A Dozen+ ways to Say: "You Should NoT Call Me!"

As I look back on the 2022 Cinco-de-Contest weekend, I am reminded that during the last
5 years of Blog posting, I have discussed the issue of "why you should NoT call me" 9 times. 
While stations calling me when they should NoT is still frustrating, increasingly I just shake
my head in amazement.

Here is a COLLAGE of things I have said about this topic.

If it all looks jumbled, I guess in a way it SHOULD; reflecting the incredulous confusion
over how people sometimes JUST don't GeT It.

From 08/7/2019:

• If I send "CQ SS" and you don't know what the "SS" means, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.  If you have read the Sweepstakes rules, then you know EXACTLY the six pieces of information I am expecting; if not, ask.  Otherwise, DO NOT CALL ME.
• If you hear me calling "CQ California QSO Party" (or "CQ CQP") and you
  are looking for a 20-minute ragchew, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.
  If you have read the CQP rules, then you know that what I am looking for is
  a QSO # and what State/Province you are located in - that is all I need and want. 
  I could care less how much power you are running, what kind of antenna you are feeding into, what the weather is like, what you had for dinner, or what kind of beagle dog you have.  (I may be interested in those things AFTER the contest, but for now, if you can't give me the required CQP information, then, DO NOT CALL ME.)

Bottom-Line:
If you do not know the contest rules, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME - read the contest
rules first and THEN call me when you know how the game is played.

From 09/7/2019:

I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA"
Later I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/6"
From those CQ's I received calls from MO, 2 W7's, a K9, a WB8, a K6 and a KG5 - NONE
of them in CO (Colorado).

Then I defined the F-10 key to send  "I wrk Colorado Only"
Based on this I ask the following Questions:

• Do You know what "COQP" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know the rules for the COQP?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/CA" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/6" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that "WQ6X/CA" or "WQ6X/6" means I am in California and NoT Colorado?  If so, then in the COQP contest, YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "I wrk Colorado Only" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT 
  CALL ME.
• Do You know what it means to listen before responding to a COQP contest call? 
  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that when I  send "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA" that I am NoT looking to ragchew?  If so, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.

While I understand that you may be looking to work a WQ6 station, or a station in California, the Colorado QSO party is NoT the time to do that; there are other California stations making a general CQ call - call them instead.

 

From 10/21/2019:

For the AZQP, because there were so few Arizona stations calling CQ, I found a frequency
and called: CQ AZ de NX6T, NX6T/Ca.  Instead of calls from AZ stations, I received calls from:
KY, GA, TN, TX, UT & W6.  HuH?  Per the Why You probably should not call me BLOG, if you don't know what "CQ AZ" or "NX6T/Ca" means, then you should not call me.  If I send "AZ stations only",
unless you are in AZ, you should not call me. 

In many state QSO parties this year many stations with call prefixes not reflecting the state were operating from were calling CQ, making it sound as if they were NoT in that state but looking for stations in that state.  When I asked "are you in AZ/PA/GA", they would say "Yes".  I shouldn't have
to ask - you should make it clear from the beginning.  For example, if you ARE in Arizona and your callsign does not make that clear, then  add the county to your callsign, such as: WQ6X/MCP or NX6T/PNO.

From 2/20/2020: 

As the contest proceeded, either out of boredom or chronic I-Don't-have-a-Clueness, stateside
and even VA7 stations were calling me.  HuH? Dewd, this is a DX contest, go LooK for DX. 
Lemme address the reasons they call me, explaining this to my mythical friend DEWD - WD6EWD

• Hey Dewd, if you don't know this is a contest, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, if you DO know this is a contest, then you know that you can't work me in this event; therefore YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, do you know this is a DX contest? If so, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, just because you're BORED doesn't make a QSO valid; therefore YOU
  should NoT call me.

Are amateurs really as Clueless as WD6EWD?  WoW!  I thought EVERYBODY knew this was
a contest weekend; they're either busy participating in it or openly BITCHING about it in their
mindless ragchews.  Or, am I missing something?....
To refresh your memory, here are links to what I wrote about this "Problem":

• [x] August 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [x] September 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

Now that We got this all straight....

Evidently, we DIDN'T get it all straight.

From 5/5/2020: 

For this last weekend, rather than giving a discourse on WHEN you SHOULD call me, I shall explain when you SHOULDN'T call me, using the 7QP QSO Party as the example; the same points apply to the NEQP, DEQP & INQP.

1. Have You read the RULES for the QSO Party? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me. 
   If You HAVE read the rules, then you know that I am listening for callers ONLY in: WA,
   OR, MT, ID, UT, WY, NV, therefore, You should NoT Call Me.
2. Do You know that CA is in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th? - If SO,
   then You should NoT Call Me.
3. Do You know what /6 means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
4. Do You know what /CA means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
5. There is NOTHING WORSE than a caller being significantly off frequency with horribly
   choppy Cw, requiring several repeats on their callsign, only to find out that they are a DUPE
   or not in the 7th call area.  WHAT a COMPLETE WASTE of MY TIME.
6. Stations like N5RGH called in 3-times on 20 meters alone.  What was his point in doing that? Did he have a reason for calling me?  Was EACH contact actually entered in some sort of log?

Here's the bottom line - if you're bored and want stations to communicate with, go to the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, look up this weekend and click on the rules for a given contest event.  Before you know it, you will be contesting like a pro.  Otherwise, blindly calling contest stations when you are NoT actively participating in that event will leave you and everyone else FRUSTRATED.

Can I make it anymore clear?

Evidently NoT!

From 3/21/2021: 

On Sunday, the 4th contest opportunity came in the form of the North Carolina QSO Party - NCQP.  While there was a smattering of activity, only SIX 20-meter QSOs made it into the NCQP Log, followed by ONE more on 40.  To resolve this, I elected to call CQ on 14041.41 as follows:
            CQ NC de WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA
This brought callers from virtually every area of the country EXCEPT NC. 
You may remember a 2020 Blog I wrote about this problem. 
Based on that Blog, I ask you the following:

• Do you know what NCQP means?
  Then unless you are in NC, you should not call me.
  If not, then you should not call me.
• Do you know what /6 and /CA means?
  If so, then you know I am in CA and not NC, so you should not call me.
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
• When I ask you CTY? , do you know what that means?
  If NoT, then you should NoT have called me.

When one particular non-NC station called.  I sent him the CA exchange
and then asked "CTY?"; to which he replied "OOPS".

Bottom-line: READ the RULES BE-4 EVERY CONTEST EVENT.  If you don't really know why 
you are calling me, then you probably should NoT be calling.  On the air, EVERY transmission
you make should have a specific purpose.  If you don't know why you are transmitting, then you probably should NoT.

 

From 5/07/2021:

While there was plenty of 7QP/NEQP activity, calling "CQ 7QP" flushed out dozens more 7th area stations casually tuning the bands.  The BiG problem was that "Billy Bob" and his brother "Barney" were also tuning
the bands and kept calling in out of sheer boredom (boredumb?).  

On Ssb I would say "Gee, I hope y'all are in the 7th
call area, because I'm working only the 7th call area";
I couldn't make it any more clear than that.  

Their signals usually being weak made it doubtful they were actually in the 7th call area.  Sure enough, they were all in PA, NC, FL, GA, KY and TN.  HuH?  WTF?  DiD you HEAR what I JUST said?  If NoT, then you should not have called me.

I've written several Blogs on why you should NoT call me:

1. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
2. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
3. [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should NoT Call Me!"
          (written during last year's Cinco-de-Contest weekend).
   

For this year's 7th area QSO party translating the above blog points goes like this:

1. Do You know what "CQ 7QP" means?  If NoT, then you should not call me.
2. Do you know that WQ6X/6 means I am in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
3. Do you know that WQ6X/CA means I am in California and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
4. On Ssb, if you  hear me say "7th call area only" and you are not in the 7th call area... 
   then you should not call me.
5. Do you even KNOW where the "7th call area IS? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.

Before you BLINDLY call a contest station, please do the following:

• Listen to hear what contest that station is running 
• Look up that contest on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar.
• Read the RULES for that contest.
• If you're not in the geographical location the CQ caller is looking
  for, then MOVE ON - find a non-contester to converse with.

 

From 4/06/2022:  

Of course, my "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA" calls were responded to by stations who OBVIOUSLY didn't get it.  I have written up this problem up before ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  Let's review this situation, shall we?  When I call "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA":

• Do you know what CQ MO means? 
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
  If you know that I am looking for MO and you are not in Missouri,
  then you should Not call me.
• If you DO know this is the Missouri QSO party
  If you don't know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am not in Missouri,
  then you should NoT call me.
  If you DO know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am NoT in Missouri,
  then, you should NoT call me.

It's REALLY that simple.  Am I MISSING something?

 

Continuing Reasons... YOU Should NoT Call Me

After working another IN7QPNE Weekend (Cinco de Contest) I stared at the after-contest notes
about what actually happened during those 5 events.  Throughout that weekend, different stations called-in out of the blue.  Having NoT read the various QSO party rules (such as 7QP and NEQP),
non 7th call area or New England stations would call in necessitating me to send: 5NN CA. 
When they send me THEIR state (not in one of those areas) I press Alt-W (WIPE) followed
by F3 - "TU WQ6X".  While they may add me to their log (if they even KEEP a log), their call
to me is NoT logged - which essentially means the QSO DiD NoT happen.  When I forward
contest logs to LoTW, their callsign will NoT be in the WQ6X LoGs.

After the above scenario I went to the WQ6X Blog search engine to review the NUMEROUS
Blog entries written on the subject of listening and why you should not call me.  As you can see,
this chronological list is quite exhaustive:

1. [X] - Aug 21, 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
2. [X] - Jul  21, 2019  - 7 Things I Do BE-4 Every Radiosport Weekend
3. [X] - Sep  3, 2019  - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
4. [X] - Feb 20, 2020  - WQ6X Wanders Thru another ARRL Dx Contest
5. [X] - May 5, 2020   - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should NoT Call Me!"
6. [X] - July 2, 2020   - You're A DUP OL' Man...
7. [X] - Mar 10, 2021 - WQ6X survives a massive Turkey Shoot-Out during a Triple-Contest                                          Weekend
8. [X] - May 7, 2021  - WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest WeeKend
9. [X] - April 6, 2022 - WQ6X Wades Thru a Weird Radiosport Weekend
10. [X] - May 9, 2022 - A Dozen+ ways to Say: "You Should NoT Call Me!"
11. [X] - Jun 21, 2022 - Why calling "CQ Asia" still means that You Should NoT Call Me
12. [X] - Oct 10, 2022 - Why You should LISTEN BE-4 You call Me

As it has been nearly 2 years since I've had anything to say on this subject, reflecting
on recent contest run this year, I have a few additions to make to the above lists:

• Do You know what "CQ M" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME.
• Do You know what "CQ MM" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ VOLTA" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ EA TEST" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ XE RTTY" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ BARTG" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ NAQP" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ SPDX" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ JIDX" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ WPX" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know what "CQ AQP" means?  -  Then You should NoT Call ME
• Do You know that "WQ6X/CA" means I am in California and NoT Arkansas?
  Then You should [probably] NoT Call ME
•   FILL-In the BLANK  

If operators would RTFR (Read the Contest Rules) BE-4 the contest, then I would
NoT need to continue writing BLoG entries like this one.

Unfortunately, we ALL know that after this year's CQP, HQP, WAE, and SS GiGs,
another set of variations on Why You should NoT Call Me will come to light.

Do YOU participate in radiosport contests?

Do YOU Read the Rules FIRST?

7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1

 

Because radio amateurs utilize a shared frequency spectrum, during radiosport weekends when
I make a "CQ Contest" call, other hams (often BORED out of their Minds) will call-in, looking for attention; which may or may not be the correct thing to do.  In all too many cases, if they had read
the contest rules (who does THAT anymore?) they would have known that working me offers no
QSO credit in that particular contest event.

You too may also be wondering when it is appropriate to call me during a radiosport event. 
To assist your understanding in this, here is my list of times YOU  SHOULD NOT CALL ME;
when to actually call me you can then deduce for yourself.

This first point should actually be a "no-brainer", and it often isn't.

When I am calling "CQ JA" or "CQ EU", what part of that call actually indicates that I am looking for calling stations residing in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas or Louisiana?



If I am not calling for you, then please do not call me.  If you don't know what "JA" or "EU" means, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.

Here is another no brainer:
If I am having trouble deciphering a callsign
and send something like "KX6?", if your callsign
is WB4XYZ, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.

You may be louder than the KX6 station, covering him up, making me send "KX6? AGN?".  This wastes everyone's time.

If you don't know what I mean when I send "KX6?", then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.

What part of "KX6" sounds like "WB4XYZ"?
Am I missing something?

If I send "CQ SS" and
you don't know what the "SS" means, then, YOU SHOULD NOT
CALL ME.

In this November contest event, I DO NOT want a signal report and I DON'T CARE what your name is. 

If you have read the Sweepstakes rules, then you know EXACTLY the six pieces of information I am expecting; if not, ask.  Otherwise, DO NOT
CALL ME.

If you hear me calling "CQ California QSO Party" (or "CQ CQP") and you are looking for a 20 minute ragchew, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME.

If you have read the CQP rules, then you know that what I am looking for is a QSO # and what State/Province you are located in - that is all I need and want. 

I could care less how much power you are running, what kind of antenna you are feeding into, what the weather is like, what you had for dinner, or what kind of beagle dog you have.

I may be interested in those things AFTER the contest, but for now, if you can't give me the required CQP information, then, DO NOT
CALL ME.

If I am making a typical "CQ CONTEST" call and you are simply looking for a signal report to verify your LOUDENBOOMER amplifier or the 12-element Signal-Pumper antenna are doing their job, unless you are willing to give me a proper contest exchange, then,
DO NOT CALL ME.
As it is, even if I DO send you "5-9-9" or "5-9" as part of the contest exchange, you may really only be S-2".  If you want a REAL signal report, catch me AFTER the contest.

If I am in the middle of making a contest exchange with ANOTHER station and I miss a piece of sent information, I may well send "AGN?  AGN?" until I receive
the information I need.

This is NoT the time to send
your "KB6LID" callsign.  This is the time for YOU to STFU and give me a clear frequency to complete the current QSO. 

Then (and only then) should you send your callsign; assuming you know what the contest rules are, FIRST.

If you do not know the contest rules, then, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME - read the contest rules first and THEN call me when you know how the game is played.

Sometimes things can get so out of hand on a run frequency that I end up sending "QRX!" many times until everybody listens and agrees to STFU while I regain my sanity and begin the frequency run all over again.

At other times LID operators will start calling CQ on my run frequency; had they been listening first they would know that THE FREQUENCY is IN USE.  Correct me if I am wrong, but this is why we should ALWAYS listen before we transmit.  When idiots like this attempt to move-in on my operation
I use the F-11 key to send "QRL QSY" again and again.  If they persist, then I send "KU6LID QRL QSY".

Bottom-line, if you are not sure whether or not you should call me, then most likely, YOU SHOULD NOT CALL ME; it's really as simple as that.  If you follow the edict of always listening before you transmit, then you will ALWAYS know whether or not calling me is the right thing to do.

What part of the above do you NoT understand?

If you have any questions about this, let me know.

"7  3"
C U in the next contest.

WQ6X Reiterates Reasons Why YOU Should Not Call me.

Running an ad-HOC North Carolina QSO Party (NCQP), near the end, I ran out of NC stations calling CQ (that I could hear at any rate), so I modified the F1-CQ macro to call CQ for NCQP looking to pick up any NC stations that (for whatever reason) are not calling CQ.  This is what I sent:

• CQ  NCQP  WQ6X/6  WQ6X/CA

TRANSLATION: I am calling CQ looking for NC stations in the NCQP.
                             This is WQ6X in the 6th call area and therefore in CA.

Now NOWHERE does the above call indicate (or even suggest) that I am in North Carolina,
that in FACT I am in the state of California.  It would seem to me that the above CQ call makes
it clear that I am calling from California and NoT North Carolina.
And yet, of the 6 stations who called me, only ONE (NC4KW) was actually in North Carolina.

It is from years of participation in other state QSO parties that I began a series of Blogs on the 
topic of Why You Should NoT Call Me.  ([CLICK HERE] to read some of these Blog entries.) 

While I have said all of this before, let's review the above reasons in the context of the North
Carolina QSO Party (NCQP).

• Do you Know What NCQP Is?  (If NO, then you should not call me.)
• Do you Know That WQ6X/6 means I am not in North Carolina? 
  (If NO, then you should not call me.  If YES, then you should not call me)
• Do you Know That WQ6X/CA means I am in California not in North Carolina? 
  (If NO, then you should not call me.  If YES, then you should not call me)
• Do You Know that even if I DO send you an exchange your callsign will then
  be WIPED and NoT added to the Log?  BoTTom Line? - You should NoT call Me.
  
• Do you know that when I am running a contest that I am NoT looking to Ragchew?
  If you want to chit-chat, then you should not call me.
• If I am asking for a particular station and YOU are NoT that station, 
  then you should not call me.
• If we have already worked on this band/mode, then you should not call me.
  
  
  
  

Now as it turns out, there was a contest known as "SST" running on 20-meters in much
the same frequency space as the NCQP and POTA events.  However, that is no excuse
for NoT listening and BLINDLY calling me.

• If you hear me call CQ for a contest event and you don't know what that is,
  then you should not call me.
• Instead, lookup the contest name (in this case NCQP) on the internet and then
  RTFR - Read The Rules.
• Another approach is to LISTEN to stations working the contest, and you will quickly
  learn the proper exchange for the event.   Then again, if I am calling for North Carolina
  and you are not in North Carolina, then you are wasting your time.

In order to become successful at ANY form of radio communication endeavor, before we thrust our callsign into an already cacophonous frequency spectrum, we should FIRST and FOREMOST
LISTEN BEFORE WE TRANSMIT.  Then, after transmitting, we should LISTEN AGAIN!

I look forward to a QSO with you in the various radiosport contests coming up. 
Listen first and then call me in the appropriate contest at the appropriate and we
can share entries in each other log.

C U Down the LoG.

WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should NoT Call Me!"

This last weekend found me a part of what I call the Cinco de Contest weekend (the last two years May 5th was on the weekend).  While I will be writing up this weekend in a separate BLOG Entry, egregious violations of the "You Should NoT Call ME" "Rule" prompted the writing of this current BLOG Entry.

You may recall the previous BLOG Entries on the subject of "why you should NoT call me".

1. [x] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
2. [x] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

 This weekend running NX6T remotely (STN-2), after all of the QSO Party Spots were worked
on a given band, I would then call CQ for the QSO parties using one of the following formats:

• CQ 7QP  NX6T/6  NX6T/CA
  - OR -
• CQ NEQP  NX6T/6  NX6T/CA
  - OR -
• CQ QP  NX6T/6  NX6T/CA

Let's decipher what all this means:

• "CQ QP" - any variation on this means that I want to hear from any calling station who
  is working that SPECIFIC QSO Party contest.
• "NX6T/6" - this means that my callsign is NX6T and that I am in the 6TH call area.
• "NX6T/CA" - this means that my callsign is NX6T and that I am in CALIFORNIA.

Now, based on the above, it should be unnecessary on my part to remind you that this weekend, my QTH was NoT in the Northwest (7th call area) or New England (1st call area) Delaware (3rd call area) or Indiana (9th call area).

I say all this because my QSO Party CQ calls resulted in well over 60+ callers NoT in those QSO parties who BLINDLY called me.  On Cw because it takes too long to explain the problem, I would
just send " 5NN CA", use Ctrl-W to WIPE their callsign and then press F3 to send "TU NX6T/6". 
On Ssb, when working the 7QP Contest, the .WAV file would CLEARLY state that I am in California.  When "Billy Bob" (from the 4th or 5th call area) calls in I would ask "are you in the 7th call area?"
and be greeted with silence or confused stuttering.

For this last weekend, rather than giving a discourse on WHEN you SHOULD call me, I shall explain when you SHOULDN'T call me, using the 7QP QSO Party as the example; the same points apply to the NEQP, DEQP & INQP.

1. Have You read the RULES for the QSO Party? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me. 
   If You HAVE read the rules, then you know that I am listening for callers ONLY in:
   WA, OR, MT, ID, UT, WY, NV, therefore, You should NoT Call Me.
2. Do You know that CA is in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th? - If NoT,
   then You should NoT Call Me.
3. Do You know what /6 means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
4. Do You know what /CA means? - If NoT, then You should NoT Call Me.
5. There is NOTHING WORSE than a caller being significantly off frequency with horribly
   choppy Cw, requiring several repeats on their callsign, only to find out that they are a DUPE
   or not in the 7th call area.  WHAT a COMPLETE WASTE of MY TIME.
6. Stations like N5RGH called in 3-times on 20 meters alone.  What was his point in doing that? Did he have a reason for calling me?  Was EACH contact actually entered in some sort of log?

Here's the bottom line - if you're bored and want stations to communicate with, go to the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, look up this weekend and click on the rules for a given contest event.  Before you know it, you will be contesting like a pro.  Otherwise, blindly calling contest stations when you are NoT actively participating in that event will leave you and everyone else FRUSTRATED.

Can I make it any clearer?

Why calling "CQ Asia" still means that You Should NoT Call Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last several years, I have written several Blog variations on the topic of
Why You Should NoT Call Me.  Here are some of those write ups.

• [X] - A Dozen+ ways to say "You should not Call Me"
• [X] - 7 Reasons you [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
  
• [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that "You Should Not Call ME!"
  
• [X] - 7 Reasons you [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part2
• [X] - WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest-Weekend
  
• [X] - You're a DUP OL' Man
  

During this last weekend's All Asian contest OPs at NX6T defined the F1-CQ key to send
"CQ AA NX6T NX6T", thinking that having the antenna stacks pointed at Asia, only Asian stations would hear us and call in.  Despite an excellent Front-to-Back (F/B) ratio, running over 1.3kw means our signal to the Southeast was loud enough that we would want a call from Billy Bob and his brother Barney.

In the spirit of the previous blogs I have written on this subject, I ask the following questions:

• Do you know what "CQ AA" means? - If NoT, then you should NoT Call Me.
• If you DO know what "AA" means, then you know I am NoT in Asia,
  but am LooKing for Asian stations.  Therefore, you should NoT Call Me.
• When I send "Asia Only", do you know that means I am LooKing only for Asian stations?
  If so, then you should NoT Call Me.
• If you know this is an Asian contest, do you know that WQ6X and NX6T are NoT in Asia but in the USA?   If so, then you should NoT Call Me.
  If you DON'T know what country NX6T and WQ6X are in, then you need to study/learn callsign prefixes and NoT call stations until you figure it out.
  If you are using today's logging software, typing in the callsign will bring you IMMEDIATE feedback on what country that station is in.  There is no excuse to NoT know that WQ6X & NX6T are in USA.

All of the above Blog references come down to a very simple simple edict. 
We should ALWAYS listen before we transmit.  If we don't understand what we
are hearing than we should probably not be transmitting on that frequency.

I even wrote a Blog on why we should always listen before we transmit. 
([CLICK HERE] to read that.)

In radiosport contests, if someone asks me to explain to them how that particular GiG
actually works, I take the time to explain the procedure to them and then slowly assist them to
make their 1st contact with me.  This is a GREAT opportunity to put our Elmering skills to good use.

I look forward to the day when you actually call me at the right time and in the right way. 
Radiosport contesting is actually a LOT of fun, when you understand how everything works.

ARE YOU READY?

7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

When I wrote Part 1 of this BLOG topic, altho I sub-titled it "Part 1" - implying there was more to say on this subject - I had no idea that the "more to say" would come up so soon.

In looking for real-life examples to illustrate the 7 points
I wrote up in Part 1, I had to look no further than the recent HQP and COQP state QSO parties. 

One of my bitches regarding most state QSO parties (California excepted) is that not enough in-state stations participate in their own party event; or at least, they are not calling CQ for their party.  Therefore, if THEY are not calling CQ, then I WILL.  There are often 10x the out-of-state callers than in-state stations to be called.

Out of desperation, I will find a run frequency (such as this weekend's CQ COQP calls on 7053.53).  With few exceptions, the stations calling me, SHOULD NOT BE CALLING ME.  Pay attention as I go over this a second time based on my recent operation in the COQP Colorado QSO party.

I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA"
Later I defined N1MM's F1 key to send: "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/6"
From those CQ's I received calls from MO, 2 W7's, a K9, a WB8, a K6 and a KG5 - NONE of
them in CO (Colorado).

Then I defined the F-10 key to send  "I wrk Colorado Only"
Based on this I ask the following Questions:

• Do You know what "COQP" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know the rules for the COQP?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/CA" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "WQ6X/6" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that "WQ6X/CA" or "WQ6X/6" means I am in California and NoT Colorado?  If not, then in the COQP contest, YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know what "I wrk Colorado Only" means?  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT 
  CALL ME.
• Do You know what it means to listen before responding to a COQP contest call? 
  If not, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.
• Do You know that when I  send "CQ COQP  WQ6X  WQ6X/CA" that I am NoT looking to ragchew?  If so, then YOU SHOULD NOT  CALL ME.

While I understand that you may be looking to work a WQ6 station, or a station in California,
the Colorado QSO party is NoT the time to do that; there are other stations making a general
CQ call - call them instead.

The way to win friends and make QSOs is to find out what the rules of engagement are and work within those rules.  To do otherwise is to waste everyone's time as well as the frequency spectrum.  One of the EASIEST ways to know what the rules are is to look up the event(s) using your favorite search engine (as shown above).

My recommendation is to read the rules for the given QSO party and then, like me, look for stations
in that state.  Do this long enough and you may have enough U.S. counties in your log to qualify for Worked All USA Counties award.

Meanwhile, the California QSO Party (CQP) is just weeks away.
Feel free to call me then.

WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest WeeKend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2021, the Month of May brings us 5 unique contest weekends beginning with the usual
5-contest weekend starting off the month; what I call CINCO de Contest:

1. [X] - Italian ARI Dx Contest
2. [X] -7QP - 7th call area QSO Party
3. [X] -INQP - Indiana QSO Party
4. [X] -DEQP - Delaware QSO Party
5. [X] -NEQP - New England QSO Party

There was also the 10-10 Cw contest beginning at 00:00z.  Unfortunately, every time I checked
10-meters from Fallbrook (and yes, even called CQ) it seemed DEAD to me; altho other stations certainly found people to work.

This year's Cinco-de-Contest weekend was full of Reversals and Surprises.  Being a Target speaker for the Toastmasters District-12 Speech/Evaluation contest required that I remain in Alameda to give the Target speech.  After that, it was much easier to use the K3/0 Mini from Alameda rather than making the trip to W7AYT's QTH (in Concord).  Thanks to the $11 eBay special [microphone] I was able to run both Cw and Ssb, filling in whatever shift/mode needed.  (I even looked for 7QP RTTY signals, considering I/we were operating mixed-mode.)

With the goal of another 1st-place plaque from New England QSO Party (NEQP), NX6T ran from
our Super Station in ANZA.  Throughout the weekend Axel (KI6RRN) and I alternated band/antenna access from "Nashville" (our Fallbrook location); WQ6X on STN-1 and KI6RRN on STN-2.  I didn't expect to "win" anything this year.  The goal was simply to "UP" the 2021 contest count for WQ6X.

Typical for the Cinco-de-Contest weekend, for me, the ARI GiG was all but a no-show.  While I heard plenty of ARI activity in the daytime while running the state QSO parties, by the time I was ready to give ARI a GO, with 8 hours left, nothing was heard; rotating the shorty-40 while calling CQ and checking 80-meters yielded nothing.  I ended up submitting a 3-QSO log (with 2 of those QSOs
made via RTTY - Go Figure).

My personal run-goals for the weekend was for WQ6X to excel at the 7QP contest (considering that California is surrounded by the 7th call area) and put in a reasonable appearance in the NEQP GiG, with Indiana and Delaware on the side.  The INQP/DEQP GiGs garner my usual [annual] complaint:  Where ARE the IN & DE stations? Have they ever heard of ROVER stations?

With the speech contest obligation in the middle of the radiosport contest period, I found time
to run as WQ6X (mixed-mode) remotely from the Nashville STN-1.  When I was speech-contest'ing, KI6RRN was chasing QSO party stations.  When he was on shift @NX6T, I took that opportunity to run WQ6X from Nashville, until my 22:30z Ssb shift.  I closed out the 7QP for NX6T (between 10:15 and Midnight).

While there was plenty of 7QP/NEQP activity, calling "CQ 7QP" flushed out dozens more 7th area stations casually tuning the bands.  The BiG problem was that "Billy Bob" and his brother "Barney" were also tuning
the bands and kept calling in out of sheer boredom (boredumb?).  

On Ssb I would say "Gee, I hope y'all are in the 7th
call area, because I'm working only the 7th call area";
I couldn't make it any more clear than that.  

Their signals usually being weak made it doubtful they were actually in the 7th call area.  Sure enough, they were all in PA, NC, FL, GA, KY and TN.  HuH?  WTF?  DiD you HEAR what I JUST said?  If NoT, then you should not have called me.

 

I've written several Blogs on why you should NoT call me:

1. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
2. [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
3. [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should NoT Call Me!"
          (written during last year's Cinco-de-Contest weekend).
   

For this year's 7th area QSO party translating the above blog points goes like this:

1. Do You know what "CQ 7QP" means?  If NoT, then you should not call me.
2. Do you know that WQ6X/6 means I am in the 6th call area and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
3. Do you know that WQ6X/CA means I am in California and NoT the 7th call area? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.
4. On Ssb, if you  hear me say "7th call area only" and you are not in the 7th call area... 
   then you should not call me.
5. Do you even KNOW where the "7th call area IS? 
   If NoT, then you should not call me.

Before you BLINDLY call a contest station, please do the following:

• Listen to hear what contest that station is running 
• Look up that contest on the WA7BNM Contest Calendar.
• Read the RULES for that contest.
• If you're not in the geographical location the CQ caller is looking
  for, then MOVE ON - find a non-contester to converse with.

A tragically, if NoT funny example of this was when during my off-time (around 22:50z on Sunday), while tuning around STN-1 in Fallbrook, I encountered N6KI running a frequency for NX6T, calling
"CQ NE QSO Party, this is NX6T in California calling for New England"; something like that.  

I happened onto his frequency because I heard nearly a dozen stations calling in - wOw!  LoTsa New Englanders for our log.  WRONG!  It was just "Billy Bob and Barney", along with their cousins "Cheryl and Connie".  HuH?  You mean I'm NoT the only one this happens to?  I believe 1-outa-10 QSOs was actually from New England.  Do operators even Listen?  Or, do they just blindly call stations, oblivious to what they are actually all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By midnight, the 7QP GiG was over (the INQP was over at 02:00z). 
For Sunday, the DEQP and NEQP GiGs picked up where they left off on Saturday,
ending at 23:59:59z (5pm local time)  

For NEQP, that meant several dozen more contacts made it to the log.  For DEQP, only
ONE new station was on the air; he wasn't actually new, I just missed working him on Saturday. 
It seems like every year ONLY 3 stations are on the air from Delaware.  HuH?  Wassup with THAT?

This year, the surprise was how many 7QP & NEQP stations were on the air.
MY FD-compatriots from years past (W6KC & W6SW) put together an interesting expedition as N7D, activating the RARE Esmeralda county - well done guys.  THIS is how QSO parties should be done.

Expeditions and ROVER stations are often the secret to successful QSO parties; at least, that's how we Doit
in California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was all over, the surprise for NX6T was that we won the M/S category for 7QP, beating out
NV9L (Valerie and her husband).  The reversal was that NV9L clearly took 1st-place for NEQP;
having geographical closeness certainly helps in this case.

What about You?  DiD YOU run the 7QP & NEQP QSO parties?

How many counties made it to YOUR LoG?

P.S.:  As of June 1st the results are in. 
         NX6T took 2nd place to NV9L and her husband in the NEQP contest.
         NX6T took FIRST PLACE in the 7QP GiG (NV9L took 2nd).

Why You should LISTEN BE-4 You call Me

I have written so many Blog entries about this situation, you would think operators would get
the message by now; but ONLY if they have been to http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com.  Past installments
on the topic of listening before you transmit have included:

• [X] - Why YOU should listen BE-4 You transmit
• [X] - Do You QRL?
• [X] - Why Calling "CQ Asia" still means that You Should Not Call Me
• [X] - A Dozen+ ways to say: "You Should Not Call Me!"
• [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [X] - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2
• [X] - You're A DUP OL' Man
• [X] - WQ6X Works another CINCO-de-Contest Weekend
• [X] - WQ6X Offers Further PROOF that - "You Should Not Call Me!"

I recently wrote a Blog on SWL'ing (shortwave listening) which goeswith previous entries written on why we should listen before we transmit.  Tuning the shortwave/utility bands teaches us yet again how to listen.

At all times, there should be a purpose for every transmission we make.  When you are about to call me, ask yourself "what is the purpose for making that transmission?"  If you hear me calling CQ in a radiosport contest:

• Do You know the rules of the contest?
• Do You know WHO I am targeting w/my CQ?
• Have You already worked me on this band/mode?
• If I am calling for DX or a particular state/province, are You located in that area?
• If I ask for a certain call area or callsign, are you in that area and/or does your callsign sound like who I am asking for?

If any of the above criteria are not met, then you should NoT call me - it's as simple as that.

While random calling of stations may result in a random QSO, calling stations who are not prepared to work you, is NoT the way to "win friends and influence people".  The way to make new friends over the radio is to listen BE-4 you transmit and then selectively call those stations who are open to conversing with you - essentially the same as in real life.

Therefore, I leave you with this question - Do YOU listen before You transmit?

You're A DUP OL' Man...

During Wednesday's Canadian RAC contest, I must've sent over 25 callers the "QSO B4" message from N1MM+; it was necessary for several callers - TWICE!  HuH?  Am I MISSING Something? 
I shall explain......

Every radiosport GiG has a LIMIT to the number of
times I can work you in the contest.  For November Sweepstakes it's ONCE - Period!  In most other contests, it's once per band and/or once per band-mode.  How do you know what is allowed in any given contest?  Very Simple - READ the CONTEST RULES.

 Once you have reached that quota with regard to my callsign, then, very clearly, "You should NoT Call Me".  I've written about this phenomenon many times in this contest Blog.

7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me:
[Part 1]  [Part 2] & in May [Part 3].

Evidently, I'm not getting the message across.


SO, what does it mean that you can only work me once, once per-band or once per band-mode? 
It means you can only work me once, once per-band or once per band-mode.  What is so difficult to understand about that?  Reading the contest rules will identify which is allowed in that particular contest.  If you're STILL not sure, an e-mail to the contest host (BE-4 the contest) will get your
answer straightened out.

The above 7 ways of saying it, essentially say the same thing: DO NoT CALL ME!
There is almost nothing worse than a LOUD station, slightly off frequency, with chirpy or choppy
Cw who keeps calling (obliterating the other legitimate callers) and in the end, the IDIOT turns out
to be a DUP; in fact, he just made a QSO with me 12 minutes ago!  HuH?  Where is your BRAIN? 
Am I missing something?

Here's the REAL problem.
- Are you calling in again because you simply don't have a clue?
   (If I work you again, I signal to you that DUP QSOs are ok.)
- Are you calling in again because you forgot to log me or because you logged my call
   incorrectly    the first time?  (Therefore, if I DON'T work you again, I won't be in your log.)
- I can send you an exchange (to shut you up) and then not log you, only to later discover that
   you didn't log me properly to begin with, so the LCR robot DINGS my original log entry as N-I-L
   (Not in Log).

The REAL way to solve this problem is to Read the Contest rules before deciding to call me. 
Otherwise, we're back to one of the reasons you should not call me. 

In the case of the Canada RAC contest, if you don't know what RAC means, then you should NoT

call me.  If you don't know that I am expecting "5NN 001, etc.", then you should NoT call me.  Except for NAQP and State QSO parties, during radiosport, I don't CARE what your name is or what city you reside in.  I certainly don't care what your power-level is, your antenna configuration or the name of your Beagle dog.

It's ALL about Listening.  I recently wrote a Blog describing why we should listen BE-4 we transmit.  Have you READ that?  If not [CLICK HERE] to check it out.

BTW, in case you wonder why I send "You are a Dup OM", it's because YL's do not seem to make
this mistake - only OLD MEN.  So, WAKE UP OM.  Radiosport events run more smoothly when we first read the rules and log every callsign correctly.

What about YOU?

How do YOU deal with DUP QSOs?

WQ6X offers REMEDIES for Reasons Why YOU Should NoT Call Me

Frustration over the 2nd contest weekend brought back memories regarding why much of the time, stations should NoT call me.  ([CLICK HERE] to see what I have previously written on this subject.

It occurred to me that the above Blogs have said all there really is to say on the subject of
Why You Should NoT Call Me.  This last weekend brought us the OP's S/E of Anza who
called in after my CQ JA NX6T NX6T call.  They heard me sending my Zone, so they 
sent me THEIR Zone. 

My opening question is of course "DO YOU KNOW WHAT CQ JA Means?"......
Instead of circling endless in that logic pool, allow me to offer some simple preventative
 remedies to the above circle.

For starters, when you hear a CQ call (Ex: CQ NA, CQ JA, CQ EU) do you understand what
they mean?  If NoT then you should NoT call in.  The correct action is to look up the CQ call
on the internet and follow the links to the rules for the event.

That's Right - it all begins with RTFR - Read The Contest Rules.  From the rules, you will know
who to call and who not to call.  Make note how many points you get for contacting stations in/out
of your country/continent

Overall things to consider include:

• Devise a band plan 
  --- Upper bands in the daytime
  --- Lower bands after sunset
  --- 20-meters and Greyline are unique unto themselves.
• If antennas are rotatable, set them to the proper azimuth heading.

If you like calling CQ, appropriate to the event, you can devise an appropriate CQ call:

• CQ GA  WQ6X/6   WQ6X/CA
  Transl: I am looking for stations in GA.
  WQ6X is in California - the 6th Call area.
  WQ6X is NoT in GA - he is LOOKing for GA.

NoW - when you call CQ, be prepared for Billy-Bob and his brother Barney to wanna
join in the fun - whatever THAT is.  Remember this: Just because you should not call ME,
doesn't necessarily mean that you should not call others.

When nothing else seems to work, consider pointing antennas in a long path (LP) direction relative
to the QTH areas you are looking for.  I've lost count of the number of times I turn the stacked yagi arrays to VK/ZL only to have OH & SM stations call in - LOUD and CLEAR!

In summary, it ALL begins with:

• Visit the WA7BNM Contest Calendar - click on a contest to your liking
  
• Visit that contest website and RTFR - read the rules of that specific event.
• Write a participation plan.  Be prepared to alter the plan details as
  the event progresses.
• After the contest, submit your log and post your score to the
  3830 Scores website.

Radiosport involvement can be a high-energy, high-functioning activity when
we have Read the Rules and organized a specific plan to make it happen throughout
the contest weekend.

StaY TuNeD for Further Thoughts on this unique topic.

WQ6X Wanders Thru another ARRL Dx Contest



In preparation for this contest weekend I made a quick review of past ARRL Dx Cw GiGs
that I have [literally] "fallen" into, one way or another; some of them even winning operations.

[x] - BLAST's from the PAST: WQ6X in ARRL
DX Contests

• [x] - WQ6X Teams up with NX6T for 2018 ARRL Dx Contests
• [x] - NX6T Nixes ARRL Dx Left Coast competition (in 2019)

For this year, a number of operators were cobbled together; some of them even achieving B-i-C (Butt In Chair) status, altho most operations were run remotely.

An advantage of my running NX6T remotely is that the local (Alameda) external audio filters can be brought into enhancing receive signal quality; an Autek QF-1A (L. Ear) + MFJ-751 (R. Ear).


Frequently while running a frequency the individual filters created a listening experience where certain signals appeared in the middle-left of my listening experience, or in one case the "lower right" in my listening experience; this creates a listening separation that actually aids in untangling the individual signals.

Remember, this is Analog Audio Enhancement, nearly 25 years before the concept of DSP ever became a possibility in radio amateur equipment.  The filter combination helped BOOST specific signals while at the same time attenuating those nearby; while the QRN-levels were low, the QRM-Jumble levels were immense.



Morning operators are often presented with the dilemma of leaving a running-20 in the hopes
of an emerging-15.  Because the stations share a common log file, it is possible to do a form
of SO-2R as WM6Y demonstrates (above).

As the contest proceeded, either out of boredom or chronic I-Don't-have-a-Clueness, stateside and even VA7 stations were calling me.  HuH? Dewd, this is a DX contest, go LooK for DX.  Lemme address the reasons they call me, explaining this to my mythical friend DEWD - WD6EWD

• Hey Dewd, if you don't know this is a contest, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, if you DO know this is a contest, then you know that you can't work me in this event; therefore YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, do you know this is a DX contest? If so, then YOU should NoT call me.
• Dewd, just because you're BORED doesn't make a QSO valid; therefore YOU
  should NoT call me.

Are amateurs really as Clueless as WD6EWD?  WoW!  I thought EVERYBODY knew this was
a contest weekend; they're either busy participating in it or openly BITCHING about it in their
mindless Ragchews.  Or, am I missing something?....
To refresh your memory, here are links to what I wrote about this "Problem":

• [x] August 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 1
• [x] September 2019 - 7 Reasons You [probably] Should Not Call Me - Part 2

Now that We got this all straight....

Remembering that this is a DX contest, everyone in North America should be LooKing for DX,

not domestic contacts.  At NX6T we managed to EASILY accomplish DXCC during the weekend;

101 countries on 20-m and 93 countries on 40-m - AmaZing!



N X 6 T  @  G r e y l i n e  - S u n s e t

While 15 & 10 meter band conditions were all but deplorable, we were rewarded with AMAZING band conditions on 160 - 20 meters.

I am used to thinking of 40 meters as
a band which opens to the East coast well after 01:00z (5pm).  For this ARRL DX contest, I was putting EU contacts into the NX6T log at 23:35z.  HuH?

That never happens.

 

What made our 39 hours of operation so effective had a LoT to do with leveraging techniques, equipment and operators into a relatively cohesive whole.  Because I have been pushing myself heavily in the days leading up to this GiG, I found a need for more sleep and was not able to contribute as much to the after midnight activity as I usually do.

 

Nevertheless, our 5-operator crew did an outstanding job of handing out NX6T QSOs.  It will be interesting to see how the Ssb GiG of the ARRL contest will turnout.  With the slowly improving

Solar Flux (SFI), if there are no solar-belches, we should experience an even more outstanding

event.

 

What about YOU? 

 

DiD YOU work the ARRL Dx Cw Contest?

 

Is NX6T in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X survives a massive Turkey Shoot-Out during a Triple-Contest Weekend

The weekend wrapping up the month of February is always a mixed-affair.  Putting out a call to the NX6T operators, determined that officially NX6T would be "dark" that weekend.  Looking at the WA7BNM Contest Calendar, 4 operating events seemed viable to run remotely from Fallbrook. 
These included:

1. [X] - The CQ Worldwide 160 Meter Contest
2. [X] - The South Carolina QSO Party (SCQP)
   
3. [X] - The NAQP RTTY Contest GiG
   
4. [X] - The North Carolina QSO Party (NCQP)

Luckily these event overlapped to such a degree that they could be arranged into a more-or-less
40-hour operating schedule. Station #1 was commandeered for the weekend giving me the option
to run with an amplifer all weekend; which, as it turned out, turned into a NAQP RTTY OooPs!

In order to run a 160-Ssb contest, I needed to come up with a proper microphone to do the proper job; however I was not interested in wearing a wired-headset in order to get Heil HC-4 quality audio. 
While I love the classic Electro Voice 664, it is primarily a ragchew microphone.  Instead, as has done many times in recent months, the 664 becomes a microphone stand for the Heil headset,
held in place by a mini bungee cord.  Radio Amateurs are often known for their resourcefulness.

Running High Power in Fallbrook, requires that the shack A/C system be turned on to keep the AMPs cool.  The problem is that our APC switch web APP no longer indicates whether or not the A/C unit is drawing current.  To resolve this problem, N6KI put colored tape (ORANGE & YELLOW) tape on the A/C unit's louver's.  LooKing thru the WYZE security camera, if the colors can be seen, the A/C is off; if the slats are black, the A/C is on.  Ingenious!

When it came time to submit my NAQP RTTY Log, just then I remembered that NAQP is purposely a low power contest - High Power and Assisted operations result in the entry being classified as a CHECKLOG.  Oh well, at least I was able to hand out 302 QSOs to nearly 200 unique stations. 
I enjoyed doing it and that is all that matters.

The 1350 watts (average power) was fed into a Double-Bazooka Inverted Vee about 13mh; not
that high, but reasonably sensitive.  The problem for the 160 weekend was the S-9 noise level.  Fiddling with the various NR & XFIL options in the Elecraft was what kept the noise-level to S-9
(it was previously +20db).  On the remote end, running the K3/0 audio through the compliment of
audio filters on the Concord end helped "take the tops off" of the noise, making it more tolerable.

For the 160 contest most of the contacts (a ToTaL of 98) were made during the main operating
period (02:34z - 06:35z).  After 4 hours sleep another look around the band yielded 5 more QSOs - wOw!  Because the NAQP RTTY required most of Saturday's evening hours, after a couple hours sleep, one more look around 160 was made at 08:35z.  When nearly an hour of op-time resulted in only 3 more unique QSOs (the rest of the stations heard were DUPs), it was time to say BYE-BYE
to the CQ-160 contest.

After the monthly meeting of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA), transitioning to the
NAQP RTTY contest continued the fun.  The ARCA meeting presentation was on the subject of
[man-made] noise and what to do about it.  Running remote from Fallbrook freed me from the noise problems I normally encounter at the W7AYT QTH in Concord.  Internet dropouts are the noise replacement.  Luckily, this weekend, the internet was rather cooperative.

The secret to a successful RTTY contest is maximizing the SIGNAL-to-JUNK ratio, allowing the MMTY decoder to present the best copy possible.  When the decoder screen is "jumping around",
it's neigh impossible to mouse-click entries into the log, so I resort to the tried-and-true method of actually typing in the data on the keyboard.

QSO Party-wise, while I listened around the Cw band segments throughout Saturday, no South Carolina (SC) Stations were ever heard.  Propagation was CLEARLY open to the east coast during the day on 20, 15 and later 40 meters.  Unfortunately not a single SC station was to be found. 
A quick skim of the Ssb band areas also yielded ZILCH.  This of course is my major complaint
with most state QSO parties - except CQP - not enough stations participate in their own events.

On Sunday, the 4th contest opportunity opportunity came in the form of the North Carolina QSO
Party - the NCQP.  While there was a smattering of activity, only SIX 20-meter QSOs made it into the NCQP Log, followed by ONE more on 40.  To resolve this I elected to call CQ on 14041.41 as follows:
            CQ NC de WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA
This brought callers from virtually every area of the country EXCEPT NC. 
You may remember a 2020 Blog I wrote about this problem. 
Based on that Blog, I ask you the following:

• Do you know what NCQP means?
  Then unless you are in NC, you should not call me.
  If not, then you should not call me.
• Do you know what /6 and /CA means?
  If so, then you know I am in CA and not NC, so you should not call me.
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
• When I ask you CTY? , do you know what that means?
  If NoT, then you should NoT have called me.

When one particular non-NC station called.  I sent him the CA exchange and then asked "CTY?";
to which he replied"OOPS".

Bottom-line: READ the RULES BE-4 EVERY CONTEST EVENT.  If you don't really know why you are calling me, then you probably should NoT be calling.  On the air, EVERY transmission you make should have a specific purpose.  If you don't know why you are transmitting then you probably should NoT.

Over the more-or-less 40 hours of available OP time, less than 20 hours were actually run (08:38 for CQ-160, 08:37 for NAQP RTTY and 1:20 for the QSO parties).  Overall, the weekend was a LoT of fun and presented some unique operating challenges to overcome.

DiD You participate in the CQ-160 and/or NAQP RTTY contests?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

P.S.  BTW, you are probably wondering why i used a picture of a bunch of  turkeys to open this Blog.  Monday morning when I wandered into the kitchen @ W7AYT to refresh my coffee, looking out to the back yard, I counted 13 wild turkeys who stopped over from their flight through Contra Costa county, looking for something to eat, to enjoy some warm sunlight, and to give the male turkeys an early attempt at wooing the lady-turkeys for the upcoming mating season.  Then again, those turkeys
were representative of some of the IDIOTs I encountered over the contest events during the weekend.