio line to/from the RigExpert decoder unit, the external filters simply make things SOUND more appealing (psychologically) in the wireless headset, currently they do nothing to improve actual signal decoding.

However, with the FT-2000, most of the DSP filter action occurs in the I-F sections of the transceiver, rather than in the AF stages (as implemented in the older FT-1000mp).  The FT-2000 includes a variable Contour control (the MP offered only 4 switch-selected settings), along with an incredibly deep-notched Manual Notch Filter (MNF).  The Shift/Width controls on the 2000 are far more intuitive than the previous radios, providing a graphical representation of "where" both knobs are set to.

Also unique to the FT-2000 is the front-end VRF filter (essentially a pre-selector) allowing signal peaking or de-emphasizing at the RX front-end, allowing for a significant improvement of the transceiver's dynamic-range.  Then again, turning on the IPO (which turns OFF the internal
front-end pre-amps) or adding 6/12/18 dB of front-end attenuation can resolve many front-end overload situations.

All of these features transform the FT-2000 transceiver into an obviously improved candidate for exemplar RTTY operation, beyond all the FT-1000mp provided WQ6X operations from 6+ years.  Both radios run full-duty RTTY @100-watts, showing only a (nearly unnoticeable) increase in chassis heat - both radios built the chassis around a heatsink.  In contrast, the ICOM-7000 (a backup radio used mainly for SWL'ing) can only run RTTY at 50-watts max. w/o overheating.

In numerous contest write-ups over the years, I've described various forms of intentional QRM encountered; especially on 40-meters, after 07:00z.  In this year's WPX RTTY contest the QRM
came mainly from stations who specifically invade the run frequency and [blindly] start calling CQ. 
I purposely choose "oddball" frequencies, so when a station zero-beats me (exactly down to the last-Hz), I KNOW it was intentional, not accidental.  If the CQ'er were off by (let's say) 50-200hz, it could be seen as "coincidentally accidental".  Otherwise (and more likely), intentionally chosen.  I have a special RTTY decoder Button [QRL] that sends "QRL / PSE QSY".  After sending that 3-times, if the IDIOT persists, I have another decoder Button [LID] that sends "QRL / QSY - LiD".   That usually results in a clear calling frequency.

On the flip side, I encountered stations with S-9 signals busily work other stations.  As soon as
I call-in they stop transmitting, ignoring me and any other callers on the frequency.  After making 5 calls, if there is no response, I press the [QRL?] decoder Button "QRL? QRL? QRL?" 3-times.  If still no response, I consider the frequency open and call CQ; often to have the station return and send ME "QRL/QSY".  HuH?  The TRUTH is the station was busy doing other things (possibly SO2R) and lost the frequency.

When it was all over, I DiD what I always do after EVERY radiosport contest:

• Snapshot Screen stats for the WQ6X Contest Blog
• Create a CABRILLO .Log file.
• Post a score write-up on the 3830Scores Website.
• Submit the Cabrillo file to the contest host.
• Write-up the nuances of what happened for WQ6X.Blogspot.com

With the WPX GiG over a week behind us, it is safe to assume that all relevant LoGs have been submitted and their scores posted to the 3830Scores.com, the posted results would seem to indicate:

- 35th place Overall

- 27th place for North America

- 23rd place for USA

-  2nd place for the Left Coast (W6 / CA)

NoT BaD for just screwing around.

DiD YOU work the WPX (Weird Prefix) Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Works a Wily 4-Contest Weekend

Technically, this was the first real multi-contest weekend for 2022.  And technically, it should have been a 5 contest weekend 'cept Vermont could not be heard in the SF East Bay during the 48 hours of their QSO Party.  What good is having a QSO party that is a wonderfully 48-hours long, when no one in your state is playing on the radio - the mind boggles.  The other GiGs showed some activity,
to some extent:

• [X] - The Vermont QSO Party
  
• [X] - The XE RTTY Contest
  
• [X] - The Minnesota QSO Party (MNQP)
  
• [X] - The British Columbia QSO Party (BCQP)
  
• [X] - The North American SPRINT

 

All the above bitching aside, a major goal for radiosport activity in 2022 is to re-Learn the Art
of contest operating by way of a recently acquired Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver (a 2009 model). 
With the FT-2000, much of the IF filtering and contouring is done by way of a built-in DSP facility. 
This brings more operator options for QRM control, and, increases slightly the operating complexity,
being used in conjunction w/all of the external audio filters and DSP units.

By the end of 2022, having run 70 - 100+ contests, I will have all the interaction-nuances figured out; along with a functionally complete switching system supporting externally-processed dual-RX audio.  While a bit cumbersome, the WQ6X approach to audio is a knob-twiddlers paradise.

Technically, for this weekend, the myriad of filters was a bit under-utilized being that the major focus throughout the weekend was the XE RTTY contest; altho oddly enuf their website homepage does NoT reflect the 2022 change from 24 to 36 hours.  Because the RigExpert Plus receives received audio before all the external audio filters, no WQ6X audio processing on these signals is actually possible - Bummer Dewd.

A side-project for this year is to discover a way to intercept the RigExpert RX-audio path. 
RTTY demodulation accomplished using software algorithms is NoT all that different from running
the built-in DSP chips found in today's mid-tier (and above) transceivers; the main difference being
code execution speed.  With an additional 12 hours to play RTTY, I took the opportunity to explore
yet another variation of the world of Stereo-audio: namely Stereo-RTTY, which will be written up later.

The XE RTTY contest GiG begins at 12:00z, which is 4am Pacific time.  Approximately 2 hours spent S&P'ing and calling "CQ XE Test" on 40 & 80 meters.  At 14:00, I enjoyed the luxury of 2 more hours sleep.

While it is true that band condx. were far from optimal, I was expecting a far better turnout for the BCQP and the MNQP; especially considering that Vermont (VT) was an absolute no-show in the
SF East Bay (EB) area.  After posting my 3830 Scores last night, this afternoon I received a reply from contest coordinator Rebecca VA7BEC:

Your log has been received. I have you in the single-op low-power CW category.

Perhaps the reason you didn’t find any stations on 15 or 20 meters was because 
you weren’t listening. There were lots of VE7/VA7s on the air, particularly CW operators, and they had steady pileups on 10, 15 and 20 and later in the day 40 and 80. And from CA, you should have been able to hear the many operators on Vancouver Island calling CQ. But then, if you were playing in the other parties and XE RTTY, maybe you just had bad timing. 

What a shame. There were so many stations and so many wonderful 
multipliers waiting for you. 

73
Rebecca VA7BEC
BCQP Contest Coordinator

I really appreciate Rebecca contacting me directly and setting me straight on what I missed out
on from British Columbia. It's important to remember that this QTH is largely a receive signal vortex. Quite possibly, the REAL answer woulda been to Call "CQ BC de WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA" attracting the S&P OP's in British Columbia. As I often say: "Maybe Next Year!".

Now the BiG question is what wassup with the MNQP and VTQP.  Looking up the 3830 score submissions, it would seem that there was SOME activity in Vermont, altho there were 10x the number of outside of Vermont callers for each VT station on the air.

For me, the MNQP was a 4-QSO disappointment.  Then again, with only 14 hours of actual OP-time allotted for the entire event, stations on the "Left" Coast (as well as Hawaii) have very little access to MINN on the low[er] bands (160 & 80 meters).  At least the BCQP gives us a 2nd-chance to work them on Sunday.

The NA Sprint contest being a 4-hour "Quickie" comes with unique challenges in that
no operator is allowed to dominate a frequency, making it their exclusive RUN frequency. 
In the Sprint there are NO run frequencies, we simply engage in a unique form of Searching
and Pouncing (S&P'ing).

The best way to explain how last weekend's SPRINT went overall is to include here a copy
of the comments I posted when submitting WQ6X's 3830 Scores entry for NA SPRINT.

While this was NoT my 1st-ever Sprint, it WAS the 1st-time I ran the Sprint using a newly acquired Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver. While I had a lot of fun, I was frustrated by the stations who need to STFD (Slow Down - QRS) and the OPs who would start sending their exchange BEFORE I was done transmitting. By the time I am finished transmitting they have already sent the number, which now requires a REPEAT. The WASTED ~6 seconds would have been UNNECESSARY if they had waited 1.2 seconds for me to finish. WAKE UP People.
I KNOW it's a SPRINT, but when you send too fast I have to ask for a repeat, slowing us ALL down.

As for the XE RTTY contest, while I would've liked to hear more stations here in the East Bay,
there were many OPs who managed to log over 1,000 contacts during the 36 hours of this contest.  While the "5NN" needs to be exorcised from the exchange and replaced with something else (like the operator's name), overall this RTTY is a lot of fun (as RTTY GiGs go), making me wish they would run it twice a year, like the NAQP RTTY events are done.

Despite all of my bitching about operator turnout, this last contest weekend added 4 contests to the
WQ6X 2022 radiosport database and gave the FT-2000 transceiver a good workout.  Like the older FT-1000mp, the FT-2000 runs 100-watt full-duty RTTY w/o generating any unnecessary heat from
the PA amplifier area of the radio.

DiD YOU participate in any of the above contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wanders Wonderingly thru the CQ-160 Cw contest

The last weekend in January brings us the CQ 160-meter Cw contest.  As I have been doing for some time now, this weekend was another Dual-OP operation.   My weekend goal was to put in OP-time on a couple of 11:30 - 4am shifts with NX6T remotely to our setup @WA6TQT's QTH in Anza, while testing a 20-watt/ch amplifier in the audio line, in addition to eeking what few contacts I could using the tuned 8JK Cobra dipole array.

I am often amazed that the Cobra array works on 80-meters; on 160, working any stations outside
the SF East Bay area seems like a miracle.  Amazingly, calling "CQ Test" yielded callers, altho overall, band condx. SUCKED, confirmed by comments from other operators East of Colorado.  While the Solar Flux (SFI) was UP, this weekend's CQ-160 Cw contest benefited very little from that fact; probably because of the attendant solar storms (K-Index = 4) along with factors that are beyond
my figuring when it comes to 160 meters.

Because this was a Cw contest, the Stereo-Cw concept was given a significant performance evaluation w/the recently acquired Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver.  While quite similar to the earlier
FT-1000mp, with most of the DSP circuits now moved "forward" to the IF stages, the external audio circuits become even more effective.

2022 brings a considerably increasing Solar Flux Index (SFI).  It has been hovering in the 120's all week.  Unfortunately, as the SFI increases, so does the propensity for sharp (but short) solar storms.  The upside to the downside is that as long as the K-Index is < 5, 160 (and sometimes 80) meters are immune from the effects of geo-magnetic storms.

A problem with single-band contests (like those for 160 or 10 meters) is BOREDOM.  When you have worked everybody (or at least everybody you can hear) there is no other band(s) to switch to; maybe the answer is to invest in some extra sleep instead,

When it was all over, the 3830 stats make it clear that DX stations (mostly EU) had a considerable advantage over the rest.  NX6T took 18th-place for North America, 16th-place for USA 2nd-place for CA (W6) and 1st-place for the Southwest USA.  When you consider we were working with a 2-legged 3-Square vertical, it's amazing we did as well as we did.

 

 

DiD YOU work the CQ 160-meter Cw contest?

Is NX6T or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Wonders Aloud about Russian Military Beacons - Part 3

While I have posted several Blogs regarding the subject of Russian Military Beacons (and the ones on ~7.039 in particular) every radiosport event with an Asian component to it brings about NEW questions regarding what these beacons are REALLY about and how we 40-meter radiosport operators can take advantage of the propagation information they provide.

Most 40-meter Cw operators have no
idea their band has been invaded for over 50 years with these Russian beacons. 
At first, I was somewhat incensed by the invasion.  After having thought it through,
it occurred to me these beacons are actually doing us a favor in a way; the hijack of one lone frequency is hardly anything to get worked up about.

The following WQ6X Contest Blogs have been written about Military Beacons. 
Included in these posts are:

• [X] - Beacon Tracking saves WQ6X from drowning in 2018 SEA NET
• [X] - WQ6X operations: the Weekend of BEACONS and RTTY
• [X] - Russian Letter Beacons Rescue 40 meters
• [X] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons?
• [X] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

I wrote the last Blog in May (2021) after having noticed a number on anomalies with the "K" beacon. 
Since then, I have been monitoring the 7.039 beacons during virtually every contest weekend,
whether I run the events from Anza OR from Concord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I took off on another SDR receiver search for letter beacons, partially motivated by the seemingly lengthy disappearance of the "K" (Kamchatsky) beacon in far-east Asia on ~7.039.

It occurred to me that while the rest of the amateur bands sport no Russian beacons inside their boundaries (I've never heard the alleged beacons on 3.594), some of the other beacons are close enough in proximity to amateur bands that they can serve as reasonable propagation predictors. 
For Example:

•   4.557~ ===> 75m Ssb
•   7.508~ ===> 40m Ssb
• 10.871~ ===> 30m
  
• 13.527~ ===> 20m Cw
• 16.331~ ===> 17m
• 20.047~ ===> 15m
  

Because the Russian beacons transmit every second of every day, we don't need a beacon tracking program per se' (like the WQ6X Beacon Tracker).  All we need is to put a receiver on one-or-more of those frequencies to get an idea of what areas in Europe are open to the area of the receiving station.

During the week prior to 2021 Field Day, I spent some hours going through the WEB SDR list looking for receivers that can help to locate the various letter beacons around Europe.  Also useful is the ENIGMA 2000 Website.  While some beacons have NoT changed over the years, others have continued to "evolve" (if that's the correct descriptor) and are often heard doing "strange" things
from time to time.

 As of January 2022, some interesting developments have occurred in the Russian Beacon world; at least, on the Eastern Asian front.  Listening several evenings from the West coast (WA6TQT's QTH and WQ6X @W7AYT), it would seem that the "F" and "M" beacons have not been active for several weeks.  

The long-AWOL "K" is the only one of the three eastern beacons that is active.  Instead of a "- . -" ("K") every 1 - 2 seconds, currently it sends "- . -  - . -  - . -  - . -" ("K" "K" "K" "K") and then pauses briefly before repeating the sequence.  Why the difference in transmit sequence?  I have no clue.
I simply observe what is.

An interesting way to flush out the TRUTH about Russian beacon activity is by making use of Software Defined Receivers (SDR's) around the world.  I am about to embark on just such an experiment and will report my findings in an upcoming Blog.

Do you make use of the Russian military beacons?

IF so, what have YOU Discovered?

WQ6X runs another NAQP Ssb contest: ad-HOC All the Way

While the NAQP GiGs ARE a lot of fun, more importantly, they serve as a way of live-testing
the latest equipment configuration at the WQ6X portable operation with the Concord location.

For the January 2022 club meeting of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda, as club president I am often called upon to make presentations of interest to club members.  Wrapping it up JUST in time
for the NAQP GiG, the club presentation was entitled: "WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE in the NORTH AMERICAN QSO PARTY".  (LooK for an upcoming YouTube video of this presentation.)

While the majority of club members are VHF operators, many are in fact interested in making a transition to HF when they upgrade their license in the near future.  They are already running traffic nets each week on VHF/UHF.  The club presentation was on how you can translate traffic handling skills into radiosport frequency running.

As part of the presentation I shared links with some of the past Blogs I have written on the subject
of the NAQP GiGs:

• [X] - Blast from the Past: NAQP Ssb Contest
  
• [X] - WQ6X's August 2020 NAQP Ssb Contest operation
  
• [X] - WQ6X Dual-OP Jan-21 NAQP Ssb Contest
  
• [X] - WQ6X Works another Weird Dual-OP
  

 From the video archives, this 2014 video showcases a couple of minutes of my 2014 onsite operation  @NX6T (then in Fallbrook). ([CLICK HERE])

A major advantage of the Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver over the previous FT-1000mp is the built-in
DVK (Digital Voice Keyer) facility in the newer radio w/o the need for an external memory/control unit, as is needed with the 1000mp.  Theoretically, N1MM should be able to play each of the recorded messages in the Yaesu.  The F2 message ("This is Ron in California") played perfectly, while the
F1-CQ message was chopped mid-way, altho pressing the F1 key on the radio called CQ perfectly.

During last weekend's NAQP Cw Contest [X] the Stereo Cw concept was confirmed using the FT-2000.  For this weekend one of the operational goals was to test-run the Stereo Ssb concept
(I wrote about last year) with the newer Yaesu radio.  While that test was a success, unfortunately,
a last-minute mic audio cabling problem kept me out of a remote OP position w/NX6T.

When it was all over, N1MM declares that WQ6X ran 7 hours and 37 minutes of actual OP time, which includes the hour I spent lounging Saturday evening "waiting for the bands to truly open up", which they truly DiD NoT - Oh WAIL.

It was of course AFTER the contest (as shown above) that the Space-WX finally settled down. 
If I had been paying attention, I coulda run the BARTG Sprint RTTY contest in addition to the NAQP GiG.  Then again, as I always say: "there is ALWAYS Next Year".

It would seem that NX6T took 3rd place overall in the Multi-2 category and 1st-place for San Diego, California and points West of the Mississippi - well done y'all; which I coulda put some OP-time in your GiG.  Next up for NX6T is the 160 contest; at least I can join THAT one.

DiD YOU play around in the NAQP Ssb contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Opens 2022 Cw Contest Season as a Dual-OP

With the RTTY Roundup contest behind me, it was time to restart the 2022 Cw contest season by running a Dual-OP operation from W7AYT's QTH in Concord.  This year, the FT-1000mp has been moved "upstairs" awaiting the looking-into of running contests by way of some SO2-R (Single-OP 2-Radios) configuration.

Meanwhile, the newly-acquired Yaesu FT-2000 was given it's 1st real CW contest action, along
with running a couple of 2-hour shifts remotely with NX6T from our newest Super Station setup
at WA6TQT's QTH in Anza (So. California).  A couple of antenna towers in Anza were recently compromised by in-climate weather, requiring that we work our magic around the ways things currently are.  Because NAQP GiG's are 100-watt (max.) contest operations, the "strain" on
the antenna system is minimal at worst.

While the FT-1000mp runs Cw contests quite nicely, the FT-2000 color screen and analogue S-meter make for a more aesthetically enjoyable experience.  As I do with any transceiver brought into service at the Concord location, the radio memories were "carved up" into groups, always beginning with the WWV/WWVH/CHU standard frequencies, followed by the NCDXF Beacon frequencies and a number of 40/75 meter traffic net frequencies.  These frequencies allow a quick propagation check across the HF spectrum - useful when contemplating sudden/quick band changes in the middle of a radiosport contest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the NAQP GiG is over, it would seem that NX6T scored 8th out of 16 worldwide,
took a 5th place for USA/NA and a 1st-Place for the SDG section.

For WQ6X, just showing up with the FT-2000 is all I was looking for. 
That much was certainly accomplished.

DiD YOU participate in the NAQP Cw Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Rides another RTTY Roundup: but DIFFERENTLY

"Similar but Different" is the phrase I would use to describe the first ARRL radiosport
GiG of the 2022 contest year.  Differences include (and are not limited to):

• 
  
  SFI of 103+ throughout the weekend; unfortunately accompanied by several solar storms.
• While 10-meters qualified as DEAD (in all respects), 3 (count-em, 3) Brazilian stations poked right thru the nothingness, resulting in PERFECT decode every time.
• A newly acquired late-model Yaesu FT-2000 slipped seamlessly into the operating position, supplanting the FT-1000mp which has been the mainstay of my Concord
  portable operation (for nearly 6 years), activating the East Bay (EB) section.

Because the FT-2000 tuner seems to use a slower (yet more deliberate) tuning algorithm
(compared to the FT-1000mp), it is more "forgiving", yet more thorough, which is to be expected
for a transceiver 2-levels up from the 1000mp.

Friday evening, I determined the latest and greatest antenna tuner settings for the MFJ 949 (300w) tuner, after which the FT-2000 completed the tuning process, storing those settings in the tuner's memory "scratch pad".  The only time the Yaesu could NoT tune properly was when it was discovered (luckily early enough) the short cable connecting the ANT #1 jack to the tuner was in fact defective.  

Additionally, stray-RFI (only on RTTY) was created by the Electro Voice EV-664 mic, plugged into
the radio's front panel mic connector.  Not needing to use Ssb until after the RTTY RU, the cable
was disconnected, lying forlornly on the operating desk.  To monitor the actual transmitted signal,
a TECSUN PL-600 Sw is always nearby.  Setting the antenna attenuator to the lowest "LOCAL" setting is enough to reduce overload.  While the BFO in the PL-600 can hardly be considered
"stable", use of the receiver takes the MONI feature of the FT-2000 to the next level.

While the older FT-1000mp does an adequate job running 100-watt RTTY, the FT-2000 takes everything to the next level.  Simply moving most of the DSP logic from the AF stage to a late IF stage makes all the difference.  Luckily, the cables running from the RIG-EXPERT PLUS to the FT-1000mp easily transferred over to the FT-2000 seamlessly.  Unlike the 1000mp which had a baud rate fixed
at 4800, the FT-2000 allows selecting virtually any baud rate (by way of an easily accessible menu setting); 19.2k seems to work best with the WINDOZE-7 operating system I utilize.

Useful operating time was difficult to secure throughout the weekend.  I was either sharing OP-time with a Toastmasters Leadership (TLI) training presentation or dealing with the effects of a pair of solar storms throughout the weekend, making the OP-time all but worthless.  While I managed 3 Brazilian contacts on 10-meters, that was it for WQ6X on 10; whereas WN6K (Fallbrook) managed 49 QSOs on 10, but No DX - GO Figure.

On a slightly different focus, looking for RTTY stations on 40-meters, without thinking about it in advance, I tuned thru 7038.7 encountering the Russian military "K" beacon.  I've written about these beacons BE-4, noting that of the 3 far east beacons ("F", "M" and "K") in the last year the "K" beacon seemed to be AWOL. c This weekend, of the 3, ONLY the "K" beacon was ever heard.  A 3rd Blog on the military beacons has been waiting patiently to be finished.  The latest "K" beacon anomaly will make the perfect ending to that Blog post.

As always happens with the RTTY RU, the 30-hour ending at 00:00z seems to happen way
too quickly.  The two solar storms cheated us out of precious OP-time, I so desperately wanted
a DO-over; or should I say, an extension.  Of course, that's not how things work.

When it was all over, WQ6X logged 244 RTTY stations on all 5 HF RTTY bands.

DiD YOU work the 2022 ARRL RTTY Roundup contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR Log?