For WQ6X: Stereo-SSB creates Quite a Saucy sensation for a Sensational Sweepstakes

To understand the impetus behind this Blog's exuberant title, you should understand a little
bit about a concept that I have overall embraced in many different ways - namely, the idea
of Stereo-audio in HF radiosport operations.  

Over the years I have extolled what to me are the obvious virtues of Stereo-Cw and to a much
lesser extent Stereo-SSB.  With the Sweepstakes phone GiG securely behind us, mentally replaying
the remote operations run as NX6T (from WA6TQT in Anza) and WQ6X (from KN6NBT in Ramona), operating conditions were such that making use of the Stereo-SSB approach became absolutely crucial.

WQ6X's operations always create stereo audio effects by way of a pair of 45 yr.-old analog Autek
QF-1A audio filters; one for each channel.:   LEFT = VFO-A  ---  RIGHT = VFO-B.  QF-1A filters
come equipped with an aux. notch filter built-in to the left side of the front panel.  For the most part,
the audio frequency settings on each unit were set once and then left largely unchanged throughout the entire 30-hour Sweepstakes event.

When Ssb stations would move-in on the run frequency (creating that annoying high-pitched bird-chatter), the aux. notch filters could reduce the grating intensity down to tolerable levels (if there can be any such thing).  Running a K3/0-mini (rather than the usual Yaesu FT-2000) left me w/o a Contour control - something I've come to rely on with the newer Yaesu transceivers.

Another approach was to adjust the shift control somewhat off to the left, accomplishing an equivalent of Yaesu's Contour - except that the Elecraft shift is VERY sharp on the end of the adjustment - it's easy to go too far and dramatically reduce receive levels.  Of course, it has been been well established that the Bestest audio filter is the aural circuits already wired into our brain.

From time to time, the background sound-shape would become monotonously annoying, requiring
an audio frequency adjustment in either or both of the QF-1A's, creating a different listening "feel"
to the operation.  It is clear to me that "shaping the audio" not only makes operating more fun, it also contributes significantly to fatigue-reduction.  Bottom-line: the stereo-audio concepts have many applications in the world of successful radiosport operation.

Prior to an upcoming Ssb contest, I spend time tuning the lo-bands in the evening (40 & 80)
and the high bands in the daytime simply listening to Ssb QSOs while playing around with the
QF-1A controls as I discover the proper settings for the different kinds of voices heard.  Practice tuning in each station, adjusting the filters in your transceiver in conjunction with these external filters.  For a REAL challenge, tune around on 20 or 15 meters looking for a pileup of stations after a RARE DX station.  As you twiddle those knobs, certain voice characteristics will sometimes jump right out of the otherwise unintelligible jumble.

Have YOU ever utilized stereo audio in radiosport operations or even ragchewing?

What Discoveries DiD YOU make?

WQ6X Embarks on another Ssb Sweepstakes

(NOTE: This Blog piece was written while enroute to W7AYT's operating QTH)

It is nearly difficult
to fathom that the Cw Sweepstakes is already
2-weeks past/passed
and JIDX is just another distant DX Memory, until April's epic JIDX Cw GiG.  

The Fall Contest Season is well under way with 6-Weeks left before the New Year. 
The year 2023 has encouraged a LoT of QRP Radiosport activity, that is for sure.

If you look back on the variety of Ssb Sweepstakes Events WQ6X has been a part of,
([CLICK HERE]) the goal is for 2023 to represent yet another interesting chapter in the World
of WQ6X-Sweepstakes.  The 2023 Ssb Sweepstakes is destined to be yet another dual-OP opportunity running WQ6X from Ramona, remotely from the SF East Bay area, as well as
remoting into our ANZA Superstation as NX6T.  

Running QRP Ssb GiGs can be a bit tedious; luckily, this is a domestic contest, with no real
language barriers - only Northern/Southern dialect differences.  This year, the operating challenge comes from the ARRL contest committee's restructuring of some of the Eastern Canadian section names; we survived it two weekends ago - this weekend should be easier.

Because it is so compact, I have repurposed an old laptop bag into service as a "GO-Bag"
for the K3/0-Mini and its related RRC-1258 Internet Interface Box, along with a repurposed
laptop power pack with a 2nd power plug spliced onto the original.

As it turns out, arriving @W7AYT's QTH found me EXHAUSTed, so I began
the afternoon with an afternoon nap be-4 "Installing" the K3/0-Mini installation
into the installation already installed in the Concord installation.

          ( STAY  TUNED  FOR  THE  RESULTS )

WQ6X Works a WEIRD JIDX & WAE Weekend

With the Sweepstakes Cw contest well behind us, the 2nd weekend is all about Europe and Japan; so-called Europe with the WAE (Worked All Europe) RTTY contest with the Japanese DX Ssb contest sandwiched in the middle.  RTTY, I run by way of the FT-2000 in the SF East Bay.  

For the JIDX contest, I put in 2-shifts for NX6T at 2am to 5am and then 6 to 10pm (both on Saturday) running the Anza station (WA6TQT) remotely from the bay area.  WQ6X ran a last-minute operation
on 40-meters before the contest ended.  Here is what I wrote about it in my WQ6X 3830-scores submission:

This TRULY was a last-minute WQ6X ad-HOC JIDX operation.

Running operator shifts for NX6T and numerous commitments in Alameda

kept me out of the OP-chair until waking up @11:00z reminded me that

WQ6X had yet to make a JIDX appearance.  Remembering that the best

openings to JA are after midnight, I settled in on 7131.31 for 90 mins.

Rude stations and purposeful RTTY QRM required I move the run

frequency +/- 100-cycles.

For this Blog entry, I have decided to let the soapbox comments tell much of the story.

...seemed like activity down as many times bands open with good sigs from JA 

but no takers of our CQs.  We missed Friday nite 80 Mtr action as new antenna

management software locked our 80 4 square in NE Azimuth plus knocked us

off air for 30 minutes. Lost another 2 hours due lack of operators at couple time

slots.  20 meters still doesn't yield many QS and 40 Qs were way down for us

this year.

Thanks to WA6TQT for use of great site. 

 73 Dennis N6KI

It would seem that NX6T took another worldwide 1st-place (ToP MoP as the Japanese call it) for
the multi-single category.  (K3EST @N6RO has advanced to the Multi-2 classification, leaving NX6T to dominate the multi-single category.)  Assuming that no one submits a SOSB-40 LoG, WQ6X takes
a 1st-place in that category - by default.

Because this was an Asian-focused weekend, it made sense to look for Russian beacon activity
on their ~7.038 cluster frequency.  The "F" beacon has been AWOLE in W6-land for nearly a year. 
As recent as Friday evening before JIDX, only the "K" beacon has been heard.  Sunday morning,
out of nowhere the "M" beacon makes a mediumly-strong appearance.

What Do We SaY about Cw Sweepstakes?

In a recent blog about CQP beginning with an idea to become a unique operating event, proper research (in advance of the contest event) enabled setting TWO county records: one for San Diego County and one for Contra Costa.  For November Sweepstakes Cw, having set a number of records for East Bay (EB) section, this year, the decision was made to focus on the San Diego (SDG) section and therefore the Southwest Division.

From research, the determination was made to run WQ6X as Single-OP Unlimited (U) QRP,
requiring the submission of a log score with 160+ QSOs for over 25-K points - this would be accomplished interspersed with three 8-hour operating shifts for NX6T running remote from WA6TQT's QTH on the hilltop in Anza California.

When it was all over (assuming no unexpected surprises), it would seem that WQ6X DiD indeed set a new record for the Southwestern ARRL Division.  NX6T placing 9th overall, while taking a resounding 1st-place for San Diego section, was thoroughly trounced by the W8TK team operating from Arizona (AZ) section.  Their unique QTH made for 15-meter band condx. we could only dream about. 
In Anza, from the NX6T point-of-view, 2nd-place is NO-place.

The BiG problem for the CW Sweepstakes weekend was the multitude of nuisance solar
storms that came and went - and came and went - at least they individually rather quick.
This is what I posted in the 3830 Score submission.

This is the 1st-ever WQ6X SS-Cw GiG running QRP from the S-West Division.

Researching Section/Division records it was noticed that the SOA QRP 

record for the Southwest Division was easily surpassed.  Accomplishing

that goal and putting in approximately 8-hours in the remote chair for 

NX6T made for an exciting Sweepstakes weekend.

Conditions on Saturday were quite good.  On Sunday the solar storms plagued

us creating noise everywhere and weird fast-fading of signals that fooled me

into thinking they were coming in from Europe, but were in fact N. America.

An unusual pain-in-the-ass was the DOZENS of purposely FAKE internet spots

being submitted to the 40-meter bandmaps on Sunday morning.  When I saw NX5T 

constantly being spotted on the NX6T run frequency, I knew it was NO accident.

Another issue is the deliberate FT8 signals in the Cw portions of the bands

when those signals NEVER occur during non-contest periods.  These IDIOTs

need grow-up and get a life.  If they spent as much time operating legitimately

as they do disrupting others, the bands would be a different world.

However, overall this weekend was a success and WQ6X seems to have

over-doubled the previous high-score record for the ARRL S-West Division.

While WQ6X only made 10th-place overall, evidently, the actual activity from the
Southwest division was quite lacking, making it possible to easily post a high score. 
Rest assured, someone will wake-up for 2024 and NoT let that happen again.

DiD YOU work the ARRL Cw Sweepstakes Contest?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Teaches HF and Runs CQ WW Ssb

Every 4th Saturday of the month, the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) hosts membership meeting; currently in person from the conference room @ the Oakland Yacht club on the waterfront
in Alameda.  For the September and October meetings, I gave a 2-part presentation on running HF radios, targeting in particular Technician class licensees as well as General/Extras for whom running on HF is new to them.

After the presentation I demonstrated running a Kenwood TS-590s on HF thru an LDG auto-tuner
into a V-shaped Buddi-pole antenna setup outside overlooking the yacht harbor.  The idea was to familiarize attendees with HF in order that we could put together a 5-hour November Sweepstakes multi-OP operation as K6QLF (Kilowatt Six Quebec London Foxtrot). 
Links to the talks can be found at ARCAHam.Org.

Radiosport-wise, I was just screwing around that weekend playing around with a number of station changes.  With so many things going on all weekend, the first QSO didn't happen until 02:50z on Sunday.  Luckily, the FT-2000 ran flawlessly into a 10-meter Long John yagi, which amazingly
enough, tuned AWEsomely on 15-meters as a rotatable dipole.  For 20 & 40 the usual 8JK Cobra dipoles, accomplished the job, although there was rampant RF all over the shack.

The solar storms that weekend sprayed noise all over the bands killing things Saturday evening,
so instead I made time for a 75-meter round table sked at 05:30z and then signed off for the night.  Conditions were only marginally better on Sunday - with the SFI only 135 (altho up from 122) with
A-Index=28 & K-Index=4 - Bummer Dewd!

Sunday morning, at 10:00z, looking for some sort of Asian opening on 40-meters every run frequency
I found was almost immediately BOMBARDED by RTTY QRM and what I call a "data burbler". 
At 11:00z the QRM came from what I call a "Data Spritzer" (that's what it sounded like), followed
up almost immediately by Bill-Bob and his brother Barney having their 6am ragchew up 1.2kc
from me - oblivious to the fact that I had been there for an hour already.  

Then, at 11:13z the7.160.60 run frequency became the National Tuneup Frequency - the NTF.

It certainly is a GooD thing I was just screwing around and not looking to submit any kind of a high score.  In that case I would want to run remote - 'cept I was too lazy to set any of that up; considering that I had missed over 1/2 of the contest operating period already.  The important CQ WW weekend
is the CW GiG, which happens after Thanksgiving.

DiD YOU work the CQ WW Ssb contest?

What WEIRDNESS DiD YOU encounter?

For WQ6X it's JARTS - Pacificon - JARTS

During recent weekends, WQ6X has been back in RTTY run-mode, which can ONLY happen

using the FT-2000 @W7AYT's QTH in the SF East Bay.  48-hour contests like the JARTS RTTY
affair offer-up numerous opportunities for band openings as well as plenty of time for things like
sleep and the Pacificon HamFest, just a few miles away in San Ramon.

Being a Japanese sponsored contest, the operating exchange is identical to the All-Asian GiGs in June and September: 5NN + AGE.  Not surprisingly, the mean-age for Japanese amateurs was 72+.  To make things more easily read visually WQ6X sent: 5NN (55) (55).  Enclosing the age in (parens) makes it easier to double-click JUST the number and paste it into the Age data-entry field of the N1MM+ logging software.

The JARTS radiosport contest brings several ways to earn contest points:

• 3-points each for QSOs on different continents
• Country Multipliers (M1)
• Prefix Multipliers (M2)

Running the N1MM+ software enables all 12 function key macros, while the RTTY decoder window provides another 18 more macros for less-used character strings.

When in frequency-run mode, I chose frequencies that are so unique that other OPS won't pick by accident (Ex: 14088.88, or 21.111.11, or 28092.92).  Therefore, when a station's CQ call lines up perfectly between the "goal posts" w/perfect decoding, I know that choice was intentional - NoT a FLUKE.

One of the ways to reduce RTTY congestion is to run from frequencies above the +100-Kc mark in the bands (Ex: 14.101+, 21.100+ & 28.100+).  These frequency areas not only often quieter QRM-wise, it often seems that atmospheric noise is less at these frequencies, altho admittedly this is a subjective observation.  Unfortunately, it doesn't occur to some operators
that there might be stations "above 100".

In between RTTY GiGs, I found a few hours to wander over to the PACIFICON Event held nearby
at the Marriot Hotel in San Ramon.  It's always a kick to meet up with friends old and new, see the vendors newest radios up-close and personal and schmooze with representatives of nearby radio clubs, being that I am President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA).

When it was all over WQ6X put in a reasonable showing - most notably on 10-emeters. 
Oh, how I love high SFI periods of the sunspot cycle - especially for RTTY operations.

DiD YOU work the JARTS RTTY contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR log?

WQ6X as W6R Runs a Routine QRP Triple-OP CQP

 

 

As I explained in the previous CQP Blog, it seems like from the beginning, CQP offers up an expansive playing field to play on (radiosport-wise) - each year I discover here-to-for undiscovered
(for me anyway) ways to play the CQP game.  When it's ALL over, the Question becomes, DiD the CQP contest overall adequately activate all 58 California counties [nearly] all of the time?

The original idea was to put together a club-run multi-single operation for the Amateur Radio
Club of Alameda (ARCA) using our club callsign - Kilowatt 6 Quebec London Foxtrot (K6QLF). 
Too many variables derailed running an event for 30 hours at the Oakland Yacht Club (in Alameda).  Scouting the CQP website, I happened onto an alternate approach to CQP-23 that eventually ended
up in a triple-OP operation for WQ6X, setting 2 county records in the process.

With careful planning, it was determined that a CQP triple-OP could be accomplished by:

• Putting in hours for NX6T (RIVE) remotely on BOTH Ssb and CW.
• Run remotely from Ramona as W6R (SDIE) assisted QRP on BOTH Ssb and CW.
• Run unassisted QRP as WQ6X (CCOS) on BOTH Ssb and CW.

The goal was to be part of a high score in ALL-3 operations, while at the same time

setting QRP county records for BOTH WQ6X and W6R - all from three different locations:
Anza, Concord and Ramona.  Because each QTH had its unique propagation characteristics,
the operating-strategy was different, NoT only for each time of day, but for each callsign
(I.e. different operating QTH).

When it was all over, those goals were ALL accomplished.  More than anything,
this is a testament to the importance of operating CQP with an advance plan,
physically documented, open to modification at any time.

Along the way, Space-WX effects on propagation were always a consideration.
The days leading up to CQP, the solar conflicts were many and varied. 
By Saturday, things had calmed down considerably.  

I guess really, the easiest way to describe things is to post the 3830
Soapbox comments for these GiG operations, beginning with W6R:

wOw!  What a Bizarre CQP weekend.

When the original plan to operate QRP from a sailboat in ALAM

county de-materialized, a triple-OP operation was created running

from W7AYT's QTH in Concord.

W6R (R=Ramona) was run QRP remotely, giving access to a Stepp-IR,

Shorty-40 and 75-meter Inv-Vee @ 55-feet on the hilltop in Ramona (SDIE).

In between, WQ6X made some QSOs also running QRP from CCOS and even put

in a Sunday early-morning shift for NX6T running remotely from Anza.

If calculations are correct, W6R set an SDIE county record for 

SO(A) QRP, while WQ6X set a CCOS county record for SO QRP.

The 3830 Soapbox comments for WQ6X are similar, yet different.

wOw!  What a Bizarre CQP weekend.

When the original plan to operate QRP from a sailboat in ALAM

county de-materialized, a triple-OP operation was created running

from W7AYT's QTH in Concord.

While the antenna system @W7AYT is marginal it was enough to make 

a significant presence from CCOS.  The band condx were AWEsome overall.

In between, I ran as W6R remotely running QRP from SDIE and even 

put in a Sunday early-morning shift for NX6T running remotely from Anza.

If calculations are correct, W6R set an SDIE county record for SO(A) QRP, 

while WQ6X set a CCOS county record for SO QRP.

N7NR submitted the CQP Score for NX6T and had this to say:

Our entry in CQP went very well thanks to the excellent efforts of all of our ops.  It helped that a majority of our ops took the time Friday evening to test out their internet connection and our logger with a few practice Qs during a ZOOM training session.

We invited a couple of guest ops this year -- KC7V and KL7SB -- both of whom helped us a bunch.  Thanks Mike and Steve.  In addition to all of the ops, I especially want to thank the station owner, John, WA6TQT, for allowing us to use his great station.  Also, John saved the day for us when the first shift op noticed a high SWR on 10m.  In less than an hour John was able to bypass the troublesome Stackmatch so that the 10m stack could be used for the remainder of the contest. 

THANKS JOHN!!

Finally, a huge thanks to all the callers who made this such a fun event.

73, Dave, N7NR

The bottom-line for me is that I managed CQP operations from 3 different California Counties and was a significant part of each of those operations scoring a 1st-place for their respective counties (RIVE, SDIE & CCOS) while setting a new county record for San Diego (SDIE) and Contra Costa (CCOS) counties.  How do we ToP THAT for CQP 24?  At this moment, I DUNNO.

DiD YOU work the California QSO Party (CQP)??

Is NX6T, W6R or WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Cobbles together a Weird 6-GiG October Radiosport weekend

On my blotter desk calendar, I've had the October 14th weekend filled w/shorthand notation
for some time, altho I had no idea what order the individual events would best produce a result. 
The only certainty was the fact that the MAKROTHEN RTTY GiG could only be run using the Yaesu FT-2000 installation @W7AYT's QTH in the SF East Bay.  The BIGGEST challenge was overcoming my laziness to make the drive to Concord Friday evening along w/morning commitments in Alameda
on Saturday - a compromise was indeed necessary.

Friday evening I remoted-in to Computer #2 in Concord; the laptop which controls the FT-2000 by way of a (Ukranian-made) RigExpert TI-5000, except, the RTTY transmit audio path somehow doesn't key the radio properly.  In the spirit of "When in Doubt CHEAT (but w/in the Rules), a patch-cable was run between the laptop headphone jack and the front-panel microphone plug into the FT-2000.

For general use of the Yaesu radio, the FT-2000RC software can be run remotely enabling
a crude form of knob-twiddling.  However, hew N1MM+ contest logger doesn't share the
COM port.  Until a com-port bridge is setup, either program can be run, but NoT BOTH together.

While there were six GiGs running that weekend, except MAKROTHEN, they all ran more-or-less
the same.  To make it easier to get the track of all the GiGs in context with one another we simply
need refer to the soapbox comments I posted on the 3830Scores website.

MAKROTHEN
Scheduling conflicts required that I run the FT-2000 in Concord
remotely from Alameda on Friday evening.  Saturday afternoon & early
Sunday morning, I was able to sit behind the radio and knob twiddle.
The space-WX was VERY accommodating for this GiG.  Working into EU
on 10-meters at 15:00z from California is QUITE a rarity - 'cept in radiosport.
The FT-2000 was run at around 70-watts into a droopy 8JK Cobra array
and a 3-element 10-m Long John yagi, which tunes nicely as a dipole
on 15-meters - Amazing.

OCDX - QRP
This was another ad-HOC QRP operation from Ramona.
The Elecraft K3/0-Mini ran a K3 in Ramona at 5-watts
in to a 3-element Stepp-IR yagi @55-ft on the hilltop.
Virtually all OC stations heard eventually heard WQ6X

PAQP - QRP
This year's PAQP made up for no-shows from SD and NV and dismal AZQP.
While I would've preferred MORE PA stations to play in this GiG having
access to another QP run on Sunday makes all the difference.
Altho only running QRP, it is safe to say that I was able to work
every PA station heard.  Using a 3-el Stepp-IR @55-feet certainly helped.
The internet spots for PA stations were more than plentiful.

NVQP - QRP
I have run many enjoyable NVQP events however, this year's NVQP GiG
was completely PATHETIC.  There were NO NV stations heard and NO NV
stations on the spotting nets.  I just happened to be looking for PA
stations (plenty of them) on 40-meters and stumbled onto W7ZR in Vegas.
Ramona is NEXT DOOR to Nevada, and yet - NOTHING  HuH?  W-E-I-R-D.

AZQP - QRP
This year's AZQP made up for no-shows from SD and NV.
While I would've preferred MORE AZ stations to play in
their own GiG, it is safe to say that while running QRP,
I was able to work every AZ station heard.
There were NO internet spots for AZ stations.

SDQP - QRP
I have run many enjoyable SDQP events - even one loading
the rain gutters on an Alameda house to work 20+ SD stations. 
However, this year's SDQP GiG was completely PATHETIC.
There were NO SD stations heard and NO SD stations on the spotting nets.
I just happened to be looking for PA stations (plenty of them) on 10-meters
and stumbled onto W0OJY.

DiD YOU work any of the above events.

HoW DiD it turn out for you?

WQ6X Survives another CQ Weird Wide DX RTTY Contest

I've been running SO many radiosport contest GiGs remotely recently that I had sorta-lost touch
with the ergonomic wonder that is the Yaesu FT-2000 transceiver setup @W7AYT's QTH in Concord (EB section).  Like its predecessor (the FT-1000mp), the transmit section can run full-power, full-duty RTTY, no problem; altho this weekend, 85-watts seemed to be the .707 point.

This was another ad-HOC CQ WW RTTY Contest from W7AYT's QTH in Concord.
In recent weeks, the WQ6X radio operation being run another, more bare-bones Windoze-7 system interfaced with a recently added RigExpert TI-5000 transceiver control unit.  Overall, the TI-5000
is an exceptional unit - EXCEPT the computer can't specifically trigger the unit in FSK and the Xmit audio (in AFSK) never makes it into the radio, necessitating a stereo patch-cable between the laptop headphone jack and the Xcvr mic socket.

With that ad-HOC arrangement in place, it was possible to limp thru the 48-hour contest weekend. 
The next frustration came from RTTY-RFI emanating from the ladder-line fed 8JK-Cobra array.

However, two often unacknowledged tools are in the background of the operation:
[KEYBOARD Macros] and RBN STATS.

Altho I was able to load the 3-el 10m yagi on 15-meters and briefly even on 20-meters,
(kinda like a gigantic BuddiPole), I was just playing around in the contest until I encountered
a 2nd-day-in-a-row occurrence of 10-meters being wide-open much of Saturday/Sunday. 
That is when I decided to make this a 10-meter only LoG submission.  Luckily, there was
a pipeline to JA Sunday afternoon.

Depending on how the CQ end-of-things classifies the submitted log,
WQ6X either took 1st-place or 2nd-place in a 10-meter QRP category. 

I'll let the contest committee sort that out later.

DiD YOU participate in the CQ W.W. RTTY Contest?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?