[CQ-Contest] SO2Q in WPX Anyone?

[ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca]

Rick,

While I certainly do admire your enthusiasm and creativity, seeing no replies
(online, not email) to your question I felt I would comment from the "average
guy" perspective.

This is a very cool idea, but for most of us, we either cannot afford to build a
remote station in a nice location or barring that , afford to rent one.

What with Covid, anyone who can afford a remote, has them all tied up.

I'd love to have one in VO1, VE1 , or VO2, but am not that wealthy.

Sooooo, while your idea is "interesting", I'll stick to my olde skool version of
SO2"R" here at my own QTH.

Those with more loose greenbacks can (and will) do SO2Q

GL/Have fun

CU (all of a sudden) in the next one.

Mike VE9AA......NB





 In NAQP CW recently, I did something I'd been itching to try for a long
time - SO2Q = "Single Op, 2 QTHs." With Rig 1 operating locally and Rig 2
remote from another QTH about 150 miles away, it worked like SO2R but with
absolutely no inter-station interference. I had to submit it as a checklog
because there was no category permitting multiple locations. It was fun but
it didn't contribute any points to my club.

CQ WPX, on the other hand, has a new category called "Multi-Transmitter
Distributed" in which up to six geographically separated stations in the
same country and CQ zone can operate under one call, limited to one signal
per band. It's reminiscent of the W1AW distributed operations that many of
us participated in, but for a contest. There is nothing in the rules that
*requires* more than one operator, so an SO2Q configuration like mine would
be compliant. The base category is multi-tx and allows all stations to
transmit simultaneously, uncoordinated. In NAQP, I told my logging program
I was SO2R, so it didn't allow that.

I plan to try this, at least in the CW event and maybe SSB or RTTY as well.
Care to join me? If there's sufficient interest, I'll sweeten the pot by
offering a prize to the high-scoring operator(s), probably something you
can drink or trade in at a ham store. If you're interested, please reply
off-line to the following:

   1. Which mode(s) would you operate as SO2Q in WPX?
   2. Big effort, serious part-time, or just playing around?
   3. QRP, LP, or HP?
   4. Should the single op be allowed to transmit on multiple bands at the
   same time or should SO2R single-signal rules apply?
   5. Should spotting be allowed as it is in the base multi-distributed
   category or should it be unassisted like local SO2R?

If you are at all interested, please reply directly to conserve bandwidth
on the reflector. A positive response is not a commitment but hopefully
most who say Yes will show up. I'll summarize results and suggest the rules
and prize(s) if significant competition appears likely.

73,

/Rick N6XI


--

Rick Tavan
Truckee and Saratoga, CA
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