North American QSO Party, RTTY - July
Call: WQ6X
Operator(s): WQ6X
Station: NX6T
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Fallbrook
Operating Time (hrs): 9.5
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
80: 12 3
40: 131 39
20: 177 44
15: 14 14
10: 0 0
-------------------
Total: 334 97 Total Score = 32,398
Club: San Diego Contest Club
Team:
Comments:
This was a last minute remote operation at "NashVille" (@NX6T) from a
"secret location" in the SF east bay. I recently made my FT-1000mp
RTTY-able but at the chosen location signal levels were almost non-existent,
making remote operation my only option for this weekend.
Instead, with last minute assistance from W6JBR and N6KI to debug internet
problems I managed to accomplish remote access to the Fallbrook station; altho
in the early contest hours internet latency was HORRIBLE.
As a result, I took a gamble and used the 20:00 - 22:00 period as my "off
time", waiting for the internet latency to settle down (which it did).
This allowed me to work the contest up to the 06:00z ending time, along with
the remaining single-OP & multi-OP stations.
The station consisted of an externally fan-cooled Elecraft K3 (running 59
watts) into a C-31XR yagi for the high bands, 2-elements on 40 and an inverted
"V" for 80 meters. Because it is not easy to manually tune in RTTY
signals remotely (and no spotting-assistance allowed), rather than S&P I
chose to run frequencies and let stations come to me.
Unfortunately, this created a new problem when stations would call considerably
off frequency such that FLDIGI could not demodulate their text, no matter how
LOUD they were. Because using RIT remotely (with poor internet latency) to
tune stations in is not possible, I resolved this by allocating N1MM's F-11 key
to send the message: "You are off frequency - tune me in", followed by
F8 ("AGN? AGN?"), or F3 ("TU QRZ").
My thinking is that if you are copying me correctly when you receive the
message you will make sure that your Xmit/Rcv frequencies are the same when you
call me. Most stations got the message and then called me on frequency.
I actually had one station COMPLAIN because I would not (meaning I COULD not)
tune him in - CHILL OUT DEWD! With poor internet latency, my trying to tune
YOU in will actually slow things down for everyone else waiting to work me.
If you want a QSO, it is YOUR responsibility to BE ON FREQUENCY, not mine.
My biggest disappointment was when I couldn't complete a QSO with an IK4
station because the internet froze and I could not send him an exchange via
N1MM's function keys. By the time I was back in normal operation, either the
IK4 was gone or so were signals from Europe.
If I seemed to "disappear" on you, the reason was probably poor
internet latency.
Lack of activity on 80 meters was ALSO a Bummer,
along with no signals heard on 10 meters.
Nevertheless it was a FUN contest allowing me to work a number of W6 friends.
Look for a writeup on this contest soon from the WQ6X Contest BLOG
(http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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