[CQ-Contest] WPX Multi-Distributed

[Ray Higgins (W2RE)]

WPX Multi-Distributed

I would like to thank the WPX committee for adding this new and exciting category. It's basically a M/M with larger boundaries (Zone). 

First of all it gets new people involved in M/M. We invited 10 youths to join our team - they range from 14 to 22 years old from the USA and abroad. We had way more than 10 requests from youths but we promised to allow the others access to contesting in other ways under the RHR Youth program. The RHR youth program is growing - just last month 22 Turkish youths passed their FCC exam to join the system. It's just not a USA thing anymore. We have stations being implemented in EU, Caribbean and USA on a dedicated youth network just for them. We will get more activity in contesting by mentoring and granting access to youths around the world! Its actually exciting times right now in the hobby! We just need to use the tools to reach them, both the RHR youth network and streaming has been very effective. 

We have been very busy busy building out the logger and the lockout in the cloud for this event. Here is how the lockout works within the console: https://youtu.be/1Rj9pSip1EE <https://youtu.be/1Rj9pSip1EE>

Here is an example how two stations can be on same frequency interlacing QSO’s: 
https://youtu.be/nUxk6DUibMc?t=96

We currently have 10 youths + 11 other operators on the team consisting of eight countries. Everyone has FCC call sign. We would like to invite a few others to participate with us that have experience running 200/hr and don't mind mentoring youths. We will use SLACK to communicate during the event. Please send mail to support at remotehamradio.com If you meet the FCC license requirement and an experienced SSB operator. 

Some of these youths are pretty darn good operators, so we expect not only to have fun but to have a big score if bands cooperate. We do this for fun! Its why we like new and exciting things like the M/M distributed. 

Lastly, I appreciate all the support from the contest community the past few years with remote operations. Im excited when I see stations like W2FU, K1IR, N7DX, K1TTT, K0RF, WD6T, PJ2T, HP3SS, K3JO, N2QV, N5DX, N2IC, ZF5T, FY5KE, V31MA, ED1R, N2NT, KM7W, N6MJ, NR3X, KU1CW, HH2AA, ZF1A, N6MJ, CR6K, NR6O, W1UE  and many many more pushing the envelope remote. 

I'm very very PLEASED to see the WPX committee implementing big and bold ideas. This is exactly what we need in this hobby to make it exciting for the next generation. 

Ray W2RE